The advocate. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1901-1913, 1907-08-29
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Continued from page one.

Continued from page one.
turned out upon the world to enjoy
ty seemed to be heavy burden
that they who had been wont to de-
pend on others not only for their
food and clothing, but for the guild
ance of their lives, should now be
made to depend upon themselves to
find the work and earn the wages
with which they might stand up and
support themselves as free citizens
of this country.
"A Hard Lesson.
1t was long, hard severe les
son through which these four mil
lions, now increased to eight, had to
go. There were per cent of them
who were literate; 95 per cent were
In the darkness of utter ignorance
For time general education was
thought to be the best means of
uplifting the race, and undoubtedly
the removal of illiteracy was a great
boon to 1t, but in the past two de-
cades, under the influence of General
Armstrong, DR.. Frissel and Booker
Washington, the wisdom Of making
the educational manual and indus
trial for the benefit Of the great bulk
Of the race has been made manifest
The colored people have been taught
by their greatest leader, Mr.. Wash
1Hgton, that the way for the Negro
to build himself up is to make him
self useful as a laborer-unskilled
ana sk1lled-as farmer, and
as a business man In the COM
munlty Of which he forms a
part. AS he lives in an agri-
cultural country, he should learn
that the best home for the Negro is
the farm, and that the best prop
erty which he can accumulate is farm
land and farm equipment.
Il shall not stop to give you the
stat1cttcs showing the great progress
that has been made by the Negro
race In the South in lteracy, in the
enormous Increase in the farm hold
1ngs by colored men and the great
proportion Of the agriculture of the
apt to forget this real improvement
In the dlatribeS that we OCCASION
ally hear from men who seem to
nave lack Of sympathy with the
progress Of the cOlored race and who
in denuciation Of the
entire race on account of comDara-
lively small criminal class that form
ed the dregs Of the Southern poDu-
rlat1On. | shall not rehearse the his
tory OF reconstruction or of the
bloody days Of the South that follow
ed 1T, or Of the fraud and oDpres-
sion and violence with which the
fifteenth amendment was nullificd in
The far Southern States
The Votes Didn't Count.
Suffice to say that the Negro vote
In those days was made to count
Tor nothing. But, as always hap
pens, where law is flouted and fraud
and violence are allowed to have full
sway, the good people in the com
= munlty found that the triumph Of
such methods had tendency to Gre
ate Generalization in all walks OF
:, Ire. Therefore, we find in ever,
:. southern state movement on the
part Of the good element in the dem.
i.locratic party to introduce new laws
g. and new constitutions, which shall
& make the exclusion Of the Negro
4 from the ballot square with the law
SO we have these constitutions
! amendments which introduce edura
ssEtional and property qualifications fol
.IE electors, which clauses called "grant
clauses" permit voting ON ;
5sabasis of ancestry. The grandfathe
etauses are supposed to .Dt"mit thu
D9or ignorant white to vote and f
y sexclude the colored man
5ys II do not hesitate to say that +
q Il that Is the result it is a vioIati,,
al the fifteenth amendment. 3D.
q. these grandfather clauses have gen
g orally expired by limitation accord
81 Ing to their terms, and now the met
q nod Of excluding the Negro from tn,
sk ballot is to have law Of ineligibil
..SsyEstty apply in its terms equally t
y black al d white bui t., secure : i;
mination in favor Of the WA e,
Nv executing the law rightly alA rs
black and allowing the wlfIo ut
| deplo e q any such nIy54 VI