(1903) The Negro Question

THE

LIBRARY

OF

THE

UNIVERSITY

OF

NORTH

CAROLINA

AT

CHAPEL

HILL

ENDOWED

BY

THE

DIALECTIC

AND PHILANTHROPIC

UNIVERSITY OFN.C.ATCHAPELHILL

^^

NEGRO

QUESTION

BY

GEORGE

W.

CABLE

Authorof"TheSilentSouth"

NEW

YORK

CHARLES

SCRIBNER'S

SONS

1903

THELIBRARY

THE

UNIVERSITY

OF NORTH

CAROUNA

AT

CHAPEL

HILL

CorvRiGHT,1890,by

CONTENTS.

PAOB

THE

NEGRO

QUESTION I

TheQuestion^

I.Have Colored AmericaDSintheSouththesame RightsasAmericans of ForeignBirth,

....

I II.C}lorDiscrimination, ₇ III.Inconsistencies, l6

TheAnswer

—

I.TheSocial BasisofSlaverystillExists 24

II.EnfranchisementaCause of Apprehension,.-. . 33 III, The FreedmenLoyaltoGovernment 39 IV. DistinctionBetweenCivilandSocialEquality, . ₄₃

V.Responsibility ofSouthernWhiteMen 47 VI.MaterialDevelopmentintheSouth,

...

51

Jt^ATIONALAID

TO

SOUTHERN

SCHOOLS,

...

59

WHAT

SHALL THE NEGRO

DO? 66

A

SIMPLER

SOUTHERN

QUESTION,

...

88

WHAT

MAKES

THE

COLOR

LINE?

no

VI CONTENTS.

FACI

THE

SOUTHERN STRUGGLE FOR PURE

GOV-ERNMENT

IT*

I. AFirstNecessity,

n6

II.DoestheNegro WantPureGovernment? . . .123

III.SupposingtheNegroUnsuppressed, 128 IV.ThePolicy of PureGovernmentFirst,

....

133 V.TheIndustrialNewSouth 139 VI. TheReign oftheOne-PartyIdea .146 VII. TheInventionsofDespair 154 VIII.

A

moreExcellentWay, 162

NOTE.

The

following

pages

constitute

a

con-tinuous

development

of a single subject.

The

divisions of the

work

appear

in the

form

of separate papers only

because

of the earlier publicationof

most

of

them

as

magazine

articles.

The Negro

Question.

THE

QUESTION.

I.

The

matterthatis

made

thesubject of these pagesisnot to-day themostprominent, butit is

thegravest, inAmericanaffairs. It isone upon

which, of late years, as

we

might say,

much

inattentionhas beencarefullybestowed. Ithas

become

a dreadedquestion.

We

arenot politic-ally indolent.

We

aredealing courageously with

many

seriousproblems.

We

admitthatnonation has yet so shaken

wrong

and oppression from

its skirts that it

may

safely and honorably sit

down

in a state of mercantile and aesthetical pre-occupation.

And

yet the matterthat gives us daily the profoundest unrest goes dailyby

default.

The

Nation's bitter experiences with

it in years past,the baffling complications that

men

more cunningthan wisehave

woven

around it,itspronenesstoswallowupallother questions

andthe eruptionsof rancorandstrifethat attend everyleast sign of its spontaneous re-opening,

2

THE

NEGJiO QUESTION.

have

made

itsuch a wearinessandoffence tothe great majority,andespecially toour commercial impatience, that the public mind in large part eagerlyaccepts the dangerous comfortof post-ponement.

What

is this question? Superficially, it is whethi5i^acertain seven millions of thepeople, one-hinth of the whole, dwellinginand natives totheSouthernStatesoftheUnion,andbylaw an undifferentiated part of the Nation,have or

havenot thesamefullmeasureoftheAmerican

citizen'srights that theywould have were they entirelyofEuropean insteadofwholly or partly Africandescent.

The

sevenmillionsconcerning

whom

thequestion isasked,answeraswithone

voice, thattheyhavenot Millionsinthe North-ern States,and thousands in the Southern, of whites,

make

thesamereply. Whileother mil-lionsofwhites,inNorth andSouth,respond not so oftenwith aflatcontradiction aswith a decla-rationfar

more

disconcerting. Forthe " South-erner"speakstruly

when

heretortsthatnowhere

in the entireUnion,eitherNorth or South,are the disadvantages of being a black, or partly black,

man

confined entirely to the relations of domestic life and private society; but that in

everypartthereisaportion/atleast,ofthe com-munitythatdoes not claimfor,orevenwillingly

THE NEGRO

QUESTION, ₃

yieldto,thenegrothewholecalendar of

Amer-ican rights in the samefar-reaching amplitude

andsacredness thattheydofor,orto,thewhite

man.

The

Southernwhite

man

points to thou-sands ofNorthernandWesternfactories, count-ing-rooms,schools, hotels,churches andguilds,

andtheseattestthe truthofhis countercharge.

Nowhere

in theUnited States is there awhole

community

fromwhich the blackman,afterhis physical,mentaland moral characterhavQ been

duly weighed,if theybe weighed at' all, is not

liableto sufferanunexplained discountformere

color and race,which hewould have to suffer publiclyinnoother country of the enlightened world. Thi? being thefact,then, invarying de-grees according to locality,whatdoesitprove?

Only

thatthiscannot be the realpointofissue

between North andSouth,and that this

super-ficialdefinitionisnot thetrue one.

Putting aside mere differences ofdegree, the questionisnot.

Are

thesethingsso? but,

Ought

they sotobe?

To

thisa large fnajorityin the

Northern States from all clasps,with a small minority of the Southern whites, also from all

ranks oflife,andthewholeseven million blacks, irrespective of partyleanings, answer No,

On

theotherhand, alargemajority of the whitesin

popu-4

THE

NEORO

QUESTION.

lationof thoseStates,but a very small minority

intheNationat large

—

answeravehement "Yes;

thesethingsshouldandshallbeso."

But

how

does this small minority maintain

itself? Itdoes soowingtothefamiliarfactthat,

althoughby our schemeofgovernmentthereis

a constant appeal to the majority of thewhole

people,the same scheme provides,also,forthe defence oflocalinterestsagainstrashactions of national majorities bya parallel counter-appeal (constantlythrough its Senateand attimes in

other ways)to the majority,not of the people en masse, but of the States in their corporate capacity.

Now

a very large minority in the

Northern States, whose

own

private declara-tionwouldbeagainsta differencebetweenwhite men'srightsandothermen'srights,nevertheless refusenow,astheyrefused beforetheCivilWar,

to answer with a plainyes or no,butmaintain, withtheSouthernwhite-rule party,thstwhether

thesethingsoughtsoto beornotisaquestion that every Statemustbeallowedtoanswerfor,

and

to, itselfalone; thus so altering the voice of the Nation,

when

itspeaks byStates,as virtually to nullify that negative answer which would be

given

by

a majority of thewholepeople. In the Civil Rights bill theverdict of the States was once given againstall race discriminationin all

THE NEGRO

QUESTION. ₅

matters of public rights whatsoever, and for confiningitwithin that true domain

—

ofprivate choice

—

to which the judgmentofother Chris-tian nationsconsigns it. But the Civil Rights

bill,never practicallyeffective in the

communi-tieswhoseupper rankswere hostiletoit,hasat lastperishedinthe innercitadelofour govern-ment's strong conservatism, thenational

Supreme

Court,andthe Senate majoritythat passed the

bill was long ago lost

by

revolutions in the

Southern States. Thus,

by

a fundamental pro-visionin theNationalGovernment,intendedfor the very purpose of protecting the.

weak

from

the strong, a small national minority has for twenty-fiveyearsbeen enabledtowithstand the pressure ofan

immense

majority.

