Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-04-18

ScnoolS anu ColIeGeS were almost TO a man
well behaved, law-abiding citizens, exercis-
Ing wholesome restraining Influence on
the masses with whom they came in con-
tact. Illustrating the value of higher edu-
cation OF the negroy he pointed to Howard
University, the largest and best equipped
institution OF its class, and said:
The. esta hlishment and maintenance of
this institution during the past thirty-four
years has cost between two and three mill
ions of dollars. As the returns on this In
vestment, 1t has sent into the werld two
hundred ministers of the gospel, seven hum
dred physicians, pharmacists and dentists
three hundred lawyers and six hundred per-
sons with general collegiate and academic
training, together with thousands of some.
time pupils who have shared the partial
benefits of its courses. These graduates
every district and county where the negro
population resides. and are filling places of
usefulness, honor and distinction as well as
performing works of mercy and sacrifcial
service for social betterment. Not a half
dozen OF the entire number have a criminal
record. They serve an Inspiration and
stimulus, quickening the dormant ener-
gies of the people and urging them to
loftier ideals and nobler modes Of life. II
devoiyes upon the complainant to present
some plan by which a like sum of money
In a like space of time can be expended so
as to produce a more wholesome or more
widespread effect upon the general social
uplift."
The south, he said, should maintain nor
iIidi SSliOolS equal TO the requirements OF
the age. Such private centers as Hamp-
ton and Tuskegee could furnish only In
dustr1al inspiration and impulse. The ele-
ments of agriculture should be taught in
rural public schools and domestic and in
duStrial arts in cities
In concluding his mastery address Prof.
Miller spoke in part as follows:
The South and the Race Problem.
1.-THE south gauges everything according
to the exactions of the race problem.
Nothing stands alone on its merits, Re
ligious devotion, political policy and edu-
cational programs are tested by the stand
ard of race expediency. And yet south
ern craftsmanship has not only failed to
bring the desired solution but has not
even secured temporary TRANQUILITY Odious
Jim Crow car laws and fraudulent dis
REIMBURSEMENT measures have not united
single knot of the tangled web. But edu-
cation at least should be free from such
narrow restrictions and placed upon the
broad basis of human development.
The negro Is willing to accept any adj
5ustment. however hardly it may bear
upon present conditions. since it does not
suppress the race below the level of its
possibilities and exclude future expansion
and outlook.
Indebted to the North.
'The negro is indebted to the north for
much Of the progress he has made since
emancipation. He needs more of it's eco
| nomic habit, Industrial thrift, strenuous
spirit and enlightened view of life This
has been impaired mainly through the col
| leges, universities and Industrial schools
in the south.
1.-THE northern college is not apt to in
splre colored youth with the enthusiasm
and fixed purpose for the work which
providence has assigned them. 1t is not
the letter. but the spirit, that maketh alive
1t Is almost Uncomfortable that Booker T.
Washington could have received his in
SEPARATION other than by actual contact with
the problem Of which he forms a part. The
white college does not contemplate the
needs OF the negro race.
American ideals could not be fostered in
the white youth of the country by sending
them to Oxford or Berlin for their tuition
No more can the negro gain racial inspira-
ton from Harvard or Yale. And yet it
would be calamity to cut them off from
these great centerS Of learning.
1--WE are all too anxious to solve the ra re
problem: although 1t clearly battles our
highest wisdom.
IF person is drowning the law of HUI
man impulse demands his rescue, without
stopping to inquire as to his complexion
racial identity or future relation to society,
out immediate and unconditional rescue
And SO the negro should be rescued from,
Ignorance. superstition and vice, without
Idle speculation of what the future NAV
nave In store. Statesmen, philosophers and
phiianthroplsts, alike, need to sacrifice
selves with one step in the direction of
duty. without asking to see the distant
Scene.' -''fs - - - 80 =
The speaker was applauded for several
minutes when he had finished and scores
crowded forward to congratulate him.
MulattOes and Negroes.
Another able paper was that by Mr.. Geo,
r. Stetson, on 1.-THE Racial Problem
Commencing. he stated that racial antas-
onism was natural instinct, having the
force OF universal law, vigorously obeyed
In the lowest, and subdued, tempered and
refined, still imperative in the highest civili-
cations
From this law, as from superstitions.
there was no escape, no perfect freedom.
Even the Maoris, the cannibal aborigi-
mes of New Zealand, spoke of the blacks
with a touch of contempt, and the trans
ported Amerfco-Lfherians turn their backs
upon their African brothers without a trace
of racial feeling.
To racial antagenism was to be added
class and color discrimination, its natural
corollary, which are equally universal, de-
spite all humanitarian. communistic or
political treatments whatsoever.
The United States presented a large field
and constant stimuli for such antagonisms
and inter-racial determinations in its hete-
rogeneous population, which were fruitful
in the production Of political, educational
and social problems demanding solution
and prolific of never-endlng discussion, and
that Of the negro was the most prominent
and difficult.
Obstacles That Are I'm the Way.
To New England and the north, who are
ignorant of the gross character of the crude
freedman, the problem was a simple one,
but to the south, where he was an extreme
ly important factor in the population, and
where to give him as a race political equal
ity without educational qualification meant
political and social anarchy and ruin, the
problem was very different and more seri-
Gus one.
The negro, as with all other races In con-
tact with him, had his gradations in devel-
opment and culture, more marked in his