The Wasp — 1890 — page 372: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page features a portrait and essay by Senator J.N. Dolph of Oregon on racial politics in the post-Reconstruction South. The article argues that Black citizens' education and economic development will naturally resolve racial tensions, without requiring federal intervention. The piece reflects late-19th-century Republican ideology emphasizing gradualism over active government protection of Black rights. Dolph dismisses both white Southern violence and Black political power as temporary obstacles to eventual "harmony." A secondary piece, "Democratic Unfairness," critiques Democratic tariff policy as economically harmful to working people. The content reveals *The Wasp's* Republican editorial stance during an era of declining federal enforcement of civil rights in the South.