Okolona messenger. (Okolona, Miss.) 1900-current, 1904-01-20

found Ia the black beit-Louisiana~
Mississippi and South Carolina-thero
Il e sixty-dve and seven-tsnths per
cent And yet tho negro Ia New Eng
land is four and one-half times more
criminal, hundred for hundred. than
be is ia the black belt. Ia che South
Mississippi particularly, / know be -
growing worse every year. You can
scarcely pick Up a newspaper whose
pages are not blackened with the az
count Of an uncomfortable crime com
mitted by a negro brute, AMI this
crime. / want to impress upon you, IL
but the manifestation Of the negTO'a
~aspira1ion for social equality, eneour-
aged largely By the character Of free
education IN vogue, which the state
is levying tribute upon the white pee
pie to maintain. The better class 81
negroes are not responsible for this
terrible condition, or for the criminal
tendency other race. Nor DO ! visa
to be understood as ~censuring them
for II. / am not ~censuriug anybody,
nor am 1 inspired by III viii for the
negro, but am simply calling atten-
ton to a most unfortunate and unen-
durable condition Of affairs. What
shall be done about II? Surely sOme-
thing must be done. The white people
Of Mississippi cannot sit idly by with
out making an effort at least 70 arrest
this destructive tendency. The State.
for many years, at great expense to
the tax payers, has maintained a sys
tenn Of negro education, which has pro-
duced disappointing results, and ! am
opposed 20 the pe~rpetuation Of that
awuHnnu A. nnrn do. d HEma ~ H.
aeter Of education for the negro ought
TO be changed. If, after forty years OK
earnest effort and the expenditure OF
fabulous sums Of money to educate his
head, we have only succeeded in max
ing a criminal out Of him and impair
ing his usefulness and efficiency as q
aborer, wisdom would suggest that we
make another experiment, and see II
we cannot improve him by educating
his hand and his heart. There must
be a moral substratum upon which to
build, or you cannot make a desirable
citizen. The negro. as a race Is devoid
Of that element. He has never felt
the guilt Of sin; the restraining infu-
ence Of moral scruples or the goading
OF an outraged conscience are un-
known to the real negro. Slavery is
the only process by which he has ever
been partially civilized. God Al
mighty created the negro for a me.
NAL; he Is essentially a servant. In
every age Of the worlds history, it has
been shown that his civilization viii
last only so lolg as he is under con-
troll of the superior race that incui-
Gated it. When left to himself, he has
universally gone back to the barbar-
ism Of his native jungles. While a
few mixed breeds and freaks OF the
race may possess qualities which JUS
tify them to aspire above that station,
the fact still remains that the race IL
1T for that and nothing more. At any
rate, that Is all he viii aver accom-
plish In Mississippi, and as It Is in
Mississippi so will it be in all Of the
States where the negro lives in large
numbers. The white man will not
and should not, share sovereignty and
dominion with him. / will be par
doned, in this connection, for quoting
the following wise words spoken By
Abraham Lincoln, September Is, 1853.
He said:
Il am not, nor ever have been II
favor Of bringing about in any way
the social and political equality OF the
white and black races; I am not. nor
ever have been, In favor Of making vot
ers OF jurors Of negroes, nor Of quail.
flying them to hold ONCE, nor to inter.
ENarry with the white people: and /
win say, In addition to this, that there
is a physical difference between the
white and black races which I believe
VIII forever forbid the two races liV.
HnH #nmafhnR An Hrwwar - galHN "a
political equality. And inasmuch a.
they cannot 50 live. while they rsmaiA
together, there must be the position
Of superior and inferior, and / as much
as any other man am in favor Of hav
ing the superior position assigned to .
the white race"
II these words were true whoa
spoken BY Mr.. Lincoln, they are true
today, and will be true TO the end Of
time. Now this may sound a little
harsh 70 those unfamiliar with the
facts in the case, but By every intelli-
gent white man and thoughtful negro
in Mississippi II win be accepted as
absolutely true, however much the
question may be gilded with cOaserva-
tism or be clouded by discrimination.
The time has come when the truth
should be told about this matter; Il
matters not how di~sagrseable it may
be to hear II. The first step towards
changing the educational system Of
the State. so as to meet the demands
Of both races. II occurs to me, is for
the legislature to submit 10 the PEG
pie q proposition to amend the constt
tuition, 30 e 20 give the legislature IN,
authority IN dealing with the
public school question. Surely the
Legislature. elected every four years
By the people. can be relied upon to
de the proper thing in this matter,
without constitutional prescription.
Il e quits certain that little can Be
done to relieve the present most IN
desirable condition Of things. Wills
the constitution remains IS It ia.
The matter Of school books calls foa
confederation ct the hands Of the Ieg.
The purchase Of books has
become an oppressive burden upon The
poor. The great number and variety
books demanded IN our latter day
common school curriculum indicates
hat We ara proceeding upon the the
Dry that the child was crested "a the
Interest Of the school book publish