The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1909-08-12

cation SAYS the SCUM IS IN inc
Tain Actuated by Just and Far
reaching. if not Far-seeing Instinct
on the Race Question - Golfers
Weekly Take Rational View OF the
Situation Also.
Atlanta journal.
One OF the most recent students OF
conditions here in the South was Will
liam Archer, the well-knOwn author
and critic, Of London who spent some
time i'm the Southern states and has
embodied his impressions in AN ar
ticle which appears i'll the July num-
Der OF McClure's Magazine.
1t was. Of course, impossible for Mr..
Archer to arrive at an intimate
knowledge OF conditions and tenden-
cies during q comparatively short
STAY in a country with which he was
but little familiar, but he at least
came without prejudice and attempt
ed to set forth his views on the race
question with impartiality.
This article-Or at least some OF
the conclusions which Mr.. Archer has
drawn in the course of his article
are made the basis of an editorial in a
recent number of Golfers Weekly
which takes the ground that the
South sis gaining powerful friends. "
Qualifying the phrase, Golfers says
it is perhaps "nOt so much friends,
whose motive is avOwed sympathy,
n, v,cr,Ixr .lbn npaI 1h.arCarS Uhn
are Just and have courage" and that
Shy the multiplication OF these will
her way be made smooth.
Mr.. Archer is quoted rs saying:
The South is in the main actuated by
Il Just and far-reaching, if not far seeing
instinct. believe that the problem, far
from being unreal, is so real and SO dis
hearteningIy difficult that nothing but
an almost superhuman wisdom, energy,
and courage will ever effectually deal
with it.
In continuing its comment, Col
Iiers expresses the wish that these
convictions
were in the heart of every New Eng
lander who hastily calls meeting to
pass resolutions on the negro problem,
and every Northern editor who has a
formula. long cOnventiOnaliZed, in which
he writes, periodically, a scOlding for the
South. In the Outlook, the other day,
Lyman Abbott spoke OF his sympathy
with the intense feelings of the Southern
whites, his strong confirmation OF the
enlightened views of President Eliot and
Ambassador Bryce about the SOuth's
ultimate problem. To these names may
be added that of Thomas Wentworth
IligginsOn, survivor OF the generation OF
abolition leaders and commander OF q
colOred regiment during the civil war.
In declining an invitation to attend
conference on the status of the negro, he
deplored all such agitation, which makes
the problem Of the South only more diff
cult. The day may yet come when the
North will formally acknowledge that
the SOuth's stubborn refusal, since the
civil war, to yield an inch of it's stand in
the matter of the relations of the races
was an epochal contribution to the
white race in America, which, under the
outrageous difficulties which the North
pressed down upon the South. could not
have been done differently. Probably it
would be impossible to prophesy a day
more unhappy for this continent than the
one on which the Southern white should
abate one iota of his race pride.
1t has occasionally been charged
that Golfers was unfriendlv to the
South, but the attitude it takes in
the article which we reproduce in
part would Indicate that it has I'M
dergone a change of heart, for it
speaks the words of truth and sober
ness.
1t has taken the country as a
whole long time to come to a reali
ZatiOn of the genuine service which
the South has rendered in maintains
ing a steadfast stand for white su-
premacy, but gradually the clouds
are lifting and it is being recognized,
Just as Golfers recognizes, that this
determination twas an epOchal con-
tribution to the white race in Amer
lea"
The efforts of aliens and strangers,
the theorists of both races in the
North, to dictate to the South, or
even to advise her intelligently as to
how she should handle the most
vexed question which was ever pre-
sented for the solution of a civilized
people, are some times exasperating
and some times merely amusing. We
have to look with indulgent pity
| upon the arrogant airs of superior
wisdom and knowledge shown by
some of our wOuld-be advisers and
| critics.
There are notable exceptions, it is
true, but the best thought of the
country is rapidly reaching the con
clusion that the people of the South
understand the negro better and are
therefore, more capable of handling
him and solving his destiny for him
| than are the sycOphants who coddle
him and give him bad advice which
can only result in his undoing.
A few more editorials like that of
Golfers and Il few more clear pre-
sensations of the situation like that
of Mr.. Archer will do much to con-
firm the present tendency among en-
lightened minds at the North to let
the South work out this problem
| after her own manner
The North has certainly not made
a success of working out the race
problem for herself to the extent in
which she has it to contend with, and
hence she is not in position to ad-
wise us what to do in the premises.