Richmond planet., 1901-08-03
SOME VALUABLE
STATISTICS GIVEN
THE COMMITTEE ON
EDUCATION.
LEADING COLORED MEN BEFORE
THE BODY.
Remarkable Progress Sk0wn-White
Men DumbfOunded-Th Case in
Equity.

Equity.
[Richmond, Va, Times, July 25, 1901.
The Committee on Education held two
session yesterday, DR.. Richard Nell
waine in the chair. The morning ses-
sion was devoted TO hearing representa-
tives of the Negro race against dividing
the school fund, and that in the after
noon TO listening to prominent educat-
ors of the State. who argued for manual
training and other reforms in the public
schools.
The speeches were all well prepared
and presented, and We're listened to bv a
large audience with close attention and
much interest.
Rev. II. II. Bowling, d. D., of Nor
folk, representing the Virginia Baptist
State Convention, presented resolutions
of the colored Baptists l.f the State
against the division of the ss,hool fund.
The speaker said that thd Negroes in
America to-day numbered $500. 600;
they had issued 800 books; they had $l2,
900, 900 of school property and 81, ,00O, 900
of church property. More than $4,000
teachers are engaged in uplifting the chill
dren of the race. They ha3e spent over
$10,000,000 for eduoation in private
schools. In speaking Of tie fact that
the State prison and jaiis had such a
large proportion of Negroes, the speaker
said it should not be forgotten that
there We're tens of thousands of good
colored people, who not only were free
from crime, but were making strenuous
efforts TO improve the condition of n
race that had emerged from slaves and
had had but few opportunities to take
an active part in even the advanced
industrial movements Of the day.
He implored the committee not TO rec
ommend any restriction of the present
educational advantages.
BAPTIST VIEW.
Rev. w. f. Graham, ID. D., next
spoke, saying he represented $50, 600 col
ored Baptists of Virginia, and over
100000 in the South. He said the Ne
gro was completely isolated from Africa.
He felt that America was his home; he
loved its institutions and felt that he
should be considered citizen. The
speaker here alluded to the deplorable
condition of certain elements of the
race and declared that the only hope for
a'better citizenship lay in patient per-
sistence in the uplifting influence of ed
ucation. He pleaded for an equal
chance for the Negro in educational ad-
vantages; that the race should not be
judged by the heights it had attained,
but by the depths from which it had
sprung.
He referred to the fact that the Negro
race, coming from fetichicism into slave
ry, readily accepted the Christian relig-
ion of their ma ters, which was quoted
and preached as justifying their own
bondage, as hopeful sign of the trust
ing, generous faith in the Negro in Di-
vine inspiration.
The Baptists last year spent over $40,
600 in publishing Id distributing relig-
ious literature.
He asserted that the most vicious class
of Negroes were those who were the most
ignorant.
WHITE MAN HIS FRIEND.
If, as has been said, the Virginia Ne
gro is superior to Others, it is because
they have had generous treatment from
the white men of Virginia and had the
example Of their high standards of JUS
tlce and fairness. We Negroes know
that the Southern white men who speak
the most bitter of our race and write the
most extreme editorials about us is the
first man to go to for employment, for
Just individual treatment or for the loan
of dollar.
"As long as the Negro can buy your
lands, borrow money from your banks
and get justice in your courts he feels
hopeful of an ultimate emergence from
the present undesirable conditions sur
rounding the race"
Rev. G.. b. Howard, d. D., of Peters
burg, and Giles jackson, of Richmond,
also addressed the committee in opposi-
ton to division of the school fund
Giles read statistics to show that the
Negroes paid a large amount Of taxes. He
said 1T was impossible to get accurate re-
turns from Auditors Office of real es-
tate taxes paid by Negroes. He and
others of his race wished to live among
Southern white folks. Whenever he
went North white Yankees blacked his
boots, shaved him, drove him in car
rage and waited on him at the table
and ne did not like any such foolshness
RETARD GOOD FEELING.
Prof. w. II. Moses, of Staunton, rep
resenting the Negro Industrial League,
next addressed the committee. Among
other points, he referred to the publish
ed report that more Negroes who could
read and write were in the State prison
than hllterates Ho explained this by
saying that every Negro who could bare