The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1898-10-23
Whine, Supremacy,
tits Our Heritage and Not a Dogma-Must We Lose Our
sBirthright?

bear witness as to negro Incapablllty
| and thrftlessness. In what particular
| | would ask, has that merely African
community, which has no admixtuIe of
whites, advanced since 1862? Are not
| the bulk of their houses little more than
novels? Have n score of the entire 5000
laid up moey? Is there fifty of them
all who can write their names, aithh'
two devoted white teachers nave labored
among them for twenty years? In what
respect have they been bettered by their
own efforts? Who will answer?
The negro naturally looks to the white
man for counsel and example, and he was
ever ready to follow it until demagogues
put false ideas into his head, and made
him believe that he had gifts which he
had not All of us, whatever our color,
recognize superiority by instinct and bend
to it. We jump to follow the lead of the
better man. Sambo did it in the old days,
and no better working mate or co-eft-
cient could be had for the intelligent agri-
culturist who knew from chemical anal
ysis what fertaliZers to use and when
to apply them, and what machinery to
employ, and what sanitary and hygienic
methods to pursue, and what markets to
reach and utilize. The best Anglo-Afri-
can minds. of which there are no doubt
scores like those of Bruce, Douglas, Ell
lott and Booker Washington, recognize
already that the gifts and endowments
of wealthy philanthropists are much bet
ter invested in polytechnic and industrial
schools than in dilletant seminaries and
universities, which unfit their pupils for
the practical walks of life by teaching
them to aspire to professional positions
which are not open to more than small
percentage of them all. There are al
ready too many white drones without
adding the blacks; and if we could only
institute a home propaganda of good will
and horse sense based upon the tenets
of the divine teacher who was popularity
styled Master, we might look forward
hopefully to a more wholesome and
comfortable regime than the one which
the coming election in this State promises
to supplant.
1t is not all of freedom to vote! Were
there but. fewer suffragists, fewer politi-
clans, and fewer councillors, and lager
percentage of wage workers, we would
be more prosperous, capital and labor
would cooperate tremendously, instead
of being always at loggerheads with each
distrustful of the other.
For my own part, / could give to the
colored man whatever he earns and
merits, including subordinate offices
which he was qualified to fill; for no one
carries the honor of a small or large re-
sponsibility with more jealous zeal
and self-cnsciousness than the colored
man. AS an ovefseer or division super
intendent of farm labor, he is hard to
beat, though, he seldom aspires to super
sede his superior, provided the boss is the
better man. Brains pertain to the head
and are seated there, and where the head
is the brain should be.
1t is no more hardship to the negro to
be compelled to work q given number
of hours with his hands, in factory, shop
or field, than it is to compel his children
weeks, especially if it is for their especial
benefit. No one has right to be idle,
because he should be self-supportine.
Next in ignominy to the confirmed tramp
is that black drone who cocks his feet
on his office desk and by sheer impu-
dence attempts to conceal his embarrass-
ment at his conscious incompetency to
| fill the position he holds.
In conclusion. | would plead that the
chief disadvantage which the colored
man labors under here is his lack of
family antecedents. He has no pedigree;
for his African lineage, legal or other
wise. don't count here. In slavery times,
he f0regathered under the aegis of his
owners family name, and shared to a
degree the status of that family. If his
masters pedigree were good he reflected
his honors, just as a mercantile clerk, or
any other subordinate reflects the repu-
| tation of his house in these days. But
now that he is foot loose, he has to rustic
| for himself: and to his credit be it said,
he will hold himself up on nothing better
than most of his white rivals, carrying
his head with an air which commands re-
spect. If Sam or Sambo can accomplish
so much or little. he need not despair of
attachments, tho he must plod on for a
time yet before he can aspire to high
Offices. Meanwhile we whites will in
trench our precious heritage, and by wise
methods enlarge it. Our prerogatives are
our own, and no law can compel us to
share with aliens. Let our votes speak
at the November polls. 1t is the saliva
ton of all concerned, blacks and whites
together. Who can gainsay it?
/ Yours in unity,
SAMUEL SLOCUM.