Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-05-05
THE SOUTHERN NEGRO
Heads of Industrial Schools
Questioned.
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
OPPOSED TO THE DISFRANCHISE-
MENT OF THE RACE
Colored College Graduates Fail for the
anne Reason That White Ones Do
What Education Has Done.
FAIR TREATMBNTASKED
BY VIM. E. CURTIS.

What Education Has Done.
BY wM E. CURTIS.
Written for The Star and the Chicago Record
Herald.
1 have submitted to the presidents and
principals of fourteen of the most promi-
nent industrial schools for negroes in the
south a series of questions. bearing upon
the educational and labor problems. and
have received some interesting and signifi-
cant replies. The first comes from Presi-
dent NJ. V. Young of the Florida State Nor
NAL and Industrial School at Tallahassee
My interview with him is as follows:
''Will the constitutional dsenfranchise-
ment of the negro citizens be of ultimate
advantage to the race. by keeping them
out of politics, preventing them from being
bone of contention and by inspiring them
to educate themselves and acquire property
in order to voter
Not ALL" replied President Young Il
have no patience with and but little con-
fdence in the sincerity of those who argue
this for disenfranch .sement.'
rs il not better for a negro to educate
himself and his children, save his money,
buy himself a home and build up repu-
tation for industry and integrity, than to
assert his civil rights, engage in political
agitation and distract his attention by poll
tics?"
He should do both with sane persist
ence. Nothing common to American citi-
Zenship should be alien to him"
How large are the opportunities for edu-
Gated colored men; doctors, lawyers, teach
ers and preachers, in the south?'
LAS large as their several Abilities
What proportion of colOred college grad
yates succeed in life and why do some
of them fail2'
LAS large a proportion as other classes of
graduates. DR.. Washington to the contrary
Notwithstanding. Those that fail do so
for lack of common sense, just like other
failures"
Colored Men in the Professions.
do colored men who can afford to pay
doctors and lawyers employ colored men
when they need them. or do they prefer
whites, and what is the difference in the
fees charged by them?"
Negro professional men do not receive
the hearty patronage from the so-called
educated negro as they do from the
called flliterate negro The fees are about
the same
What proportion of coIored preachers are
educated men. and do you think there is
any Improvement among them as to morals
and education?"
II think about one-fifth are educated men.
hope they are improving. but 1 hesitate to
make categorical reply, either for or
against"
Are coored teachers needed to train the
coming generation in agricultural and me-
chanical trades and how to make the best
use of their strength"
Certainly. And seriously, too.
rs not well-trained farmer or we'll
trained mechanic, with a common school
education, the ideal condition of the negro?"
mo more than for any other race. Color
has nothing to do with it,
Does the ratio of home owners increase
with industrial education?''
Not above that of any other kind of edu-
cation.
us the largest proportion of negro home
owners and taxpayers found in the neigh
borhood of the industrial schools?"
Not especially
How much money is raised by taxation
to support negro schools, not including land
grant money!"
Very little; most of it comes from the
negroes themselves"
Denied Industrial Education.
How many colored boys and girls are de-
MED industrial education for lack of
school accommodations in your state?"
The majority of them are, though I
haven't the exact statistics available
How many useful citizens could be
turned out every year if there were in
dustrial school for negroes, with accommo-
datiOns for all applicants, in every congress
sional district in your state?'
"A host of them
How much would it cost to support an
Industrial school in each congressional dis
trict in your state, and how many negro
boys and girls would take advantage of it?'
1T depends upon the kind of school pro-
posed Industrial schools are the most ex-
pensive kind The attendance depends upon
the negro population in the district in ques-
ton"
What would be the result upon the in
dustrial condition of the state, the increased
value and efficiency of labor the productiy G
q M he m a n o.
rial condition of the laboring eement?''
Good, of course concluded President
Young.
Disfranchisemento of Negroes
Prof William ]. Edwards, principal of the
Snow Hill Normal and Industrial Institute,
Alabama for the training of young colored
men and women, which is supported large
~ by northern money, says:
THE nature of your first question SEEM
iEgly implies an affirmative answer and
judging the question from it's face value
such an answer would be required, but so
much is implied and sacrificed in the dis
Acknowledgement of the negro citizen that
/ am unable to give an affirmative answer
I'm the outset we thought. as seeming
ly your question implies, that education
al and property qualification for suffrage
would be good thing for my race but
since the constitution has gone into effect
and we have had the opportunity TO study
II at first hand we are forced to say that
the present constitution o: Alabama was
Judiciously framed not so much to keep
the ignorant negro out of politics. but to
keep the intelligent negro out: not to pro-
vide better schools for the negro, but to
make his educational facilities less ade-
quate than they were before. This is shown
by the fact that tens of thousands of edu-
Gated. Industrious and ambitious negroes
in this state, with all of the qualifications
requisite for suffrage under the new con-
stitution, have been denied suffrage on the
simple ground that they are negroes. Again,
under the old constitution all negroes be-
tween the ages of twenty-one and forty-
five were compelled to pay a poll tax and
the money was used solely for negro schools
while under the new constitution the poll
tax has been made optional The great
bulk of negroes being ignorant regard this
as q blessing and do not pay their poll
tax, neither does the tax collector ever