The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1918-07-07
BY LEONARD BENNETT.

to write him up.
Although DR.. E. X. Means, author of
negro stories, ffty-seven of which have
appeared in the Munsey publications, has
only been writing for three years, he num-
bers his readers by the hundred thousand.
Fortunately the appearance of a yellow
Jacketed volume spangled with huge red
blobs and bearing no title but the au-
thor's name, T.. X. Means, synchronized
with one Of DIR. Means's rare visits to
New York. The yellow kivvered volume,
the unconventional title and glimpse of
the contents of +. Il. Means make YOU
eager to know more of +. X. Means the
man.
DIR. E. X. Means was born in TAYLOR
county, KY, where his father at that
time had charge of pastOrate DR..
Means is himself pastor Of the First
Methodist Church at Monroe, La, and
has held pastorates in Shreveport, Baton
Rouge, Minden and Arcadia Today he
is practically the orly author who is writ
ing Of the negro in negro dialect, and in
his actual environment
The Inscrutable Black.
THE white man does not understand
the negro" says DR.. Means "IIe is the
great unexplored mystery, the unknown
quantity. On the other hand, the negro
knows all about the white man-what is
In his pockets and what is in his brains;
what he is thinking about.
"The negro goes into the white mans
house, hears all, sees all, says nothing,
thinks-no white man knows what he
thinks. The white man rarely goes into a
negro church or home, does not know how
he lives or what he talks about.
"A group Of negroes will Immediately
subdue their conversation on the APP
approach of white man. And yet" DR..
Means said with a suspicion of smile on
his face, "there are white men who will
tell you that they know all about the
negro"
For himself Dr. Means insisted, al
though he was born among them, raised
in their midst and has studied them for
years, and during that study has learned
to love them, he has barely scratched the
surface of negro psychology.
A New Race Consciousness.
"The negro is changing. The negro as
Joel Chandler Harris knew him, with his
folk lore and jungle tales, no longer ex-
lists; the negro of the reconstruction days
who was feared as a menace is no longer
to be considered as such; the negro, as We
know him to-day, will not be in existence
in few years; the negro is solving his
own problem"
1t was here that DR.. Means made
statement which will be revelation for
many Northern readers, with whom the
idea of negro preference for "yaller
gal" has become trddition-a revelation
which removes the menace, which ap-
peared during reconstruction days, Of
wholesale intermarriage with the poor
whites. The old order has changed, and
DR.. Means declared that the negro to-day
has acquired "a pride of race" There is
little hope OF advancement Tor the negro
in the South to-day if he has white blood
in his veins.
"In the colored Methodist church." DR..
Means asserted, mo candidate will be con-
sidered for a vacant bishopric unless he be
as black as the ace of spades" AS to the
reason for this change Of sentiment, DR..
Means would not commit himself, but Of
fered the suggestion that the negro may
have become aware of the biological law
which dooms the admixture of black and
white blood to early extinction. This sig
nificant fact, DR.. Means believes, may
have been perceived by the negro, and he
may be adjusting his life to conform with
it. However, it is no use to try to find
out from the negro, for be is inscrutable.
As proof of this inscrutability, DR.. Means
offered evidence regarding certain negro