Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1903-11-07

cast off the shackles that bind our
limbs. But this IS Prof. MITCHELL and
he is as one ''cry.ng in the wilderness"
Where are his followers Where are
they who will see that he points out the
way for the solution of vexed questions
and gives advice which, if followed,
will place this country on the main-road
to lasting prosperity.
He argues against the separation of
the races. In this, he is discussing n
self evident proposition. The white
man by his own acts, has made such a
solution impossible. But he makes an
other declaration, born of personal
knowledge, the truth of which will be
testified to by every honest man in the
the south, when he says:
MIR. Graves made much IN his Chi
cago speech of the novel argument that
the Negro is no longer indispensable to
the agriculture and labor conditions of
this section.
Il state here said he, for the first
time fact which will be as surprising
to the South as it is TO you: The Negro
no longer makes the staple or cereal
crops of the Soulful Il counts not a
little against this sensatIonally intro
duced statement of Mr.. Graves that the
people of the South had not found it out
! before. 1t is not as yet published he
adds, but it comes straight from an
authority beyond question in the labor
bureau at Washington 1t so happens
that was reared upon a cotton planta-
ton IN Mississippi, where my mother
llUaS- II -hot s.,
miliar with the conditions IN what is
known as the black belt The planta-
( lions IN the Mississippi bottom are work
ed to-day almost wholly by Negro labor,
as they have been for generations in the
past. Not long ago a large planter in
| that section, in talking to me of the Ne
gro's future, remarked: so far from
wanting to get rid of the black men.
we wish to get as many as possible of
them to settle here upon our places.
That is the actual view OF a practical
planter. To uproot the Negro from an
1ndustrisl situation in the South would
precipitate collapse only family fore
shadowed by the expulsion of the Moors
from SPAIN"
He gave voice to the following truism:
"Glve up trying to fit a Saul's armor
TO Ham, and let Hams inherent capa-
bllities have their own free play in de-
velopment, and things will be better
And again:
Before the Negro there stand four
doors through which he may perhaps
force an entrance: % thrift; (2) eouoa-
ton; CD religion; and ~ politics The
pity is that he bolted first for the last
door-politics. But this mistake is cor
| rectipg itself, end the Negro is begin
| ming to knock at the doors of thrift.
education and religion. He sees that
suffrage is a privilege to be gained only
by the worthy, reckoned according to
property and intelligence. This bur-
| rowing notion is melting him more aud
more TO press into the gateways of
! thrift, educ ition and religion. Every
life orght TO embrace four things-live-
| lihood, growth, service and savings.
When the Negro grounds his hopes up
on getting an honest livelihood, grow
ing in skill and morality, rendering
meet service TO society and laying by
something for rainy day, there will be
less demand for sensational appeals to
passion in working out this momentous
problem"
Who can gainsay or deny this funda.
mental proposition?
But PROF. MITCHELL must have been
inspired, surrounded as he is by those
who think otherwise, when he said:
"All should recognize that the spirit
of justice must determine the final set
| Element of this perplexing problem.
| Rash or selfish counsels that ignore
basal justice are vain, no matter how
| felvent the rhetoric in which thew
may be wrapped or the material power
which buttresses them. The energy
now spent upon separation of the races.
the industrial menace of the Negro
the necessity of lynch law would 90
Tar toward making substantial advance
In this tremendous problem, if bestow-
ed courageously and conscientiously up.
on those homely remedies. essential JUS
tlce TO ones fellowman, education both
mental and manual, and religion that is
wholly moral"
God grant that other white men of
influence may be affected by these
grand, inspiring declarations, and that
they may be led to see that PROF.
MITCHELL has not spoken so much in
favor of the Negro as he has in the in
terest of the white man. For with the
adoption OF his ideas and the practice of
these precepts will come a revolution in
In the present state of affairs in this
country. Limbs which are bandaged
will be freed and wheels that are clog.
ged will be permitted to run uninter-
ruptedly, thereby increasing the wealth
OF the nation and the prosperity of the
country while winning the approval of
Our Heavenly Father, who controls us
all.