12 PRESIDENT S ADDRESS. 



to be bridged by any suggestion of equality, and to claim it but 

 engenders antagonism. Even when the individual Negro equals 

 or excels in the attributes of the white the latter finds he can not 

 accept him on his personal merits; he can not forget that the 

 aspirant is a member of a race which is historically and at the 

 present time markedly inferior. It may be deemed one of the 

 tragedies of social life that the exceptional black, educated and 

 refined, is thus held back by the drag of his race, and the intelli- 

 gent white may well view it with regret; but with human nature 

 as it is the relationship could hardly be otherwise. An individual 

 white, from incapacity or weakness, may be far inferior in position 

 to many a black, but at his lowest he does not forget that he 

 belongs to a race which is much the superior, and resentment finds 

 bitterest expression in him at any assumption of equality. Lord 

 Bryce has shown that in the Southern United States the "poor 

 whites" are the class which is most hostile to the Negro. 



Within his own sphere then the white has nothing but regard 

 for the olack, and prejudice is wholly wanting. Their diverse 

 attributes and standards do not enter into comparison and there 

 is no clash. As a servant or dependent the white accepts the black 

 as he finds him, but when considerations of equality arise he can 

 only regard him as a member of an inferior race. Among people 

 in Europe the Negro is accepted on his individual merits, the white 

 there having no experience of the low state of civilisation of the 

 race as a whole, and being therefore unable to judge the question 

 from the point of view of South Africa. This is also the basis 

 of the difference of treatment of the Negro in the northern and 

 southern States of America. In the south the white cannot forget 

 the position of inferiority in which as slaves the Negro first existed, 

 while the northerner knows nothing of this by practical experience 

 and, without any background of his lowly past, is disposed to take 

 the Negro at his individual worth. In the West Indies, with all 

 its grades of colour, problems of race are by no means acute. The 

 whites are far in the minority, are not concerned with questions 

 of equality, and little or no racial prejudice or restriction obtains. 

 The Negro may aspire and succeed to legislative honours, and the 

 same church or assembly hall receives from the highest to the 

 lowest. 



It may be noted that the personal devotion and attachment 

 of the native servant to the family of the white man which, at 

 any rate in the past, was such a marked feature in the southern 

 States and to-day largely exists in the West Indies, rarely obtains 

 in South Africa. Here the tribal organisation still persists and 

 claims the allegiance of the native, whereas no such restraint 

 obtains in the States and West Indies, and permanent and devoted 

 attachment to the white more fully expresses itself. 



If in the future the Bantu should rise in South Africa, and 

 become more nearly the equal of the white in education and 

 ability, there is no question but that the amenities in their relation- 

 ship will improve, and the possibility of this affords encourage- 

 ment for both races. At the present time, however, it is difficult 



