New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-11-26
THE FUTURE OF THE AMERICAN NEGRO

Probably no man in the United States is bet
ter qualified 10 advise both white and black
races for their common good concerning the
negro problem than Booker T. Washington. En-
tirely free from every trait of the agitator and
demagogue and candid in recognizing the ne
gro's faults and the practical obstacles In his
path, he is also perfectly self-respectful and
courageous in claiming for the black man his
full rights under the Constitution, and in claim
ing them as much for the sake of the white man
as the black Mr. Washington has just pub
lished volume on "The Future of the Ameri-
can Negro" which is the most sensible, practical
and clear sighted treatment of that subject that
has challenged attention for a long time If
every white legislator who is inclined to vote for
laws 10 suppress and degrade the negro as
man and voter, while protecting ignorance and
crime In the whites could read it carefully and
with open mind, he could hardly fail to be con-
vineed that the solution Of the race problem is
TO help the inferior race to higher civilization
lest In degrading il the superior degrade itself.
And if every hopeless student who thinks the
negro has no future In America could once
grasp the full meaning Of Mr.. Washington $
idea and learn what he and others working on
the same plan are doing for Southern prosperity
walton and that Of his white neighbors is in be-
ing the producer and developer Of the yet unde-
veloped South.
The great mistake of the friends OF the negro
after emancipation was in thinking that there
was short cut to the Anglo-SaXon level OF CIVIL
,zation. They forgot the centuries behind the
white boys and girls. and attempted 10 MAKE
tho negroes useful citizens by the academic
methods Of the New-England schoolroom. Inc
result was TO turn out for the uplifting or an IN
ert mass of blacks who lived in one room caDlns
ignorant of morals and incapable OF earning a
decent living, young men and women OF tha'
race who could read Latin and talk French but
who could not be intelligent farmers and house
wives or teach their neighbors to be. Inc
slaves were trained to be more or less skllfui al
trades. and after the war many Of them settled
down and became prosperous as masons, car
peaters wheelwrights, gardeners and masters OF
many other callngs, but as they have died or
their children have not taken their places and
white mechanics from the North have gone In to
do the work The reason was that the young
negroes were growing up in Ignorance or, when
seeking education, too often neglecting indus
trial training by which opportunity for re-
spectablity and competence awaited them,
and STUDIED Tor POSITIONS III lie 10 Wnlcn tney
had right enough to aspire, but with the con-
ditions surrounding them no reasonable hope to
attain.
The South needs skilled workmen in every In.
dustry and offers splendid chances to trained
negroes as producers, while II has a prejudice
against them as politicians or parasites. Mr.
Washington believes that the intelligent negro
should be protected in his voting as well as the
nd yh ms
should be deprived of the franchise along with
the ignorant negro. He wants to see his race
occupying high positions In business, the profes
s,ons and the State, but he believes that tina
ideal must be reached step by step, and that tn