The Pensacola journal., 1920-04-08
THE RACE PROBLEM.

this much discussed question gets right at the heart
of the world problem:
There has been and there is, some race trouble
the South It is true. also. that some politicians,
devoid of the brain power requisite to the formu-
lation of constructive programs has prosttuted
such abilities as they had to capitalization OF race
prejudice The stencil OF the carpet -bagger did not
become sweet perfume when his policy Of pillage
was transferred to the shoulders Of men, reversing
the process rode into power by assang the negro
instead of flattering and running him.
There is not. and there never be, equality in
social sense between the The human hybrid
is usually mongrel. inhertng the worst features
OF each and perpetuating the best features of
neither. lower is not lifted up by having its
blood intermingled with that OF higher The
effect is simply contamination of both. 1t is edu-
cation and sef-respect that elevate race. not
physical experiments, and purity of blood is as es
sential to the black it is to the white.
Ii was grievoas error to endow the black with
the ballot That is something the Anglo Saxon
fought for through the centuries and in the win
ming of it he LEANED its 1t should have been
held out prize to the negro to endeavor In
stead, it forced him. and it reacted wealth
does the riches. softening the moral It's
sue and weakening the mental muscles 1t was
stern necessity which forced the South to put in
tegence back in the governmental saddle. and this
is true however much sentimentalists may and
| tear their hair.
| But is the negro liability? Or if he be a liza
bility, is it to let him remain SO?
| I'VE will change liabilities into assets said
great business leader when ruin threatened, and
he did it.
We tremendously impressed by full page ad-
vertisement which recently appeared in the Pine
Bluff (Ark) Commercial. paid for by the Chamber
of Commerce of that thriving town. It's opening
sentences are worth repeating:
I'VE hold it to be self-evident that the rational
contentmen prosperity and progress of the negroes
of county essential factors in the permanent
prosperity and progress Of our community and
county while. We deed it essential that good
relations exist between the two races, and we. the
Chamber of Commerce. in favor Of a policy
the part Of the white man, which will inspire the
NEGRO not only respect but confidence loyalty and
esteem we'll We declare it to be the purpose of
this committee to cooperate with negroes in
the promotion Of their efforts toward the general
betterment and the moral and material progress of
their people. The committee as a whole or any
individual member Of it. will give patient and
sderate hearing to any suggestion proposition or
complaint from any respectable negro Of this
Icounty."
| 1t has been conviction in some localities that
the way to get the most out of the negro keep
is not stretching the truth to say that poverty
prices for cotton acquiesced in for years
4 largely because they did keep the negro poor We
have heard men lament the prosperity of the negro
in recent years on the ground that it made him
e worthless.
Not long ago. in part of the Black Belt
sewing machine agent conceived the idea of selling
to plantation hands. He reaped harvest A phono-
graph man followed him, with success These
= IsaeSmen ought m tod IN thair
memory. When negro had an instalment to meet
on sewing machine. he worked and got the money
g What there to force him to work, when life
meant simply hut and hominy gritsi Where
wants are few, labor is paralyzed Civilization
the history of increasing desires When you have
d given the naked savage a desire for clothes yor
6 have made workman of him. When you put be-
e fore the negro the hope of acquiring the convent
ences of modern life you touch his nerve of indus
try and put a power behind his hoe that never wa:
:. there before.
), The prosperity OF the South is wrapped up in
It the prosperity of the negro. Not by millions bu
billions. will the wealth of the South be increased
when the negro demands not hut. but house
: not cot. but bed; not rags, but store clothes
2 not but horse; for when you increase thu
g demands of millions OF citizens there is bu
one way in which they satisfy those demands
and that is by work To maintain that scale O.
i living which the negro ought to desire sit
uaton where not double the present production from
his labor five times that production will be es
sential to his upkeep. and what he must have b.
will have.
Why should there be objection to the negro own
d ing land? There Is nothing likely to make hin
e good citizen. nothing certain to make him
e public asset After the Civil War the government
seized certain plantation turned it over to negroe
and named it Freedmen's Village. Loud were tn