The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1903-02-26
WHAT SHALL WE DO WITH THE
NEGRO?
W Washington Post.

Washington Post
Secretary Root asks: "What shall
we do with the negro?" We answer
let him alone.
The negro is free He has the Op-
pOrtunity to acquire Independence,
to make himself a respected member
of society, to hasten or delay his own
develOpment-ju lust as the average
white man has. He receives an edu-
cation, such as it is, almost entirely
at he expense OF the white tax payer,
and. in the South. at least, he can
always obtain employment. 1t lies
with him to work out his own deSti-
ny. to make of himself a useful citi-
zen, and to rear his family in right
eousness and decency Why need
our statesmen concern themselves
over the feverish complaints of Il
handful of impudent agitatOrs de-
manding that to which they are not
entitled and which white men of sim
liar condition and equipment would
not dream of asking for? There are
thousands of well-tO-dO cOlOred men
in the South who could inform these
anxious gentlemen that the negro is
not helped but injured by this ever
lasting outcry. There are thousands,
worth anywhere from $4,000 to
100000 who get all the ''recOg-
nltion' they want without clamOring
for it, and they can testify in their
own experience that recognition"
comes always to him who has de-
served it. This pestiferous vocifera-
ton over the negro and his so-called
rights merely infames the vanity of
the ignorant and rObs him of what
little self respect he has.
Here is letter written to and pub
lished by Il Philadelphia newspaper
within the past few days:
Silt am a cOlOred man, a mechanic
by trade. There is nothing in the line of
a house in wood that | cannot make.
can build all the stairs, windows, make
the sashes. blinds and doors. | can
build house from the ground up and
turn the keys over to the owner COM
pleted. can draw the plans, make the
blue prints, make the specifications, and
give estimates Yet | am debarred from
employment on account of my color
The prejudice in this city is strong
against me, much stronger than in the
place came from No one wants me
because | am colored man. Why is
this | am thirty seven years old.
drew the plans of the cOlOred church on
Tasker street, above Twentieth. My
name is on the cornerstone. | built the
state Colored College, of Orangeburg, S.
e.. and have built cottages in Orange
burg and for the mayor of Beaufort, s.
C.. but still am debarred from employ
ment in Philadelphia
''SAMUEL H. BLYTHEWOOD."
This man is a victim of the wicked
and mischievous agitation to which
we refer. Evidently far superior to
the average of his race, he was new
ertheless credulOus enough to believe
that great things awaited him at the
North He abandoned a home in
which he had been cOntented and
prosperous and transferred himself
to Philadelphia-with the result we
have already seen. Of course he will
return to South Carolina, where he
has friends among the whites and is
assured of unemployment
at all times. There are other vie
tins. however. who will not so easily
eScape-the consequences of their own
credulity. for only Il few days ago
the New York Tribune called atten-
tion to the number of Southern ne
grocs who had migrated to the me-
tropolis, expecting no doubt to dine
with the mayor and be elected to
office within a week, but who had
landed in the almshouses and were
then begging for transportation
back home. The truth is that this
eternal nonsense about the negro
and his rights and wrongs: this mis-,
chievous cackle over him and his flu
ture, is infinitely harmful to him,
and fraught with calamity to both
races.
Let him alone! Stop this idiotic
uproar. The negro is all right, and
for every impudent pretender and
complainant filing the air with
clamor for recognition. there are ter
thousand, honest, industrious, self
respecting men slowly but surely
working out their own destinies anG
building up their own fortunes. Let