The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1903-11-03
He Also Says Booker Washington is
"The Greatest Man, Save General
Lee, Born in the South in a
Hundred Years."
SOUTHERN LEADERS SLANDERED

IS not blinded by passion viii deny that
the better negroes of the country have
made a remarkable record since the days
Of emancipation In the same way tine
lower class have also made a rapid prog
ress. Among them idleness and shiftless-
ness nave increased; petty crimes and
quarrels have increased; coarse IDEAS have
found greater sway; and viciousness has
augmented. These good and these bad
habits are the fruits Of his freedom.
Neither Of these two classes. the upper
and the lower, are all the negroes; and
in forgetting this fact some well intentloned
people have fallen into serious error. A
man whose mind runs away into baseless
optimism Is apt to point to Booker T..
Washington as a product Of the negro
race. NOW WASHINGTON is A GREAT
AND GOOD MAN, A CHRISTIAN
STATESMAN. AND TAKE HIM IN
ALL THE GREATEST MAN. SAVE LEE,
BORN IN THE SOUTH IN A HUNDRED
YEARS; BUT HE IS NOT A TYPICAL
NEGRO. He does not even represent the
better class Of negroes. He Is an excep-
tional man: and. endowed as he is. it is
probable that he would have remained un-
educated but for the philanthropic inter-
vention of white men. The race. even
the best of them. are so far behind him
that we cannot in reason look for his re-
production IN the present generation. 1t
is. therefore. too much to hope. for a con-
tinued appearance Of such men in the
near future. 1t is also too much to set
his development up as a standard for hS
race. To expect it is to insure disappoint-
ment.
In the same way some people who arc
pessimistic in regard to the negro base
their opinions on their observations of the
negro of the lowest class. Said a gentle
man to me recently: THE negro race
will die out within a century," His rea-
son was this: a few years ago there were
sixteen negroes in the Jail of his county,
and the county physician had told him
that fifteen OF them had venereal dis
eases. From this he argued that the
physical constitution Of the race was i'm
periled. Manifestly, it is illogical to
measure either the health. morals. or 9TH
er quality of the negro by the similar
quality of the most depraved. 1t !. true
that there is ID the race a large lowest
class-and a small upper class. And it Is
true that this lowest class gives the race
a certain discouraging tendency. But there
is also a strong, and perhaps an increas-
ing, upper class which is ever fighting
back its own weakness and shaking off It's
own shackles.
In this connection l cannot refrain from
speaking Of a certain false notion IN re
gard to the negro which has caused much
error IN the opinions of men North and
South. 1 refer to the notion that the
ante-bellum negro was a benign old man
or a gracious old nanny a guardian
Of the family children. and a dignified ex-
DracSInn IN phnpv of tho family honor
The falseness of this notion is due partly
to the maginations of certain novelists
and partly to the emotional memories OF
most Southern women and some South
ern men. AS to the letter it is a pardon
able failing. A woman may well remem-
Der her old nanny and have no reco'
lection of hair-lipped Peter who ran
away with a long scar across his forehead
as the advertisements put it. But men
who undertake to describe the life of the
old South ought to know what it was
before they talk about it. Mr.. Thoma:
Nelson Pages castles In Virginia are also
castles in the air. The typical ante-bellun
negro was the field hand. When We com
pare the old and the new negro we ought
to place the new man by the side of tina,
individual. And if We do not remember
what kind OF a man the field land O
slavery was-for our novelists have not re
membered much about him-we may IN
form ourselves IN the instructive pages o
Olmsted or in Fanny Kemble's interesting
"JourHal.' Nine-tenths Of the negroe
now IN America are descended from thu
: part of the old slave population.
| 1t is important for us to note that tn,
: progress of the negro has brought him OF
: position as we'll as his repression. IF TIN
, the white men who oppose him may no
, be conscious. THEY MAY EvEH
FANCY THAT THEY ARE THE BES-
; FRIENDS TO THE NEGRO. But the ad
vance Of the negro in education and il
economic conditions brings him ever int
: new conflicts with the white man. Thi
h is true because his advance means
I greater degree of comfort-a greater diE
n position to desire the means 0: highe
S life. AS LONG AS HE WA
t MERELY A LABORER IT WA
e NOT HARD TO DRAW THE LIN
d WHICH DIVIDED HIM FROM 9th
Err PEOPLE. IT WAS AT THAT TIM
NOT HARD FOR HIM TO BE con
. TENT WITH INFERIOR HOTELS, O
WITH ACCOMMODATIONS IN TIL
KITCHENS OF BETTER HOTELS. L
THESE DAYS HE IS BECOMING TIC
u INTELLIGENT AND TOO REFINE
TO BE CONTENT WITH THES
= THINGS. HE DEMANDS A BETTE
PLACE. FORMERLY, 1T DID NC
HURT HIS PRIDE TO RIDE IN
JIM CROW" CAR; FOR HE HA
!, LITTLE OR NO PRIDE OF TIA
{, KIND. NOW, HE CONSIDERS TIL
20 LAW A BADGE OF INFERIORITY.
~ MARK OF INTOLERANCE WHO
81 HE WILL SOME DAY SEEK TO WIZ
ID OUT.
OF With most white Americans there is
- very definite notion that the negro has /
place In their minds this notion is
er caste feeling. 1t is an inherited feelin
ne and it is not difficult to find facts
the negro's life which seem to give it t
10 support of expediency. To make h