The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-12-04
1.-THE SURPLUS NEGRO PoPULA-
 TIONv

THE SURPLUS NEGRO POPULA-
 TI0N.o
 Several times lately we have heard farmers on our streets from various sec tions of the country telling how the negroes were better supplied with money than they had ever known them to be- Two or three days ago we copied an item from a Demopolis paper which stated that negroes in Marengo County were OK hibiting shot-sacks full of silver dollars as the result of good crops and prices. and from various portions of the South we hear something of the same kind. We are reminded of these reports by reading the following extract from The American Farmer of Indianapolis:
 The real solution of the negro problem Is for the surplus negro population of the cities to return South and become farm hands. with view to gradually acquir- would @ bring Independence ' and with inde- - pendence and competence they would be respected. The industrious man has nesse trdaSe tire nar e rsons sDd tS the hSP e who commit crimes and excite prejudice against the whole race. There Is plenty of room for those willing to work.
 This naive admission that there is a new. though Northern newspapers are not usually so open in admitting it. There is a problem up there and it exists be- cause of the intolerance of the white peo- >ple. Because we of the South insist on separate schools and cars, and because we do not take the negroes into our fami- lies we are the recipients of much un- friendly and unjust criticism from those who pamper the pride and ambition of the negro socially and let him starve for lack of chance to work.
 We are accustomed to all this kind of one-sided race feeling and care little for 1t. but when 1t comes to material and industrial show down it is found that the negroes in the South are infinitely bet ter off than they are in almost any sec- ton of the North or West They are not allowed as many social privileges here as there. but when it comes to stomach filling and body-covering opportunities we beat our Northern brethren about two to one.
 < The last sentence of the extract above quoted, that there is plenty of room for those willing to work'' is not true of the negro in the North and the Farmer ought to know it.. but, It is strictly true in the South. We have idle and vicious negroes down here who are pest. to any com munity, but they are largely confined to the cities and towns where they have a better opportunity for living lives of slothfulness and vice than they have in the country. What to do with that class, or what is to be the outcome of their habits and dispositions is really one of the serious questions always confronting the Southern people, and one which they must settle for themselves.
 But while this is true it is equally true that industrious, well-dlsposed negroes have it fin their power to live comfortably and independently down South, if they will just divest themselves of all thought of social or political equality. That is a dream which is not going to be realized here, but they can live well if they choose. They can acquire homes of their own, make good crops, own their own stock and become independent, self-supporting citizens if they choose to do so.
 | The one great drawback. for which there is no remedy but patience, encour- agement and example is the natural and inherent improvidence of the race. They are almost totally lacking in the faculty of looking forward and providing for the future. With them Sufficient for the day" sums up all their desires. It is more than probable that some of those negroes who are going about with shot sacks full of silver dollars" will have to go to their landlords next spring for ad- vances to enable them to live. They are careless, happy -go-lucky people who spend their money freely when they have it and suffer when it is gone.
 Right here, it occurs to us, is a duty which the white people of the South owe to the colored race. They are with us to stay and it Is to our interest as well as theirs to make them contended and salf sustaining. To teach them how to save and invest their earnings so that they will be beneftted in their future is of in- fnitelv more importance and benefit than to delude them with visions of social or 1 political prominence. A negro who owns his own farm and home is likely to be a good citizen. and the white people can do very much to bring about such conditions. The negroes are always ready to be | taught by their real white friends and we know of few more really Christian duties than to help those who are depen- dent on us and who look to us for coun- sel and guidance.
 And now a few words to our brethren of Illinois, Indiana, Kansas and other sections of the great middle west. There should be no such thing as surplus negro population" in those States. They are among the richest agricultural regions of | the Union. While the climate Is not such as the negroes are generally accus- toned to 1t is by no means unbearaDle for them. The comparatively few negroes in those States ought to find plenty of work on the farms, and they ought to be well treated. While we are not advising an exodus from the South, and know it would not be best for the negroes, we do insist that it is a shame that negroes in those States are not encouraged and protected We do not offer them any