The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1908-03-23
WHITES MUSTRULE THE SOUTH
SOUTHERN COLLEGE PRESIDENT
on THE RACE PROBLEM.

Alderman OF NlFkllh ueIenuA uepftNlnl
, me negro OF the Ballot N insists
+, That Absolute social Separation II
.- ~Needed-NOfth Not Able 70 Judge
IN the course Of a lecture on sThe Grow.
ing South delivered before the Civic
, Forum at Carnegie Eall last night DR.
Edwin A Alderman. president Of the Uni
versity Of Virginia, said that the South
vas convinced that II had acted wisely
in the past 10 excluding the negro from
the right Of suffrage and that II wal
determined that the white race should
continue 20 control the political develop
b ment Of the country. In insisting upon
absolute social separateness the South,
p said Dr.. Alderman, is agreed that il IL
pursuing a farsighted policy Of justice, both
to the negro and the white man
A wealth Of ignorance has been eX-
pended on the discussion Of the negro
problem said Dr.. Alderman, which quite
siokens the heart The deeper ones knowl-
edge goes the greater ones desire for silence
and patience
The university president, when intro
duced by George McAneny, president Of the
City Club. began his address by saying that
The most impressive social movement OF
the day in this country was the effort being
made by the republic TO adjust its new self
TO ie Old self so erganically that 1t should
~. lose neither it's indivdualism nor its COOP
erativs genius. This effort was more pro-
. Beunced. he said in the Southern States,
" here the whole social and economic life
vas being turned to master the weapons OF
present day industrialism
The South must pass from an agrl-
cultural order, depressed by poverty and
misrule, 10 an industrial democracy said
the speaker. wherein il must regain It's
national consciousness. The Southern
people have had the political patience and
equipoise not 20 disturb the only good thing
bequsathed by the ~carpetbag govern
ment. namely. the provisions for popular
education placed in their organic laws.
They have developed an overw helming
public sentiment with the social and poll.
cal agencies necessary TO sustain that senti-
ment in favor Of the education Of all the
people at public expense, thus making Of a
social system. semi-feudal In character,
= q democracy in social usage as well as in
political philosophy
In referring 10 the race problem that the
South had TO consider President Alderman
intimated that didIctic conclusions we're
larF ely influenced by environment. He
left it to be inferred that the South was best
fitted 10 determine the merits Of the negro
question itself.
Essentially the negro as an irritating
race issue is a question Of the presence Of
the African and his numerical proportion
TO the whole population, said DR.. Alder
man. In a community Of 10000 white in
haLitants and twenty-fouT negroes the
question is an academic one and the doc
trinaire and the sentimentalist have a
beautiful time with It. In a community Of
10000 white inhabitants and l.sJO negroes
there is less philosophy and more silence.
In a community Of 10000 white inhabitants
and 10000 negroes the policeman super
sedes the philosopher in relative impor-
lance and the problem moves along as best
IL NAV over the rough ways Of democracy.
"Perhars the chief political constructive
act Of Southern genius in reference 10 the
negro has been the limitation Of the whole
idea OF manhood suffrage, thus removing
the blacks from politics and centring
their thought on Industrial life, removing
frghtful temptations from the politics Of
the " hite people, and in a large way placing
the whole idea Of suffrage on the highest
plane possible in the republic. When all
of its ragged edges are trimmed of and its
incidental injustices have been worn away
the suf rage regulations Of the South in the
last decade will be seen 10 have been wise
and philosophical,
The white race shall control the political
development Of the Southern States as il
will and ought TO control the political de-
velopment Of the rest Of this republic, As
We we're European in our origin and struc-
ture, so we shall remain, refusing 10 become
either Asiatic on one side OF the continent
or African on the other
~ The 81 eaker continued, saying that 2 800 ,OOO
negro children we're gaining ar education
In the public schools Of the South even
while each S ate resisted every effort to dis
tribute taxation on racial lines. From a
condition Of absolute illteracy after the war
fully one-half Of the negroes Of the newer
generation had become hterate. The negro
race in the South owns nearly $500 900, 900
worth Of property, The s. eaker said that
this did not seem 10 indicate that since the
war the black race had lived under any
conditions OF oppression. He continued.
a. 1t has been settled that the negro, hay
=. ing humanity, personality, economic value,
shall be trained for citizenship In this
, republic and that the South itself shall
exert intelligent and discriminating in
huence upon the character Of that training,
because IL is It's duty 50 10 act, and because
rStraneous influence may carry the negro
further from understanding and sympathy
with his environment, The best Southern
thought on this matter is neither optimistic
nor pesslmistlc, but watchful and steady.
no amount of prophecy is going to settle
this question, but II is not prophecy but
fact TO assert that the negro race is steadily
declining in the South and must continue
70 decline in relative numbers; that he will
remain socially distinct; that he is yet TO
undergo the hercest trials that come to
backward races striving 10 forge 10 the
front in old civilization, and that the nature
Of; this ordeal will increase the migratory
- impulse Of the negroes. Nearly a million
now live outside Of Southern. limits In
thirty years this number will be increased
80 per cent. Already it is the ultimate
fate Of the negro that is in the balance in
America and not the fate Of the Southern
States