Whetherthisis

by

arightor

wrong

use ofthe provisionispartoftheopenquestion.

The

weak

areprotectedfromthe strong,but thestillweaker

are delivered intothehandsof thestrong. Seven

millionsof theNation,mostlypoor, ignorantand

degraded,areleftforthedefinitionand enjoyment

ofrights,worthmorethansafetyorproperty, to the judgmentof

some

tenothermillionsof un-questioned intelligence and virtue, but whose

intelligenceand virtuewere not materiallyless

when,with a courage and prowess never sur-passed,theydrenchedtheir

own

landwiththeir

6

THE

NEGRO

QUESTION.

own

blood to keep these darker millions in slavery. However,beita useoran abuseofthe Nation's schemeof order; beitrightor

wrong

;

thisispoliticallythestrongholdof the

conserva-tivepartyintheSouthernStates;anditis

made

strongerstill, steel-clad and turreted,asitwere, withthetremendousadvantageof thestatusquo

—

that established order of things which,good

orbad,untilitbecomesintolerabletothemselves,

men

will never attack with an energy equal to thatwithwhichitisdefended.

But political strengthis little byitself

The

militarymaxim,thatnodefencesarestrong with-out force enoughin them tooccupytheir line, istrueofcivil affairs. Entrenchmentintheletter

ofaconstitution avails littlewiththe people at largeoneithersideofaquestion,unlesstheline

of that entrenchment is occupied by a living conviction of being in the right.

The

most

ultra-Southern position on th«? negro question has an element of strength close akin to this.

To

berightistheonlyreal necessity;butwhere

isthecommunitythatwill not

make

anddefend withtreasureandbloodtheassumptionthatwhat

is necessary is right? "Southerners," in the

politicalsenseofthe term,

may

sometimes lack aclear,firm-founded belifefthat theyare right

;

THE NEGRO

QUESTION. /

that others are as

wrong

asthey; but theyhave

at least a profound conviction that they are

moved

byan imminent,unremitting,imperative necessity. Not that this is all; hundreds of thousands of them, incapacitated b/.this very convictionfrom falling into sympathywith the bestmodernthought,have beentaught,andare learningandteaching,notonlyonthe hustings, butinschool, incollege, at the fireside,through

thedaily press,inthe socialcircleandinchurch, thatintheir attitudeonthe negro question they arelegally, morallyandentirelyright.

II.

Now,

specifically,what are these things that the majorityof afree nation saysought not to be,whilea sectionalmajority triumphantly main-tains they must, will, ought to and shall be?

Give an example of an actual grievance.

One

commonly

esteemedtheveryleastonthe listis

this: Suppose a man,his wife and their child,

decent in person, dress and deportment, but visiblyofAfrican or mixedblood, totake

pass-age on a railway train from

some

city of the EasternStates,asBoston,or of theWestern,as Chicago.

They

will be thrown publicly into

company

with

many

others, for an ordinary

per-8

THE

NEGRO

QUESTION.

sons,andasleeping-car accommodates

twenty-five; and theywill receive the same treatment

from railway employes and passengers as if,

being otherwisejustwhattheyare,theywereof pure Europeandescent. Onlytheywillbe

much

less likely than white persons to seek, or be

offered,

new

acquaintanceships. Arrivingin

New

York,Philadelphia,oranyother Northern city,

they will easily find accommodations in

some

hotel of such gradeas theywould be likelyto choose if,exactlyas theyare,they were white.

They

may

chanceuponahousethatwill refuse,

onaccount oftheir color,to receive them; but

such action, if

made

known, will be likely to receiveawide public reprobation,andscant ap-plause even-from the press of the Southern States. Ifthetravelerschoosetocontinuetheir journeythrough the night, theywill beffee to hire and occupyberthsinasleeping-car,andto use all its accessories—basins, towels, pillows, etc.

—

withoutthe least chance of molestation in actorspeechfrom any oneof thepassengersor employes,let such passengers or employes be from any State of the Union, Northern or Southern.

But,onreaching theSouthernStates,thethree travelerswill findthemselvesatevery turnunder

THE

NEGRO

QUESTION.

_g

notforanydemerit ofperson, dressor manners, but solely and avowedly on account of the African tincture in their blood, however slight that

may

be.

They

may

still be enjoying the comforts of the sleeping-car,

by

virtue of the ticketboughtinaNorthernStateandnot yetfully

redeemed. But theywill find thatwhilein one SouthernStatethey

may

stillrideinan ordinary

first-class railway coach without hindrance, in

another theywill find themselves turned

away

fromthedoorofonecoachandrequiredto limit themselves to another, equal, it

may

be,to the

first in appointments, and inferior only in the social rankofitsoccupants.

They

may

protest that inAmerica there arenopublic distinctions ofsocialrank; butthis will availtjaemnothing.

They

may

object that the passengersinthe car fromwhich theyareexcludedarenot ofone,but palpably of

many

and widely different social ranks, and that in the car to which they are assignedarepeople not oftheir grade only but ofall sorts; theywill be toldwith great

plain-ness that thereisbut onekind of negro.

They

willbetoldthattheyareassignedequalbut sepa-rateaccommodation because the presence of a person of wholly, orpartly,Africanbloodin the

samerailwaycarontermsof social equalitywith thewhite passengersistothosewhitepassengers

lO

THE NESRO

QUESTION.

an intolerableoflfence; and ifthe husband and

father replies that itis itselfthe heightof vul-garity toraisethe questionofprivate socialrank

among

strangers inrailwaycars,hewill be for-tunateifheisonlythrustwithoutmore adointo the"coloredcar,"andnot kickedand beatenby twoorthreewhite

men

whosesuperior gentility hasbeeninsulted,and he andhiswifeandchild putoff at the next station to appeal invain to the courts. Forincourt hewill find that

rail-way

companiesareeven requiredbythelaws of the State tomaintainthisignominiousseparation ofall

who

betrayanAfrican tincture,refinedor unrefined, clean or unclean, from the presence ofthewhite passengersinthefirst-classcars,be thosepassengers ever sopromiscuousa throng.

Such

isan exampleofoneoftheleast griev-ances ofthe colored

man

underthepresent

re-gimeintheSouthernStates; and sodull isthe

common

perception of wrongs committedat a distance, thathundreds ofthousands of

intelli-gent,generous,sensitive peopleintheNorthern Statesare daily confessing their inabilityto see

anyserioushardship in such acase,ifonlythe "colored car"bereallyequalinitsappointments to theoneinwhichonly white peopleofevery sortareadmitted;asifapermanentignominious distinctiononaccount ofancestry,

made

in

pub-THE

NEGRO

QUESTION. 1 1

lie,bystrangers and in the enjoymentof

com-mon

public rightswerenotaninsultordninjury unlessjoinedto

some

bodilydiscomfort.

Letitbeplainlyunderstoodthatthoughat least scoresof thousandsare intelligent and genteel, yet the vast majority of colored people in the UnitedStatesare neither refinedinmindnor very decentinperson. Theirracehas never had "a

white man's chance." InAmerica it has been

underthe ironyokeofaslavery thatallowedno

distinctionofworth to cross racelines; andin

Africait has had tocontendforthemastery of wild nature on a continent so unconquerable that for thousands of years the white race has striven invain to subdue it,and is only

now

at last strong enough to pierce it, enriched, en-lightened and equipped by the long conquest oftwo others lessimpregnable. Forallthatis

known

the black is "an inferior race,"though how,or

how

permanently inferior,remains un-proved. But the core of the colored man's

grievance isthat the individual, in matters of right that do not justlygo

by

race,is treated,

whether

man

orchild,without regard to person, dress, behavior,characteroraspirations,inpublic

and bylaw,asthoughtheAfricantincture,

much

or little,were-itselfstupidity, squalor and vice.

