The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1906-02-24

Ills lS UOO UTOdu d buUJcCU w "
, treated comprehensively within th
limits of a 80 minute paper: Henc
shall confine myself to what be
lieve to be the most important facto
in any practical consideration Of tn
negro'S economic future-the factO
Of white competition.
shall not exhaust any part of M
time in a discussion of census Stats
tics. Such figures, save in genera
way, do not speak for themselves
They must be interpreted. AS re-
suit we have variety of conflicting
deductions drawn from the same sta
tiStical material. A census volume
in some respects resembles the Bible.
Each is q repository Of truth, and from
the one we can fortify almost any eco
nomic bias. while from the other we
can satisfy any religious opinion we
happen to possess. Two courses are
open to those interested particularly
in this branch of the subject-either
to study the mass of data at first hand
and work out ones own conclusion, or
accept such findings of others as ap-
peal most strongly to ones Judgment
or predictions. If | can contribute
anything whatever of value to this
discussion | am persuaded it will be
by drawing upon those observations
and experiences of common life which,
to borrow an idea of Lord Erskine,
after all, are themselves of the essence
of truth.
At the outset Of our SpeculationS
upon the future of the negro we are
confronted with our ignorance of his
present economic status. We are in
doubt about even the elementary fact
Of his present accumulated wealth.
And after we have agreed upon such
figures, what do they tell us Of the
stability and rate, or even the extent,
Of economic progress? In the answer
to this question are involved two widely
accepted fallacieS: First, that the
negro began 40 years ago with nothing
but his freedom: second that the period
of his emancipation has been one Of
marvellous economic achievement. It
is easy TO prove progress il permitted
to take zero as our starting point and
measure Of comparison. But il we
would know the truth as to where we
are, we should at least endeavor to
learn how far we have really come
This means study Of the economic
status of the negro in 1865, and this |
have time only to briefly touch upon
| merely suggest for your cOnsidera-
ti0n certain facts in this connection
tending to diSprOve the reiterated as
Sertion of the negro's pauperism at
the time Of his emancipation. We
seem to overlook the fact that there
were half a million free negroes (487,-
9z0) in this country i'm 1850, distribu-
ted throughout practically all the
states of the Union. In their ranks
were TO be found men engaged in near
ly every form IF industrial enterprise
followed by such persons to day. An
other fact IS that the four million
(3,953,750) slaves of 1860 occupied
in 1865 an apparently impregnable |
economic position. They furnished
q great proportion of the skilled |
labor Of the entire South, and in |
many parts of it enjoyed an absolute
Of this and the field of |
common labor as we'll. | wish / had |
time to offer you some Of the evil
1ences on this point, but, OF course,
that is impossible this morning. 1t
seems to me, then, that if we seek to
the negrO'S progress since
by his present property
it is incumbent upon us to
answer the questions, How much
las he accumulated during the last
Orty years? and how much had he
acquired during the preceding 140?
1t is incOnceivable that any peo-
lie who could increase in numbers
rom 4, 500, 600 in 1880 to 5000, 900 ia
900 could fail to also increase their
during that period. In dis
uSSlng as something wonderful this
cry natural increase we lose sight of
actors and considerations which
aust enter into any estimate of the
xtent to which such increase means
enuine and permanent economic ra-
ial progress. How far has such in
rease been mere advance along {
mes of least resistance? In what {
egIee is it indicated by the success
t more or less isolated groups under