Page:The Negro a menace to American civilization.djvu/195

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THE NEGRO
173

white farmers by raising the price of cotton. The increased production of this crop would far exceed consumption at his time had the negro remained a cotton-raiser instead of becoming a Pullman porter.

"We read much of 'Southern race prejudice.' A prejudiced person is one who ' prejudices ' or expresses anticipative judgment; one not properly informed. The Southern resident alone in this country possesses opportunities for judging the black race fairly. The evidence is before him, and is not presented to any other. ' Race prejudice ' should not be charged against the English people in India, the American in the Phil- ippine Islands, or the white man in the South. ' Prejudice 'in favor of the Indian, the Filipino, or the negro may exist in those who have no experience gained by personal observation. Hence, race prejudice, if it exists for or against the negro, is not chargeable to those who ' post '-judge, but to those only who 'pre'- judge — not to those who live South, but to those who live North. The development of manufacturing industries in the cotton states has been the greatest blessing to the impoverished whites. The taking of the women from exposed isolated rural homes to factory villages removes the constant anxiety that was part of their daily burden. Since the abolition of the caste restraint of slavery, the crimes committed by negroes against the women and girls of this class has principally precipitated the race troubles in the South.

"The employment of white hands in factories benefits also by lessening the competition between white and black labor. Every negro finding employment north or west of the cotton states benefits himself and the South. If this gradual exodus continues, the race