The Washington bee., 1902-06-21
The Gospel of Work.
From The Daily Post.

Louisville for the purpose OF denver
inc an address before a COlOTed nor
mai class appears TO have been tTeSh
triumph for his gospel ofwOrk." " The
nawsDaDers of that city and Indiana,
Ohio and Illinois. have given large
space TO serious and intelligent dis
cussiun of his aims, and have noted
with warm appreciation, the hdellty
with which h addresses himself to ms
life's mission. The COurier-JOurnal,
whose editor, it may be recalled,
handled lhe White House dinner cpl
sode as A signal contribution to the
DoIitiCal capital of the Democracy,
saws. Some thousand Of the people
took the deepest interest IN PIoi.
Washington coming to Louisville,
while all the better element OF his
race received him with the grea. est
enthusiasm at every turn" His force
fuI eloouence thrilled and astOniShed
his white hearers.
The doctrine which this remarkable
man preached in Louisville was Just
what he has been proclalmlng ior a
good many years, and 1t IS a TACT ol
great value that much success mas Ie,
Earded his efforts. "When the negro
he said, "rea!izes that through indus
try, and industry alone, he can hit MINI
selfuo and better his condition, then,
and not till then, he will We taken
great step toward solving what per
sans are to call the race problem. lie
insisted on industrial education as the
true and only means of eIevating the
race. He told his hearers that the
South is a better field for the negro
than the North, and he advised them
10 seek the country instead OF tne
city.
In this connection so ne local stats
tics that have recently appeared IN the
Atlanta Constitution seem TO be eX-
tremely pertinent. Our Atlanta con-
Temporary states that few days ago
a list Of inquiries WAS put before 600
bows and girls IN the schools OF that
city. The concluding questions was:
"What do you want 10 do when you
are grown? Out of 25O answers from
bows, 81 wanted TO be artisans, IS pro-
fessional men, II merchants, 10 teach
ers, 45 civil service government JOBS,
Al didn't know" and only 81 eN-
pressed a desire to be music teachers,
farmers. servants, &c. OF the $40 re-
plies given by the negro girls, 100
wanted to be dressmakerS, 73 teach
ers, 90 music teachers, IS trained
nurses, Fl cooks, p didn't know, ~
and u divided among housekeeping,
laundry work, and other domestic ser
vice. From these figures, and other
data accompanying them, the COnstl-
tuition concludes that about IS per cent,
of the negro women will prefer domeS-
tic service. and that the large maJorl-
ty Of them think of It entirely as help
ers Of their own households. Very lew
Of them, says the Constitution, think
of becoming domestlCS as a trade IN
life
AS to the negro men of the future, ,judg-
ing by those indications. out Atlanta
contemporary finds that only about
per cent. are looking TO the farm or
10 the domestic emplOYmentS; that
they 5 i'll imbibe from their parents
the notion that to follow the plow or
handle the hoe is about the meanest
calling that civilization opens TO the
human beng; thar they are aiming
high above the menlal pursuits, and
even the percentage of them who are
seeking the manual arts is dlsappolnt-
ingly small. The logic of It all, as
ihe Constitution reads It, is:
at accentuates the wisdom OF Book
er Washington in trying to educate
the negroes Of the South TO see that
the labor of the field is dignihlng be-
cause it briggs competence and the
contentment which can never be com .
mon to the negro in the higher pur-
suits. where even the best equipped
white men have TO tight hercsly Tor
success against competition Inc wise
negro will seek the broad acres which
are in themselves the syllables OF his
declaration Of independence. me
foolish negro will continue TO ny at
the moon and find his fate in the
potters field"
Booker Washington AMI the pro-
Rressive newspapers sf the South are
in hearty sympathy, all working to the
same great end. In proportion as this
gospel of the work" is accepted and
lived up TO, the solution OF the race
problem will be successful Mean
while. it is to be regretted that mum
her of influential Southern whites anC
= few negroes in responsible POSITIONS
are persisiently agitatiug the separa-
ton of the Tace-an utterly impFacti
CaOIc duO dluOsI llASialAI AAAA
scheme.
The Daily Post as well as othe
papers cannot thrust upon the ne
gro a man like Booker L. Wash
ington. He is doing the race NOR
harm than the entirs democratic
party.
There are other negroes lik
Washington in the United State
who are willing and ready to d
whatever & white man says do.
The progressive newspapers Of th
Nor.h are against the theory ad
vanced by the willing negro.
There are a few ckspit' al
among the negroes who are t0OdY
ing to Washington because the