Page:The Afro-American Press.djvu/519

Rh papers are forever filled with articles on some phase of the race question. They are more or less of an abusive and disturbing nature. They delight in advocating race emigration, mob violence at the polls, and the supremacy of one people over another; forgetting that wealth and intelligence will rule. The Afro-American knows he can't rule as yet, and does not desire to; so it is a waste of precious time to discuss the matter. These editors would be without a subject to write upon, if they were to let their hobby alone. Their littleness can be seen at once. It is the same class of "scribblers" whom The Chattanooga Times so completely condemns in the following editorial paragraph: "We believe these scribblers are responsible, in a great measure, for the existing discontent and defiant mood of the negroes, and we do not wonder that discontent exists. The negro is an impressionable creature, whose emotions, rather than perceptions and judgment, determine his moods and actions. It is not to be supposed that he will be content under the rude clamor raised in favor of his exclusion, first, from all rights and privileges heretofore granted him, and, finally, from the country where he was born and reared, and which his labor has enriched and is still enriching."

These editors also glory in encouraging lynch law, by publishing the press dispatches, under such bold captions as "," "." The person lynched may deserve speedy punishment in that way, yet the better element of the press should encourage a respect for justice and the eternal principles of law.

It has been estimated that of the illiterate people of the South, at least a million are poor whites. Ignorance being a dangerous element in the white man, as well as the black, it is a wonder that they have not come together with a greater crash.