The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1902-06-27
TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION.
POSTAGE PREPAID.
NO SOLUTION OF THE RACE CUES
ION

One of the graduates at Harvard uni
yersity last week was a negro. His
graduation Grafton was or h "Educa-
ton and Race Problem. He advocated
the distribution among the farming ne
groes of the south of men and women
OF their W race trained in industrial
schools. This. he said, would lift them
out of their ignorance and thriftless-
ness. The New York World takes up
the idea and seems to think that this
Harvard graduate and Booker T. Wash
at the south. so far. at least. as to it's
Industrial phase. which it seems to
think of more Importance than the So
ciaI or political.
Right there is where The World and
all Of that class max a mistake. a
double mistake in fact. The education
of the negro does not solve the indus
trial phase Of the ice problem, and
that branch of the question is by no
means the all important one
We want it distinctly understood hat
we are not saying one word in this
article against the education of the ne
gro. 1t is natural for him as we'll as
the white man to strive to raise him
self by securing the best education
within his means. This is commenda-
BILE in him and shows a disposition to
improve his condition. What we wish
to do is to point out a few facts which
we think will show that neither this
Harvard graduate nor Booker T. Wash
ington have advanced theories which
will solve the race question at the
south.
The negro is here and he is here to
stay. For generations to come he will
be the m~ainstay of the labor at the
south. People may say all they please
about wanting the negro to leave this
section. but the fact cannot be denied
that for our cotton fields. our tobacco
fields and our rice fields negro labor is
the best we have. The people of the
south have been used to hin for gener-
ations and they would be at sea without
him. We refer to the Industrious,
hard-working negro, the man who is
willing to work for a livelihood and to
better his condition in life. not the
rifrah found loafing about our larger
towns and cities.
How are we going to change this class
for white, foreign or northern labor? 1t
cannot be done gradually; for the
northerner and the European is not 60
i-g to come south and compete with
negro labor on the farms. That has
been fully demonstrated. The negro at
the south prevents the tide of European
immigration turning this way. Every
one knows that. A wholesale. instan-
taneous migration of the negro and
change of labor is of course. an impos-
sibility and were it possible would
bankrupt the south.
Now, if you give the negro a high
school or collegiate education what do
you do? For every one you raise to this
condition you decrease by one the
army Of producers n increase the
horde OF consumers. An educated ne
gro is not going to work in the field.
He is going to move to a town or city
and there try to live by his wits. You
decrease the effective working force,
but do not lesson the cause which pre-
vents h introduction of northern or
European abor. You have not helped
to solve the industrial phase of the
question, but rather have made it more
complex. And as to the political status
of affairs you nave made it all the
worse.
We do not pretend to sugge a solu-
ton of the question for 1t is beyond us.
Wiser heads than ITS have been per-
picked over the matter for years. We
wish simply to say that the race prob
lem at the south has not been solved
by Tuskegee college nor will it be by
universal education.
The s+ar+ipu apDorpcapoant couoaS