The dangerously clear logic of the Negro's position
will more and more loudly assert itself in that day when
increasing wealth and more intricate social organization pre-
clude the South from being, as it so largely is, simply an
armed camp for intimidating black folk. Such waste of energy
cannot he spared if the South is to catch up with civilization.
And as the black third of the land grows in thrift and skill,
unless skilfully guided in its larger philosophy, it must more
and more brood over the red past and the creeping, crooked
present, until it grasps a gospel of revolt and revenge and
throws its new-found energies athwart the current of advance.
Even to-day the masses of the Negroes see all too clearly the
anomalies of their position and the moral crookedness of
yours. You may marshal strong indictments against them, but
their counter-cries, lacking though they be in formal logic,
have burning truths within them which you may not wholly
ignore, O Southern Gentlemen! If you deplore their presence
here, they ask, Who brought us? When you cry, Deliver us
from the vision of intermarriage, they answer that legal mar-
riage is infinitely better than systematic concubinage and
prostitution.
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