The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1901-11-03
Educating the Negro.

ELCrtCr OF i hines.
Sir.-The fact that the President has
thought proper to select Mr.. Washington
as his guest, considered as a personal
matter is of little consequence. ConStd-
cred in q broader way, it assumes greater
proportions. 1t is the logical sequence OF
the postuIate that education and mora.
Improvement will make the negro better
and more worthy of the rights OF AHeri-
can citizenship.
Not only the Northern but the South
ern whites, also, have held this doctrine
to be true, with this difference: The
Northerner claimed that by giving the
negro the advantage OF education ana
the rights of citizenship that he would
develop into the good man and citizen
The Southerner claimed that he would
be better if educated, but that political
privileges should not be accorded him
until he had become educated and moral,
and that he should be debarred 50 long
as he was immoral and ignorant.
1t will be observed that both agree upon
the fundamental principle while differing
III the process. This philosophy has De-
come deeply impressed upon the negro
He has become thoroughly convinced
that his political and social salvation is
dependent upon his acquisition of edu-
cation. Even the more ignorant VIII
Undergo much privation to educate their
children That he has made immense
strides in education is APPARENT to even
It casual observer.
But is he a better man and citizen than
he was forty years ago? In an article
in your paper of recent date Prof. Fa"-
ter calls attention to the fact that the
negroes, with q fidelity that is COM
mendaEle. guarded the wives and chill
dren of their white masters while they
We're in the army. Does the Professor
believe that the negro of to-day wouiG
be {; safe guardian of white women ana
children under. similar circumstances:
The question answers itself tf.ethen, the
negro Viewed from the white mans
standpoint. is less reliable and more dan
gerous to defenseless women and children
than he was when enslaVeG and unedu-
Gated, does it not follow that education
and the moral improvement that IS sup
posed to follow it have proven u failure
in making the negro more tit to live aud
enjoy the rights and privileges of a
country that is and will continue to be
dominated by the white man?
Has the negro progressed? He has ae-
vanced, but his advance has been the re-
suit of the white mans direction and the
employment OF the white mans means
This is scarcely a fair test of the inner
ent power OF the race to rise in the scale
of civilization. 1t is q kind of hot-honSe
progress that lacks the durability of nat
ural growth The only way for the negro
to demonstrate his capacity and cap1-
bilities is to be thrown upon his own &C.
sources and then he would seek his level.
Education and moral Improvement would
be eminently desirable and necessary for
the elevation of the negro race if it were
in q position to rise to the highest degree
of which it is capable. But education
and moral improvement do not tend 10
make the negro better fitted to live in q
white mans country. 1t is true that
while the negro is 4 citizen he should
have all the rights and inmunities Of
citizenship. It is likewise true that the
State should take cognizauce of natural
law and undertake to do nothing that
contraveneS it. Once granting that there
is q. natural law that forbids the white
man and the negro to amalgamate and
to become homogeneous. it becomes the
duty of the State to deal justly. but sepa-
rateiy, with each. Upon this principle the
State divided the schools and the cars,
and upon the same principle it may divide
the school taxes, devoting that paid by
each race to it's education. If this an
tagonisnr is so deeply rooted that neither
time nor training will remove 1T. 1t Is
folly to continue to base action upon the
assumption that these irreconcilable eie-
nents can be brought together. Once
upon a. time there were two geological
gardens adjoining. The keeper. OF one
thought that justice demanded that mis-
various kinds of animals should have
equal rights. and he put them all together
The result was that the more tirnid were
continually oppressed and harassed ny
the stronger. and that those distinct races
that could not amalsar,ate were contin-
nallv at war with each other. The keeper
of the other being q practical man with
good common sense. learned wisdom from
his neiShbor's mistakes. He put his lions
together; his bears he kept III anothsr
place. his deer and antelopes were IN
still different place The result was
that his garden was model OF law ana
order. while that of his theoretical neIsh-
Dor was the scene of oppression. terror
and murder.
There is n racial difference race an
ia Observation-Disclosures the negro and the
white man. that the latter had rather die
than see disappear. This race instinct
can recognize TO equality. 1t must eitier
be inferiority or superiority- Ihere - i'o
middle ground. If the negro eversoecoInes
the equal of the white man. lt VIII pul
stir his ambition to become the win
mans superior y recent oemohstFa t;oi.
of this spirit was given in negro eui-
torial claiming that the cultivated por-
ton of his race was slowly. but surely,
outstripping the masses of the WEite ract-
What then shall the white man GO TIC
should do nothing inconsistent with ie'-
son and justice, but by what right does
the State take the money of one race 10
develop and make more dangerous an
other race?
Why should the state hasten the time
when the dominant race must destroy
the weaker? There is nothing more
plainly written than that IL Booker WASH
ington's theory is carried to its logical i.
innate and tne negro is developed. moral
lly and intellectually, It means either IN
termarriage, social equality and conse-s
zquent degeneration of the white race, or
it means the annihilation of the negro
There is no escape from one OF these ul-
Inmates unless the races dlviGe-each liy-
ing in his own land. IL the negro wishes