The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1903-02-25
What Shall we do With the Negro? ?

Secretary Root asks: "What shall
We do with the negro?" We answer let
him alone!
The negro is free. He had the op-
portunity to acquire independence, to
make himself a respected member of
society, to hasten or delay his own
development-iust as the average white
man has. He receives an educat ton,
such as it is, almost entirely at the
expense cf the white taxpayer, and, in
the south, at least, he can always
obtain employment. It lies with him
TO work out his own destiny, to make
OF himselfsa psefulcitizen, and to rear
his family IN righteousness and de-
ceney. Why need our statesmen con-
cern themselves over the feyerish COM
plants Of handful Of impudent
agi5ators, demanding that to which
they are not entitled and which white
men of similar condition and equip
ment 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
She negro Is not helped but IN jured by
their everlasting outery. There are
thousands, worth anywhere from
$4,000 to 81, 900, 600 who get all the
rscognition'' they want without
clamoring for it, and they can testify
In their own experience that recogni-
tom comes always TO him VINO has
deserved It. The pestifreus vocifera
tion over the negro ano his so-called
rights merely inhames the vanity Of
the ignorant and robs him of what
little self-respect he has.
Here is letter written to and pub
Iished by a Philadelphia newspaper
within the past few days:
"Sir: I am a colored man, mech
anic by trade. There is nothing in the
line of house in wood that cannot
make. can build all che stairs, win
dows, make the sashes, blinds, and
doors. I can build house from the
ground up and turn the keys over to
the owner completed. I can draw the
plans, make the blue prints, make
the specifications, and gives estimates.
Yet am debarred from employment
On account of my color. The pre-
judice in this city is strong against
me, much stronger than in the place
Icame from. No one wants me because
I am colored man. Why is this? am
81 years old, I drew the plans Of the
colored church on Tasker street, above
Twentieth. My name is on the corner
stone. I built the State Colored Col
lege, of Orangeburg, S. e., and I have
built cottages in Orangeburg and for
the mayor of Beaufort, S. c., but
still [ am 0ebarred from employment
Samuel H. Blythewood.
This man is victim of the wicked
and mischievous agitation to which we
refer. Evidently far superior to the
average of his race, he was neverthe-
less credulous enough TO believe that
great things awaited him in 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 remune-
rative employment at all times. There
are other victims, however, who will
not so easily escape the consequences
of their own credulity, for only few
days ago the New York Tribune called
attention to the number of southern
negroes who had migrated to the
metropolis, expecting no doubt to dine
with the mayor and be elected to Office
within 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 mischievous cackle over
him and his future, is infinitely harm
full to him, and fraught with calamity
TO both races.
Let him alone. Stop this idiotic up
roar. The negro is all right, and for
every impudent pretender and COM
plainant filing the air with clamor for
recognition there are ten thousand
honest, industrious self-respecting men
slowly but surely working out their
own destinies and building up their
own fortunes. Let him alone =
Washington Post,