12

THE

NEGRO

QUESTION.

On

passing into a third SouthernState,the threetravelers,thoughstillholdersoffirst-class tickets,willberequiredtoconfinethemselvesto the so-called second-class car, a place never

much

better than a

dram

shop.

When

the train stops for meals,and the passengers, men,

women

andchildren,therough,the polished,all

throngintoone

common

eating-room to receive

a

common

fare and attention,those three must

eatinthe kitchen orgohungry.

Nor

can they even await the comingofa train,in

some

rail-way

stations, except in a separate "colored room." If they tarry in

some

Southern city they will encounter the most harassing and

whimsical treatmentof theirmostordinary

pub-licrightsasAmerican citizens.

They

may

ride in anystreet car,however crowded,seated be-side,oreven

crammed

inamong,white

men

or

women

of any,or every, station of life; but at

the platform of the railway train, or at the threshold ofany theatre,or concert,or lecture hall,theywill be directed tothe most undesir-able part ofthe house,and compelledto take that or nothing.

They

will find thattheword "public" rarely means public to them; that they

may

noteven draw booksfrom the public librariesorusetheirreading rooms.

THE

NEGRO

QUESTION. 1

3

SO fierce or indiscreet as to quarrel with,and

strike,

some

white man, he will stand several chancestoa white man'soneofbeingkilled on

the spot. If neither killed nor half-killed,but

brought into court, he will have ninety-nine chancesinahundredofconfronting a juryfrom

which,either by,or else in spite of,legal pro-vision,

men

of Africantincturehavebeen wholly or almost wholly excluded. Ifsent to prisonhe must

come

under a penal systemwhichthe

re-port of the National Commissionerof Prisons

officiallypronounces "_{a blot upon} civilization."

He

will find the population of theState prisons often nine-tenths colored, divided into chain-gangs,farmed out to private hands,even sub-leased, and worked in the mines, quarries, in

railway construction and on turnpikes, under cordons of Winchester rifles; veritable quarry

slaves.

He

will find mostofthefew white con-victsunder this systemsufferingthe same out-rages; buthewillalsofindthatthe systemitself

disappearswhereverthisgeneralattitudetoward

the black race disappears,and thatwhereitand

its outragescontinue,the race line in prison is

obliterated only

when

the criminal becomes a negotiable

commodity

and it costs the lessee

money

to maintain the absurd distinction.

He

14

THE

NEGRO

QUESTION,

those deadly cordons out of all proportion to thecolored populationoutside,ascomparedwith the percentages of blacksinandout ofprisonin States not under this regime. There are State prisons inwhichhewould find thecolored

con-victs serving sentenceswhoseaverage is nearly twice that of the white convicts in the same

places for the same crimes. In the same or other prisons he would find colored youths

and boys

by

scores, almost

by

hundreds, con-sortingwitholder criminals,andunder sentences ofseven,ten,twentyyears,while theState

Leg-islaturesvote

down

yearafteryear theeffortsof a fewcourageous and

humane

men

either to establish reformatoriesfor colored youth,6x to introduce the element ofreform into their so-called penitentiaries.

But suppose he commits no offence against person or property; hewill

make

anotherlistof discoveries.

He

willfind that no selectschool,

under "Southern" auspices, will receive his child. That ifhe sends the child to apublic school,itmustbe, asrequiredbylaw,toaschool exclusivelyforcoloredchildren,evenifhischild

isseven times

more

whitethancolored.

Though

his child be gentle, well-behaved, cleanly and

decorously dressed,and the colored school so situated as to be naturally and properly the

THE

NEGRO

QUESTION. 1 5

choice ofthe veriestriff-raffofthe school

popu-lation,hewillhaveno

more

libertythan before

;

hewill betold again, "

We

know

butone kind of negro."

The

child'sfather and mother

may

themselvesbeprofessional instructors; but

how-ever highlytrained; ofwhatever reputation for

moralandreligiouscharacter; howevertalented

as teachers or disciplinarians; holding the

di-plomaof whatevercollegeoruniversity,

Welles-ley,Vassar, Yale, Cornell; and ofwhateverage

orexperience,theywillfindthemselvesshut out

by

law from becoming teachers in anypublic schoolforwhitechildren,whether belongingto,

andfilledfrom,the" best neighborhood," orin,

andfor,the lowest quarterofalleysandshanties.

They

willpresently learn that in

many

hundreds

ofSouthern school-districts where the popula-tions aretoo sparseand poor to admit of sepa-rate schools for the tworaces,the childrenof both are being brought upin ignorance ofthe very alphabetratherthanletthemenjoy a

com-mon

public rightunder a

common

root

They

will find thatthisseparation is notreallybased

on anyincapacityof childrentodistinguish

be-tween public and private social relations; but that the same separation is enforced

among

l6

THE NEGRO

QUESTION.

lamenting its inabilityto

make

anything likean adequate outlayforpublic education,and

hun-dredsofthousands of coloredchildren are

grow-ing up inabsolute illiteracylargelyfor lack of teachers and school-houses,an expensive isola-tion of race from race is kept upeven in the

normal schools and teachers' institutes.

Even

inthe houseof worshipand the divinityschool theywouldfindthemselvespursued

by

thesame

invidious distinctions and separations that had

followed

them

at every step,andwould follow

and attend themstill to,and in,thevery

alms-house andinsaneasylum.

III.

And

thentheywould

make

onemore discov-ery.

They

wouldfindthat not onlywerethey victimsof bolderinfractionsofthemostobvious

common

rightsofhumanitythan are offered to

anypeoplp elsewherein Christendom, save only theChinamaninthefarWest, but that to

make

the oppression

more

exasperatingstill,there is

not asingle featureofitinany oneState,though

justifiable on the plea of stern necessity, that does not standcondemned

by

itsabsence,under

THE

NEGRO

QUESTION, 1/

some

other State. Sometimesevenonepartof a Statewill utterlystultifythe attitude held in

another part. In Virginia orSouthCarolina a colored person of decent appearance or beha-vior

may

sit in any first-class railway car, but

inGeorgia the lawforbids it,and in Kentucky thelawleaveshimtothe caprice of railway

man-agements,

some

ofwhichaccordandothers with-holdtheright. In

some

Stateshe isallowedin thejury box,in

some

heiskept out

by

theletter

of statutes, and in

some by

evasion oftliem

;

whileinTennessee

some

countiesadmit

him

to jurydutyand others exclude

him

from it. In oneortwo Southern cities,theteachers in col-oredpublic schools must bewhite. In certain others theymust becolored; and instillothers they

may

be either. In Louisiana certain

rail-way

trains and steamboats run side by side,

within a mile of oneanother,wherein thetrains anegroormulatto

may

sitwhere hewill,and on

the boatshemust confine himselfto a separate quartercalledthe"_{freedman's bureau."}

The

CivilRightsbillwasfoughtforyearsand

finallydestroyed,with the plea that itinfringed therightof

common

carriersandentertainers to usetheir

own

bestjudgmentindistributing their passengersandguests with anequitable consid-eration for the comfort of all. In fact,it only

I8

THE

NEGRO

QUESTION.

forbade distributionsthat,sofarfrom consulting the

common

comfort,

humor

the

demand

ofone

crudelyself-assorted private social class for an invariable, ignominious isolation or exclusion ofanother. Yet the same States and persons

who

so effectually

made

this plea, either allow

andencourage itsuseas acover for this tyran-nous inequity, or else themselves ignore their

own

plea,usurp the judgmentof

common

car-riers and entertainers, and force them by law to

make

thisrace distribution,whetherthey

deem

itbest ornot.

