Page:The Reminiscences of Carl Schurz (Volume Three).djvu/565

 Bismarck has told that story so often that he must actually have come to believe it.”

The method followed by Mr. Schurz was that of the historian rather than of the mere recollection-monger, and thus it entailed great labor. His zest increased as the work progressed; but once more his characteristic preference for the present over the past diverted him temporarily into another, but related, field. Reviewing his own early experiences in American politics brought the old emotions of the slavery issues before his mind, and current discussion of the disquieting conditions in the South in respect to the races combined with the reminiscent influence to turn him to a new study of the negro problem. His essay on this subject was published in McClure's Magazine for January, 1904. Its spirit was substantially the same that pervaded the two papers by Mr. Schurz on the same general subject at nearly twenty-year intervals in the past—the report to President Johnson in 1865 and the essay on “The New South” in 1885. He found in the developments of the last two decades no reason for discarding his early diagnosis of Southern ills or his early prescription for their remedy. The denial of political rights to the blacks be deplored as full of peril to both races; and he earnestly preached the gospel of education to economic and social usefulness as the sole means of salvation both to the negroes and to Southern society as a whole. He keenly desired to arouse popular freethinking on the subject, and was confident that out of his rich experience and study he could be helpful. But the prevailing thought of the time was alien to his philosophy. Expansion had emphasized the concept “inferior races,” and thus had given dominance to views about the negroes which he could furnish with no support. In describing the purpose of his essay to a friend he wrote: “I have touched the moral and ideal aspect of the matter but slightly