The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-08-27


sculpture, music, painting and litera-
sands of years of priceless achieve
ment!
Education is the development of
that which is. The Negro has held
the Continent of Africa since the dawn
of history, crunching acres of dia-
mondS beneath his feet. Yet he never
picked one up from the dust until Il
white man showed to him it's light.
His land swarmed with powerful and
Gocile animals, yet he never built a
harness, cart or sled. A hunter by
necessity he never made an ak, spear
or arrowhead worth preserving beyond
the moment of it's use. In a land of
stone and timber, he never carved a
block sawed foot of lumber or built
house save of broken sticks and
mud, and for four thousands years he
gazed upon the sea yet never dreamed
sail.
Who is the greatest Negro that ever
lived according to Mr.. Booker +.
Washington? Through all his books
he speaks this mans name with bated
breath and uncovered head-"Fred-
erick Douglass of sainted memory
And what did Saint Frederick do?
Spent "a life in bombastic viturperation
of the men whose genius created the
American Republic, wore himself out
y
office holder, and at last achieved the
climax of Negro sainthOOd by marry
ing white woman
What Education Cannot Do.
Says the author of Napoleon, Hon
orable Thomas E. Watson: "Educa-
ton is a good thing, but it never did
and never will alter the essential char
acter of any man or race of men.
l repeat. education is the develop
of wi Hphnl1
man who the rags of slavery once con-
cealed-nine millions strong! This
creature. with Il racial record of four
thousand years of incapacity, half
child, half-animal, the sport of inn
pulse, whim and concet, pleased with
a rattle, tickled with Il straw, be-
ing who, left to his WILL roams at
night and sleeps in the day. whose ma
tive tongue has framed no word of
love. whose passions once aroused are
as the tiger's-equality is the law of
our life!-when he is educated and
ceases to fill his useful sphere as serv-
ant and peasant, what are you going
to do with him?
The second big fact which confrOnts
the thoughtful, patriotic American is
that the greatest calamity which could
possibly befall this Republic would be
the corruption of our national char
acter by the assimilation of the Negro
race | have never seen a white man
of any brains who disputes this fact.
| have never seen a Negro of any ca
pacity who did not deny it.
One thought / would burn into the
soul of every young American (and
who thinks of a Negro when he says
American ?') )-this: Our Republic IS
great not by reason of the amount of
dirt We possess, or the size OF our
census roll. but because of the genius
of the race of pioneer whike freemen
who settled this contir~ut dared th3
might of kings, and blazed the way
through our wilderness for the trem-
bling feet of liberty.
A distinguished Negro college pro-
feSsor recently expressed himself as to
the future American in one of our
great periodicals as follows:
"All race prejudice will be eradicat-
ed. Physically, the new race will be
much the stronger. 1t viii be endoW-
ed with a higher intelligence and
clearer conception of God than the
whites of the West have ever had. II
VIII be much less material than the
American white of to-day. 1t will b.
| especially concerned with the things
of the mind, and moral excellence will
become the dominant factor in the life
of the new nation. The new race Is
to gain more from the Black element
than from the White"
We have here an accurate state
ment of the passionate faith Of ninety
nine Negroes out of every hundred.
Professor Du BoiS, author of The Souls
of Black Folk. undoubtedly believes
this His book is remarkable con.
| tribution to the literature of our race
problem In it for the first time We
see the naked soul of a Negro beating
itself to death against the bars in
, which Aryan society has Gagged him.
! No white man with a soul can read
this book without a tear. Mr., Charles
w. Chestnut, the Negro novelist, be-
| lieves in amalgamation for he tOld me
! SO. Professor Kelly Miller the dis
| tinguished Negro teacher of Washing
ton believes it. In a recent article
he declares:
ct is, of course, impossible to con-
| ceive of two races occupying the same
area. speaking the same language,
worshippng according to the same
ritual, and endowed with the same po-
litical and civil r~iv''~~-~- without ul-
timately fusing Social equality is not
an individual matter. as many contend,
but is vigorously under the control of
public sentiment
commend the solid logic of these
sentences from a thoughtful Negro
to the illustrious Society of Pooh
Poohs.
What is the attitude of Mr. BoOier
T. Washington on this vital issue? You
will search his books and listen to his
lectures in vain for any direct answer.
Why? Because, if he dared to say what
he really in his soul of souls believes,
it would end his great career, both
North and South. In no. other way
has he shown his talent as an or
ganiZer and leader of his people with
such consummate skill as in the deX-
terity with which he has for twenty
years lodged this issr" holding stead
lily the goodwill of the Southern white
man and the Northern philanthroplst.
He is the greatest diplomat his race
has ever produced.
Yet he who reads betw""'' the lines
of his written and spoken words Will
find the same purpose and the same
faith which his more blunt and fear
less brethren have honestly and boldly
proclaimed He shows this in his Wor-
ship of Frederick Douglass. In his
book. The Future of the American
Negro. we find this careful sentence:
''To state in detail just what place
tho black man will occupy in the