The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-08-06
IN CUBA AND PORTO RICO
THE NEGRO OF INDUSTRY AND
SMALL. MEANS CAN DO WE'LL.
CONGRESS SHOULD GIVE S2O,OOO,OOO
To Aid the Southern Blacks in Going Says
Waller. A Negro Now in Cuba
Writes of the Future of
his Race.

his Race.
San Luis, Island of Cuba-When
American soldiers freed the Cubans they
opened a pathway to liberty and happi-
States The solution of the negro prob
lem lies in the direction of a partial emf
grafton Of the coIored population of
America from the South to Cuba, Porto
Rico and the Philippines. What with
,ynchings in the South, and oppression in
the labor market i'll the North, it seems
that the colored man Of North America
has his choice between three things:
First Gradual but sure annihiation,
as in the case Of the North American In
diam
Second Gradual amalgamation, which
is physically impossible and undesirable
from all points of view.
Third Emigration
In my earnest opinion the gradual en-
igration of the colored people from the
South to Cuba, Porto Rico, and the Phil
ippines-the two former islands more
particularly-wl furnish a sure solution
of the many wrongs and prosecutions to
which the recently emancipated people
have been subjected during the past
thirty years. There is before this people
now an 'open door, as result of the
Spanish-American war, which makes it
possible for the colored people of the
States to emigrate in large numbers to
the islands comprising our new posses
sions and still be under the protection
of the Stars and Stripes
MUST BE HUSTLERS.
would not advise any person or per
sons to emgrate to either of the islands
mentioned unless they possess the same
hustling qualities which were found in
the early colonists of North America.
The class of people who should come
must possess the following qualifications:
Nerve. manhood. determination, an inde
pendent spirit, $500 or S400, and Il good
team. They must burn the bridges be-
hind them and come here to stay to
make home for themselves and their
posterity. The man or men who will
come here or go to either of the other
islands, to sit on the Seashore and sigh
for the old plantation, had better remain
where they are. There are millions of
fertile acres in Cuba only waiting the
Drawn, sinew, intelligence, and enter
prise Of the colored people of the States
to turn this island, now uncultivated and
poverty-stricken, by reason of the late
war, into a field of plenty.
Lands can be either leased or bought
at reasonable prices and on reasonable
terms They are supplied with an album
dance of water and will produce almost
any vegetable grown i'll the States. In
addition to these, sugar cane, tobacco,
coffee cocoa, and sweet potatoes are
grown in great abundance in Cuba Corn
and cotton are also produced here. Or
anges, bananas, grapes, mangoes, lemons,
lines, figs, and many other fruits are
abundant a thrifty and energetic far
mer who gets a fair start in Cuba can
treble his money in one year.
CUBANS ARE FRIENDLY.
The kindly treatment accorded the dis
tressed Cubans by the Twenty
Kansas, Eighth Illinois Volunteers, and
Ninth United States Volunteer Infantry
(colored) during their six months stay in
the province of Santiago has created
friendship between the American colored
people and the Cubans that will always
make TIE lUIlllcE NGlCulllt NiSllplS w IlS
island. despite the fact that there have
been efforts on the part OF some white
men high in station to discourage it. |
would be pleased to hear from one or
two of the leading colored men in each
of the Seates who favor a partial emf
grafton of our people from the South,
to the three islands referred to, to the
end that we may cooperate in an effort
to induce the Congress of the United
States to make an appropriation or at
least S20.000,000 for the purpose of aid
ing such colored people who desire to en-
icrate TO either Cuba, Porto Rico, or the
Philippines.
1t must be remembered that / am
speaking only of such persons of the
race as may desire to try home III the
islands above referred to as solution OF
the wrongs now inflicted upon our race.
There can easily be spared from the
South 100000 colored people 2,Oo00oo
of whom should emigrate to Cuba, AMI
the remainder divided betweem the other
two islands. or, if desirable, Cuba mas
room for them all. This would cause
such a reduction of colored labor III the
South as to create a demand for the re-
tention of the remainder of that race IN
the States, and it would forever set at
rest the bugbear of negro domination,
as feared By the Southern Write. Ihen
too. the news of the success of the de-
parted 100000 would ultimately result