Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1899-04-27
THE NEGRO AND EDUCATION.

THE NEGRO AND EDUCATION.
The New York Journal says there is no
immediate solution Of the negro question
I'm the South except education-"educa-
ton sufficient to transform the southern
negro from a brute INTO human being.
And with this as text. our contem-
porary urges us TO be active in our e1er-
tions and liberal in our outlay.
The Journal touches upon question
which we cannot believe it has studied
deeply. We doubt if it knows how much
money tho States Of the South have spent
i'm negro education. In Virginia alone We
have spent millions and millions nearly
all of which has been contributed by white
taxpayers.
While we believe the negroes Of Vir-
einia are as well behaved as any in this
country, and while our criminal population
of that race is DOT as large, proportion
ately. as that of most other States. yet
the question has been very seriously ask
ed here if education has improved their
morals.
Yes: that question has been asked and
discussed at times when the public mind
was free from excitement or passion, and
the answer has never been satisfactory.
We hear that some among the best and
most intelligent white friends the negro
has in Virginia have long had serious
msgivings upon the subject This much
we certainly know-that the freedman is
not as trusty or as moral as the slave
was. The blood-curdling crimes that are
committed by members of this race are
rarely committed 10y those born and rear
cd in slavery, but usually by those who
have had the advantages Of freedom and
education.
All the advantages that have been
gained by the negroes in the way of
book education have been more than Off
set by their separation from the whites
Formerly the negroes were brought under
the influences Of their masters families.
Now the two races are far apart. The
colored people have their own preachers
and their own teachers, as far as posi-
BILE They do not receive the moral train
ing they used to get. Nor is this sepa-
In the country districts. The conse-
quence has been most injurious to the
colored people.
We much fear that their religious and
family training is not what it ought TO
be. We are not indulging in wholesale
and universal condemnation, but are
speaking of the freedmen as a whole.
We Judge from general results. We take
notice of the fact that our prisons are
filed with them; that they commit the
most diabolical crimes upon the smallest
provocation that many of their youths
are vagabonds; that as servants they are
shiftv and unreliable, and that the death
rate among them is excessive. And in the
last item the question of morals en-
ters no less than in some of the other
items.
Apparently the sort Of education we
have been spending our money Tor has
not been productive Of the results de-
sired. The unfortunate fact seems OBJ
vious that it does not perceptibly improve
their morals. We have no purpose TO
disparage the work Of the many noble
men and women who are teachers of
negro youth, but what are the few hours
spent IN school TO the days and weeks
when the school children are where no
good influences reach them? No Impair
tial person who studies the subject care
fully can upbraid the South for failure
10 give the negroes educational opportu-
mites. We have done-or tried to do-a
vast deal for them. We would have done
more had results encouraged us more
The naked fact stands. out in distress
ing boldness that most of our money is
spent in vain-or at least that the good
results Of the expenditure are not as
observable as they should be.
If at times our people have seemed to
halt in their efforts to educate the blacks.
a fair excuse can be found in the fact
that il IS not as clear as 1t ought to be
that the race is being elevated morally.
That there are noteworthy exceptions to
this rule cannot break the force of OBJ
sorvations made upon survey Of the
entire field.
Another disheartening fact is that the
leaders OF the colored people do not take
an advanced position in condemnation of
the assaults made by their men upon
white women. They are not heard from
often enough ana emphatioally enough on
this subject.
The Journal and other northern news
papers that are inclined 10 advise US
upon this question would do well To study |
the situation. Let them consider that |
what the freedman wants much more |
than book-learning is moral and re- |
lgious training And how he is to get |
Il is one OF the profoundest problems the |
new South has TO deal with.
The trolley line to Petersburg threatens |
TO go ahead of the r.. u. & Z. like a