Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1905-09-16
By THOMAS

thing we can do. So what's the use to
waste your BREATH"
'p'' "'"at about the future when Won
have educated the negro?" asked tim
idly.
Let the future take care OF ITSELF"
the ostrich man snorted. I'VE live in
the present. What's the use to worry
about hell? II can scramble through
this world successfully I'll take my
chances with the hell problem!"
My friend forgets that this was pre-
cisely the line OF argument OF our faith
ers over the question Of negro slavery.
When the constructive statesmen Of
Virginia (called pessimists and infidels
in their day. foresaw the coming bap-
tism OF fire and blood C6l to 65) over
the negro slave. they attempted to de-
stroy the slave trade and abolish slav-
cry. My friend can find his very words
in the answer Of their opponents. Let
the future take care OF itself. The
slaves are here and here to stay. Great
er evils await their freedom. We need
their labor. Let the question alone.
There is no danger in II unless you
stir H."
The truth which Is gradually forcing
itself upon thoughtful students OF our
national life is that no scheme OF edu-
cation or religion can solve the race
problem. and that Mr.. Booker T. Wash
ington's plan. however high and noble.
can only intensity its difficulties.
This conviction is based on few big
fundamental facts. which no pooh
pooling. ostrich-dodging. weak-minded
philanthropy or political rant can OBJ
scure
The first one is that no amount OF
education of any kind. industrial. clas-
steal or religious. can make negro a
white man or bridge the chasm Of the
centuries which separate him from the
white man In the evolution OF human
civilization.
Expressed even in the most brutal
terms OF Anglo-Saxon superiority there
Is here an irreducibie fact. II Is possi-
bly, true, as the negro. Professor Kelly
Miller. claims. that the Anglo-Saxon Is
"the most arrogant and rapacious. the
most exclusive and intolerant race In
history" Even SO. what answer can
be given TO his cold-blooded PROPOSE
tion: Can YOU change the color OF the
negro's skin. the kink Of his hair. the
bulge OF his lip or the beat Of his heart
with spelling-book or machine?"
What Abraham Lincoln Said.
No man has expressed this idea more
clearly than Abraham Lincoln when he
said: There is physical difference
between the white and black races
which. I believe. will forever forbid
them living together on terms Of social
and political equality"
Whence this physical difference? Its
secret lies in the gulf Of thousands OF
years OF inherited progress which sep
arates the child OF the Aryan from the
child OF the African.
Buckle In his History OF Civilization
says: "The actions of bad men produce
only temporary evil. the actions OF good
men only temporary good. The dIscov-
cries OF genius alone remain: II is to
them we owe all that we now have:
they are for all ages and for all times:
never young and never old they bear
the seeds of their own lives: they are
essentially cumulative"
Judged by this supreme test. what
contribution to human progress have
the millions Of Africans who inhabit
this planet made during the past four
thousand years? Absolutely nothing.
And yet. Mr.. Booker T. Washington In
recent burst Of eloquence over his
educational work boldly declares:
"The negro race has developed more
rapidly in the thirty years OF its free
dom than the Latin race has In one
thousand years OF freedom"
Think for a moment OF the pitiful
puerility OF this statement falling from
the lips of the greatest and wisest lead
or the negro race has yet produced!
Italy Is the mother OF genius. the in
spiratiOn Of the ages. the creator OF
architecture. agriculture. manufactures.
commerce. law. science. philosophy.
finance. church organization. sculpture.
music painting and literature. and yet
the American negro In thirty years has
outstripped her thousands OF years of
priceless achievement!
Education Is the development OF that
which Is. The negro has held the con-
tinent of Africa since the dawn OF his
tory. crunching acres OF diamonds be-
meath his feet. Yet he never picked
one up from the dust until white man
showed TO him It's light. His land
swarmed with powerful and docile AMI
mails. yet he never built harness. cart
or sled. hunter by necessity. he
never made an AK. spear or arrowhead
worth preserving beyond the moment
OF It's use. In land Of stone and tim
ber he never carved block. sawed a
foot Of lumber or built house save Of
broken sticks and mud. and for four
thousand years he gazed upon the sea
yet never dreamed sail.
Who is the greatest negro that ever
lived according To Mr.. Booker T. Wash
lnutnn9 rhrnuuh all his hnnka ha