The Washington herald., 1906-11-25
Weighty opiuiou.

The race problem and the labor problem
those twin bugaboos-have brought the
South into the limelight of current dis
cussion Of late 10 a rather unusual degree.
So interwOven Is the one problem with
the other that the best thought Of the
nation alone will satisfactorily unraveI
them and bring about practical solution
OF either. or both.
A rigid enforcement Of the vagrancy
laws is. it seems agreed. of the first i'm
pOrtance in bringing order out OF chaos.
Nothing is receiving more earnest atten-
ton than this from the hands of the
Southern States judiciary. Recently, IN
Augusta, Judge Emory Speer, Of the
United States District Court. added some
impetus to the discussion by delivering
a broad and mastery charge 10 the Fed
eral grand jury while the court was in
session in that city. Judge Speer entered
into the discussion Of racial differences.
and the non-enforcement Of the ample
vagrancy laws. I'm detail; especially was
he emphatic in his conclusions concerning
the unfortunate labor conditions through
out the South as the non-enforcement Of
the vagrancy laws Effected them.
Among other things, Judge Speer said to
the grand jury:
we have conditions in the Southern States which
should arouse 20 the uttennost the attention q The
people which should compel the supremest effort for
"a swift and radical change
To the very prosperity of the South are these
conditions in part ascribahlc While there thou
sands # African descent who work regularly own
homes and farms strive 20 better the conditions Il
their families tD educate their children and 20 pro-
tect thom from association with the lower classes.
there are uuhapply other thousands who are home
less and nameicss rag7bonds These men. from the
scarcity Of labor in cur numerous industries. can
obtain work anywhere. The high rate q wages
enables them in one OF tvo days 70 secure support
for a week Thus secured. without the slightest
thought n 'he future they rcfuse 90 work. They
strou about the o5untTy as irresponsible as the
beasts oi the field The idle brain is the devils
workshop. When such vile nomad-the descendant
perhaps. Of Congo cannbal-superadds 90 his
hesal position his hereditary vices and the shs9-
lute incaplcity for moral comprehension The iu-
iuriatins influence q poisonous and maddsuirz
drink Generalization may settle permanent
ly upon community one. as law-abdiuF as it was
peaccfH and happy"
Such an uttsrance. coming from a man
Of Judge Speer's undoubted high inteIli-
gence and position. must be taken TO
mean more than that Of the everyday
critic and student of affairs. Few men
in the nation are more peculiarly fitted
for fair and just criticism along these
lines than he. Judge Speer served several
terms in Congress as an independent
Representative from Georgia.
He entered the Republican caucus. how
ever. and thus lost much in personal pop
ularity and standing among his people
for I'm those days to flock with the Re
publicaus was ranked in the South little
lower than high treason. After being de-
feated for bagress. Judge Speer was
given a position on the Federal bench.
which he has held since. While the South
has long ago forgiven and forgotten his
Republican leanings, at the same time the
FIRE Of criticism through which he passed
peculiarly shaped his mind for searching
out the truth about the South and It's re-
lation 10 the negro. What he has 90 say
about this subject must command respect
North and South. among Republicans as
well as Democrats.
Judge Speer comedies the many good
qualities Of the negro. when properly de-
veloped and brought out. The position
that he assumes is very little different
from that Of the average Southern white
man. II is a fact-and all the nation viii
come in time 20 recognize it rs such-that
the working and thrifty negro has no
trouble in the South. The idler and the
lOafcr must so.