The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1903-06-01
How Northern Prejudice \ orks.

|
we reproduce Tho Philadelphia Pub
| lie Ledgers local report of a meeting
recently held in the Quaker City in the
interest OF the Fort ' alley (Ga.) High
and industrial school, a negro institu-
| ton.
Charles Emory Smith, the we'll
known Philadelphia editor and ex-
postmaster general, acted as chairman
and such prominent friends Of the ne
gro's advancement as Colonel A. K.
Mcclure, the veteran journalist, and
George Foster Peabody and DR.. Wal
lace buttr1ch, Of the general education
Doafd, were the leading speakers, as
was Hon. Z. H. Gray and State Sena-
tor H. A. Matthews, of Fort Valley
Ga.
Unucual interest attaches to this
meeting, which was especially enthus-
last1c, and some of the statements
mace by the distinguished speakers
were noteworthy.
Mr.. Gray Is doing good work in the
upbulldlng of the Fort Valley indus
trial school, and the impression made
by him upon this occasion in Philadel-
phia was a decidedly favorable one.
some or the statements made by Mr..
Gray, than whom no one knows the
negro or understands the educational
needs OF the negro in Georgia better,
were calculated to dsabuse the north
ern mind of some unfortunate misap-
prehensiO15 concer lng the part the
south herself is playing in the moral
and intellectual uplifting OF the Afri-
can race on southern soil. The south
ern states, almost without exception,
are contributing to the limit of their
financial ability to the instruction of
the negro child in the public school,
for the reason, as the Fort Valley
gentleman said, that we Cannot afford
to have them raised up in ignorance
He did well to make it known that the
general assembly of Georgia approprl-
ated So for tuition to every 81 income
from the taxes paid by the coIored peo-
pie" of the state.
But the keynote of the whole propa-
ganda of negro upliftment was sounded
by Colonel A. k Mcclure when, as re-
ported by The Philadelphia Inquirer,
he declared that:
The only solution of the great problem
lies in the united efforts of the north ana
south to give the colored man falr
chance in the Industrial world No mat
ter how much we hear about the progress
of the negro, there are no opportunities
for the colored man in this city, save IN
the most menial occupations. The northern
mechanic will not permit the neSro 10
work by his side We must not only edu-
cate the blacks. but we also must educate
the whites. There is just as much re
sponsib!ity In the north for the colofed
mans position as there is in the south
1t is, seriously, an open question
whether the northern prejudice which
refuses the negro the opportunity to
make a livelihood with his willing
hands north of Mason and Dixon S
obliterated line, save" as Colonel
Mcclure has said, in the most mental
occupations" has not had more to do
with giving the south a race problem
than any possible culpability the south
may have in the premises. The nor
NAL distribution Of ten OF twelve mil
lion colored people throughout so
vast a country as ours, with its eighty
millions Of population, would not pre-
sent a formal chronological or social
problem and there is small reason to
doubt that. were it not for the very
obstacle Colonel Mcclure mentions,
such a distribution would ere this have
been made, or now be far in the pro
gress of being made. Since the north
ern artisan and common labOrer Will
not work beside the negro, nor permit
him to work in his section at all, it
follows that the negro must remain in
the south, where his right to toll is not
challenged by mob violence or adverse
sentiment. In some localities south
therefore, the negro population is CON
tested, and large masses Of them eX-
list in comparative idleness, with the
inevitable attending viciousness and
criminality. 1t is this abnormal condt-
ton which has foisted the menace OF
negro ignorance upon the southern
states. 1t is idle for our northern
friends to argue that the negro hud-
dies in abject poverty in the south
from lack of ambition to better his
condition elsewhere and because the
south is his natural habitat The
climatic pretext has little force in
fact. for tens of thousands OF negroes
| have endeavored to settle in the north
from choice, and hundreds OF thou
sands of others would be there today
if protected in their right to labor.
When, a suggested by Colonel Nc
Clure. the whites of the north are edll-
Gated up to the point of industrial
federation for the negro. we VIII wit
ness a more rational distribution OF
the colored race among our northern
friends. and no undue crowdlng OF
sections of the south by the same
race. Once the prejudice complained
of is dispelled, we shall hear Infinitely
less about the negro as a problem.
The tonic of hope is in the brave
words spoken at the meeting in ques-
ton by Mr. Peabody and DR.. Buttrich.
These words of the after gentleman
are we'll worth reproducing here;
There are hundreds and thousands OF
white people in the south who are eager,
for practical as well as sentimental rea
sons TO see the educational advancement
of the colored race There need be no
fear of the attitude of the southern
white toward the negroes. All talk 10
the contrary is for political ends ana me
conscience of the south rings true IN 'iliS
matter
A sound, honest talk, too, was made
bv ]. H. Torbert, the principal OF the
Fort Valley school He understands
the value of an industrial training to
his race. AS he declared, we have
got to lift up these people or they
will drag the white man down.: And
the southern white man is doing his
full part along this line"