The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-06-10

tnis institution not one graduate or the school has ever been indicted for a crime of violence. or been an in-
 mate of the penitentiary. Such facts as these, and they might be multiplied, from the history of many negro schools speak volumes that no idle talk born
 of prejudice and ignorance can contro- vert. The wrong sort of education is injurious to the negro, as it is to the white man, but a practical education adapted to his needs, and to fit him for honest toll blesses the negro child, and no money the State has ever spent
 has paid more handsome returns than what it has expended for giving the negro the right sort of an education. | The negro Is going to be educated I For every dollar the South withholds | the North puts ten dollars in this work. The question for us to decide | is whether he is to be educated by l those who understand the situation. understand the negro and the needs of his race, or by other people who with l the best intentions in the world at- | tempt a task that Is beyond them, and | whose work in many instances retards | rather than advances the best inter- l ests of both races. Tt is a singular paradox that those
 who say most positively that the ne- l gro is incapable of improvement are | the very ones who cry most loudly of | the peril that the inferion race will | outstrip the stronger and more vigor- ous race in the South!
 | The last of the fallacies which ]
 desire to expose this morning is that the negro is white man In black
 skin To this fallacy is due the most l damning political crime of the last century. That the negro is capable Of improvement, that he has made great l and even marvellous progress during the past generation does not contro- 1 vert the evidence that becomes clearer
 every year to those who have given
 most careful thought to the problems
 connected with his development, that | the negro is always a negro, that ne
 nossesses the vices as we'll as the vir- 1 tues of his race. that the best way
 to help him is not delude him wth l false visions, but enable him to work
 out his destiny as negro.
 'The negro is thus here and here to l stay-his presence is a menace to much
 that belongs to the highest interest
 of the South-there is a wide and per
 haps widening gulf separating the races 1 that are thus forced to live slde py l side with each other-and the tension
 is sometime strained to the point or l breaking.
 "The politicians have tried to soiVe | the problem, and without exceplion every thoughtful statesman tooay coh- fesses that they have failed. l hnow
 of no man of national reputation that
 has a solution of the propleih rum
 the political standpoint. .,
 'aThe educational theory has peeh
 tried most faithfully-millions nave
 been noured into tthe coffers of those
 in charge of the education of the race Much has been done, but no sane ma''' | with his eyes open to the tacts or 'ne l situation in the South today Woula
 claim that education has solved the | problem. In the very centre wnere
 most has been done for the educat,on
 of the race in the South--A'iah'a-~ l friction has been greatest.
 | Almost without exception thought l fuI men everywhere are turning to the ! Church of God-the negroes themssives
 with almost pathetic realization or the nerils of the situation turn to the
 ehureh--Ethopia lifts up herhands to God! nut |. what can the church do. That IS | the vital question for our people to-
 day This problem Is as one has re- gently said The test and touehstohe
 of Christianity in the South .,
 I answer, Christian men as citizens
 should deal justly with this people. ss
 and and. shPsla ssFiye this tS see weaker rant and largely debased people with whose interests Providence mas so so
 closely linked our own yn saam saadan not tas,er
 and the gambler.
 The best temperance sermon ever
 preached was during the Atlanta A,dsad rior 9or
 wesR weeRs "nd t5e is,0Hs best ~
 mon ever preached in Alabama was
 when the vigorous, level-headed May
 or. of Birmingham ni on the end nrse recent @ | strike in that city ordered every saloon l in the city to close its doors ana to
 stay closed until the peril Of the hour
 ''1a If the Atlanta riot is ever repeat
 ed in this city the responsibility for
 the blood shed will rest upon the Mayi 1 most of all upon our citizens who tol. crate the low dives and brothels that l debauch the negro population--the sa-
 on oT0tS the Aa Outskirts of the city. No more | pathetic cry was ever heard In Mont | gomery than was voiced in the petlt
 ion of the eseaebers and leadng
 men to the city Council to free tneir elr | race from the menace to eVerything
 that is helpful and clean Dy arin,ms ann.s | tite of a weaker race and pront out ot
 the peril to the business, the woman
 and the lives i've t6s of sanS tne wne of mea
 whiskey to mean negroes
 answer again, the Church mas | here the largest mission fielh in the l world at her own doors. It has Well l hecn called the test of our taitn-tne l attitude of the church toward thls
 problem. of giving the Gospel to tho
 Here the speaker quoted from an 1 address by Judge Wells of Mississippi
 delivered in Birmingham during the
 recent meeting of the Presbyterian
 T know the negro said Judge thSe l Wells, T was one of he few In thlS | building who was a slave owner. | knew the negro when he was slave,
 and since then 1 have watched him.
 l have seen him hold the old planta- | ton while the men were away at war l I have had my old nanny, when 1 | left home for the fight, break down | and cry l say 1t boldly, and would l never cease to repeat it, love the ne- gro.
 Now since the war, this same negro
 has been on every side. l have plead before him as a judge. l have had
 and, as fearlessly as before, l say that
 the common negro of today, the man | who meets you on the street. Is the | most degraded. the most worthless
 creature that ever walked Tn our
 Southland.
 have race war that will astound
 man effort! We can do nothing. It
 Is almost upon us. What shall we do :
 But mans extremity is Gods op- | portunity and l tell you right now 1 itll take the Bible and the grace oi | God to save us. Ara you going to l give it to them? Are you going home | 10 preach to the negro? Or are you go- | tn