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14
THE HESPERIAN,
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THE RACE PROBLEM..
W. II. Wisk, Dcpauw University, Grccncastlc, Ind.
Equality is a fundamental principle ol democracy. Gov
ernment of and by tlie people pic-supposes equal responsibil
ities, equal privileges. Democracy teaches that these mutual
lcsponsibilitics and privileges arc not dependent upon legal
enactment, but that they inhere in the very nature of man.
The consciousness of equal right to secure wealth and honor,
to attain knowledge and fame, to voice his convictions con
cerning the common-weal, elevates man, and gives him sub
stantial grounds for supporting the government which sccurss
him in these inherent rights. The attainment of this equal
ity has been the effort of American statesmanship from the
beginning. It penned that sublime declaration, "All men arc
created equal. All American history has been a struggle to
to realize this ideal oi equality.
On the 22nd of December, 1620, after a boisterous pas
sage of some sixty days, the Mayflower anchored off the
bleak coast of Massachusetts. On Plymouth Rock, 'mid
winter's .chilling blast, the Pilgrim fathers first set foot. These
were they who came to a new world for liberty of conscience,
liberty of action, and to lay broad and deep the foundations
of freedom. Contc.nporaneous with this event, there sailed
up tlie river to Jamestown another vessel, different in char
acter and purpose. On the beach there landed, not the re
joicing company as at Plymouth, hearts swelling with praise
and gratitude, but twenty shackled negro slaves. In an un
known country among an unknown pcoplc,in bondage they
were doomed to pass their existence.
From Plymouth dates liberty in America; from Jamestown,
slavery. As, amid sterling manhood, loyal hearts, heroic de
votion to duty, liberty flourished, so, among Jamestown's
settlers, slavery took root. The civilization of Plymouth,
based upon equality, embodied freedom of conscience,
freedom of thought, a government of and for the
many; that of Jamestown, based on inequality, embod
ied serfdom of intellect, slavery of man, a government of
and for the few. While the character of the Pilgrim fathers
determined the northern ideal, this ideal had a reflex action
on the people, fixing and strengthening their convictions
upon freedom. Likewise, as the principle of the Jamestown
settlers was such as to tolerate a system of slavery, so slav
ery had a reflex action on the Southern character, perpetuat
ing aristocracy.
The Union of 17S7 was a compiomicc of these two radi
cally different civilizations: the freedom of the North joined
to the slavery of the South; the union of free states and slave.
Hut these two civilizations, hostile in every principle, com
menced the conflict for the mastery of the nation. The first
fifty years records an an almost uninterrupted victory for
slavery. Put the "idea of freedom, plajited so deeply at Ply
mouth, could not be defeated. Intensified by English despot
ism and Southern dictation, it asserted itself as never before.
Placing in the Missouri compromise its first solemn protest
against slavery, growing stranci through the stormy days ol
Texas, speaking in the logic of Sumner, the eloquence of
Phillips, this idea of freedom seized the Northern hcait,
threw off the yoke of Southern rule, and in the election of
Lincoln, struck the first real blow for freedom. Gathering
renewed courage with victory, growing more intense with
defeat, it became the inspiration of every patriotic soldier,
calling hiin forth to deeds of valor and heroic self-denial.
This that led the charge at Gettysburg, stormed the heights
at Lookout, directed the hand of Lincoln and swept to Appa
mattox invincible.
Written by pen a century before, the freedom and equality
of man were now written by force of arms. Put the conflict
was not ended. War could assert the principle of freedom;
it could not apply it. It could change the legal relations be
tween master and slave, but could not bring true freedom to
the negro nor change the character of the Southern heart.
The old civilization of the South could not be changed in a
day. The same contempt for the negro existed as before.
The same spirit that made it a crime to teach a slave was
seen afterwards in the opposition to all measures looking to
the elevation ot the black race to an equality with the white.
