Asheville daily citizen. [volume] (Asheville, N.C.) 1890-1900, 1891-07-22
PROBLEM OF THE SOUTH.
HOW rs THE RACE QUESTION
TO RE sOIVEDr
T.Thomas Fortunes Lecture Last
Night-A Nest Sensible Talk by
One of the Foremost CoIored
Men of the Country.

Night-A Most Sensible Talk by
One of the Foremost Colored
Men of the Country.
| I. Thomas Fortune, editor of The Age.
New York, and president of the Afro
American league of the United States,
lcctured at the court house last night
upon How shall the south solve its race
problem ?" %~
The house was well filled, the greater
portion of those present being colored.
and the exercises were opened with
prayer by Rev. {. B. Perry, of Hoffman
Theological seminary. Nashville, Tenn.
Rev. II. S, McDufey, of Trinity
chapel, coored, and Chas. +.
Lane, were on the stand, the latter in
Producing the speaker.
Mr.. Thomas is tall, thin mulatto
man, not striking in appearance, and
speaks slowly and thoughtfuly, with
only slight elevation of the voice, and
impresses his audience with the fact that
he has thought seriously upon the sub
Ject upon which he proposes to talk.
The speaker began by saying that
there is no negro problem. 1t is a race
problem, in which the whites and blacks
are mutually interested. Every country
mas its race problem, said the speaker.
Germany and Russia are now dealing
with the Hebrew problem, and for more
than hundred years England has Dcen
trying to solve the Irish question. In
this country the Indian question was the |
hrst OF the race problems. In some sec
tons now it is the Irish, in Others the |
Chinese, and only quite recently had
arisen small Italian question. The
colored people are not responsible for the |
race problem III tho south. 1t was their
white brother who brought them here
HAD 1t been lett To the negro. he would |
probably have preferred to remain on
the continent OF Africa But he was here,
ana he was here to STAY His part in de-
VeloplnS tllc south was such that he had |
Il right to stay here. The cotton, corn,
mn, nine and all the industries were
largely creatures of the black mans la,
Dor.
How to solve this race question is the
question. One great help, the speaker
though, was education, but much of the
education OF the past, the SPEAKER
thought, had been detective. What was
needed more than anything else was in.
dustrlal education. Learn the boys how
to use their hands us we'll as their heads.
Learn them to work. If ono or more
large industrial schools could be started
in each southern state, it would he alonp
t he ght line. He did not like j lyatrr.
A loater whether dressed in tattcrs or in
dne linen and plug hat, was only
parasite. He thought the colored people
the best class of labor to be
found in the world, but unless it became
skilled, 1t would be crowded out bv
|oreign labor, or labor from the north
aud northwest. The ecolorcd bows should
be taught to work. They should loaf
around barrooms less. where they were
destroyed, and when you DESTROYED the
boy you killed the man.
Politically there might be something
done towards solving this race problem,
and the speaker idea was to divide the
negro vote.
The negro was naturally born re-
publican, but some few OF them had out
grown their birth. He had heard some
talk OF a republican party being formed
with no negroes in it. 1t would be a Gu
-iosity to see such party in the south.
One way to accomplish much in ad-
Eancing the race problem was for the
whites and blacks to stand together in
politics. Let mutual concessions be
made. Let the best colored men and the
)est white men get together, and let the
'olored men have such positions in the
as they were able to ill. He
lad talked with white men in the south
who declared that the colored man must
De kept out OF office, because the property
,waers could not afford to place the tax
ng power in the hands of ignorance.
That was right, said the speaker, no one
who owned property wanted to place
he power to tax that property in the
lands of irresponsible and ignorant
seople.
The speaker warned his hearers against
'xtravagance and urged the necessity of
iceping out of debt. 1t is easy to con-
ract debt, but not so easy to pay it
always. The Farmers Alliance is the
OF the credit system
The lecture occupied less than one hour
md at its conclusion Bro. Dr. Perry made
few remarks, i'll which good advice was
,iven