The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1901-04-14


tinct negro civilization
The tutelage of the negro is not yet
complete. 1t lasted through six geher-
ations of slavery. directed by Southern
whites. 1t has continued through one
generation of freedom, directed by
Northern whites, acting through Federal
legislation, through Federal courts, and
through political, educational and relig-
ious missionaries working among the ne
groes in the Southern States The folly
and the futiIity of Northern tutelage is
now fully demonstrated and the negro
is again under the tutelage of the South,
to remain there until the race problem
is finally settled.
The real question is not one of tute-
lage versus self-deyelOpment, but wheth-
er the necessary tutelage of the negro
under the white race shall be one of
friendship and sympathy or one of preju-
dice and hostility. To such a question
only one answer is possible. It would be a
cruelty greater than slavery to leave this
helpless race this child race, to work
out it's own salvation in fierce and hos
tile competition with the strongest and
best developed race on the globe. The
negro can expect no peculiar development
in the South. He must aim at white civil
ization and must reach it through the
| support, guidance and control of the
white people among whom he lives. y"
! must regain the active friendship and
affection Of the Southern whites. He will
do so if let alone by the North. The
South once liked him and loved him, and
will do so again if he will permit and
| deserve it. The North, through force of
arms and legal enactment, has given him
E,,E rnI n frtp
lectual freedom must come through the
help Of the descendants of his former
masters If this help be not given, there
is no hope for the race Against the pre-
iudice and passion, the neglect and OPP
preston, the competition and hostility
which will inevitably result from a con-
| tinuance of the relations now existing
between the two races in the South the
negro will be ground to powder His
| progress depends absolutely upon the
| restoration of friendly relations with the
| whites. Nor is this matter of easy ac-
| complishment. Two things are requisite:
l. The withdrawal of the negro from
politics.
g His increased efficiency as laborer.
| The withdrawal of the negro from poll
| ties is now being accomplished by legis-
/ lation in the various Southern States. If
| this is interrupted by the North, and the
| old battle of Reconstruction fought again,
the result will be the complete and final
estrangement of the two races, with pre-
judice and hostility too intense TO permit
| their living peaceably together
Greater Industrial efficiency would
| prove an everlasting bond between the
| races in the South. 1t is the real key
TO the problem. Let the negro make him
self Indispensable as a workman, and he
| may rely upon the friendship and affec-
ton of the whites. But the best energies
| of the race since emancipation have been
diverted from industrial deiGs into poll
tics, preaching and education. Until re-
Gently it's leaders have not regarded in
dustrial effort as a means OF progress.
But public sentiment in the South still
welcomes the negro to every field OF Ia
Dor that he is canablc Of performing
The whole field Of industry is open
him. The Southern whites are not trou-
bIed by his efficiency, but by his inetficl-
ency. For a full generation the negro has
had opportunity to control every industry
in the South Had he devoted himself
upon emancipation to manual labor ano
the purchase of land instead of to politics
religion and education, he would own to-
, day at least one-half the soil of the
Southern States.
There is abundant room for Northern
philanthropy in helping to uplift the
southern negro. A Hampton Institute
or a Tuskeegee, should be established il
? every Congressional district. But this
7 alone will not suffice. The negro labor
| er. like the white laborer. needs the in
5 dustrial training of his daily employer
He needs, daily and hourly, the sympathy
announcement, instruction, admonitior
and restraint of his white employer
These are given to the white boy or girl
and are received usually with willing
: ness and profit But such help is no
given to the negro; nor is it desired
Negro children are less courteous L
white people now than white chiidrei
, were to negroes during slavery.
, The negro race is child race an
must remain in tutelage for years t
e come; in tutelage not of colleges and UNI
e versities. but of industrial schools, 0
o skilled and efficient labor, OF characte
e building by honest work and honest zeal
v ing, of good habits and good manners, Q
: respect for elders and superiors, OF dali
e employment on the farm. in TIRE house
: hold the shop, the lofesl, IhS ha|'oi ;
: and the mine. Slavery gave the negro
= better industrial training than ne ha
y today. Freedom has increased his yea
d and his opportunity, but diminished hi
: skill. The door of his opportunity wi
not always be open. He must enter nov
y If he do not. he will remain for Will
y among the races of the earth dull an
5, stupid draught animal; and finally WI
o pass away incompetent. But, with tn
g help of the white race he may obtain OF
IS portunity to develop his powers, he ma
e subdue his animal passions and cultiyat
} his gentler emotions may train his phys
e cal strength into skill and power, ma
! grow from childhood into mature mar
X hood and in the Providence of God ma
y yet add strength to the civilization of
= people, who, through the tutelage
slavery. with sorrow and tears, with labt
and anguish, with hope and ehari'
y brought him from barbarism to ciyilizi
), ton. from heathenism to Christianity
N At Houston Texas, yesterday, !
> Baldwin Rice, nephew and next Of ki
10 of w. Nj. Rice, was appoints
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