The Washington times., 1901-10-17
The Future of the Negro.

SPAN.
The Future of the Negro.
Probably no man, white or black, n
the United states has done or is doing
so mucn for the elevation OF the negro
race as Booker Washington. His life is
an inspiration to his people. and his ed
ucational work is of inestimable value
to them. If all of those who assume to
be the friend of the negro showed the
same liberality of spirit as Mr.. Wash
ington does, and labored along similar
lines, the problem would be very much
simplified. Inherently it is not so diff
cult as is generally believed. A large
portion of the trouble has resulted from
the injudicious and Incorporate L4an-
ner in which it has been treated. False
elements have been injected into the
question. Some well-meaning people
have thought, and still think, that the
negro can be put upon a plane Of social
equality with the whites by mere alb
stract moral reasoning, while others.
not so well-meaning. have prejudiced
the cause OF the colored race by at
tempting selfishly to make it a partisan
question.
Here we have a suggestion of the two
main points in the negro problem In
the South, where the blacks are numer-
Gus, and even in the North. where they
are not, they are regarded by the
whites as being both socially and politi-
cally inferior In the North there are
so few of the blacks that the question
y, f# to
not merely because there are so many
of the race there, but also by reason
of the former existence of slavery in
that section.
Closely analyzing the alleged wrongs
of the negro, we md that they all con-
meet themselves with and are the inn
mediate outgrowth of the fact that he
is not recognized by the whites as an
equal Much is said about the lynch
ings in the South, but those unfortu-
nate happenings are merely incidental
to the main proposition. Negroes are
not lynched because they are negroes.
White men are treated in the same
way, although the cases may not be
quite so numerous. When a colored
man is thus put to death without a
trial it is because he is believed TO have
committed some heinous crime. 1t is
not always a crime against woman
hood, but there can be no doubt that
the frequency with which such acts are
committed intensifies the feelings Of the
whites and makes them reader to re
sort to lynchings in other cases where
the crimes are of Il serious character
No one can undertake To defend mob
violence even against criminals, but at
the same time the fact should be kept
in mind, when considering this Ques-
ton, that so far as the lynctings are
concerned, the negroes have the rem
edy largely in their own hands Let
the criminal classes, white or black,
stop committing crime and lynchings
will cease. If the blacks as a class will
act upon the advice of Booker Wash
ington, educate themselves and improve
their morals, they will have little or
nothing to complain of upon this score.
1t will not, however, be so easy for
them TO attain a position Of social
equality with the whites. Nor can it
be said that their inability to do so af-
l.
The whites themselves divide up. social
ly, and there are many exclusive sets.
The same is true of the blacks. They
also have their grades of society. There
is no way Of forcing the whites to ac-
cept the negro as a social equal. BY
the cultivation of his Intellect and his
morals the latter may overcome very
much Of the feeling which now exists,
but it is scarcely possible that the black
man can ever entirely bridge the gulf
which separates him from the white.
There is a race difference and antipathy
which will exis. in spite of intellectual
or moral qualities. But this need not
render the future Of the race hopeless
by any means. Its happiness does not
depend upon an intermingling with
whites as social equals. AS a matter
of fact, the negroes Of the United
States have even now more opportuni-
ties for advancement and the improve
ment of their condition than have fully
three hundred millions OF white people
living in Europe.
Those who have constituted them
selves the champions of the colored
race have generally assumed that its
future depends entirely upon the cleo
tive franchise. and that any limitation
of its privileges in this respect makes
its advancement impossible. A greater
fallacy could scarcely be imagined. II
is within bounds TO say that nothing
has retarded the progress of the negro
more than his enfranchisement at a
time when he was wholly untitled for
it, and when the feeling Of the South
was such as TO make the action unwise
In the highest degree. When the F'if-
teenth Amendment was adopted the av-
erage plantation negro. born in slavery.
was no better qualified to cast a ballot
inteiligentIy than is the white child Of
nine OF ten years.
The feeling among the Southern
whites that the former slaves were in