CHINESE vs. NEGROES
.... AS ....
American Citizens.

On the Advantages of the Proposed Negro Colonization in South America.

AN INTERESTING DISCUSSION.

Says Negro Possesses Qualities That Render People Readily Assimilable Into the Body Politic.

The following letter and paper by S. R. Scottron, a member of the School Board and one of the best known and most highly esteemed Afro-Americans in Brooklyn, will be of interest at this time:

“The rather unusual activity of lawless persons throughout the country of late, especially the lynching element, has started anew a flood of opinions and discussion of what is termed the ‘negro problem.’ As of yore, diverse opinions, sometimes diametrically opposite, are expressed. There is one striking likeness in all, however, and that is, the evident belief of the writers that each has discovered the panacea for the great negro ‘affliction.’ The virtues and vices of the negro are discussed at length, all seeming to forget that there is nothing especially remarkable in negro humanity differing from the balance of mankind under the same circumstances. He is ignorant, dirty, vicious and lazy, or, intelligent, clean, peaceful and thrifty under precisely the same circumstances that affect the balance of mankind.

“I doubt very much whether there is any such thing as an unsolved ‘negro problem,’ since the negro was granted the same rights and privileges as others enjoy under the Constitution. There certainly was a problem before that, but when the government clothed the negro with the full rights of freemen the problem was solved, and there remains now but to allow the slow process of time to adjust ourselves to the situation.

“The negro is a citizen of the United States, invested with the suffrage, guarded by the most solemn and positive safeguards, and the nation will never turn back the pages. And all that now remains, as said, is to adjust ourselves to these unalterable conditions. The age of miracles is probably past, certain it is that this is not an age of miracles; hence, we do not look for the elevation of a despised and formerly enslaved race to the full plane of its surroundings in a day, nor in any time short of that usually required to elevate mankind generally. The process seems slow and discouraging except, possibly, to those who have lived long enough to comprehend the changes that have been wrought over a period of many years. Remarkable advancement has been made by the whole people since the proclamation of freedom was issued, and we should be well satisfied that on every hand progress is reported and manifest.

“Whatever may be the treatment accorded the negro, he nevertheless, recognizes the fact that his condition is an improvement upon the condition which might have been his had his progenitors remained in the shade of the Dark Continent. Reckoning over a period of two hundred and fifty years, he has been much the gainer and has no disposition to return to his ancient condition. He has now passed the problematic stage; there is nothing doubtful, untried or unsolved in his case. His is an open book.

“But a new problem, by the fortune of war, now confronts the American people. A new volume was unexpectedly opened on that Sunday morning when Dewey passed the gates at Cavite, and its pages have become the more perplexing as the glory of that day fades in the distance. The negro welcomed the day when the American people gave evidence of the fact that they recognized that the negro problem had been solved, and other subjects occupied their minds. When free trade vs. protection, honest money vs. free silver, became the chief topics of discussion, it was an assurance to the negro of the end of a long drawn out discussion, which had served to keep him upon the surface of a troubled sea. The hour has come when he may sit somewhat complacently in his own secure place in the nation and discuss the desirability of admitting other races to the full enjoyment of American citizenship, and it is to be hoped that his own experience will tend to clarify the atmosphere surrounding him and enable him to deal justly by and be merciful to others, situated in many respects in a position which was once his own.

“The question now before us is how best to serve the nation’s interests in the disposition of or employment of the negro? I believe I can best illustrate the question by instituting a comparison between the negro and the races of men that the fortune of war has placed under our care.

“Under the above caption, in 1891, for some reason which I at this moment do not recall, the Boston Herald was giving in its editorial columns considerable attention to the discussion, ‘Chinese vs. Negroes.’ Several articles appeared in it, justifying its opinions, when occasionally they were disputed by other journals, foremost among which I noted the Boston Journal.

“I recall the matter now because the negro is the recipient of much attention, as before referred to, and because circumstances confronting our government at this time render the subject of extreme importance. Since then the United States has acquired territory very largely inhabited by Chinese and other Asiatic races, and the question becomes important immediately to the American people as to what policy shall be pursued in the future with reference to these races.

“Shall the attempt be made to assimilate and ingraft these upon our tree, or shall they be replaced by negroes?

“Were the fears which moved the American people in the past to exclude Asiatic races justified, or have we seen a new light? Is Christian civilization endangered by the presence of these people? All are potent questions at this time, requiring sound judgment and unerring decision; for we are not building for a day a temporary house, but one which it is hoped shall endure forever.

“What may have been the questions which occupied the attention of the American people in the past in regard to the negro as a fit subject for assimilation within the body politic, there can be but little or no good reason for continuing those discussions now. Since the negro is already admitted to citizenship, guarded by constitutional enactment, and, whatever may be the difference of opinions as to his mental capacity, as compared with the Caucasian or Asiatic, there nevertheless remains the gratifying fact that no one has attempted to prove that his presence is in the least threatening to our Christian institutions. Indeed, it may be said, upon the other hand, that many thoughtful persons regard the negro’s presence as a comforting assurance, a bulwark for the preservation of the faith of the founders of our government.”

Writing now from memory, not having a copy of any of the articles referred to as having appeared in the Boston Herald, I will briefly outline as best I can their import. The position taken by the editor was not new, but one assumed by many able persons in similar discussion. “The Chinese,” he says, “are an ancient race, with a civilization antedating our own; largely progressed in the arts and sciences; having made many important discoveries before our own age. While on the other hand, the negro comes from the wilds of an unknown continent, a barbarian, a slave, mean of intellect and of forbidding mien, with thick lips, black face, flat nose and woolly hair; who has not in the interval of time shown the high capacity of the Caucasian for improvement.

