The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1908-08-22
The North Stars Light
HENRY wATTERsoNs coURERJoURNAL.

| impudent,' said a weIl-known hotel
man today People outside the city
cannot realize just how offensive this
was. The people of the state at large
will discover that the outbreak of last
Friday was not the result of mOmen-
taTy irritation temporary ebuIIitiOn
Of violence Superinduced by the heat
The undeTcurTent of resentment grow
ing for years needed oaIy d pretext
and the assault on a white woman fur
niShed that pretext. The streets are
quiet now, but troops are here. but
that is no assurance that the question
is settled For the most part the peo-
pie would have liked to see the matter
settled without the Intervention of the
sOldiery. The fact that the trouble Is
costing business men thousands of dol
lars daily in loss of trade does not
help matters. Personally. think
Gov Deneen's stand for the protection
of the negroes is correct. but the aver
age wOrkingman has lite sympathy
with it
The tone of this interview is SINH
lar to that of others had by newspaper
men today BARRIERS. street car men.
miners, laborers and the common run
of people met on the street talked in
a similar vein
The exodus from Springfield Is be
lieved to be permanent Race feeling
is so intense that employers are afraid
to engage negroes even as walters. bell
boys and pOrteTs.
Here in Kentucky, and in all the
south, from the Ohio to the Gulf. the
negro population is a large proportion
OF the entire population Of every town
and city and the negro vote is factor
in politics in every section. If the mar
row race prejudice that exists in Hi
nols should spring UP below the Mason
and Dixon line-wheTe the negro as "A
race must remain because. if for no
other reason, the north which parades
a sentimental interest in his welfare
viii never tolerate his presence when
his numbers are sufficient to make him
factor in the industrial and political
equatiOn-the most hideOus race war
of history would ensUe. In the south.
bad niger is lynched occasional
" and, more rarely, there is a cause
less lynching- But the race hatred
bred by the presence of negroes in the
north does not exist, and as a rule
the laW-abidinR negro has little to fear
from white men
The COUTieT-JOUrnaI ventured the
prediction that If vigorous attempt
were made by law officers to viudf-
cate Illinois by conviCtiug members Of
the mob popular sympathy for the
hOOdlUm element would not block
their efforts. In the light of more re.
cent news from Springfield a doubt
arises Hatred of the negro because
Of his color and regardless of his
character seems to be ingrained in the
llllnOisan- The negroes who survived
days of terror in Springfield by hiding
like hunted animals are glad to leave.
Some of them may try their fortunes
at other points in the state, only per
haps to see the results of years or
patient toll swept away in a night by
the lawless hand of the white man
who will not tolerate negro cOmpeti-
ton in industrial fields and who will
not brook negro interference in poll
tics
In magic phrases, Col. IngersoII. of
Illinois, told a quarter of a century
ago grim tales of the day when the
negro's future had no dawn, no star
But almost a half century after the
beginning of the heroic struggle in
which the crown of liberty was set
upon the brow of labor without regard
to blood or color" the future of the ne
gro as a citizen OF the capitaI of Hi
nOfs is not particularly bright In the
shadow Of the monument TO Lincoln,
and in the shadow of the flag that
canopies alike the loftiest mansion and
the lowlieSt hut" ne is shot like rat
because he is black. His freedom has
no substance just now in Springfield.
and it will not have If members of the
mob are not convicted. To the negro
the North Star has proved. stree re-
a will o the wisp.