The sun., 1900-12-02
THE vALUE or TUF NEGRO TO THF
sol TH,
Prophecies That 1t would lie Destroyed by
Freedom. and the Facts.
Booker T. Washington in The International


Booker T. Washington in The IrterHa.iona!
Monthiy
The Indian and the negro met on the hmeri-
can continent for the first time at jamestown
in 1919 Both were in tho darkest barbarisnl.
There were twenty negroes and thousands
Of Indians At the present time thore are
between nine and ten millions of negroes and
o. sS Indians Not only has the Indian de-
creased In Numbers but he Is an annual tax
upon the Government for food and clothing
to the extent ofsl27s4.s76 tls99l. 10 say nothing
Of the amount that is annually srent In ol.ci =
him The one in this case not only decreased
In numbers and failed TO add anything 20 the
economic value Of his country. but has actu-
allv proven a charge upon the State.
Let us see how IL u with the other. For
long time our national laws bearing upon i'm
migration have been framed 50 AZ to prevent
tie Irfux into this country Of any classes or
races that might rrove n burden upon the tax
payers. because Of their poverty and inability
70 sustain themselves. as well as their low
standard IT life which would enable them to
undarbii the American laboror. The effect
has been then, u seel ont certain races and
Glasses + or two centuries pId more. IL was
the policy of the United stntes 70 bring In the
10 this country have paid th"ir own passage.
The negro was of such tremendous economic
value that his passage waS raid for him. Not
only was his massage paid. but agents wore
sent to force him q come. 1his country lad
two, hundred and 1tty y.ars - Thic! to '4.fa ,f'
verdict at the end was that he was constantly
Increasing IN value, especially In the southern
part OF the United States.
So much Tor the negro as a financial factor
In American life before the Ctvu War What
There were no, few who rredIcted that
as soon a. the negro became tro" man lie
would not ONLY cease 20 support himself and
others mt he would become tax upon the
cOnNuuuifv.
Few roorle In any part Of our ,country have
ever seyn a black hand reached out from a
street corner asking f"r charity. Ia our North
ern communities latg" amount ot money Is
b srent bv individuals and mum lcinllites In car
Ing for ne sick, the roor AND other classes q
! unfortunatrs IN the South. with very few
eyCeltio.qs, The ncgro takes care 81 him,elf
| This is usuallv done bv a combination Of in
dviiusl members Of the raoe, or through the :.
Not only i. ris true, b,t. want to make
n storv Illustrate the condition That prey ais
n q certain Rgck B,lt county in III, south
had been holding n convention. The object ~
! wrioh was tG encourage wh,tr reonle 70 emf
uont Of tho convention. m old colured man
met tho President of the meeting on the sstr"'t
and asked the object Of the convention, When
told tho Old colored man Teulled: Fore
God, boss don't YOU know ~ at W" niggers
got Just as many white people now in this
Tho fact is often referred to that the negro
rHy y"Ey % 20 Of s fsyes r tot not
tliS f. true depends a good deal on the I, cory
Of rollt.ca economy that we follow, Soms
o' the highest authorities on political econ
omy contend that II Is the man who ,"nts Tho
houS. t..,t ~ " ''o tavos on t. r. her than The
man who sinnlv holds the title 10 It Certain
rev material in the south from which large
rrorortion. 81 the tav"s are paii. then there
would not be a VERY large tax paid bv anv ono.
The greatest excitement and ANXIETY has
boon recently created among the white neeli.
IN two counties In Georgia lccsuse Of tho fact
thnt n large proportion 81 the colored reolie
decided 70 lcave No stone has been left un-
turned 10 induce the colored people TO remain
In tho county and prevent financial ruin to
many white farmers.
Any ono who hos followed tho testimony
given roccrtlv before the United States Indus
trial Commission will ace that several white
men from tho South have stated n tie most
IsRoro- th"i tis south has ever nd and /. the
hrst that tho South Is lifely to get In the futur"
Not tho least part. Of the Negroes worth at the
nrrarent IN the future thsn now ia that he
presents n Conservative, reliable factor In rela-
ton 70 "e'rf"s" and -lnckouts tn" negro
T. not given t. "strikes His policy ia To leave
e0ch individual free TO work when. where. and
for whom D." uleascs.
Tie cotton crop ,of the South hns Increased
n' c"urse ~" negro Is not ~" only labor elez
mont 20 10 considered In the production n
cotton; but all Will agree that tho black man is
the chief do endencr In this country for tlat
pnrr"t In order to be moro sr"cifc give
som" figures TINT will indicate the difference
between the numher Of bales OF cotton pro-
v,,,. SLAVE LApoB ,,,, v,,, FREE LAnon male,
1889 i,,,7sI %, 50, i.oa 'ss,;so S%5oso
While there are several factors. among them
Increase n population. entering into these
fgnrrs, stiu / thlnS they show clearly that
freedom has not destroyed the economic value