The broad ax. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1895-19??, 1907-05-25

set for payment, out of $3.50 which
they owed us we collected Just $S.25.
After that experience we came down
to a cash basis. We trust no one, and
since then we have been doing we'll
He said he thought the best oppor-
tunity for Negro development was In
the South where he had his whole
race behind him. He said he had once
been tempted to go North looking for
an opening.
"How did you make out?" | asked.
We'll, I'll tell you" he said, when
7 got there I wanted a shave; walk
ed the streets two hours visiting bar
Der shops, and they all turned me
away with some excuse. finally had
to buy a razor and shave myself!
That was just a sample. came
home disguised and decided to fight
It out down here where l understood
conditions
OF course only a comparatively few
Negroes are able to get ahead in busi-
ness. They must depend almost ex-
clusively on the trade Of their own
race. and they must meet the highly
organized competition Of white men.
But 1t is certainly significant that even
\ few-alI I have met so far are mulat-
toes. some very white-are able to
make progress along these unfamiliar
lines. Most Southern men l met had
little or no idea Of the remarkable ex-
tent of this advancement among the
better class Of Negroes. Here is a
strange thing. / don't know how many
Southern men have prefaced their
talks with me with words something
like this:
You can't expect to know the Ne
gro after a short visit You must live
down here like we do. Now, / know
the Negroes like a book. | was
brought up with them. I know what
they'll do and what they won't do. !
have had Negroes in my house all my
life"
But curiously enough I found that
these men rarely knew anything about
the better class OF Negroes-those
who were in business or in indepen-
dent occupations, those who owned
their own homes. They did come into
contact with the servant Negro, the
field hand, the common laborer, who
make up, of course the great mass OF
the race. On the other hand, the best
class Of Negroes did not know the
higher class of white people, and bas-
ed their suspicion and hatred upon the
acts Of the poorer sort Of whites with
whom they naturally came into con-
tact. The best elements Of the two
races are as far apart as though they
lived in different continents; and that
is one Of the chief causes OF the grow
ing danger Of the Southern situation.
Last month showed the striking fact
| that one of the first-almost instinc-
tive-efforts at reconstruction after
the Atlanta riot was to bring the best
elements Of both races together, so
that they might, by becoming &C
quainted and gaining confidence in
each other ,allay suspicion and bring
influence to bear upon the lawless ele-
ments Of both white people and Col
/ ored.
Many Southerners look back visit |
fully to the faithful. simple. ignorant, !
obedient, cheerful, old plantation dar-
key and deplore his disappearance.
They want the New South, but the old
darkey. That darkey is disappearing |
forever along with the old feudalism
and the old-time exclusively agricul- !
tural life.
A New Negro is not less inevitable
than a new white man and a New
South. And the New Negro, as my
clever friend says, doesn't laugh as
much as the old one. It is grim busi-
ness he is in, this being free, this
new, fierce struggle In the open COM
petitive field for the daily loaf. Many
go Gown to vagrancy and crime in
that struggle; a few will rise. The
more rapid the progress with the
trained white man setting the pace),
the more frightful the mortality.
(Mr. Bakers narrative Of observation
of Southern life will continue next
monthly
(The end.)
TAI rEEnE0nTANE