THE PROBLEM OF BLACK AND WHITE For a century, the presence of the negro in the United States has divided the nation.

Though the Civil War finally decided some questions about his status, others affecting his place in the social order remained unsettled; new controversies have arisen; and no immediate agreement is in sight.

Interest in the later phases of the race question has found expression in scores of books, hundreds of articles, thousands of orations and addresses, and unlimited private discussions which have generally produced more heat than light.

The question has kept different sections of the country apart and has created bitterness which will long endure.

Moreover, this discussion about ten million people has produced an effect upon them, and the negroes are beginning to feel that they constitute a problem.
Differing attitudes toward the negro generally arise from fundamentally different postulates.
Many Northerners start with the assumption that the negro is a black Saxon and argue that his faults and deficiencies arise from the oppression he has endured.