The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1906-05-04

ship Of a high order, and for that rea-
son alone should tempt the powers
/ Of those in Congress who aim 10 ac-
Quire q title TO Craftsmanship. Il
/ would be necessary hat the money De
given outright TO the Southern States
under stated conditions, and tina. &
should be given for the education Il
whites, as well as blacks, according
TO illiTeracy. 1t would be necessary
70 trust the State TO a fair observance
of the conditions and not harass them
with federal inspection Of their schools
maintained on federal funds. The
amOun of such aid as the South en-
ters now on a period of new industrial
prosperity could properly be decreased
year by year until il ceased. But
for the present. in the light Of n
creased Southern hostility TO negro
education and decreased Northern in
terest, such a step by the national
government seems more imperatlvely
called for than ever before. The add
ed burden upon the Southern States
Of maintaining separate schools FOR
the two races is all too little appre-
ciated in the North. The time is crit
ical. It is sad reflection upon the whit
race, North and South, that at he
very hour when the negro has given
such witness of his ability for self
development as is contained in this
twenty-fifth anniversary at Tuskegee,
outside conditions should be thus dis
c~oura@ing."
The time is critical. The crisis is
marked in this effort to revive the
agitation of a quarter of a century
g known as Blairism, which tie
wisdom of the country properly cata-
lCgued and chlOrOformed in the early
eighties. But that effort is merely
an indication of the unrelenting per-
sistency of Ogdenism. At its second
Conference" before many Of the
Southern people had been surprised CT
cajoled into supporting it, Ogdenism
put forth this germinal idea:
1T is our duty to strengthen Hamp-
ton and Tuskegee and any similar
institutions; to concentrate money and
effort in their work; to establish other
Tuskegees; to build up a seconGar!
school system under the general con-
troll and supervision Of Hampton and
Tuskegee, that their influences may
be far-reaching; to organize a General
Educational Board, by which effective
work may be accomplished throughout
the South; that funds given to the re-
gro cause may be given through such
al organization or to schools approve!
by them, so that the giver may be sure
that his contribution will be used eff
fectively. + = + Now is the accept
ed time to concentrate with an organ
ization that will be recognized by th5
whole country as a proper channel
through which the Negro Industrial
Education can be reached successfully
Such an organization. too.
we'll may be recognized by the gov
eminent , and the government nay
as we'll give funds and lands to assist
that work as to pay millions to civ
ilize the Philippines"
That was in 1889. Because such men
as Hon. William H. Wilson, under
misconception, seeking in the Confer
ence" some benefit for Southern ed
ucation, opposed a revival of this
agitation for federal aid. the propo-
sition was Withdrawn temporarily
from active circulation, though by no
vital principle in Ogdenism, it has
since then been suppressed or brought
to the front only as circumstances
SN11O W oppOOS VI " A0fo3- AAS\
is entirely characteristic of it's policy,
the New York Mail and Express in +hn
words:
The Northern educator and philan-
thropist are obliged to proceed very
carefully to pick their way very dip
Dramatically because of the point Of
view from which the Southern white
man regards a negro"
This diplomatic picking of the way
has manifested itself in the emphasiZ
ing of one point in the North and
another, by 40 means harmonious. al
the South, in a studied lOOseness OF
organization whereby the public mind,
given only by the phase at a time.
has been confused as to the genera:
proposition; in theability thereby Civ
en- to sincere but mistaken supporters TO
resent criticism or to a few attaches 20
cOunteract by evasion Or by denial eff
fects of truthful criticism; in fiat,
point-blank contradictions of its own
recorded assertions; in attempts TO
meet honest and effective comment,
not in the open. but through personal
correspondence or less mtslead-
ing and rejecting upon the standing
or motives OIL luc tOiS, silt,
in the matter of Blairism especially,
in walking as warily in it's birth-sec-
ton as it teaches its negroes through
Tuskegee to walk lest their waiting
be all in vain.
= But for what purpose is this cali
Upon the government for aid at the
very hour when the negro has given
such witness Of his ability o SELF
developement?" What are the grounds
for the suggestion that it would be
necessary not t harass the Southern
States with federal inspection of their
schools maintained in federal funds?"
Ogdenism gives its own answer in This
assertion:
so enthusiastic, indeed, has been
the responce t the influences of the
Conference that it may be said 10
have at is ready command the whole
machinery of the pubIic-school syS-