“The fathers of the republic,” he further says, “while providing an asylum for the oppressed of other lands, nevertheless were desirous of attracting hither only the most intelligent peoples, depending upon these rather for the perpetuity of republican institutions.” But, as we have said, the negro has been already admitted to citizenship, and the question closed in one of its aspects; so that the only question remaining for us to consider is, what I may regard as a corollary to the first proposition, viz.; negroes having been admitted to citizenship, shall we not now admit the Chinese? If the semi-barbarous negro can be ingrafted upon our body politic, can we not safely extend to these Asiatic races, having centuries of civilization behind them, the same privileges?

Had we not an actual experience with the two races, covering a period sufficient to form a safe judgment, we would very likely jump at a conclusion in answer to the last question and decide it in the affirmative. Experience, however, is a safe teacher.

The difference between the Chinese and negroes is as that between old men, with fixed ideas, and children. If we have ideas and institutions to perpetuate and preserve, we shall entrust and communicate them to children rather than to those grown old in an opposite philosophy and experience. The new born mind is a blank, ready to receive impressions and to develop largely according to its surroundings. Early impressions may never be lost.

The minds of the American negro and the American Indian, considered as adults, were the only maiden minds among all those present in the early days of the colonies and the formative period of the republic. By maiden minds I mean blank minds; minds never before impressed with any phase of civil government; minds ready to receive new impressions; ineradicable impressions. The American negro has never known anything save those things distinctly American. We may have various opinions as to the desires of the forefathers of our republic, and we may differ on many other points, but it may be very safely asserted that we will all agree that, notwithstanding their desire for the preservation of religious freedom, it was, nevertheless, their aim and hope, and it is the aim and hope of their children and grandchildren to found and perpetuate a government immovably fixed upon Christian principles and philosophy. Has it ever occurred to our friend’s mind that the presence of the negro is threatening to that central thought? On the other hand, what of the Chinese?

As we have said, the negro came with his mind a blank, with no preconceived opinions as to forms of government, no attachment to a foreign flag or institutions. No flag, only the American flag; no home save America. The faith of the fathers is his faith. Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson and Grant, his highest conceptions of human greatness. Concord, Lexington and Bunker Hill the shrines of his patriotic pilgrimages. Christ his only refuge in religion. The Sunday of the forefathers his holy day, the Fourth of July his highest patriotic reverence. Christmas and Eastertide his hours of holy reflection. The machinations, seditions and conspiracies of the socialist, communist and anarchist his greatest aversion.

Religious freedom is the law of the land, and yet the most superficial observer is aware that our whole fabric, our whole structure is builded upon Christian philosophy. It is stronger than the written law; upon it is founded the whole law and order of society. It was the faith of the forefathers and upon its philosophy and reasoning was and is based every act, every constitutional engagement, every personal property and public right. These institutions could not have been evolved from minds immersed in centuries of Buddhism, nor can they ever be more than dimly perceptible to its children. Has any one ventured to indict the negro for lack of sympathy for the Christian faith? Of all the people possibly the negro lives nearest the faith of the founders of this government. Of the 50,000 Chinese settled in the City of San Francisco for many years, upon how many has Christianity made the least perceptible impression? There Buddha and Confucius still live.

Maltreat the negro as you may, he is nevertheless American to the core and he will follow the flag wheresoever it leads, Santiago and San Juan Hill he will rush upon to the inspiring strains of “Yankee Doodle” and “The Star Spangled Banner,” insensible to every danger.

Socially ostracise the negro, make rules that bar him from the orders of Masonry, Odd Fellowship and the many American institutions and he will immediately turn up possessed of signs, tokens and passwords of these orders, fully caparisoned and equipped, bound to be an American. The curled lips, flat nose and crispy wool, which were such powerful arguments against the negro in our Boston editor’s mind, need not be taken into account when the flag is endangered or its supremacy to be upheld. He had shown the quality of his mind by coming out first in many a college contest; the deftness of his fingers proven whenever an opportunity has been given him. The wage paid him has gone into circulation again for things distinctively American, his savings invested in an American home and not hoarded up to be sent abroad to enrich other countries.

The doctrines of Spiess, Parsons and Herr Most have never found lodgment in a negro breast, and should the day ever come that Beacon Hill or Murray Hill shall be threatened by the disciples of anarchy, the sword of the commonwealth may be placed in the hands of every negro, without question, for the salvation of our institutions, pure and simple, as handed down from the earliest days of the republic; and it may again be said, as of old, that “the stone which the builders rejected had become the chief corner stone of the temple.”

Indeed, the negro has shown that he possesses all the qualities that render a people readily assimilable into the body politic, and he has shown these qualities under most adverse circumstances; workshops closed to him, despised, proscribed socially, absolutely barred and deprived of all those helps accorded all other races by the American people, he has nevertheless risen to the full dignity of a most trusted and intelligent citizen, only too eager, possibly, to be found foremost in expressions and acts of patriotic devotion. So well has he succeeded that he can afford to rest his case, feeling assured that the people will in the end deal justly by him. He has reached that exalted place of life which prompts him not to unjustly criticise other races anxious, like himself, to become a part of this great nation; nor to make any odious comparisons unless compelled in his own defense when unjustly assailed. His home is wherever the American flag is unfurled and he will cheerfully give his whole self to the development of every inch of territory acquired by his government.