The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-09-06

who seek in the ministerial profession an avenue for their social aspirations, an opportunity to exercise power over their fellows. freedom from the hard work of the industrial pursuits of most of their people. or the dignity and glamour of condition of exaltation. They often ex- ercise a curious sort of hypnotic infiu- ence over tfeir auditors, so that their control over their people is often far more absolute than that of a priest at the confessional. They also are chronic intermediates in political affairs, and endeavor to use their, ecclesiastical power for political ends. Many of them are utterly lacking in education or special preparation for their high calling. and they are veritable blind leaders of the blind. From such shepherds as those what can be expected in the way of prop CT guidance for their hocks. The negro churches are then often veritable Bed lams of noise, confusion. disorder, and frequently riots leading to death and dis aster. Such a case Is shown in the occurrence at the Baptist negro church at Birmingham, Ala, where over hun dred perished as the direct result of turning a church into a sort of political hustings, utterly devoid of the true re- ligious spirit. What Is needed Is a better
 
 stricter system of ecclesiastical training more helpful attitude toward the reli | gious condition of the negroes on the part of the white people, especially of the white ministry, and medication of religious and moral truth in the whole educational system under which they are | trained. With all its advantages, this Is the weak point in the scheme of Booker Washington and his associates, black and white. Without moral and religious principles as foundation. the most efficient industrial traning will re- suit only in sharpening knife to murder rather than blow to till the soil An ordinary unskl,ed laborer who is of up- right moral character and who Is a true Christian, will be of immensely more be- nefit to society than the most highly | trained product of industrial education" '" | It is unfortunate in the extreme that | the revulsion consequent on emancipa- | tlon and reconstruction should have re- suited in such a widening of the distance between the religious influence of the white people and the negroes. who for mer.y enjoyed many religious benefits from the interest taken in them by their masters fin ante bellum days. The infu- ence of the hest white people in those days was such that as the result the slaves stood the test of the most severe trial ever put upon the character of any race in history-their fidelity to the wo- men and children of the South in the civil war. Whatever may have been the evils of slavery and it is idle to deny them it is still true that the slaves pre-
 sented a higher moral development thar the younger generation of free negroes to-
 daG. The condition of the neglected masses of the negro youth today Is ap
 palling. In the other regime. rape anc lynchng were unknown. There were nc
 idle vagrants. no herding in the sink pools of the great cities, no such crowded
 penitentaries and jails no such Wloe
 spread prostitution and drunkenness
 There ought to he a revival of rehglou
 interest in the negroes on the part Q 9
 their white neighbors and employees:
 is absurd to make such an outcry aoUu 'i missions to the heather in Africa. "hhe as John Randolph said, the heathen ar still neglected at our doors. Industrial Education" has become tn fad Of the day But after all there l nothing new either in the idea or in tn