And

yet again,all over the South there are scattered colleges,academiesandtributary

gram-mar

schools, established and maintained at the

expenseofindividualsandsocietiesinthe North-ernStates,fortheeducation, atlowratesof tui-tion and living, of the aspiring poor, without hindrance as to race or sex. For

more

than twenty yearstheseestablishmentshaveflourished

and beenaboontothe African-American,as well as tothealmost equally noted"_poorwhites"_of the Southern mountain regions, sandhills and "paupercounties,"and throughboth(hese classes totheultra-Southern white

man

of thetowns and

plantations

—

aboonthenationalvalueofwhich

neitherhe noroneinathousand ofitshundreds

ade-THE NEGRO

QUESTION. I9

quateconception,elsethese establishmentswould

receiveseven timestheirpresentpecuniary

sup-port. These institutions have graduated

some

hundredsof colored students asphysicians and

lawyers.

At

onetimelatelytheyhadmorethan eight hundred divinity students, nearly all of

them

colored. Theirpupilsofallgrades aggre-gate over seventeen thousand,and the sixteen

thousandcolored teachersinthepublic schools of the South have

come

almost entirely from

them. But

now

inthese institutions there is a complete ignoring of thoserace distinctions in

theenjoymentof

common

public rightsso relig-iouslyenforcedoneveryside beyondtheir bor-ders; andyetnoneof thoseunnamabledisasters

have

come

toorfromthem whichthe advocates oftheseonerous public distinctionsand separa-tionspredictanddread.

On

scoresofSouthern

hilltops these schools stand out almost totally withoutcompanionsor competitorsintheir

pecu-liar field,so

many

refutations, visible and

com-plete,of the idea that anyinterest requires the' coloredAmericancitizentobelimitedinanyof thecivilrights thatwould behis withotft ques-tionifthesame

man

werewhite. Virtually,the

wholeguild ofeducatorsintheSouthernStates, from once regarding these institutionswith un-qualified condemnation and enmity, are

now

20

THE

NEGltO QUESTION.

becoming their friends and, in

some

notable cases,theirconverts.

So

widelyhavethelarger colleges demonstratedtheir unique beneficence thatin

some

cases SouthernStateGovernments,

actively hostile tothe privilegesofcivil liberty theyteachandapply, aremakingsmallannual ap-propriationsincontributiontowardtheirsupport

So

bristling with inconsistencies, good and

bad,would our three travelers find this(

tyran-nousandutterlyunrepublicanregime.")

Nowhere

else inenlightened lands andin thisday doso

many

millions see their

own

fellow-citizens so playfootballwiththeirsimplest public rights;for the larger partoftheSouthernwhite peopledo

with theselaws oftheir

own

making whatthey please,keeping or breakingthemasconvenient.

Buttheirdiscoverieswouldstillgoon.

They

wouldhearthese oppressionsjustifiedby

South-em

white people ofthe highest standing, and

'

—

more's the shame

—

_{by Northern} tourists in theSouth,on theground that the peopleupon

whom

theyare laid area dull,vicious, unclean race, contact with which would be physically, intellectually and morally offensive and mis-chievous to a higher race. (And

when

they

mightask

why

thelinesof limited rights arenot

drawn around the conspicuously dull, vicious

THE

NEGRO

QUESTION. 21

the oppositesortin both,theywould

come

face to face upon the amazing assumption that the lowest white

man

is

somehow

a littletoo good

foreven so

much

contact withthehighest black as

may

be necessaryfora

common

enjoymentof public rights ;Jand, therefore, thatnoexcellence, moral, mental or physical, inborn or attained, canbuyfor a"

_man

_{of color}"_{from these} sepa-rationistsanydistinctionbetweentherestrictions ofhis civil liberty and those of the stupidest

andsqualidestofhisrace,or bring

him

onestep nearertotheenjoymentofthe rightsofawhite

man

; or, ifatall,then onlyas a matter of the

white man's voluntary condescension and with therightdisguisedasapersonalprivilege.

They

would find thatthe race line is not a line of physical,moralorintellectual excellence at all.

Strangeryet,theywould learn that no propor-tion ofwhite men's blood in their

own

veins unless itwashes out the very

memory

oftheir Africantincture,cangetthem abatementofthose deprivationsdecreed for adull,viciousand un-cleanrace,but that

—

men,

women

and children alike

—

hundreds and thousands of mixed race are thus daily and publicly punished by their brothers for the sins of their fathers.

They

wouldfindthe racelinenota raceline atall.

22

THE

NEGRO

QUESTION.

withraceisnotthematterobjected to,but only

any andeverysortof contact on an equal foot-ing.

They

wouldfindthatwhat no money, no

fame,no personal excellence and no fractional preponderance of European blood can buy, can nevertheless be bought instantly and without

oneof these thingsbythe simple surrenderof the attitude of public equality.

They

would

find that the entireessence of the offence,any and everywhere where the race line is insisted on, is the apparition of the colored

man

or

woman

as hisor her

own

master; that

master-hoodis allthatallthistyrannyisintendedto pre-serve,andthatthe

moment

therelationofmaster

and servant is visiblyestablished between race

andrace thereisthehushof peace.

"What

is that negro

—

what is that

mulat-tress

—

doing in here?" asks one private indi-vidual ofanotherin

some

public place,and the otherreplies:

—

"That's nothing; he is the servant of that white

man

justbehindhim; sheis thenurse of thosechildreninfrontofher."

"Oh,all right"

And

the " cordial relation"

is restored. Such conversation, or equivalent soliloquy,occurs in theSouth a hundredtimes

aday.

THE

NEGRO

QUESTION. 23

man

or

woman

buys

more

than peace

—

itbuys amity; an amity clouded onlyby a slightbut

distinctand constant air and tone of

command

on the one part, a very gross and imperfect attitudeof deferenceon the other,andthe per-petual unrest that always accompanies forcible possession of anything. But since no people ever compelled another to pay too

much

for

peace without

somehow

paying too

much

forit

themselves, the master-caste tolerates,with un-surpassed supineness and unconsciousness, a

more

indolent, inefficient, slovenly, unclean, untrustworthy, ill-mannered, noisy,

disrespect-ful, disputatious, and yet servile domestic and

public menial service than is tolerated

by

any

other enlightened people. Such is but oneof the smallest of

many

payments which an intel-ligent and refined community has to

make

for

maintainingthelinesofmasterandservant-hood

oncasteinstead ofon individual ambition and

capacity,andfortheforcible equalizationof mil-lionsof unequalindividuals underone

common

public disdain. Other andgreaterpayments and

lossesthereare,moral,political, industrial,

com-mercial, as

we

shall see

when we

turn,as

now

we

must, to the other half of this task, and answer the two impatient questions that jostle each other for precedence as they spring from

24

THE

NEGHO

question.

this still incomplete statement ofthe condition ofaffairs.

The

twoquestions are these: Ifthe caseisso

plain,then,in the first place,

how

can the mil-lionsofintelligentandvirtuous whitepeople of theSouth

make

such apolitical,nottosaysuch a moral, mistake? And, in the second place,

how

cantheoverwhelmingmillionsof theNorth,

after spending thefrightful costs they spent in thewarof '61-65,tolerate thisemasculation of the American freedom which that war is sup-posedtohavesecuredtoallalike?

THE

ANSWER.

I.

As

totheSouthern people theansweristhat,

although the Southern master-class

now

cordi-allyand unanimously admit the folly of slave-holding,yet thefundamental ?irticleofpolitical faithon which slavery rested has not been dis-placed.

As

to the people of the North the

answerissimplerstill: theUnionissaved.

The

Northerncause in our civilwar was not primarily the abolition of slavery, although

THE

NEGRO

QUESTION

2$

mainly for this and cared for no other issue whilethis remained.

