The Bellefontaine Republican. [volume] (Bellefontaine, Logan County, Ohio) 1855-1905, 1899-03-24

zation, and it is very difficult to thwart
its will. Therefore, the primal and es-
sential accomplishment is to influence
its directors to abandon the cruel and
frigid color line.
But then, it may be answered that if
the negro mechanic cannot find employ
ment for his skilled hands, let him 60 to
the farm and engage in agricultural pur-
suits-learn how to scientifically raise
sweet potatoes, as the present chief
revivalist of the industrial training for
the negro is wont to urge.
A Pertinent Question.
When in the unregistered aeon of the
genesis of creative development-when
prehistoric man roamed at will, and be-
fore God had fixed the bounds of mans
habitation-in what recorded cycle OF
time was it written on the tablet of
divine fiat that the universal position of
the negro should be that of tiller of
the soil? 1t may not be . eelf-evident
truth that all men are created free and
equal, but it is an automatic verify that
all men, other than imbeciles and idiots,
are endowed with mental and spiritual
accomplishments, capable of varied and
illimitable expansion; and the negro be-
ing q man, ID irremovably within the
the sphere of this automatic verify.
Hence, unless it can be established that
the negro is not an integral and COM
ponent part of the original plan of mans
creation, but the increment of q mere
accident, the Capitalization of the par
ticles of the surplus dust that marked
the creative place of generic man, it
must be accepted as the corollary of the
automatic verify that the negro, in COM
mon with all the other race varieties, is
endowed with mental and spiritual capa.
cities, capable of varied and illimitable
expansion; and that, a. q whole, bis
sphere of operation cannot be limited to
the tilling of the soil; but that his de-
velopmen. will be marked by q variety Of
attainments and accomplishments, thus
proving himself to be an originator az
we'll as an imitator.
Not to Any Great Extent.
Moreover, the acquisition of scientific
agriculture cannot possibly profit the
masses of the negroes to any great extent
seeing that they are not the owners ol
the soil. By this I refer to the diversif.
cation of crops as the result of knowl-
edge of scientific agriculture. The diver
sifcation of crops is not dictated ani
controlled by the tillers of the soil, but
by the owners. The plantation hand il
the South exercises no choice whatever
as to the number of acres he shall plan
in cotton or the number he shall PLAN
in corn or wheat or any other cereal. II
this regard, he must obey the mandate
of his employer. In view of this, is th'
suggestion valueless that 30 far as th'
utility of q diversifcation of crops is con
cerned, that this advice should be press
ed upon the owner of the soil rather thar
upon the tiller? 1t is the owner alon'
who can change the existing condition
Of things. The advice which Secretar.
of Agriculture Wilson gave to the younl
white men Of the South in his address a
the Mckinley banquet, in Savannah
Ga, was most opportune, and shoul'
impress the present chief revivalist o
industrial training for the negro with tn
fact that in insisting on the study Q
scientific agriculture by the masses Q
the negroes. he is building a cage for
bird that ID yet to be caught; unless
perchance, the negroes should becom
the owners of the soil. There can be n
doubt but that the practical application
of the principles of scientific agricultur
will increase the yield of given crop il
a stated ares; but if by this it is mean
that knowledge of scientific agricultur
is essential to teach the negro how t
hoe cotton and plant corr, such is as ia
from the reality as the east is from tn
west; az the negro has long since grad
uated in the accomplishment of hoein
cotton and planting corn, and hi
diploma was stamped on the great me
jority of the 10. .0OO. 600 bales of cotto
which were marketed in the country Las
year. Therefore aspire to add to tn
negro's present limited fund of know
edge by teaching him how to do some
thing which he does not know how to dt
i Not by Any Means New.
i The necessity of the negro's trainin
in industrial pursuits, either aa a theor
or dictum, did not originate with thi
generation, but is coeval with his exist
tence on the American continent. Wit
equal propriety might one term job
Wesley the apostle of Christianity as
term the Master of Tuskogee the apostl
; of industrial training for the negro. Th
!. former was simply the revivalist OF
long existing doctrine; the latter is mere
lly the revivaliet of an ancient dictun
"Teach the negro how to work." and
re-echoing this dictum has struck
xa~rlo =. obord in tho minds If not fl