The Negro Question Settled.
Negroes in 1999 are transferred to their new reservation and
permanent home in the State of Venezuela. The animosities between
whites and blacks still existed in 1925. The negro a very costly
importation. Never ought to have left Africa. In 1960 government
lands are bought for the black race and their home in Venezuela
becomes a prosperous and a happy one. The satisfactory solution
of a vexed problem.
In 1999 the negro problem no longer troubled the North American
States. The absorption of the Central and South American Republics into
the great American Union, had at last vouchsafed the earnestly prayed
for outlet for the troublesome Ethiopians. The man who was guilty of
making the first importation of negroes into the American Republic
can never hope to rest comfortably in the great hereafter. The negro
during the last half of the nineteenth century proved a black cloud
in social and political America. A stupendous war was waged in his
behalf. Years after the close of the war he still remained a source of
bitter hatred and constant bloodshed. South of Mason and Dixon's line
the war of the [Literally a "Burning Question."] races raged furiously
for nearly sixty years after the close of the Civil War in 1865. The
whites despised, while the blacks detested. In 1899 Negroism was in
fact, as well as in metaphor, a burning question. In 1925 mention
was still frequently made of the burning of the negro Sam Hose, near
Palmetto, in Georgia. Whenever the slightest pretext offered itself,
negroes were lynched or burned alive at the stake. On the other hand
these cruelties upon their race were naturally resented by the blacks,
who lost no opportunity to make reprisals.
The negro proved a very costly luxury, a profound study in black,
during the last half of the nineteenth century. Mainly on his account
a Titanic struggle was waged in the sixties, a continent was torn
asunder, 800,000 men killed and a debt of $7,100,000,000 saddled
on America, and in the opening days of the twentieth century, the
negro was still a thorn in the nation's side. [A Study in Black.]
The negro found his way into America only after the mild race
of Indians discovered by Columbus had been exterminated under the
lash and torch of the Spaniard. When the harmless and gentle race
of beings who inhabited the isles of the Caribbean sea had vanished
before Spanish tyranny, then all eyes turned to Africa as the base of
supplies for menials, hewers of wood and drawers of water. The docile
nature of the negro rendered him available for purposes of serfdom. He
proved submissive and obedient, which are qualities of excellence in
the relations existing between master and slave. The negro, without
doubt, is gifted with a high order of intelligence and is capable
of appreciating all the advantages of a superior education. It is
doubtful, however, if the race will ever become prominent in the field
of art and sciences. With his amiable and submissive tendencies the
negro is menial in his qualifications. For long centuries past he
has been "a servant of servants" in his native land and his position
[Not Very Fierce, Only Humble.] still remains unchanged. Had he the
fierce and indomitable love of freedom which characterizes the North
American Indian, the chains of slavery never would have blotted the
fair name of America. His introduction into this hemisphere has proved
a colossal blunder, a misfortune alike to both races.
History will applaud the wisdom of American statesmanship that
emancipated the slave. No matter what may be his shortcomings--or
how inferior his position in the scale of civilization, slavery of
the negro cannot for one moment be tolerated under the great American
flag, the emblem of freedom for all peoples of this earth. The flag,
however, cannot guarantee his social status. From this point of view,
the fact cannot be denied that the presence of the negro in North
America is undesirable. In communities where his vote preponderates
there will always be friction with the whites. Whites will never
submit to the dictation of the black element. The swarthy son of Ham
was never permitted in the twentieth century to dominate. The high
white forehead cannot be ruled by the low black one. Not in centuries
could this be accomplished, in fact, never.
The unquenchable hatred existing in the South found expression in
frequent lynchings of negroes, burnings and other barbarities. These
acts of violence were deplorable, and even in 1950 the burning of
Sam Hose in 1899 at Newman, Georgia, was constantly referred to. In
justice, however, to the South, it must be said, that these lynchings
were perpetrated as measures of self-defense.
The races could not assimilate. Miscegenation was regarded in the
twentieth century, as well as in the nineteenth, as an unpardonable
crime.
In 1925 the racial war between whites and blacks continued unabated,
and would [Peace in Sight.] have still been in force in 1999 if the
only one possible relief had not come at last to the rescue. In the
year last mentioned the bulk of the black population disappeared
from the North American States. The accession of the Central and
South American Republics into the great American Union afforded
the only possible solution to the vexed problem. In 1960, just one
hundred years after the Sumpter episode, another important movement
was inaugurated in behalf of the blacks. People commenced to realize
that the negro was an utterly alien race; that when they landed here
America gained nothing, while Africa must have lost heavily through
their transfer into the new world. The proposition to transfer the
negro population to the Central and Southern American States was
agitated in that year. The transfer of Washington as the seat of
our national government from the District of Columbia to the City of
Mexico had the effect of drawing a strong tide of American emigration
into the State of Mexico, and into the Southern States of Brazil and
Venezuela as well. In 1999 Americans spoke of Colombia and Bolivar
merely as Southern States of the Union. The vast and fertile lands
in those States did not escape the attention of settlers. The idea
of transferring the entire negro population from the Northern States
of Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Alabama, Louisiana, Virginia and the
Carolinas to the Southern States of Brazil and Venezuela was regarded
as being a good one. The proposed measure proved a very popular one,
particularly among the Gulf States. They were ready to make any
sacrifice to be rid of their black neighbors.
In 1975 a bill passed through Congress appropriating a sum of
$58,000,000 for the purchase of three northern provinces in the
State of Venezuela, namely, Zarmora, [No Snowstorms out That Way.]
Bermudez and Miranda, bounded on the north by the Atlantic Ocean and
on the south by the Orinoco River. It was generally conceded that
the negro would feel more at home in a tropical climate. The three
provinces named lie between the eighth and tenth degrees of north
latitude, and there was no possible danger that these emigrants would
ever get caught in a snowstorm on the plains of Venezuela. The northern
States of the Union were determined to get rid of the entire race,
if money ever could effect that purpose.
The negroes readily assented to the proposition and were heartily in
favor of [Were Pleased with the Change.] leaving a section of the
American Republic which has been the scene of so much suffering to
them, as well as their ancestors. They were elated over the prospect of
emigrating to the State of Venezuela, where such a fine reservation had
been purchased for them by enactment of Congress. They realized that in
the State of Venezuela they would no longer be harassed by their white
neighbors and the old slave-owning element, and upon the vast pastoral
plains of the Zarmora and Miranda provinces they would till their
own soil, own the land and enjoy each other's exclusive society. Even
Boston, in 1975, applauded the movement as being a philanthropic one,
calculated to increase the well being of the negro. The brainy men
of Boston argued that reservations had been frequently purchased for
the use of Indians, and there was no good reason why one should not
be purchased for the use of the American negro.
In this manner the vexed negro question was finally settled. The States
south of Mason and Dixon's line became more contented. The negro
reservation in Venezuela thrived well. The broad pastoral plains,
well watered by branches of the Orinoco, abounding in rich tropical
grasses, were admirably adapted to the raising of cattle, sheep and
goats. Horses were raised in 1975 for food supplies alone. The negro
farmer invested in sugar cane, cotton, indigo and banana farms. The
tropical forests yielded much wealth, such as India rubber, tonka
beans, copaiba and vanilla, while the mineral products of Venezuela
proved rich and varied.