The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1895-09-29


negro race, and the cordial good
viii of the white people. ~aHis converse
ton gradually developed into interest
,ng observations on the future of the
negro.
Il think" said he, ''that the educa
ton of the colored race should be chiefly
along industrial and manual training
ines
"Nothing affords an individual greater
satisfaction than the consciousness of
having made something, of having
brought into being something of utility,
that broadens the knowledge of the
world, and contributes to the happiness
of mankind In the grand industrial
development, that is going on in the
South, the colored race is to bear a
grand part, and believe it will do it
fairly and we'll The great progress it
has made since the war warrants this
prophesy.
Il herr much at times about social
equality, and, to the credit CT the race,
let me say, have not yet found ne
gro who asks for it. Only yesterday a
representative negro of North Carolina
said 10 ne: There is not social equality
among the whites and there is not social
equality among the negroes, and We do
not desire social or inter racial social
equality. We only desire to work out
our own des 'iny as members Of the hu
man brotherhood, and be recognized for
what there is in us of merit and desert.
'No one of any race can gain respect
BIZ demanding it. 1t can be acquired
only by the possession of those sterling,
inherent qualities CT heart and mind that
operate as silently as the mighty force
that preserves the harmony Of the
spheres Training of the head, the hand
and the heart, the acquisition of prop
erty, obedience to law and respect for
order, the fulfilling of all religious and
moral Obligations, industry and fru
gality, VIII cause any race to prosper,
no matter what its color, its environ
ment, its heredity or its habitat"
Mr.. Meserve had said great deal that
was wholesome and true in these few
words, which, however, suggested to the
reporter two questions, the first being
this: would not such advanced education
tend eventually to take the negro from
LuB UElu anu IuG Supp WucIC IuS Uulh vi
his race find their labor.
No" said Mr.. Meserve, mot any
more than Harvard University or other
colleges take the whites from field and
shop The colored people need those of
their own race in the professions, as well
as in the higher activities, Why, now,
we can't begin TO supply the demand
for physicians. Not long ago, / had
letter from the private secretary of
the Governor of Alabama, asking us to
send them physicians, there was countg
containing $4,000 colored people, with
no physician among them of their own
race. This applies not only to physicians
but also to lawyers, and | find in North
Carolina, | do not believe that you will
fird in any county in the State any
prejudice toward colored lawyer be-
cause of his co.or on the part of any
jury, and the colored people pre-
fer a colored lawyer, other things
being equal. During a journey ]
took lasf winter to Texas, / found
between here and there, and in
nearly every town of that great State.
one or more lawyers, druggists and
physicians, and they had gone from this
institution during the last twenty years
No, the services of the educa ed negro
will find ready demand among his race
and in turn those services will raise the
level Of those who are served"
The question seemed to have been
satisfactorily answered, and asked
him another; Would not the time
come in the years, when under
constant improvement, the negro would
come to the stage that would make mis-
= genation possible9
OF course Mr.. Meserve did not see his
way clear toward discussing possibility
so remote, but he is contenting himself
with his present work, believing, as he
said, that the education of the negro re-
suits most beneficially in this, that there
is begot in them wholesome respect for
the dignity of manual labor, (which, !"
continued Mr.. Meserve, sis one of the
greatest desiderata in the citizen"
The work of Mr.. Meserve, and of such
as he, is telling its story in the South.
He, and those like him, come from the
North to help up race that has not
been favored alike with the rest of the
peoples of the earth. But there are
others, like Tourgee, who go from the
South to villify and contound those who,
after all, are the best friends of the
negro.
For" said Mr.. Meserye, believe,
and so told the good people in Maine,
that the relation of these white people TO
nae is one of welcome, co operation, and
hope and faith that the problem could
be worked out on educational and indus
trial lines, and when the North once gets
this idea well grasped, there will be TO
lack of money to help forward the work,
In which / am now trying to take my
+ M hfo mort ~