Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1912-02-16
CONDITIONS EXISTING AMONG
/. The NEGROES WHICH MUST
Be REMEDIED BY NEGROES
(aY RICHARD cARRoLL.)

(sY RICHARD cARRoLL.)
This quotation. HE Who would be
free must himself strike the first
blow" Is peculiarly adapted to what
! desire to say here and now. Listen:
< The negro Is not wholly without
blame for much Of the undesirable
conditions which have prevailed and
do now prevail against him.
- My observation is and has been
that lawlessness Is not decreasing
among the race, but that crimes. in
both quantity and quality, continue
to grow. For instance: Whisky is
being sold by negroes, not in the
towns only, but in their homes. on
the public highways. on railroad
trains. and in many country districts.
around about, and even at the very
door of the church itself In some
places 1t has gotten to be no uncom-
mon thing for drunken negroes to be
seen on preaching day" at the
churches. The number of murders by
negroes do not grow daily less. The
large class of gentlemen of leisure
or. plainly speaking. loafers, are con-
stantly receiving additional recruits.
Gambling, too. is on the increase to
an extent at once alarming. And IN
Columbia-and what is true Of Co
lumbia Is equally true Of all the
cities and larger towns-and even In
some country places-there are able
bodied men. not few who have no
visible means Of support, and who do
not perform any labor from January
to January in each and every year.
They get their living by their wits or
the labor of some poor misguided
woman or women or by means OF
both. And as unreasonable as 1t
may seem, there are negro women
who seem, by their actions, to re-
joice in the fact that they are chosen
and counted worthy to work for and
support such perversions Of human.
ity, often miscalled men,
Then. again: In our cities and
towns, the houses Of ill-repute In
which negro women and girls are in
mates daily increase. Too many are
yearly leaving the quiet country
homes and the labor OF the farms for
the alluring gaiety of town life and
seek to evade exertion Of their bodies
by the degradation Of their souls and
their bodies.
Incubators for Petty Thieves and
Migrants.
It is from among the above-men-
toned classes and conditions that the
army of petty thieves and great host
of Migrants are recruited. And from
among these undesirable classes and
out of the very midst Of such condi-
lions come they who make assaults
upon and perpetrete outrages on
womanhood. They constitute a veri-
table milestone around the neck Of
the race and Is also the chief hind
drance to its progress.
The negro press and q, the negro
preacher are not wholly without
blame for conditions existing.
The negro press. on the whole, Is
cowardly and seekers of applause.
The time and space which should be
given to the saying of the thing need
full are used most often In playing to
galleries. The negro press will often
howl long and loud over some negro
lynched and at the same time remain
perfectly dumb in regard to the crime
! which provoked the lawlessness Of
lynching. They have anathemas in
plenty for the white sinners, but no
word of condemnation for the act Of
the black sinner And cannot resist
the temptation to believe that II our
newspapers would harp more often
on the cause or excuse Of white lynch
ers for their acts and seek to make
odious the whisky vender, the gam
bier and the loafer-the classes
which furnish the victims and ex-
cuse for lynchings-1 am inclined to
believe. was about to say that lynch
ings would soon be as they ought to
be, things Of the past.
And the negro ministry Is not as
stalwart in its opposition to crime as
it was twenty years ago. There are
too many rowing ones and too many
preachers with easy and accommodate
ing standards Of morals.
Were I to say that all Of the negro
preachers were such as I have men
toned. would be guilty Of uttering
a libelous untruth and giving express
sion to a gross and damaging false
hood. So I do not and will not say
that they ALL as a class, are thus
guilty. For there are today some of
as fine .God-fearing, self-sacrificing
negro preachers-and I personally
know them-as any OF whom Chris
tianity could boast. even in the Apos-
tolic age. But the simple truth COM
pels me to admit that such preachers
among the negroes, are not In the
majority, and their number is not in
creaslng as rapidly as is to be de-
sired. The majority of the negro
preachers. like the majority Of negro
editors, can see the beam in the eye
Of the white race, but fail to see the
steamboat In the eye Of their own
race. The negro preachers have used
up too much time in denoupcing the
law1essness Of white people when
there were no white people present
to hear 1t. Progress is greatly i'm
peded when the wrong shoe is on the
wrong foot SO It has been in the
above cited case. Because white
preachers preach to white people and
negro preachers preach to negro peo-
pie they, each in his place, ought to
give much attention to 'the sermon
on the Mount" where 1t says FIRST
cast the beam out Of thine own eye"
The majority Of the negro preach
ers, as a rule. ara not nractical