The

Southern cause was

notmerelyfordisunion,though

many

a South-ernsoldierand captainwould never have taken

uptheswordtodefend slave-holdingstrippedof thedisguiseofState sovereignty.

The

Northern

cause was preeminently the National unity.

Emancipation

—

theemancipation ofthenegroes

—

was notwhat the North fought for,but only

whatit fought with.

The

right to secede was

not what theSouthfoughtfor,but onlywhatit

foughtwith.

The

greatmajority oftljeSouthern white people loved theUnion,and consentedto

itsdestructiononly

when

there seemedtobeno

other

way

tosaveslavery;thegreatbulkofthe

North consented to destroy slavery only

when

there seemed no other

way

to save theUnion.

To

put in peril the Union on one side and

slaveryontheotherwas enough,

when

nothing elsewas enough,to drench one ofthe greatest

and happiest lands on earth with the blood of

hundreds of thousands of her

own

children.

Now,

what thing of supreme value rested on

thisUnion,and what on this slavery,that they should have been defendedatsuchcost? There

rested on, or

more

trulythere underlay,each a fundamentalprinciple,conceivedtobe absolutely essential to the safety,order, peace, fortuneand

26

THE

nex;ro question.

honorofsociety; andthesetwo principleswere

antagonistic.

They

weremorethanantagonistic;theywere

antipodal and irreconcilable.

No

people that hold either of these ideas as cardinal intheir political creed will ever allow the other to be

forcedupon themfrom without so longasblood

and lives will

buy

deliverance. Both were broughtfrom the mother country

when

Amer-icawasoriginally colonized,andbothhavetheir advocatesingreaterorless

number

inthe North-ernStates,in the Southern,and whereverthere

isany.freedomofthoughtandspeech.

The

common

subject ofthetwo isthe great lowermassofsociety.

The

leadingthoughtof theoneisthatmass'selevation,ofthe other its

subjugation.

The

onedeclarestheonly

perma-nentsafetyofpublic society,anditshighest de-velopment,to require the constantelevationof thelower,and thus ofthewhole mass,

by

the

free self-government ofallunder one

common

code of equal civilrights. It

came

from

Eng-land,but itwas practically,successfully, benefi-cently applied on a national scale first in the UnitedStates,andAmericansclaimtheright to call it,and it preeminently,theAmerican idea,

promulgated andestablished,notbyNortherners orSoutherners,one greatly

more

thananotherj

THE

NEGRO

QUESTION. 2/

but

by

theunsectional majority ofawhole

new

Nation born ofthe idea.

The

other principle declares public safetyand highest development

to require the subjugation of the lower tnass underthe arbitrary protective supremacyofan

untitled but hereditary privileged class,acivil caste. Not,asitis

commonly

miscalled,an aris-tocracy, for within one raceittakesinallranks of society; notanaristocracy, foranaristocracy

exists,presumably,at least, with thewide con-sentofall classes,and

men

in anyrank oflife

may

have

some

hope to attaintoit

by

extraor-dinary merit and service; but a caste; notthe

embodimentof amodern Europeanidea,butthe resuscitationofanancient Asiatic one.

Thatoneof these irreconcilable ideasshould by-and-bybecomeall-dominantintheformation ofpublic societyinone region,anditsopposite

intheotherregion,isdueto original differences intheconditionsunderwhichthe colonies were

settled. In the South, the corner-stone of the socialstructurewas

made

the plantationidea

—

widelands,anaccomplishedfew, andtheirrapid aggrandizement bythe fostering oversight and employment of an unskilled many. In the North, it was theyiHage and town idea

—

the notion of farm and factory, skilled labor, an

28

THE

NEGRO

QUESTION:

assured public tranquillity. Nothing could be more natural than forAfrican slavery,once

in-troduced,to flourish and spread under theone

idea,andlanguish and die underthe other. It ishigh time to be done sayingthatthe South

retained slavery and the North renounced it

merely because to the one itwas,and to the otheritwasnot,lucrative. Itwasinevitablethat themostconspicuousfeature ofonecivilization

should

become

the public schoolhouse,and of the other the slave yard.

Who

couldwish to raisethe equallyidleand offensive questionof praise and blame?

When

Northerners

came

South

by

thousands and

made

their dwelling there, ninety-ninehundredths of

them

fell into ourSouthernerrorup totheeyes,and there is

nothingtoprovethathadtheplantationidea,to the exclusion of thevillage idea,been planted

in allthe colonies,

we

should not bythis time

havehada

West

IndiancivilizationfromFlorida toOregon. Butitwasnottobeso. Wherever

the farm village became the germinal unit of social organization, there was developed in its

most comprehensive integrity, that American

ideaofourNorthern and Southernfathers,the representative self-government of the, whole

peoplebytheconstantfreeconsentofallto.the, frequentlyreconsidered choiceof the majority.

THE NEGRO

QUESTION. 29

Such ascheme can be safe only

when

it in-cludesinherentlythe continualanddiligent ele-vationofthatlower mass which

human

society everywhere is constantly precipitating. But

slave-holdingon anylarge scalecould not

make

even a

show

ofpublic safetywithout the con-tinual and diligent debasement of.its enslaved lower millions.

Wherever

it prevailed it was

bound

by

the natural necessities ofits

own

ex-istence to undermine and corrode the National scheme. It mistaught the

new

generations of thewhiteSouththattheslave-holdingfathersof the Republicwere approversand advocates of thatsad practice,which

by

their true histories

we

know

theywouldgladlyhavedestroyed.' It

mistaught ustoconstrue therightof a uniform

government ofall

by

fill,notasa

common

and

inalienable rightof man,butasaprivilege that

became a right only

by

a people's merit, and which ourforefathers boughtwith the blood of theRevolutionini776-'83,and which ourslaves didnotand should not be allowed to acquire. Itmistaught us to seek prosperityin the con-centration instead of the diffusionofwealth, to seekpublic safetyin a stateofsiege rather than

in.a stateofpeace; itgave us subjects instead

offellow-citizens,andfalselythreatened us with theptter shipwreckof publicandprivatesociety

30

THE

NEGRO

QUESTION.

if

we

dared accord civil powertothedegraded

millions to

whom

we

had forbidden patriotism.

Thus, itcould not helpbut misteach usalso to subordinate to itspreservation themaintenance

of a National union with those Northern

com-munitiesto

whose

wholeschemeof order slave-holding was intolerable, andto rise at length againstthewillofthemajorityanddissolve the

Union

when

thatmajorityrefused togive slave-holding the Nationalsanction.

The

othersystemtaughtthe inherent rightof

all

human

society toself-government. Ittaught theimpersonalcivilequalityofall. Itadmitted thatthe private,personalinequalityofindividuals

isinevitable,necessary, rightand good;but

con-demned

its misuse to set up arbitrary>public

inequalities. Itdeclaredpublic equality to be,on

theonehand, the onlytrue

and

j^deqiiate coun-terpoiseagainst private inequalities, andj-fc"^the other,the best protector and prOmotor>ot just private inequalitiesagainstunjust. ItHeld that virtue, intelligence and wealth are their,

own

sufficientadvantage,and needfor-self-protection

no arbitrary civil preponderance; that their

powers ofself-protection•arenever inadequate

save

when by

forgetting equity they mass and

exasperate ignorance,vice and poverty against them; Itinsistedthatthereisnosafe{protection

THE

NEGRO

QUESTION. 31

but self-protection; that poverty needs at least

as

much

civil equipment for "self-protection as property needs; thatthe right and liberty to acquire intelligence,virtue and wealth are just aspreciousastheright and liberty to maintain them, and need quite a9

much

self-protection; thatthesecretofpublicorderandhighest pros-perityisthe

common

andequalrightofall

law-fullytoacquireaswellas retaineveryequitable

meansof self-aggrandizement,andthatthisright

isassured toallonlythroughthe consent ofall

tothe choice of themajorityfrequentlyappealed towithoutrespectofpersons.

