The Tupelo journal., 1902-09-19
THE RACE PROBLEM.
Arp on the Great Negro Convention
Recently Held.
Declares Negroes Were Infinitely ia
perior when Freedom Came to
what They Now Are-Decries
Higher Education for Them.

Copyrighted by the Atlanta Constitution.
and reprinted by Permission.l
OF course, l was very much inter-
ested in the great negro convention.
So was every Thoughtful man north
and south, but there were some fea-
lures about it that did not harmon
lie with the views and memories of
the old masters. The oft-repeated
assertion that 40 years ago the ne
gro emerged from bondage and bar
barism is a mistake. 1t is worse for
tits SANDER. One orator said that
they had been in a savage state for
100 years-another said $50 years
came was wonderful. Some of our
young people of this age and gener-
alton may carelessly believe that, for
they have been taught it from the
north, where it is universally be-
lieved. Booker Washington may be-
lieve it, for he is in his middle age.
But Evan Howell and / and all other
veterans, whether white or black,
know that it is not so. 1 don't want
the old-time negroes slandered. The
orator might as well have said 1880
years ago., for their ancestors were
all in Africa then-none of the
grown-up negroes who were set free
or 60 years, and none were savages
or barabarians.. They compared
well with the illiterate white people
and in fact felt above them and
spoke of them as poor white trash.
The close association for two or
three generations of these slaves
with their white masters and their
families educated most of them in
good morals and and indus
try, which is a better education than
books, and the truth is they were
when freedom came infinitely SUI
perior to the race as it now is. The
progress that Booker Washington
alarming retrograde and degener-
acy. When freedom came there was
not an outrage in all the southern
land nor was there a convict or a
changing o a negro prison, but
now there are 4,400 convicts and the
number increases faster than the
population. No-there is no upward
graduation in their morals. The
higher education that these negro
colleges are giving to the few have
no good effect upon the many, and,
according to Mr.. W~ashington's own
statement, he is alarmed because
most of his graduates aspire to be
leaders and teachers and preachers
and bosses. They r a pampered
negro aristocracy and widely scat
tered as they are, they have not re-
formed the race in morals or in hon
esty or an observance of the mar
riage relations. l can assert with
truth that at least one-third of the
negro children in and around Car
tersville are bastards. There are
nine within a stones throw of our
house-and yet their mothers are
very good servants and make good
cooks, chambermaids and washer
I'M They lose no caste or social
position or church membership by
Scco VI oiiSi Liz dllld"~
full cohabitation, and the children of
these women are growing up with
out moral training and + as noto-
rious young thieves as the Arabs of
the desert. The white people have
got so accustomed to their petty
thieving that they do not prosecute
them. Mr.. Washington made anoth-
er mistake when he said hat the
number of convicts increased because
they were too poor to employ coun-
sci. 1t is well known to the bar
and to those who attend the courts
that the judge always appoints COM
petent counsel, and he leans to the
negro and protects him as far as he
can consistently with his duty. I