Franklin's paper the statesman., 1907-10-11

1
dowed with every attribute of citizen
ship who are working their way up
ward through the development and
utilization OF those attributes with
| which God has endowed them, on a
plane with the blanket Indian main
| tained on a reservation and supported
| by the bounty Of government.
! am firm in the belief that this
| scheme. or any scheme directed toward
| the betterment of our colored nciula
| ton. which seeks to act upon them as
a class instead OF acting upon the indt-
yiduals comprising the class is doomed
| to failure in advance. first because IL
Ignores the fundamental principles on
which the progress Of the human race
| has been based since its beginning; and
| second because II will receive and
rightfully receive the opposition of the
| most progressive and intellectual por-
tion OF the colored people themselves.
All such plans have their foundation
upon dependence and they discourage
| that Independence. both of thought and
action. through which alone substan-
| tial and permanent progress is at all
possible They involve a step back
| wards toward the state from which
your people have so recently emerged.
Those who are accomplishing the
most In the advancement and uplift
OF our colored population are of your
own numbers and their work is eNec-
| tive because they realize that TO
| large degree our colOred people must
work out their own salvation. They
know that the laws Of evolution which
are moving humanity forward act from
| within and not from without, that IL Is
| through the individual alone that the
] race as whole can be reached. They
| realize that their people can not be
| lifted. but must rise. and what they
| demand is not charity. but assistance :
| the assistance that brother owes to
| brother. man to man. This feeling is
| not the result OF theoretical reasoning
| but has been brought about by exper-
| fence and observation. and II has
| guided them In the direction OF their
work And 50 any program which
treats your people as dependent: as
| the wards Of the nation. as suppliants
| FOR government bounty will meet and
| should meet with indignant protest
| from your best manhood and woman
| hood. for II must OF necessity insult
| your intelligence and wound your pride
In the days Immediately following
| the Civil War, when your people. after
J generations Of enforced scryitudc and
/ dependence were suddenly given their
| freedom and thrown on their own re-
| sources. and before they had time to
| gain their balance and take up their
| lives under tn. new conditions 1t Is
not surprising that their ears should
hav. been open to the sophistry OF the
| demagogucr who sought to ride on their
| backs That the cry twenty acres OF
| land mule" should have become a
slogan to rally them about the ire
| sponsihle political trickstcr who
sought through them 10 gain his own
ends During generations they had
been taught to look upon dependence
| a. their natural lot and TO believe that
| they had TO rely ON the bounty Of the
| master and to accept without murmur
| the little which he might see tit to give
| Self bettermcnt w-s eliminated from
| the equation for even though one might
have unusual attachments. unusual
| strength, unusual aptitude for the
| work assigned to him II was OF no in
| dividual advantage. but added only to
the pleasur. and profit OF the master
| So II was not surprising that the first
\ impulse OF our colorcd people upon
| being released from bondage was To
| look about for some one on whom they
| might lean. some plan which would re-
| icNe them from the necessity OF pro-
| viding for themselves. Some authority
| which would take them In charge. re-
lieve them from the responsibilities Of
| life and provide for them as they had
been provided for under the old regime.
and naturally they looked to the gov.
| ernmcnt itself anxious TO have the
| patcrnalism OF the state substituted for
| the paternalism OF the master. For
tunately this bounty was not forth
| coming and soon the colored man
found that his future must depend upon
himself and that through his own en-
dcaVors and individual efforts alone
would he be able to sustain life and
| take up forward march While he
may not have realized II at the time
by these facts he had won half the bat
tie which he was TO fight on his pro-
grcssive march.
Scarcely more than half a century
has elapsed since the close Of the Civil
| War. This is a short period--a period
insufficient To make the average life of
a man period which Is as day
when compared with the centuries