Evening journal., 1906-10-27
LETTERS FROM THE PEOPLE

ment that at the present they are doing
all that is possible. Surely the whites will
not plead derelict in this respect. while
as far as 1 know. no negroes Of any con-
slderation are any more so.
Now this is the sum and substance OF
those negroes deliberation and make-shifi
convention. If all the above was done by
legislation. then where is the logic tc
prove that the criminal negro" will be
any the lessg As I have said. the truth is
that these weaklings seeking personal
honor, have come far short Of the mark
If the negro is criminal" legislation is
not the cure. A deeper. stronger and more
practical remedy than this or a conven-
tion can make even is required. The
home must be taken in hand. The Negro
hand must rest firmly on the cradle the
social life in the growth OF the youth
must be rightly Influenced and directed
the young man and woman by character
forming institutions and guilds must me-
manoeuvered; the mothers must have
conference bands and with the protecting
care OF the law n better condition than
'chaln-gang" remedy will be established.
This State and every other viii so be
freed Of the negro excess in crime. This
is what this body OF negroes should have
concerned themselves in. To have put in
operation something among themselves
something that they could foster, some
thing that would go TO the root of mat
ters. The white man may legislate all he
pleases and the negroes may hold forty
more conventions, but until he applies the
above rules to his home, his social and
public places Of responsibility. the prison
docks will be as full as ever
1t is a shame that these negroes should
have met for the purpose for which they
did. and then do nothing nor recommend
nothing for their own hands TO do. silly
to throw fattery at the white man and
then ask him to regulate the criminal
condition of a race by legislation, and
that for the unborn nesro-whose, rep
resentative fathers" should now be pro
viding otherwise for
Outrage upon the negro churches,
schools and societies whose worth have
never been questioned In the moral upnft
OF the race before This mock Of con-
vontion has ended They have publishel
themselves as being "goody-good neg
roesi' as endorsing the "chain-gang sys-
TEN OF the SOUTH" and If possible to dis
arm every negro of personal protection. %
They now shy to their homes and are
flattcred by the papers and think they
have done something smart. whereas they
have done nothing. It would not be sur
prising to me as a result of what they
have done, If at the convening Of the next
legislature Il would not be shown that
these misch!evous negroes have opened
the way for the re-establishment Of the
black laws OF another day. II these fell
lows belonged to another race and per-
haps another day, they would be given
time to make themselves less conspicuous.
have been sufficiently lengthy. 1 have
more to say upon the personal Of the
Negroes Good Citizens Association" q"
and their Identity with the negro Of th's
State, but 1 shall patiently await their
next crow and then the public will learn
how much faith the negroes. as a whole
have in this self-estabIshed weaklins
leadership
In behalf Of the race.
Montrose Wm. Thornton.
Wilmington. October q.