Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1900-05-09
TIE NEGRO PROBLEM.
Race Conference in Alabama Ad.I
dressed BY Former Secretary Of
Navy Herbert.
Education Of the colorsd Man the
Only Efficient Means in
Sight.
The Negro Capable Of Better Things
II Properly Taught and
Trained.

Montgomery, Ala. May 9.-Former
Secretary OF the Navy Hilary A. Her
bert presided over the opening session OF
the race conference, which began here
yesterday. to discuss the negro problem.
Mr.. Herbert was also the principal
speaker. After considering the proposal
sto8deport the negroes, which he consid-
cred impracticable, he advocated e,luca-l
ton as the only efficient means of solv-
ing the negro problem.
He said inpart:
Can't not be shown that in what we
call the white countless where the me-
groes are in the minority and SO are
under the influence and have the exam
pie of the white man, they are distinctly
and clearly improving, and will not
statistics of crime, when examined with
reference to cause and effect. lead to the
conclusion that negro criminality is due
in large part to poverty. want of educa-
ton, and especially to want of home
training, thus accounting for the large
excess of petty crimes committed by
minors?
If SO, cannot some remedy be found 2.
Let us study the system of Industrial
education astaught at Tuskegee by that
remarkable man, Booker Washington.
Is rot this the key to success? 1t GER
tainly is true that many thousands OF
negroes in every state have acquired
homes and have become orderly and
thrifty citizens, and that thousands Of
them. not only mulattoes but pure
blacks are increasing in intelligence.
II we are tempted 10 despair when we
contemplate the crimes and ignorance
that SO commonly prevail the thought
of those negroes who are succeeding in
life ought to convince us that the negro
Is capable Of better things, and lead US,
to the conclusion that much OF the evil
We now see is the result of miseduca-
tion. and that In the establishment Of
more harmonious relations between the.
races. and better training for the negro
we are to look for the solution of the me-.
gro problem.
II have not undertaken to discuss
fully but have dwelt somewhat at length
on two questions. the necessity for edu-
cation of the negro. and the wrongful
ness of lynch law, because these two
seem TO me to be fundamental. and
on them as starting points hope the
conference is to agree.
q AS 10 education. the recent democrat
lie convention Of our state of Alabama
has declared in ringing tones that there
shall be no backward step. There are!
5othe + grave questions to come before
you. One relates to the purity OF the
ballot box.
To bring about better relations be-
tween the races we need more educa-
ton, both Of the whites and the blacks;
men must be educated to broader Views
of the relations they bear TO each other
1T has sometimes been said that no.
body except the Caucasian has ever
attained to a high degree of 3civiliza-
ton; thai the negro being one of the in
ferior races Ia proposition agree to)
can never be lifted from the plane he
now occupies-which is proposition
that certainly is not proved. Nobody
ever had such an inducement to try to
raise him as we have. Here the races
are side by side and can not get away
from each other. We must raise him.;
Nobody ever had such opportunities,
for we are everywhere intermingling
with the negroes, and can. if we Will
stand we music, lift them up on the
right and on the left. What is there
to man when he determines
sto8accomplish il? In the physical world
he has made many varieties of the pig
con and the OK, and of roses he has
made 10 bloom the gorgeous cloth-of-
gold and the American beauty. And
What has he not done for himself?
The splendid civilization of Greece
arose SO suddenly out OF the darkness
OF the past that. looked at now, In Its
rise and fall it seems almost like a
meteor. Then count II you can the
wonderful achievements that have.
adorned this now dying nineteenth cen-
fury. Will you tell me that all these
nave been the work OF the Caucasian?
Not so; the GROWING wonder of the
century is Japan. Up to 1853 she was
an impenetrable mystery. In that year
an American commodore forced open
her ports and gave her a glimpse Of
what she called the outside barbara
ans.
She took a look at and studied them.
Then, some thirty years since. these
Japanese one OF the brown races
which, It is sometimes said. are incapa-
BILE OF civilization. started on their new
career Japan imported Americans and
Europeans to instruct her people in
American and European ideas, and all
most at bound she has placed herself
among the great treaty-making.
aty-observing. progressive nations
of the world. She civilized herself by
calling in help.
And so9we can lift up the negro-not
make him equal to the foremost races
OF the world. but improve him till he
becomes a better laborer. better citi-
zen, and more useful to himself and to
the country; and to do this surely we
have both need and opportunity. Ex-,
sperience carefully and thoroughly
studied will lend US light, and we will
not repeat the blunders OF the past.
You have called religion. too. to your
shelp-religion. that carried the torch
that lighted man out Of the night OF
the middle centuries on to this glorious
era. Ministers Of different denomina-
tons have been invited to study the
problems Of today and advise with each
other and With you az to how best to
carry the gospel among the negroes SO
as to make 1t really lamp to their
feet, q guide to their Footsteps.
In conclusion, my friends. the prob
lem that is set before US il one in which
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