Page:The leopard's spots - a romance of the white man's burden-1865-1900 (IA leopardsspotsrom00dixo).pdf/363

 Negro question has already been settled. The nation has become a reality not a name."

"And that is why I know, deacon," insisted the Preacher, "that we have not only not settled this question,—we haven't even faced the issues. Nationality demands solidarity. And you can never get solidarity in a nation of equal rights out of two hostile races that do not intermarry. In a Democracy you can not build a nation inside of a nation of two antagonistic races, and therefore the future American must be either an Anglo Saxon or a Mulatto. And if a Mulatto, will the future be worth discussing?"

"I never thought of it in just that way," answered the deacon.

"It is my work to maintain the racial absolutism of the Anglo-Saxon in the South, politically, socially, economically."

"But can it be done? I see many evidences of a mixture of blood already," said the deacon seriously.

"Yes, we are doing it. This mixture you observe has no social significance, for a simple reason. It is all the result of the surviving polygamous and lawless instincts of the white male. Unless by the gradual encroachments of time, culture, wealth and political exigencies, the time comes that a negro shall be allowed freely to choose a white woman for his wife, the racial integrity remains intact. The right to choose one's mate is the foundation of racial life and of civilisation. The South must guard with flaming sword every avenue of approach to this holy of holies. And there are many subtle forces at work to obscure these possible approaches."

"Well, no matter," broke in the deacon, "come with us, and you will have more power to touch with your ideas the wealth and virtue of the whole nation."