Samuel Raymond Scottron

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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? ”

“ 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 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 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”