Under these conditions there could be b.U one result: the
continued rule of the minority, the continued suppression of
the negro a suppression of manhood before which mere
physical bondage fades into insignificance. Daily, laws are
defied, and rights dear to every American heart trampled
under foot, Daily is heard the wail of negrdes, groping 'mid
darkness, and praying for the sunlight of true freedom. Given
just enough education to realize the darkness that enshrouds
them, j- t a touch of Christianity to show the blackness
of superstition, just a spark of manhood to feci their degra
dation. Such is the result of our freedom by arms, the
the equality secured by our laws. The same arrogance that
ruled the negro for a century in accord with law now rules
him in defiance of law, denying him political and civil rights,
consigning his spirit to an unfilled thirst for knowledge. If
this be the lasting condition of the negro, better never his
freedom, better ever the old bondage of the body than the
awakening to a bondage of spirit and given no means of free
dom. Pettcr never the civil war, with all its horrors, than
the realization of such equality. Vain the sacrifice ol a mil
lion lives, vain those broken hearts and broken homes, crim
inal the deeds of war and death, unless sanctified by the po
litical equality of the negro.
The attainment of this equality, the settlement of this
conflict of races, is the problem of the hour: a problcrn with
out precedent or parallel, a problem of appalling conditions,
and one to which we must address ourselves now, ere race
prejudice rouses us with drum beat and bugle call.
Freedom and equality can be attainedonly through the
operation of natural forces. Race prejudice must be de
stroyed, and the South reconstructed upon piinciples of equal
ity, intelligence and industrial prosperity. Intelligence and
equality are the basis of republican government; industrial
prosperity ts the incentive to that individual effort which cre
ates property, and interests the individual in the government
which secures to him the fruits of his labor.
There can never be political equality between an ignorant
race and an intelligent race. Intelligence will not submit to
the rule of ignorance; ignorance cannot maintain itself in
competition with intelligence. The ignorant negro, clannish,
credulous, impulsive, tempts every art of the demagogue.
Holding false ideas of loyalty to party, he cannot be merged
into both great parties, for he lacks political conviction. He
thus remains a factor strong enough to rule if the while vote
divides the slightest. The negro must have that education
which alone can fit him for the duties of citizenship, which
alone can place him on an equality with the whites; and,
while holding in grateful remembrance the party which freed
him; yet ally himself with the party of his conviction on liv
ing issues. Ignorant and vicious, he stands a menace to our
free institutions; educated, elevated, he becomes a resistless
force for the nation.
The development of industrial pursuits is to be another
factor in solving the problem. A diversity of industries, cor
responding to a diversity of talents and material conditions,
furnishes employment congenial to every class. Thus every
individual becomes a producer, and interested in the stability
of government. To the south lies a country the fairest and
richest on earth: a perfect climate, a fertile soil, mountains
with exhaustive treasures of iron and coal, forests vast and
primeval, rivers running idle to the sea. Of the three essen
tials to all industry, the South has easy control: In cotton, a
fixed monopoly; in iron, a proved supremacy; in lumber, the
reserve supply of the Republic. Capital and labor are the
essentials lor the development of industrial prosperity. The
uncqualed resources of the South, promising large dividends,
invite northern capital and enterprise. The labor of the
negro, adapted to the climate, fitted by years of training, is
to play as important a part in the development of the country
as the capital and push of the North. Capital can be utilised
to best advantage by the negro, adapted as he is to Southern
conditions. Thirty years ago the wealth and power of the
South were centered in the slave; slave labor and agriculture
were the controlling elements. Today agriculture is one of
many industries. Steam and electricity arc superseding the
ponderous water-wheel, and already the Biiminghams and
Selmas of the South arc rivalling the Pittsburghs and Holy
okes of tlie North. For slave labor there is the labor of free
dom. Whctc resources arc so great, where occupations are
diversified, where labor is free, will spring up a system of in
dustry that will dazzle the world. Tlie wealth and power of
the old South is to fade into insignificance when compared
to that of the new. The Southern people are beginning to
realize that the aid of the negro is indispensable to their fu
ture prosperity. Knit together by indissoluble bonds, the
northern capitalist, the Southern land owner, and the black
laborer arc realizing their mutual dependence. Every onward
step in industrial prosperity brings them nearer the goal of
equality and harmony.
The operation of these lorces in the South wi'l introduce.
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