Here there can be none of that social going down to the
people,--the opening of heart and hand of the best to the
worst, in generous acknowledgment of a common humanity
and a common destiny. On the other hand, in matters of
simple almsgiving, where there can be no question of social
contact, and in the succor of the aged and sick, the South, as
if stirred by a feeling of its unfortunate limitations, is gener-
ous to a fault. The black beggar is never turned away without
a good deal more than a crust, and a call for help for the
unfortunate meets quick response. I remember, one cold win-
ter, in Atlanta, when I refrained from contributing to a public
relief fund lest Negroes should be discriminated against, I
afterward inquired of a friend: "Were any black people re-
ceiving aid?" "Why," said he, "they were all black."
And yet this does not touch the kernel of the problem.
Human advancement is not a mere question of almsgiving,
but rather of sympathy and cooperation among classes who
would scorn charity. And here is a land where, in the higher
walks of life, in all the higher striving for the good and noble
and true, the color-line comes to separate natural friends and
coworkers; while at the bottom of the social group, in the
saloon, the gambling-hell, and the brothel, that same line
wavers and disappears.
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