The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1901-10-24
!, 4i,., s. The remedy. however

and THRIFT. n State can long scoAi Aue
to educate and elevate one part Oh ns me-
citizens and to leave at the bottom q
great mass of ignorance, untaugnt, IN IN
trained, uncontrolled. They Viii MI cur
jaiis ana penltentiaries and viii cost N N
the end Ear more than all their scnooiS
will ever DO. You cannJt turn them ioose
TO ali ths license that this free country
gives without educating, training anu
controlling them This You can only 10
through the right kind Of schools.
Ass.n. it Is unworthy of the white race
tying down. lest he rise, the fellow At the
bottom. Our worthy maxim should Oe:
Let him rise ever SO high, there is stlll
room for US at the top. We are not PFC
pared to admit that the best thing ior
the man at the bottom is to doom him
to remain there forever, no odcS Row
high or how low the man at the top may
rise or fall. Nor is it best Tor The nan
on lot,--he eievates himself by lifting 9th =
ers up We are not prepared TO admit
that pablo education is a good thing only
down to a certain point This point might
some day be placed so high up that the
momentum OF the masses would put tue
bottom on top. We have seen that olte
in our day. We never want to see It
again. We admit that great evil has been
connected with negro education ana that
Ildi III ISSutlcu. AleiN WIZ 81
1T, not Knowing the negro and his needs,
with honest but misguided purposes. They
did harm. Some went at it with perm
cious purposes. seeking to widen the
breach between the races. They fearful
ly succeeded. The work has to a certain
extent been an experiment. But, after all.
it has not been a failure. Great good has
been done. 1t is only necessary to give
unbiased, unprejudiced study to see that
l,61. ic.r
suit is accomplished, notwithstanding the
fact that the negro began his freedom
at the wrong md. For he began with the
ballot In his. hand and ignorance in his
head. Had he only been educated first,
and then allowed the ballot. as he might
Win it by becoming an intelligent indus
trious honest citizen. the history OF the
South would have be- different We can
not, however. undo the past. We can do
better for the future. We have, from
feeling that we had to do it, appropriated
money for the negro schools, but we have
not looked after and guided this work as
we should have. We have allowed. in 1ar
too many cases, incompetent teachers to
do the teaching. Many have given more
time to teaching the negro to hate the
white race and to give him false and
ruinous notions on the question of social
equality than to the work they were ap-
pointed to do. We need the best and most
consecrated teachers for this difficult
work. We need teachers who will instil
into these people respect for their own
race, purity of life and love and gratitude
for the race supplying the money hat
maintains their schools. For a long time,
at Least, We need. as a rule. our best
Southern white teachers for this work.
They understand the negro best and ,o-e
him most We need teachers who nave
love for this work, teachers inbued with
the spirit of the Great Teacher of E'all-
lee-love for the lowly.
Again. their education should be fitted
to their needs and should tend to inspire
them along the line of their future cali
ings They need training towards work,
not from it. They need to be taught that
an education is to fit them for more faith
fully and more efficiently doing whatever
work in life they are called to do. / can-
not concur in the idea that they Should
be confined to the most mental of manual
that II they seek to enter the
fields of skilled labor the white man
stands ready to dagger them. ] have en-
ployed for years a great many skilled and
common laborers. both white and black.
have never seen any exhibition of this
spirit admit that it exists. But it ex1
lists far more in the North than in tic
South. In the South the negro is given
in the field of labor d far better show
than in the North. I know from actual
that there are large numbers
of skilled, efficient Worllngmen among
the negroes who secure abundance OF
work in the South and who are, as a
rule, well treated by the workman of the
white race The spirit of the honest,
faithful workman is, when unintiuenced
by designing leaders, to give every man
q fair show. AS I see it, the South to-
day is ready and waiting for all honest,
skilled laborers of both races who apply
for a job. Is it fair to deprive the negro
OF any opportunity of rising, lest the
white man kill him? And is it fair TO The
Southern white workman to say he viii
do SO? He has higher ideas of what is
just than that would indicate. It may do
for an Illinois mob, made up Of foreigners,
the scrapings Of the earth, but it is not
the spirit Of the native born Southern
white Iaborer. Be this as it may, the
thing has already gotten beyond our con-
troll. The serpent has already beguiled
the negro, and he has eaten Of the fruit
Of the tree Of knowledge and has found
out that he is naked, and he is going 10
sew together fig leaves and clotile HIM
self. Any one who has studied carefully
the problem will see that it will take
more than a law withdrawing the school
fund to stop this desire that the negro
has for an education 1t will take al
angel Win a, naming SWORD TO Iu2It MN
from the fruit of the trees of the garden.
AS we have neither the sword nor the an
GEL we had better let him cat and live.
Then let us guide his education SO as TO
make him q law-abidng, useful, indus
.rious and honest citizen. For in the ne
gro, if properly trained, we have thu IN
>st laboring class on earth. They far sur
pass the foreign iaborers Of the North.
they love their country, and if Left alone
from outside influences and are properly
:reated and trained by our own people,
hey will be the most potent factor in the :,
development OF all our Southern indus
ries. Prejudice will disappear when they
how themselves worthy. The social qncs-
ion will not trouble US, for the negro.
lnless misguided by some pernicious out
side influence. knows his place and wants
o keep it.
But, finally, if we are so unwise as to |
withdraw State aid to negro schools, anC |
hereby our power to guide. and control |
heir education and to appoint their teach |
RS, I am sure that, inspired by sense |
# wrong dont the negro. there are men
Who will send their millions into Vir-
,inia to fill the void by endowipg negro
schools. the very foundation of which Will
,e the old fanaticisn now nearly burned
,ut but famed again into life by an act
considered unjA5t. Their teachers will in