The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-06-07
THE BLACK DRONES vIRG1NIAN NEGROES. Sober, Thoughtful, Fair and Very Unpleasant Edi-
 torial on Subject.

Whatever may be the case in other localities of the south, the race is- sue" as expounded by Senator Tilliman has to present existence in Virginia, Governor Swanson rightly interpreted the situation here when some months ago, in declining to attend a confer- ence called to consider the relation be- tween the races he courteously dis claimed knowledge of any conditions in this state indicating hostility be- tween the white and colored citizens or calling for extraordinary remedial measures. Here, for the time being at least, the negro so far from being disturbing, is not even an appreci- able element in political affairs. The great majority of the race is observ- ant of the laws. Collisions growing out of race differences are rare, and, if there is resentment of the regula- tions for separate accommodations in public vehicles and other like statutory provisions, there is no resistence to their enforcement. Also the state ment should in justice be made that a percentage of the colored people is accommodating property and that the class 80 acquiring a substantial stake in the community exercises a distinct ly conservatising influence.
 But when all this has been said the whole truth has not been told. We are not walking over a. social volcano, nor facing a physical conflict, nor con fronted with such an impending crisis as some alarmists predict; but we have problem to solve the inherent difficulties of which the negroes as a mass are multiplying and intensity ing by the failure of the preponder- ant number of them to recognize and discharge the "duties of that state of life to which it has pleased God tC call them"
 ''The country cannot survive half slave and half free" was the declara- tion of Mir. Lincoln. Much less debat- able is the proposition, that no state can long escape retrogression in which the large fraction of nearly half the population habitually shirks a full share of the work of the community Wlll0 LII dMillS lIOAll COllillOll PuA SS all the benefits of government and elk ing out more or less dishonest sub sistence from the store produced by the laborers in the hive. It was this phase of the negro question whtcf formed the most striking feature oi President Johnson's speech before the Petersburg Chamber of Commerce anG it is one which must be squarely mel in the near future unless Virginia's march to prosperity is to be halted al the very threshold of achievement tc the listlessness, shiftlessness and idle vagrancy of the average negro. There Is no field of production in Virginia which is not suffering for hands tc cultivate 1t. In the tidewater and middle sections of the state not more than one-third of the land is under til- lage and that which is suffers so from the scarcity and inefficiency of labor that the yield is far below the unre. munerative. Arrangements are not re. garded as binding, the service render. ed is, half-hearted and spasmodic, but in many cases the men shun even thG pretence of employment and depend upon the women for the means of pre- carious existence, thus driving the lat ter to peculation and vice.
 The facts are notorious, what is tt be done in remedy? The indefinite continuance of such a state of things is not to be thought of. The Vir ginia iproprietors in the section mos directly concerned feel kindly to thu negro, they are accustomed to him and up to the limits of tolerance would bear with his inherent racial faults i he showed disposition to give any thing like a just return for the drair he makes upon the resources of thu community The food and raiment O. the suggard come in some way, direc or indirect, out of the sweat of those who did toll. He pays no taxes. Th' almshouses take care of the aged anC inf1rm. The enormous cost of educat ing his children falls upon the land hc will not plough nor plant. Year by veal the number of non-producers in creases, and year by year the cost O maintaining them becomes heavier The instinct of self preservation mus finally drive the agriculturists tC seek some substitute for the system that has failed them and with the ad vent of white peasantry will be ush cred in movement which can hav but one result; the crowding out O the negro from the occupation whicl furnishes his only hope of acquiring ; permanent foothold on the soil of Vir ginia. If those others come, he mus go. For disobedience to that sterl law of survival of the Attest, whicl works out It's own harsh penalty upol those who spare the sweat whicl should have earned their bread, tn, race will recede towards the Gulf al the Indian did towards the west crowded into closer and yet closer con fines as the march of jealous and in exorable column presses upon the lag gard heels, to what final catastrophe God only knows! Is there time ye remaining for the wiss and gooc among that people to leadFthem in tn only path which offers escape iron doom?-Norfolk Virginian Pilot.
 CLERKS SIGNED BONDS.
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