The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1891-03-31
o
HR, NEGRO LEARNING sELF-HELP.

THk, NEGRO LEARNING SELF-HELP.
By a curious coincidence the same
days mail brings into the office of The
EUening Post two newspapers, one a
Southern journal, edited by a white
Democrat in Tennessee, and the other
a Northern paper, edited by a colored
Republican in New York City, which
contained deliverances regarding the
present and future of the negro race
that preach precisely the same doc
tr1ne. A more encouraging sign of the
growth O. sOund sentiment could hardly
be imagined. The Southern journal is
the Memphis AppeaLAUalancbe, and
It's article is entitled Negro. E1uca-
tion in the South" The text was fur
nlshed by an address recently delivered
IN Boston, by the Rev. Horace Bum
stead, President of Atlanta Ga.) Uni
versity, which is devoted to the educa-
ton of negroes, the occasion being a
meeting to raise funds for the institu-
ton. Mr.. Bumstead said that it was
useless to contribute money to carry on
the primary educational work in the
South, as that is being done by the
States themselves. The North must
aid in supplementing this primary edu-
cation, so that the colored young peo-
pie may become qualified to act as
teachers, mechanics, and successful
business and professional men. It is
important that the normal and indus
trial work should be extended. One
half of the needed income of $40, 900
annually is assured, but the remainder
must be applied from annual contribu-
tion5." The AppeaEAv0l0nche quotes
this language, and says:
We take issue with Mr.. Bumstead.
There is no reason why the people of
Boston or any other Northern city
should contribute one dollar for the
benefit of Atlanta University. The
negroes of the SOuth-yes, of Georgia
alOne-are amply able to maintain that
institution if they desired. They have
plenty of money and plenty Of oppor-
tunlties to ear money, and it is quite
time that they should be required to
depend upon themselves. The con
dition of the negro labOring man in the
South is infinitely better than that of
the white labOrlng man In the North.
He can always find work and pay for
his work, and the tax lists of the State
of Georgia show that the negroes Of
that State are able to provide for the
wants of half-a-dOZen universities like
that of Atlanta. 1t is time for North
ern philanthrOpists, as well as North
ern politicians, to let the negro alone.
He is able to pay his way. Mr.. Bum
stead admits the liberality of the South
ern States with regard to the primary
| education of the negro. That being
true, the negro can provide himself
with the means of higher education"
Doubtless the first impression of most
readers will be that this is altogether
too sweeping a statement, and that it
gives much too favorable a view of the
condition of the race. But it is fully
sustained by the other article referred
to, which appears in the New York
Age, the journal edited by a negro.
This article says, among other things:
"Vast sums have been given by
philanthrOpists to sustain such moral,
religious, and intellectual work in the
Southern States as are usually supplied
from the general tax funds of the State
effected, and by the charity of the
b~enevolently disposed citizens of such
State. The past and the present gen
eratiOns of AfrO-Americans have, there
fore, been educated to look to the Fed
eral Government for the protection
usually afforded to the citizen by the
State in which he resides, and which
does not inhere at all in the Federal
authority as one of it's conceded rights
and, worse yet, they have been edu-
Gated to look to others to think and do
for them to such an extent that Self-re-
lance has beenhampered in it's develop
ment, so that if we want money for
educational, religious, or other laudable
purposes, we appeal too often to white
men or to the Federal Government, in
stead of relying upon ourselves for 1t,
and working in combination and CO
operation to secure it, as others do. We
can build our own churches and colleges
and school houses, and support them,
if we would do so, out of the money
wasted by us upon unnecessary pleas
ures and upon downright humbug and
we have got to do it in the not remote
future, because the opinion is steadily
gaining vantage that we are getting old
enough to stand upon Jul Own heels in
this matter of self-help ."-Ne1U York
EUenjng Post.
OBSERVATIONS ON H CRIMINAL STATU
OF INEBRIETY.
There is a wide difference Of opinion
among thinking men respecting the
criminal responsibility to which drunk