The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1896-11-19
NEGROES IN The SOUTH.
Educational and Industrial Progress Is
Very Marked.

49, - ~ III @Aihpdlllus DNliOibo
a curious spectacle. From every direc-
ton and every sort of convey
ance, from an oX-cart to a railroad
train, representatives of the colored
population of the surrounding country
gather there to attend the Tuskegee
negro conference. Persons of both
sexes attend, and neither education nor
wealth is necessary to secure admis-
sion.
No political purpose prompts the
movement. The subject of discussion
is the welfare of the negro race. and
desire to cooperate in the worl: of ele
vatSg and expanding the lives of their
fellows is the one common motive of
those who attend.
IN connection with the larger conven-
ton, and contemporaneous with it, is
the workers conference, made up of
officers and teachers in colored schools.
Both gatherings stand for the principle
of self-help among the colored people
of the south.
Our readers were told some months
ago of the various institutions devoted
to the education of colored youth, and
of the eminently practical character
which most of them have taken on.
Through these institutions, and
through their graduates, a wide and
elevating influence has been brought to
bear upon the whole race. The Tus-
kegee conferences grew out of the Tus-
Lgegee institute, whose founder and
president, Booker T. Washington, is
himself graduate of a similar school
at Hampton, in Virginia.
The conferences themselves are but
one of many ways in which the intlu-
ence of such men as President Wash
ington is brought to bear. The credit
system, the one-room cabin, the build
ing of schoolhouses and lengthening of
the school term, the importance of own
ing instead of renting house, the uses
of a savings bank-these are among the
topics with which the conferences deal.
But the same topics are dealt with in
every community where the new spirit
has been set at work. They are, in
fact, the things that the friends of the
race consider everywhere as the things
VI llIOSG llllllICdlutI III BOl ''iilNN'
Listlessness in work, lack Of fore
sight and an indifference to waste are
always the characteristics of slave
labor Naturally they did not disap
pear Immediately when the slaves were
freed. Mental and physical traits are
not easily eradicated, either in the in
dividual or the race; but bad habits
| ~
yielding to the influences of new condi'
tions and the leaven of new ideas. The
returns of the census show that the
negro is acquiring property. The At
lanta exposition revealed something of
| the skill and intelligence which he is
adding to his natural capacity for phys
zeal labor.
There is every indication that indus
trial progress is not unaccompanied
with moral progress also. Only very
gradually could the old habits of
thought and life be shaken off. Pow
erty, not necessarily inimical to moral
ity, tended to perpetuate an instinct
of blind submission inconsistent with
7 an erect manhood. The acquisition of
property brings with it a certain self
respect and the feeling of responsible
| ity.
The awakening of the blacks to the
possibilities and the duties of their
new life is not a menace to the still
dominant whites. The practical dis
appearance of the race question from
national politics is a hopeful sign.
Other indications are not wanting of
better feeling between those who were
masters and those who were slaves in
the times that seem so much more re-
mote than the tale of years would in
dictate. Surely an increase of intelli-
gence will help the negro to find his
place in the great future of the south.
! Whatever the solution of the race prob
lem may be, ignorance and immortality
cannot aid us in finding it.-1outh's
Companion.