And

last, ittruly taughtthatagovernmentfoundedonthese prin-ciples,andholding

them

essential to publicpeace

andsafetymightcomfortablybear,the proximity of alien neighbors, whosauidea? of right and

order vvere not implacably hostile; but that it

had no powertoabideunlessitcouldput

down

any!intemal mutiny against that,choice of the majoritywhichwas,as itwere, theNation'sfirst

commancjment.

The

war was fought and the Union saved.

Fought

asitwas,ontheissueof the cpnsent pf

all tothe choice ofthemajpi-ity,the conviction forcedits

way

that thestrifewouldneverendin

peace until the liberty ofself-government was guar^teed totheentire people,^ndslavery, as

32

THE NEGRO

QUESTION.

standingforthedoctrineofpublic safetyby sub-jugation, destroyed. Hence,first,emancipation,

and then,enfranchisement.

And

now

even the

Union saved is not thefull measureof the

Na-tion's triumphs; but, saved once by arms, it

seems at length to have achievedabetter and

fuller salvation still; for the peopleof theonce

secededStates,with asincerity thatnogenerous

mind can question, have returned to their old loveofthis saved Union,and the great North,

from East to utmostWest, full of elation, and

feelingwhat one

may

call the onusof the win-ningside,cries

"Enough!"

andasksnomore.

II.

Thus

stands the matterto-day. Old foesare claspinghandsonfieldswhereonce theymetin battle,andtouchingglassesacrossthebanqueting board,pledginglonglifetotheUnion and pros-perityta.the South, but at everyfeast there is

one

empty

seat.

Why

shouldoneseatbeeverempty,andevery guest afraid to look that

way?

Because the

Southern white

man

swears upon his father's

swordthatnonebut a ghost shalleversitthere.

And

a ghost is there; the ghost of that old heresy ofpublic safety

by

the mass'ssubjugation. Thisiswhat theNorthernpeoplecannot

under-THE

NEGRO

QUESTION. ₃₃

stand. Thisiswhat makes the Southern white

man

an enigma to all the world beside, ifnot also to himself. To-daythepridewithwhich he

boasts himself acitizenof theUnitedStatesand

thesinceritywithwhich hedeclaresfor free

gov-ernmentastheonlysafe government cannot be doubted; to-morrow comes an explosion,

fol-lowed

by

such a misinterpretation ofwhat free

governmentrequiresand forbids that it ishard to identify him with the nineteenth century.

Emancipationdestroyed domesticbondage; en-franchisement, asnearlyasitsmere decree can, has abolished public servitude; how,then,does

thisoldun-American, undemocraticidea of-sub-jugation,whichourBritish mother countryand Europe as well are so fast repudiating

—

how

does it remain?

Was

it not founded in these

two forms of slavery?

The

mistake liesjust there:

They

were founded in it,and removing themhas notremovedit.

It has always been hard for the North to understandthe alacritywithwhichthe ex-slave-holderlearned to

condemn

asa moral and

eco-nomicerror that slaveryindefense ofwhich he

endured four years of desolating war. But it was genuine, and here is the explanation:

He

believedpersonalenslavementessential to subju-gation. Emancipation at one stroke proved it

34

THE

NEGRO

QUESTION,

was not Butitproved nomore. Unfortunately

for the whole Nation there was already before emancipation came, a defined status, a peculiar niche, waiting for freed negroes.

They

were

nothing new.

Nor

wasit

new

to lose personal ownershipinone'sslave.

When,

under emanci-pation,rio one elsecould

own

him,

we

quickly

saw he wasnotlostatall. There hestood, beg-garto iis for

room

for the sole of his foot,the land andall itsappliances ours,and he,

by

the

stress of his daily needs, captive to the land.

The

moment

hefellto

work

ofhis

own

free will,

we

sawthat emancipation was even more ours than his; public order stood fast, our

homes

weresafe,ourfiresidesuninvaded;hestillserved,

we

stillruled; allneedofholdinghiminprivate

bondage was disproved,and

when

the notion of necessityvanished the notion ofright vanished with it. Emancipationhaddestroyedprivate,but

it had not disturbed public subjugation.'

The

ex-slavewas not afree

man

; hewasonlyafree

negro.

Then

the winners of the war saw that the great issuewhich hadjeopardized theUnion was

notsettled.

The

Government'sfoundation prin-ciple was not reestablished, and could not be while millionsof the country'spopulation were

THE NEGRO

QUESTION. ₃₅

should judge,and whatshould be law. But, as

we

haveseen, the absolutecivil equalityof pri-vately and socially unequal

men

was not the

whole American idea. Itwas counterbalanced

by anenlargedapplication ofthesameprinciple inthe absoluteequalityofunequal Statesinthe FederalUnion,one ofthe greatestwilling con-cessionsever

made by

strongerpolitical bodies to weaker ones in the history ofgovernment.

Now

manifestlythisgreat concessioij of equality

among

the unequal States becomes inordinate, unjustand dangerous

when

millionsofthe peo-ple in one geographical section, native to the

soil,ofnative parentage,having ties ofinterest

and sympathywith nootherland,arearbitrarily

denied that political equalitywithin the States

which obtainselsewhere throughouttheUnion. Thiswould

make

ustwocountries. But

we

can-not be two merely federated countries without

changing our whole plan ofgovernment; and

we

cannot beonewithouta

common

foundation.

Hence

thefreedman's enfranchisement. Itwas

given

him

not onlybecause enfranchisementwas

hisonlytrue emancipation,but also because it

was,andis, impossible towithholdit andcarry

onAmerican government on American ground

principles. Neither the Nation's honor norits

36

THE

NEGRQ

QUESTIOf^.

Statesto theirautonomywiththeir populations dividedbylinesof statusabhorrenttothewhole

Nationalstructure.

Northern

men

often ask perplexedly if the freedman's enfranchisement was not, as to the South,prematureandinexpedient; while South-ern

men

as oftencallittheonevindictive actof the conqueror,as foolishas.itwascruel. Itwas

cruel.

Not by

intention,and,it

may

be,

unavoid-?ibly,but certainlyit wasnotcruel foritshaste, butfoHtStardiness.

Had

enfi*anchisement

come

intoeffect,asemancipationdid,while the

smoke

of the war's lastshot was still in theair,

when

force still ruled unquestioned, and civil order

andsystem hadnot yetsupersededmartial law, the agonies, the shame and the incalculable lossesof the Reconstruction periodthatfollowed

might have been spared the South and the Nation, Instead there

came

two unlucky post-ponements, the slow doling out of

re-enfranchise-mentto the best intelligence ofSouthern white societyand thedelayofthe freedman's enfran-chisement

—

his civil emancipation

—

until the "Old South," instead of reorganizing public society in

harmony

with the National idea, largely returned to its entrenchments in the notionofexclusive white rule. Then,too late to averta

new

strife,and as little

more

than a

THE NEGRO

QUESTION. _3/

defensiveoffset,thefreedman was investedwith citizenship,andthe experiment begunoftrying to establish a form of public order, wherein,

underapoliticalequalityaccordedbyallcitizens, toall citizens,

new

and old,intelligenceand

vir-tuewould besofreeto combine,and ignorance

andvice feelso free to divide,as to insurethe majority'sfreechoice ofrulersofatleastenough

intelligence and virtue to secure safety, order

and progress. This experience, the North be-lieved, would succeed, and since this was the organic embodiment of the American idea for

whichithadjustshedseasof blood,itstandsto reasonthe North would nothave allowed itto

fail. Butthe oldSouth,still bleedingfrom her

thoysandwounds,butasbraveas

when

shefired

herfirstgun,believed notonlythat the

experi-ment would fail,but also thatitwas dangerous and dishonorable.

