The broad ax., 1926-10-23
/. Sufixing Sherwood Anderson's
"The South"

Fair" Sherwood Anderson clunsily de-
scribes what he terms problems Be
low the Mason and Dixon Line" pre-
fixed with the prelude that THE white
race is one great family, the black race
another" The fair vanity which per-
vades Anderson's talkagraph is well
understood and the explanation made
by the race problem anaesthetist that
mo one will take what l say seriously,
is certainly an essential interviewer OF
THE South" 1t is in the hope OF
adding a few narrative suffixes to An
derson's Vanity Fair" essay that we
point out the omissions which would
give seriousness to the cursory study
OF the monographer.
Writes Anderson: The Negro race
in the South is SO apparently getting
lighter. How does that happen? What's
going on? White blood constantly
Creeping III IIOlIl SOIlICWlClO" ANOA III
ern travellers can't do it all"
A study Of figures of the U. S. Bu-
reau of the Census on "Mulattoes Dur
ing the Past Thirty Years" would
have aided the Vanity Fair artist Sure,
white blood is creeping in in Dixie;
and in the states which most rigidly
enforce miscegenation laws, it is not
creeping in; it is walking in with hob
nail boots on. No, don't blame it upon
either northerners or Negroes; for in
states like Massachusetts, New York,
etc, where Negroes LIVE, vote and
are given non-discriminatory training
in Religion, Health, Art, and Science,
there is no marked INCREASE in
mulattoes such as is found in Ten
nessee, Arkansas, and Florida.
"As for the Negro" again says An
derson: 81 am sure he is better off
in the South than in the North. There
at least injustice is often tempered by
real affection" Probably Mr.. Ander-
son would not have made such reck-
less prophecy if he had written his
article in Aiken, S. c., at the time
some of its sturdy" citizens recently
lynched three Negroes Zone woman)
on trial for, but not convicted OF, muir
der. If Negroes can be made to see
that they are better off without courts,
without school funds, without protec-
ton, and without a semblance of citi-
zenship, save a spade, a hoe and a
howell, then, yes, they are better Oft in
the South.
"Real affectionw What is it, as
measured by Anderson? We do not
know; but we do know what it is
NOT. 1t is not votes; it is not fair
wages; it is not good schools; it is
not civic equality. By elimination,
therefore, it must be MESS OF
POTTAGE.
"The Negro does the work" writes
Mr.. Anderson; "the dust of the fields
and the water of the rivers and swamps
run through his fingers" Yes, and at
wages and under conditions which are
intolerable in the annals OF a so-called
Christian section of the country.
The puzzle remains-two races that
when they meet to produce blood mix
ture must meet in secret, in shame"
writes Anderson, who should have
added, land with the dominant one,
social highwayman that it has been,
continuing to rob the sub-domlnant
one of all it holds sacred and dear,
giving it nothing in return but
TEARS"
Finally, Mr.. Anderson writes OF pet
ty thefts Of foodstuffs by Negro en-
ployes. He did not explain the ter
rife economic pressure that low wages
and intolerable circumstances exert
upon the poor black man of Dixie.
However, he could have remembered,
had he half tried, that white American
bankers, brokers, and fnanciers-the
bad ones-embezzle and steal enough
money in one year to pay all the
Negroes Of the South living wage
for one week-a preventive which
would estop them from stealing hams
and eggs during that period.
So much for Sherwood Anderson's
The South"
2. Sugar-Coated Salvation
A prominent" preacher OF Wash
ington, D. c., Rev. Charles H. Plum
mer, local Negro representative OF the
Lowery Institute and Industrial School
Of Mayesville, S. c., is reported as just
having doled out some sugar-coated
pills of salvation to the North Capt.
tai Citizen" official organ OF the
Bloomingdale segregationists of Wash
ington. According to the North Cap