The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1901-12-12
EDUCATING THE
NEGRO A FAILURE,
It Has Done No Good and N'Js
Not the Remedy Needed No,
Atlanta Constitution.

| a nclghbor said to me, Ma j"r,
what is all tins racket about-this lu.a.
pus-this swimporium about the II
ger9 Iavo they broke loosc2 lIaye
they riz again? You remember how
they generally went to the corn field or
the cotton patch. pvo been rcaGin
The New York journal and it looks
like something must have happened
out in Mississippi or somewhere, and
tho bishops and college folks al d Yen.
ltco women arc mighty bothered about
'cm."
We'll, 1T IS amusing to read these
stale platitudcs and theories about Che
negro. A few of them are scusibir.
some of them dclusion, and some arc
almost idiotic. With most of them
education seems 20 be the pauacca for
everything and somc Of Them want
Kindergarten schools for the babies and
separate schools for the mothers TO
learn physiology. Some Of the Nolti-
crn female antiquities want social
equality and hint at mlsccgcnatlon as
the coming remedy. Some say that
separation is tho only solution and The
negro must go, and some say that every
dollar spent on thoir education widen.
the gulf between the races. One very
sensible writer says stop their vuliny
and stop paying taxes for their cducn
| ton.
| Tako thcm all together and they
dont harmonZc on any plan, though
large majority with DR.. Curry in thc
lead, arc Tor cduCatiOn--mOre CLucn.
| ton. We'll, it is possible for even so
great and good a man as DR.. Curry 10
be mistaken. He and Bishop CanG!r,
ard some others on that line have
made lifo long business of educating
young people, and are naturally dis
posed to magnify it's imp0rtancc> bat
It seems 70 me when we uy an cXpvli
mcnt for thirty years and spend over
one hundred millions OF dollars on il ,
and the negroes got worse instead ol
better, it is time to halt and Ii =, some
other method.
These negroes arc new generation
and know nothing of slavery. The
| Norhcrn idea seems to be that hcsc
are the same negroes VIC had before
the war, and that they have recently
emerged from slavery and semi ban bar
ism, and must be educated into good
citizenship. This is il mistake. The
Old time negroes had Il very good c,lu
catlon-~nUt IN book learning, but ~
contacU and association with lhuir
masters and their masters families an,!
Hcighbors. Education is not all gotten
from books. 1t comes through the ear
as well rs through the eye. Oar o,d-
tim" slaves were better educated for
usefulness ami happiness than are the
college graduates Of to-day. They hal
more common sense and far more
morality. We had among them car.
pcntcrs, masons, hlacksmlths, tanners,
shocnIakcr', timers, wagon makers.
painters, papcrcrs, railrOadcrS, anl VIZ
had GOOD farmers and ginncrs and nml.
lcrs and hostlcrs.
Among IT, women VIC had wCul.ls.
raldelH, Spinncrs. scamstrcsscs, G. n
hcrmhidS, butter makers, COOK d
nurses and they were all cducal,l in
their business. owned carp,a Ger
who could plan and build frs, ass
house and make handsome ma, Il
and run modern staircase. | OM ed
another who grew UP from infancy
with my children, and who could u; nj
and paper and cook and put down car
pets and do other useful things, aud
he was my faithful bodyguard during
the war and is still devoted 10 my
family. Education why, the children
taught Tip to read, and that was en-
ou@h for him, and he was always hnppy
AMI contcntcd. He had the daily
benefit of example and prcccpt. Why
Is 1t that we have now over i ,OGO cOn-
victs and did not have one then? Al
this mauldin philanthropy has come
flom the idea that our negroes were
savaScs until freedom came, when the
truth is they were better fed and
housed and far happier than The poor
Of the Northern States. do not re-
member to have ever punished but one
OF cur elaVcs-our own boys got most
of the whippings and the negroes grew
up in fee" of it.
| 1t Is not the lack of education thai
increases crime and fills our pris ,ns
for ii is recorded that II per cen; of
the "onVic.s can read and write. What
is wanted is good moral training and
the fear Of punishment for crime. The
negroes Get none of this from their
Iparcnts or their teachers or preachers,
while in slavery their race trait o!
stealing little things was curbcd and re-
strained, but it has come back in fv'i
force and now all of this generation
will steal with but few cXccpll0na. We
have not had but one domestic servant
III twenty-five years who would not
steal, or, as they call il, take little
things on tho sly. We expect them to
steal and arc mover disappointed. 1t
IS just rs much race trait in the negro
as it Is in the Arabs or the posteri,y of
lshmacl. 1t is to the crcdll Of ,hc ne
gro that he will not cheat You nor be-
tray your confidence. 1t is to The dis.
crcdit OF Jews and Gcntilcs that Nhcy
will cheat you or deceive you if they
can "honorab'y.'
| But the most alarming trait among
the negroes is Their II ter disregard for
chastity and their con iugal Obligations.
~ large majority Of the negro women
are harlots and their children arc bas-
tnrIs 'Ihia lnnl, ,f 1, -,