The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1905-07-28

With statistics one CaE prove many
things, the conclusion arrived at de- |
pending, in all cases, considerably upon
the man behind the figures.
This time the man behind the figures
is Doctor Booker Washington-may |
his shawod never grow less.
In the course of a recent lecture, h
learned doctor laid down the PROPOSE
ton that the black nan is superior to
the white, and he proved it-Eroved 1t
by statistics.
He said that there is - per cent. OF
illiteracy among the Spaniards while
there is only "a per cent. of illiteracy
among the negroes, therefore the ne
! eroes are clearly more advanced i'll civ
ilization than the Spaniards.
Poor old Spain!
The learned doctor further demon
! strated that there is 10 per cen of IL
literaCy among the Italians; therefore
the negroes are far ahead OF Italy.
Russian illiteracy being 80 per cent.
the black man takes precedence Of the
land of Peter the Great, Skobelcf, Cor
! ky, Turgenef and Tolstoy. South
America, having an illiteracy Of 50 pei
; cent, falls far to the rear of the negro
and Castro must add This additional
kick to the many he has already re-
, ceived from North America.
Proud of his statistics, Doctor Book
ell Washington eXclaims: The negro
race has developed more rapidly i'll the
thirty years of its freedom than the
Latin race has in one thousand years
Of freedom"
That's a bold statement, doctor.
To say nothing Of its accuracy, may
II not have been an unwise thing for
you to claim that the black man has
risen during thirty years more rapidly
in the scale of civilization than the
whites have risen in Il thousand:
True, you confine yourself to the
Italians, the Spaniards, the Russians
and the South Americans, but When
you say the darkest of all the colored
races is superior to that great section
of the white race named by you, e
it not occur to you that you may ere
ate a feeling of resentment among all
the whites?
You have thousands of true friends
throughout the entire country-White
men who have most generously helped
you in your work, helped you with
money, with moral support and with a
certain amount Of social recognition
Your admirers refer to you as a great
man. They allude to your work as a
great work. The South helps you
with appropriations, just as the nortf
helps YOU with donations. We wan
to see YOU succeed in building up your
race.
But have you a single white frlenC
who will indorse your statement tina
the black race is so superior to TIT
whites that it can do in n generator
what it required the whites a Thousand
years to do?
: Do you imagine that your friends
President Roosevelt, Mr.. Carnegie, Dr
, Hart, Bishop Potter, and others, viii
+ like you better when they hear you put
!, ting forth a claim to race superiority
Doctor, you have overshot the mark.
Whenever the north wakes up to th
fact that you are teaching the black
that they are superior to the whites
you are going t feel the east wind.
What do you mean by racial develop
; ment, doctor? J
apparently souI SldANioi" VI ~
l urement is illiteracy. That is to say
1 if q greater number of negroes than O
: Spaniards can read, then the negro ha
2 achieved a higher plane in civilization
t Is that YOU idea? Does the abilit
Y to read constitute race Development:
According to that, a million negr
q children attend school twelve month
and become "civiliZed" because the
have learned to spell Baker and
read MARY had a little lamb"
8 Does it not strike you, doctor, tia
u such a measure might be delusive!
t In making up u tables OF ILL
erary, why didn't you include all IL
negroes, as you included all the lta
ians, all the Spaniards, all the Ru
slams!
WHY omit SantO Domingo and Halt
If YOU will number all the ne2roe
doctor, your percentage of lilltcrat
among the blacks may run among Il
nineties. and knock your calculation
into a cooked hat.
In the West Indies God poured ii
q blessing with lavish hand upon ii
8 island of Haiti. The French we
y there and built up a civilization. II
revolution Of 1879 freed the negro
who were held in slavery by the whit
and civil war 0 followed.
The blacks outnumbered the whit
and the climate was their ally. 1ello
fever did for them what frost did t
the Russians when Napoleon struck
their liberties They achieved freedo
and they have had it. mo- for thir
wears. but for a hundred years.
What have yol people doTe wi
their freedom in Santo Domingo, dc
for? Back. back into barbarism, vc
1ooism. human sacrifice. social and
VI Iitical anarchy they have plunged. a
or their history is one long blood-stain
record of backsliding from the stan
ard which the French had already
tahlished. Even now your black bret
rem in Santo Domingo are beseechi
the white man of the United States