The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1901-10-06

spent upon this sort of "educatiOn Ia I
worse than wasted. But the truth Is [
ina. this contention is notsvalid without
great notifications. For, however inH |
ferior. on the whole, The African intellect
may be to the Caucasian, it is absurd |
70 deny that there are many clever nc
sroes entirely capable of acquiring the |
knowledge and mental training to be OBJ
tanned in schools, colleges and universe
.ties. It's false. then, to assert that the |
schools fail to fit any negroes for higher
activity than manual labor 1t is true.
however, that a large number acquire
only that little learning which is proverb-
lally a dangerous thing, and imagine that Z!
It's possession ahsoives them from the
necessity of labor. This class of young
negroes it is that supplies the country
with SO large q proportion of parasites
and criminals. VINO not only cor:s:-me
more than they produce. but whose
crimes are doing more than anything eIze
to convert affection for the negro race
into passionate disgust AID hate.
Even blind man can see that money
spent in educating .crap-shooters,
SneaN-thieves, burglars and raviSherS is
money wasted. But it is not simply from
this class that danger is to be feared ror
the tragedy of the negroes position con-
sists in the fact that his virtues as well
as his vices, his successful activity as
well as his futile ideness, his intellectual
ach1eVementS as well as his stupidity,
arouse hostility among the whites. ne
hostility to a criminal is, of course, dl1-
ferent from that felt toward a carpenter
shoemaker or merchant. But this latter
hostility, though merely economic and sell
hsh instead OF moral and righteous, IS
not whit less real on that account than
the former. Wise statesmanship must.
therefore. reckon with it as q fact, ana
must firmly refuse to continue any ,sys-
id nos
tility and renders more difficult the
peaceful cooperation CT whites anu
blacks. The lack of this gratuitcus in
struction would doubtless be a hardship
to Very worthy individual negroes, and
this is deplorable. But laws are made
and taxes laid not for the benefit OF in
dlVldualS but for that of the community.
When the armies of Il nation so forth to
battle, Individual soldiers-the best and
the bravest-must die Surely. then, it is
not inhuman to insist that certain clever
negroes must give up the expectation Of
being sratuitously equipped by the whites
for the higher walks of life. II some or
them can rise by their own eXertons as
millions of white meg: have done in the
many centuries before the existence or
public schools. let them do SO by all
means. But if tho peace and happiness
OF the community. as Il whole. is Jeopar-
died by the free education of great num-
bers OF worthy negroes into successful
connections and therefore economic
enemies, of the whites and also Of great
numbers of worthless negroes into an
aversion to work and q tendency to
crime. it is utter folly to continue such
free cduca ton.
This question should be earnestly con-
sidered on its merits by the people of Viz
GINA, and should be decided in the way
that seems best to them, without regard
to the views of sentimentalists in Massa-
chusetts who have only hcarSay knoWl-
edge of the problem. Vain and weak men
fear to do what may lower them in the
eyes OF others. Proud and strong men do
what is right in their own eyes-letuns
others think and say what they Will.
Pedantc fad6ists vino regard bOoE-leaIn-
ing as the alpha and omega OF existence,
hold up their hands in holy horror at the
idea of restricting negroes to such pubic
schools as can be supported by the taxes
paid by themselves. But their gestures
need not frlsllten Us. when we remember
that Homer and Shakespeare. Euclid and
Newton, Aristotle ana Descartes. Phidias
and Michael Angelo. Apellea ana Ia
phael. Caesar and Washington. never 1t
tended q. public free school and that mil
lions of humber. yet excellent and sensi-
bic men have been admirably equipped
for the battle Of life by contact with ma
ture and their fellow-ncn instead OF
with books.
In conclusion, let us briefly sum up the
foregoing argument. Ihe follo"lilS 1actS
are ndisputable:
/ Race-preiutice is a feeling old
and as wide rs the world; is particularly
| strong between 4inglo-SaEOnS and Alrl-
cans because of profound physical ulf-
fereuces; and win almost certainly pre-
vent future racc-alnaiSamatlon through
intermarriaSe.
:. Race prejudice, as history abundant
i,.IJ,i ,,,ta mod jrtif.
deadly race-hatred, if different races are
brought into economic, social ana poiiti-
cal rivalry with each Utiler. or II one OF
the races becomes, by its crimes or its IN
competence a serious stumbling block III
the path of the other.
These are the premises And what are
the logical conclusions? Evidently these:
All lawful measures Should be taken to
remove amy removable cause OF economic,
social or political competition between the
races The bulk CT the negroes should be
disfranchised by means OF property. poll
tax, and educational Qualifications ana
for two reasons the whites should cease TO
support free schools for the blachs-the
first being that these schools enable the
negroes to meet the proposed educational
qualification for suffrage, ana the second,
that the schools tend TO make some nc
groes idle and vicious and others able to
compete with the whites in occupations
which the latter have determined TO keep
for themselves.
1t is with "a sense Of pain and regret
that the writer has, after much thought.
been forced to these conclusions. tie has
no sympathy with the brutal feroc!ty dis
PLAYED toward the colorcd people by some
white men. but is actuated. or the con-
trary. only by an earnest desire to serve
the true interests Of both races. and a re-
eret that this can lie done only at the est
of suffering 20 some. r. II. DAl3NEH.
1,fN nj &c 10l