No Prece this History affords us no precedents to aid in the solution of this problem. Our democratic theory of government, predicated upon the absolute equality of all dents for participants, an equality limited by no restrictions of race, religion, wealth, or hereditary standing, forbids the solution which in times of antiquity would have been of easy adoption, and which, even in our day, other nations, basing their powers of government upon different principles, could consistently apply. Problem. In his recent work on Greater America, Archibald R. Colquhoun, a distinguished English student of race problems, after discussing the unsatisfactory condition of the negro question in the United States, has this suggestion to make: If the American would acknowledge freely and honestly the breakdown of the democratic system, would accept his position as the dominant factor in a great republican empire, would cease to endeavor to square his theory with his practice, he might still advance along the paths of progress, might achieve the freest and most liberal form of government, but would still not be debarred from dealing justly with alien and subject races. We cannot look back for guidance to the states of antiquity, where might alone ruled and slavery was the common condition of all inferior races. Greece developed a citizenship of the highest order, based upon the foundation of human slavery, and Roman citizenship was extended only to the few favored dwellers upon the Italian peninsula. No theory of human brotherhood existed to embarrass these conquering peoples in their treatment of the unfortunate nations whom they subjugated. When later the clash of contending races came between the Christians and Moors in Spain, it was solved, as all such problems of old were solved, by the truculent processes of extermination and exile. But better conditions now prevail in Europe, and in our time we have little Belgium, where the Celtic Walloon faces the Teutonic Fleming across a line of sharp demarcation in race, language, and religion, yet preserving harmony and prosperity through their relationship. In Switzerland three distinct races, French, German, and Italian,-strongly differing in religion, language, and physical characteristics, intermingle in substantial accord in carrying on the work of this progressive and contented commonwealth. Austria, containing a dozen jarring racial elements, contrives to preserve a semblance of consistent government among them, founded in large part upon an equality of influence proportionate to population. Some remote analogy between our problem and the relations of England and Ireland might be established, but certainly no contemplated solution of the Irish problem can be considered as offering to this country a precedent for treatment of the black man. England finds little or no difficulty in controlling the numerous subject races scattered throughout her broad dominion, although at the present moment a difficulty quite akin to ours appears to be looming up in South Africa, where the black man is called upon to work or disappear before the wave of advancing civilization, and the unrest of her Hindoo subjects is fast becoming a matter of serious concern. But that country has no finespun theories upon the philosophic problems of human rights, no great declaration which, proclaiming the equality of all mankind, hampers her in her practical administration of affairs, and she has no subject race intermingling with her people upon the sacred soil of Old England. So that, look around as we may, we find no other nation facing a situation bearing resemblance to our present diffi culty, and no problem of like quality and magnitude which has received solution in the past upon lines which we could adopt consistently with the high character of our Christian civilization. Are we then to abandon hope? By no means. As the gravity of this novel and most baneful of problems discloses itself, so much the greater in proportion must be the earnestness of our attempt to bring it to practical solution. To Whom To this end, we must first consider to whom does this problem, in the solution of which we are about to engage, belong. The common practice is to dispose of the subject offhand by saying, "It is the problem of the South,-let them work it out down there." And Southern students and statesmen are apt to regard it as something of an intrusion into their affairs for one of the North even to suggest that their section should not be entrusted with the final application of remedies for the evil, and that the trouble is of national proportions. Thomas Nelson Page, who has written much, and, with some qualifications, wisely, upon the subject, defines the problem as that of the Southerner, upon the theory that as the great majority of negroes are congregated in the former slave states, of necessity the problem must be worked out in that region, and the solution of the South accepted by the nation. In this he represents the general sentiment of his section, which is inclined to consider any discussion by even well informed and kindly intentioned Northerners as an interference with its domestic affairs. But this view can immediately be seen to be superficial, as the evil is one which affects every section of the country, and any measure in relation to it taken by Mississippi has an instant moral and political effect upon the entire North. It will not answer in this enlightened period to say that the South has solved the problem in a manner satisfactory to itself. The brain and conscience of the nation must be enlisted in the duty of finding the best solution. The North, therefore, is doubly concerned in the solution of the problem, quite as much because it bears its full share of the responsibility for the existence of the negro in the South as because any adjustment of the difficulty must be carried out with the aid and liberal assistance of the former section. At the close of the war the North undertook to establish the status of the negro, to regulate his relationships, social and political, with the whites of the South, and the influence of the measures adopted during the reconstruction era has brought about the present condition; so that both for reasons founded on the past and looking to the future, the solution of the problem is quite as much the duty of New England, New York, and the West, as it is that of the former slave-holding states. Accepting the truth of this proposition, we reach the conclusion that the problem is one for the nation as a whole to solve. No section can be exonerated from sharing the burden of the obligation. The North does not constitute the nation any more than the South, the East stands in the same relation to the question as the West. All sections are concerned alike in the performance of the stupendous task of finding a remedy for the evil, and to the reason, conscience, energy, intelligence, and high devotion to duty of the ninety million of American citizens, conjointly and cooperatively, must be entrusted this momentous undertaking. But after all has been done that may be done, and all has been said that may be said, ultimately and in the larger sense, the problem is that of the negro himself. His race is not only the one most intimately concerned in its disposition, but, in the last analysis, it is the only one that can effect a complete and honorable solution. In the individual life each separate soul must, by unaided toil, in loneliness of spirit, in hours of labor, in striving and ofttimes disheartenment, develop the valuable qualities with which it has been endowed by its Creator. So the great master-races of the world-Greeks, Romans, Germans, French, and English-have each in its own time, and in its own manner, carried forward the progressive civilization of the world by doing the creative work of its own development. If the solution of the problem of the individual life be the development of character, and this perfected alone by love, labor, self-reliance, and chastisement of spirit, then the great racial problem now under discussion can only be solved by the exercise on the part of the negro himself of some of the highest and most resplendent qualities of which human nature is capable. This, then, is the task of the negro, and it is only by his resolute determination to spare himself no toil, to shrink from no labor and no sacrifice, to face all perils and hardships, in order to achieve for his race a position among the nations of the earth, that the solution of the problem may be realized. The world may look on, hope and sympathize, and to a limited degree assist, but unless the negro population of this country arises to the proper perception of the gravity of the situation, and grasps the present opportunity to establish itself in an independent position, no matter what other outcome of the problem here discussed may result, the word failure will be inscribed upon the record of the ages against the name of the African race. |