And

to-day,both in North andSouth, a widespread impressionprevails that thisisthe experimentwhich was

made

and did in fact fail. Whereas it is just what theOld Southneverallowedtobetried.

This is thewholesecretoftheNegro Ques~

tion's vitalforce to-day.

And

yet thestruggle in the Southern States has never been

by

the blacks for and by the whites against a black supremacy, but onlyforandagainstanarbitrary

38

THE NEGRO

QUESTION.

pure white supremacy.

From

theveryfirstuntil thisday,inallthefreedman'sintellectualcrudity,

he has held fast to theone true,National

doc-trineof theabsenceof privilegeandtheruleof

all by all, through the

common

and steadfast consentofalltothefreeandfrequentchoiceof themajority.

He

has neverrejectedwhitemen's

political fellowship orleadershipbecauseitwas

white,but onlyandalways

when

itwasunsound

in this doctrine. Hisparty has never been a purely black party in fact or principle.

The

" solid black vote"is only

by

outside pressure

solidified about aprincipleofAmerican liberty,

whichis itselfagainst solidityand destroys the politicalsolidityof classes wherever it hasfree play. Butthe" solidwhite vote"

—

whichisnot solid

by

including all whites, but because no

colored

man

cantrulyenteritsranks,

much

less its councils, without accepting an emasculated emancipation

—

the solidwhite vote issolid,not

by outside pressure biit by inherent principle. Solid twiceover;first,ineachState,fromsincere motivesof self-preservation,solid inkeeping the old servile class,

by

arbitrary classification, ser-vile; and then solid again bya tacit leagueof

Southern States around the assumed right of eachState separately topostponea trueand

THE

NEGRO

QUESTION. ₃₉

that, with full American liberty

—

this and no

more

—

to all alike,the freedmanwouldhimself usurp the arbitrary domination

now

held over

him

andplunderanddestroysociety.

So, then,the Southern questionat itsrootis

simplywhether there is any real ground suffi-cient to justify this fear and the attitude taken against it. Only remove this fear, which rests

on amajority of thewholewhite South despite

all its splendid, well-proved courage, and the question ofright, inlaw.and inmorals,will van-ishalong with the notionof necessity.

Whoever

attempts to remove this apprehen-sionmust meetitin two forms: First,fearof a

hopelesswreckofpublicgovernment bya

com-pletesupremacyof thelowermass;andsecond,

fear of a yet

more

dreadful wreck of private societyinadelugeof social equality.

III.

Now,

as to public government, the freedman, whatever

may

besaidofhis mistakes,has never

shown

an intentional preference for anarchy.

Had

he such a bent he would have betrayed

something of it

when

our civil war offered as

wide an opportunity for its indulgence as any

millionsinbondageever had.

He

has

shown

at leastasprompta choicefor peaceandorder as

40

THE

NEGRO

QUESTION

any "_{lower million}" _{ever showed.}

_The

_vices said tobehisininordinatedegreeareonlysuch

as always go with degradation, and especially with a degraded status; and when,in

Recon-struction years,heheld powerto

make

and

un-make

laws, amid all his degradation, all the

effortsto confinehimstill toanarbitrary servile status,and all hisvicious special legislation,he

neverremovedthe penaltiesfrom anythingthat theworldat largecallsacrime. Neitherdidhe

ever

show

any serious disposition to establish racerule.

The

wholespiritofhisemancipation

and enfranchisement, and his whole struggle, was,and is,to putrace ruleofall sorts under

foot,and set up the

common

ruleofall.

The

fearof anarchyin the Southern States,then,is

onlythat perfectly naturalandlargelyexcusable

fearthat besetsthe upper ranksof society every-where, and often successfully tempts them to

commitinequitable usurpations; and yet afear

ofwhichno

amount

ofpoweror privilege ever relieves

them

—

thefearthat the stupid,the des-tituteandtheviciouswill combineagainstthem andrule

by

sheer weight ofnumbers.

Majorityruleisanunfortunateterm,inthatit falselyimplies thisvery thing; whereas its

mis-sion in

human

affairsistoremovepreciselythis

THE

NEGRO

QUESTION. 4

1

italwayscan. Allthe greatmajority everstrives foris the power to choose by what,and what

kindof,a minorityitshallberuled.

What

that choosing majorityshallconsistof,and hencethe

wisdom

and public safety of its choice, will

depend mainlyupon the attitude ofthose

who

hold, against the power of mere numbers, the

fargreater powersofintelligence,ofvirtueand

ofwealth. If these claim,

by

virtue of their

own

self-estimate,an arbitrary right to rule and

say

who

shall rule,thelower elements ofsociety willbebound together

by

a justsense of griev-ance and a well-grounded reciprocationof dis-trust; the forced rulewill continue only till it

can be overturned, and while it lasts will be

attended by largely uncounted but enormous

losses,moralandmaterial, toallranksof society.

But ifthe wise, the upright,the wealthy,

com-mand

the courage ofour American fathers to claimforall

men

a

common

political equality, withoutrank, stationorprivilege,andgive their

fullandfreeadherencetogovernmentbythe con-sentofallto the rule ofa minorityempowered

by

the choice ofthemajorityfrequentlyappealedto withoutrespectofpersons,then ignorance, des-titution andvicewill not combine to

make

the choosing majority.

They

cannot.

They

carry in themselves the very principle of

disintegra-4i

THE

NEGRO

QUESTION.

tion. Withoutthe outsidepressure of

common

andsore grievance,theyhavenolasting powers

of cohesion. The. minority always

may

rule. It need never rule

by

force ifit will rule by

equity. This is the faith ofour fathers ofthe Revolution,and no communityinAmerica that

ha^builtsqUarelyand onlyuponit has foundit

unwiseor unsafe.

Thisisasserted with all the terrible misrule of Reconstruction days in full remembrance.

For,first beitsaidagain, thatsad historycame

notbyareignof equalrightsandmajorityrule,

butthrough an attemptto establish themwhile thegreater partof thewealthandintelligenceof the region involved held out sincerely, stead-fastlyand desperatelyagainstthem,andfor the preservation of unequal privileges and class

domination. )

The

Reconstruction party, even

withall itstaxing, stealing and defrauding,and

with theupper ranks ofsociety atwarasfiercely againstits best principles asagainstitsbad prac-tices,plantedthewhole Southwithpublicschools

forthepoorandilliterateofbothraces,welcomed and cherishedthemissionariesofhigher

educa-tion,and,

when

itfell,leftthemstillboth systems, with the master-class converted to a belief in theiruseandnecessity.

The

historyof

trium-THE

NEGRO

QUESTION. 43

phant proofthatallour

Americam

schemeneeds to

make

itsafe and good,in the Southas

else-where,isconsenttoitand participationinit by

thelaw-abiding,intelligentportionsofthe people, withone

common

freedom,inand between high

lifeandlow, tocombine,in civilmatters, against ignoranceandvice,in high lifeandlow, across, yet without disturbing,the lines ofrace or any

otherlineofprivaterank orpredilection.

There arehundredsofthousandsinthe South-ern States who, denying this,would promptly

concede itall in theoryandin practice,butfor the second form of their fear: the belief that therewould result a confusion of the races in private society,followedbyintellectualandmoral

debasement and

by

amongrel posterity. Unless this can be

shown

to be an

empty

fear, our

Southern problemcannotbesolved.

IV.

The

mere ambiguity of a term here h'els cost

much

loss.

