The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-05-20
ANOTHER EFFORT.

In another column of this issue appears an editorial from The New Bedford, (Mass.) Standard. which deserves some notice-the more so because we have found The Standard exceedingly fair in its discussion of Southern affairs, esps. cially where we take into consideration its location in the very hot-bed of New Eng land narrowness and intolerance with re- gard to Southern affairs. In its discIs- sion of political or sectional questions it is one of the most tolerant and courteous of all the Republican papers that come to this office.
 Tn this instance The Standard has set up man of straw which it pounds in style more notable for its display of learning than for it's fairness, because 1t argues as if The Advertiser had set its face against any and all kinds of educa
 ton for the negroes of the South. This is not a fair statement of our position, and, in fact, the quotation made Dy The Standard itself does not justify its criti- cisms. Tho Lcople of Alabama, almost entirely from their own purses, have been educating the negroes ever since they got from under the rule of the carpet baggers. The colored schools receive a fair share of the school fund and they pay very little of it. They are and have been ..eneficiaries of fund to which they con tribute hardly at all.
 The Advertiser has contained no word of disapproval of negro tdu.ati)n. We firmly and sincerely believe in the edu,a- ton of ali classes of citizens, and have made no complaint because the negroes are so largely peneficiaries of taxes paid by the whites. We have not changed our opinion in that respect, but we repeat that he who would give to the negroes of the South a purely academic education is their enemS. He who would teach them that they may. for the present, at least, aspire to fill the offices. and divide, ac- cording to numbers, the learned profess sions, is their enemy. He who would induce them to believe that they can be- come the social equals of the white race is their enemy. He who would try to educate and train them to believe that they can become the social equals of the white race is their enemy. He who would try to educate and train them to believe that they can become lawyers and doctors and teachers in proportion to their numbers is their enemy.
 All this is plain to The Advertiser, and 1t is said by one who knows them, who understands them, and who is their Of "a negro who will teach them to be better farmers better mechanics, better laborers in all the avocations of life. He Is their best friend who will teach them to be better men and women, to leau lives of honesty and virtue, of industry and frugality-to become better citizens, in short. Let them be taught that the highest duties of citizenship do not con- sist in holding office. displaying a diploma from a medical or law school, or in stand ing behind A counter. In short, The Advertiser wants to first make good citi- zens of the negroes before 1t instils into their minds the belief that they can travel side by side with the white men of the South. In this we are as sure as a finite mind can be of anything that we are | speaking for the best interests of both | races and for the peace and well being of the State. And we hold that the negro has no greater enemy than is lie | who instils into their minds the belief
 that there is no difference in the races.
 That kind of teaching means trouble for white and black and the teacher of such
 doctrine is not true friend to the colored people.
 Have we made ourselves ;ntelligible to the esteemed Standard? a ,...