The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-12-18
Educating the Negro.

Richmond (Na.) Times.
 In his recent contribution tc The New York Journal on the negro problem MT Thomas Nelson Page said:
 Tn estimating the results of the enorts made to educate the negroes we must look at the subject broadly; we must see what the negro has gained, what he has Iost and what he might have gained un- der better systems. We must try to see what he would have been had not the attempt been made to educate him, ana what he may be if the attempt IS aban- doned. Only thus can we obtain cor rect view of the whole problem.
 "Slavery is generally charged to nave been a great crime against the negro. The negro has for generation been | taught this, and most of those who Write | for publication speak of it thus, and no doubt with sincerity. Even some of the | hest informed writers and speakers aI- ways speak as if the negroes were an enlightened people whom slavery had de- based Such characterization, however natural from a sentimental standpoint, confounds the motive with the result and only tends to befog the truth
 "As a matter of fact, speaking philo- sophically, salvery, whatever it may have been so far as the whites are concerned, was, if not the means, at least the ave nue through which the negro race has at tained the greatest good that has come to it since the dawn of authentic history. Two hundred years of slavery under the Southern whites have brought large section of the negro race to a higher point of civilization than 1t had ever at tained elsewhere.
 Slavery is a thing of the past, and we are glad of it, for it was anything but blessing to the South. But whatever the evil effects upon the whites, it was, as MT Page points out, a blessing to the negro race. The negro received through this means instruction and training that he could not otherwise have had, and if the negro population of the United States shall succeed in making themselves good and useful citizens, men and women of manners and morals, it will be through such training as their ancestors had from their white masters We do not deny that in some cases the negro slave was treated much as beast of burden, but this was certainly not the rule. In the ma jority of cases he was treated as member of the family, and was taught, first of all, obedience and good manners. We boast of our independence, and inde- pendence is a thing to be admired, but obedience lies at the basis of character and at the basis of civilized government. The chosen people of God were kept in bondage for a time that they might learn this great leson of obedience, and sub sequently the Ten Commandments were delivered to their great leader and were made binding upon the people of Israel not simply because the observance of these commandments was necessary to their government and to organized socie- ty, but, more than all. that the people might be educated in the true spirit of obedience. To this day the descendants of Jacob are noted for their respect and obedience to the law. If this was neces- sary In the chosen people of God. the greatest representatives of that day and generation of the white race. how much | more necessary to Africans. who have | been brought here from a savage state