The Kalispell bee. [volume] (Kalispell, Mont.) 1900-192?, 1903-09-25
st. Paul Preacher Discourses on the
Negro Question.
BOOKER WASHINGTON A FREAK
Part White, Part Negro, Part Indian.
Not the Proper Spokesman for the
Sturdy African Bucks-Slavery Ad-
vonced the Negro-A Strong Race
Physically.

membered, but the Capitalization of
the mob is what we cannot stand"
said Rev. S. G. Smith last night in
the course of his evening sermin. the
subject of which was: Must the
Black Man Co"
In Introducing his discourse DR..
Smith said he would discuss the ques-
ton not from northern or southern
or a white or negro point of view.
but from a standpoint achieved by
years of scientific study of the prob
lem which he believed to be the most
difficult which now confronts the
American people.
He compared the negro as he was
found on the west coast of Africa,
without law other than custom. with
out political order beyond the tribal
association under chiefs. and without
order of family life even of polygamy
with the American negro as he was
at the close of the civil war.
Reviewing from this comparison
what slavery had done for the black
man, he said that it had welded the
colored people of America into an or
der which. although an order of slav
cry. was superior to anything they
had known On the other continent.
Only the young and the strong and
the physically sound were brought to
this country as slaves, Mr.. Smith
said. and hence the four and a half
millions who were here at the close
of the war were the best body of
black people on earth. In slavery
they had been improved by being
taught and cared for, and enlightened
to at least some extent in the Chris
tian religion. while in their own
country they had never had any
religion.
slavery" he said. left the black
man UNNECESSARILY advanced. although
it deprived him of any initiative he
may have had as a barbarian
Mr. Smith briefly reviewed the Civil
war and its cost in lives and money,
which he said was tremendous
price to pay for the conquest of any
idea, and tremendous price for this
nation to pay for the freedom Of the
black man.
Mr.. Smith said he had thought, as
a boy, when negro suffrage was first
proposed and he still thought as a
man. that universal negro suffrage
was one Of the greatest mistakes Of
the nation He believed it to be a
great detriment to the white man
and a great detriment to the black
man.
In spite of the $500 900 900 of prop
erty in the south owned by negroes
he declared that, ethcally. the negro
had not been a success. The negroes
of the south showed only the lowest
form of civilization. and those dis
tricts in northern cities which We're
given over to negro population were
the lowest quarters of those cities.
He quoted statistics to show that
among the negroes the death rate is
much higher than among the white
population. and the percentage of
crime greater. He contended that
the negro in America is retrograding
am 49, . tho conditions that have
been accentuating themselves more
and more for the past thirty years
are permitted to continue, there will
be. in fifty years more. only degen-
crate race fostering in a dozen or
more cities.
AS to the solution of the problem
DR.. Smith said that the colonization
plan had been shown to be impracti-
cable and that the question could not
be settled by either home or foreign
colonization.
THE problem" he said, is ours
and we must face it. The white man
Drought the negroes here and We
must determine whether we will ed
ucate them or kill them. Lynch law
as it is called. is an attack on all
government and contrary to all law
Even the barbaric law of vengeance
which preceded all written law linn
tied vengeance to the relatives of the
man who had been injured. II crime
has been committed kill the man il
need be- but do it according to law
and administer the same punishment
to white and black alike. 1t is of no
matter to this country at large that
a few black men are killed and dis
membered, but the EQUALIZATION of
the mob, which is engaged in such an
outrage. is what we cannot stand"
| Mr.. Smith argued that crime, as an
element among the negroes. was not
so much result of slavery as Of
freedom under conditions in which
the white man did not understand his
responsibility. He believed that if
the Dlack man is 10 ne Teuttlheu
from his present state. it must be by
education of the negro children, and
that education must be more than
school instruction. The negro chill
dren must be placed under sanitary
conditions and in proper moral and
social surroundings and taught to
work. Money must be sent from the
north in millions Of dollars to accom-
plish this object.
Nj. Smith declared that the Ameri-
can people must not expect the negro
to accomplish in one or two gener-
atoms what had taken the white peo-
nle 1000 wears to do. A people could
not become great in one lifetime or
two lifetimes. and probably it would
he thousands of years before the
present problem would be satisfacto-
rilv worked out
He said that Booker T. WASHINGTON
should not he taken as an eyamD1e of