Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-08-18
The Monuments Colored People
ShOuld Build.

The movement among the colored people
to build a $1,000, 900 monument to their
benefactors is not a wise one. Ihey are
not yetin condition to build monuments
OF the kind they propose. II they have
anv money to spare for such purpose
they could employ 1t to much better ad-
vantage in building monuments that
would be of benefit to them, and to gene
/ ratlons OF them yet unborn, such as asy-
| huns, normal and industrial training
schools.
| In every community in the South there
are hundreds of colored children who are
growing to manhood and womanhood
without any moral or educational train
ing, and without any preparation for any
business or occupation. When they De-
come old enough to earn their own living
they begin a sort of vagabGnd existence,
picking up odd jobs here and there, and
earning just about enough to keep body
and soul together. Many of them being
without any strength of character ana
without any definite aim In life they drlft
into evil ways, and before they have
reached their majority find themselves In
the chain gang or the penitentiary.
great many OF those who lead an honest
life have no other aspirations than to earn
! enough to simply exist, and II they had
other aspirations they couldn't satisfy
them because they haven't the necessary
preliminary training.
! The kind of education which the col
ored people need is not that to be OBJ
| tanned in schools in which the higher
branches ofeduoation are taught, but the
| kind that qualities them for their station
| in life. or course, this statement refers
to the masses and not to the few who pro-
pose to qualify themselves for teachers,
preachers, doctors, etc. Those who will
be common laborers ought to know how
to read and write. With these acquire
ments they will get hold of ideas which
will tend to make them more capable SER
wants and employees, and those who have
some aptitude for tools ought to have the
benefit of the kind Of training that Is to
be had in training schools.
The South is just beginning to grow,
and every year there will be an increased
demand for good mechanics. The main
thing, however, is to instill into the minds
Of the colored people dislike for vaga-
bond kind of existence, and to make
them self-respecting, self-reliant and
progressive. The idea that educa-
tion will make them feel above their sta
ton, and render them worthless as labor
ers, is erroneous, provided the education is
the right sort. They must be taught that
labor is honorable, and that only those
who labor faithfully deserve whatever
of good there is to be obtained1n life.
In this city, for example, there is the
greatest trouble to get good servants. Al
most every family has trouble with SER
wants. There is hardly one servant in a
hundred, ifreports are to be believed, who
is faithful, obedient and efficient. The
great majority of them have false ideas
of their own Importance, are impudent,
unreliable, untidy and incompetent.
They have to be looked after as If they
were children, and directed as if they
were doing something which they had
never done before. Doubtless the colored
people of this city could be trained into
very good servants If they were taken in
they are likely to be required to perform
through life.
A few months ago there was a cooking
school in this city, which many of the
ladies attended. Some, doubtless, were
in earnest in their efforts to pick up
few ideas about cooking, but the great
majority, perhaps, looked upon the affair
as sort of frolic. 1t was remarked,
while the school was in operation, by
lady, that 1t would have been wiser for
those who have the cooking to do to at
tend the school. The remark had great
deal of truth In it. 1t would be wise pro-
vision il There were permanent institutions
in this and other Southern cities, where
colored girls, who expect to earn their
| own living as they earn it now, could go
after they had learned to read and write
in the public schools, and be taught how
to cook, wash and iron and do all sorts of
house work. And II there were institu-
tions for colored boys, where they could
be trained to habits OF industry, and
| taught some useful trade or occupation,
how much better citizens they would
make and how much better able they
would be to improve their condition.
The colored people can hardly expect
that the white people will furnish such
institutions for them. The white people
have now all they can do to provide for
themselves and their children, and to fur
nish common school facilities for colored
children. The colored people must help
themselves. They cannot make a great
showing at first, but they can make fair
beginning. Instead of building a $1,000
600 monument they would show wisdom
by establishing institutions to
qualify themselves 10 fill to better advan-
tage, and much more satisfactorily, their
places in life.