The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1901-04-23


and learning their ways, than to be
deported to Africa, or segregated
somewhere in America, to work out
slowly a separate and distinct negro
civilization.
The tutelage of the negro is not
yet complete. It lasted through six
generations of slavery, directed by
Southern whites. 1t has continued
through one generation of freedom,
directed by Northern whites, acting
though Federal legislation, through
Federal courts, and through political,
educational and religious missiOnar-
les working among the negroes in
the Southern States. The folly and
the futility 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
tutelage versus self-government, but
whether the necessary tutelage of
the negro under the white race shall
be one of friendship and sympathy
or one of prejudice and hostility. To
such a question only n answer is
possible. 1t 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
hostile competition with the strong
est and best developed race on the
globe. The negro can expect no
peculiar development in the South.
He must aim at white civilization /;
and must reach it through the sup
port, guidance and control of the
white people among whom he lives.
He must regain the active friend
ship 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 physical freedom but moral and
intellectual 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 prejudice and
passion, the neglect and oppression,
the competition and hostility which
will inevitably result from a cOntinu
ance 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 a mat
ter of easy accomplishment. Two
things + requisite:
L. The withdrawal of the negro
from politics.
2. His increased efficiency as a
labOrer.
The withdrawal of the negro from
politics is now being accomplished
by legislation in the various South
ern States. If this is interrupted by
the North, and the old battle of Re-
construction fought again, the result
will be the complete and final
estrangement of the two races, with
prejudice and hostility too intense
to permit their living peaceable to-
gether.
Greater industrial efficiency would
prove an everlasting bond between
the races in the South. 1t is the ZEAL
key to the problem. Let the negro
make himself indispensable as a
workman, and he may rely upon the
friendship and affection of the whites.
But the best energies of the race
since emancipation have been
diverted from Industrial fields into
politics, preaching and education.
Until recently it's leaders have not
regarded industrial effort as a means
of progress. But public sentiment in
the South still elcomes.t the negro to
every field of labor that he is capable
of performing. The whole field of
industry is open to him. The South
ern whites are not troubled by his
efficiency, but by his Inehciency.
For a full generation the negro has
had opportunity to control every in
dustry in the South. Had he devoted
himself upon the emancipation to
manual labor and 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.
TI---- = L.