The

double meaningof thewords

"social"and"_society"_{seemstohavebeenareal}

drawback ontheprogress ofpoliticalideas

amc

ig.,

tjiewhite people ofthe South.

The

clear and

dehni^e term, civil equality, they have

made

synonymous

with the veryvague and indefinite term,social equality,andthen turnedandtotally

44

THE NEGRO

QUESTION,

misapplied it to the sacred domainsof private society. Ifthe idea ofcivilequalityhadrightly

anysuchapplication, theirhorrbrwouldcertainly

be just.

To

aforced private social equalitythe

rest of theworld hasthe same aversion,but it

knows

andfeels thatsuchathingisasimpossible infactasitismonstrousinthought. Americans, in general,

know

by acentury's experience, that civil equalitymakes nosuch proposal,bears no

suchresults.

They know

that public society

—

civil society

—

comprises one distinctgroup of

mutual relations, and private society entirely another,and that it is simplyand onlyevil to confuse the two.

(They

see that public society comprisesallthoserelationsthat areimpersonal, unselective,and in which all men,of whatever personal inequality,should stand equal.

They

recognize Jthat private society is its .opposite hemisphere; thatitispersonal,selective, assort-ive, ignores civil equality without violating it, and forms itself entirely upon mutual private preferencesandaffinities.

They

agreethatcivil status has of rightno special value in private society,andthat their private social status has rightlynospecial valueintheir public social

—

i. e., their merely civil

—

relations. Evfen the

Southern freedman is perfectly clear on these points;and Northernmindsare oftenpuzzledto

THE

NEGRO

QUESTION. ₄₅

know

why

the whites of our Southern States, almostalone, should be beset

by

a confusion of ideas that costs

them

all the tremendous differ-ences,spiritual and material, betweenastateof truceandastateofpeace.

Butthe matter hasa verynaturalexplanation. Slaverywasbothpublicandprivate,domesticas well as civil.

By

the plantation system the

members

of the master-classwere almost con-stantly brought into closer contact with slaves than with their social equals.

The

defensive lineofprivatesocietyinitsupper rankswas an

attenuated one; hence there was a constant,

well-groundedfearthat socialconfusion

—

for

we

may

cast asidetheterm"_{social equality"as}

pre-posterous

—

that social confusion would be wrought by the powerful temptation of close

andcontinualcontact between twoclasses

—

the upper powerfulandbold,the underhelplessand

sensual,andneitheronesocially responsible tothe other, either publiclyorprivately. Ithadalready brought about the utter confusion ofrace and

corruptionof societyin the

West

Indies and in

Mexico,andtheonly escape from a similarfate

seemed to our Southern master-class to be to annihilate and forget the boundaries between

public right and private choice, and treat the appearance anywhere of any one visibly of

46

THE NEGRO

QUESTION.

Africantincture and notvisibly

a

servant, asan assaultuponthe purityofprivate society, tobe

repelledonthe instant,without questionoflaw or authority, as one would fight fire.

Now,

under slavery, though confessedly inadequate,

thiswasafter all theonly

way

; andallthatthe whites in theSouthern States have overlooked

isthatthe conditions are changed,andthatthis policyhas

become

unspeakablyworsethan use-less. Dissimilar races are not inclined to

mix

spontaneously.

The

common

enjoymentofequal

civil rightsnevermixed two stjich races; ithas alwaysbeen

some

oppressivedistinctionbetween them that,

by

holding out temptations to vice instead of rewards to virtue, has doneit; and

because slavery is the foulest of oppressionsit makes the mixture of races in morally foulest form. Racefusion is not essential to National unity;such unityrequiresonlycivilandpolitical,

notprivatesocial,homogeneity.

The

contactof superiorandinferior isnot ofnepessity degrad-ing; it is the kind ofcontact that degrades or

elevates; and public equality^

—

equal _public

rights,

common

public liberty, equal mutual

responsibility

—

this is the great essential to be-neficent contact acrossthelinesofphysical, intel-lectual and moral difference, and the greatest safeguard ofprivate society that

human

lawor

THE

NEGRO

Q UESTION. ₄₇

V.

Thus

we

seethat,sofarfrom a complete

eman-cipationof the freedman bringing those results in the SouthernStates which the white people there so justlyabhor,but so needlesslyfear,itis

the only safe and effectual preventive of those

results,andfinalcure of astateofinflammation

whichnothingbut the remainingvestiges ofan incompletely abolishedslavery perpetuates.

The

abolitionof the present stage ofsiegerestswith theSouthernwhite man.

He

canabolishit,if

he will,with safety and at once.

The

results will notbe the return of Reconstruction days, nor the incoming ofanysortof black rule,nor thesupremacyof the lowermass

—

eitherwhite, black ormixed; northeconfusion of ranksand

races in private society; nor the thronging of blackchildren intowhite public schools,which

never happened even in theworst Reconstruc-tiondays; nor anyattendanceatall of colored

childreninwhite schools or of whiteincolored, savewhereexclusionwould

work

needless hard-ship; norany

new

necessity toteach children

—

whatthey already

know

sowell

—

thatthepublic school relation is not a private social relation; noranygreater or less necessityfor parentsto overseetheirchildren'schoice ofcompanions in

48

THE

NEGRO

QUESTION.

school orout; nor a tenth as

much

oras

mis-chievous playmating of white and colored

chil-drenastherewasinthedays ofslavery;norany

new

obstructionofcivilor criminal justice; nor anyneedofsubmitting to anysort^foflensive contactfrom a colored person, thatitwould be

right to resentifhewerewhite. Butsevendark

American-born millions would find themselves freedfromtheirconstantliabilityto public, legal-ized indignity.

They

wouldfindthemselves,for thefirsttimein their history,holding a patent, with thesealofpublic approval,forallthe aspi-rationsofcitizenshipandall the publicrewards of virtue and intelligence.

Not

merelywould

theirmillionvoters find themselvesadmittedto,

and faithfully counted at, the polls

—

whether

they are already or notisnot here discussed

—

but theywouldfindthemselves,asneverbefore, at liberty to choose between political parties.

Theseare

some

of thegood

—

andthereneed be

no ill

—

changes thatwill

come

whenevera

ma-jorityoftheSouthernwhitesare willing tovote forthem.

There is avague hope.'much

commoner

in

theNorth than in theSouth,that somehow,if

everybodywillsit still,"time"will bring these changes.

A

largemercantile element,especially,

THE

NEGRO

QUESTION. ₄₉

toobusytounderstandthatwhatever peoplelets politicsaloneisdoomed. Thereare things that

mere time can do,but only vigorous agitation can betrusted tochangethefundamental convic-tionsonwhicha peoplehasbuiltsociety.

Time

rnaydoitatlast, butitislikely to

make

bloody

work

ofit. Foreitherfoundationideaon which

society

may

build must, if Xei, alone, multiply

upon itself

The

elevation idea brings safety,

and safetyconstantly

commends

and intensifies itselfand the elevation idea.

The

subjugation ideabrings danger,andthesense ofdanger con-stantly intensifies the subjugation idea.

Time

may

be countedon forsuchlighterthingsasthe removal of animosities and suspicions,and this inourNation's caseithasdone. NeitherNorth

nor South

now

holds,or suspects the other of holding,any grudgeforthelatewar. But

trust-ingtimetodomorethan thisis buttrusting to luck,andtrusting toluckisacrime.

What

is luckdoing? Here is the exclusive white partyinthe SouthernStates callingitself,

anditselfonly,

"The

South,"prayingtheNation to hold ofif, not merely its interference, but its

counsel

—

evenits notice

—

whileit, not removes, butrefines,polishes,decorates and disguises to

its

own

and the Nation's eyes,thiscorner-stone ofall its

own

andthe South's,thewholeSouth's