The advocate. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1901-1913, 1907-02-28

"iSInsSA VSloN STUDENT Oh CIVILIZATION
walton: THE Industry (cotton)," he
said, "even more than that of raising
tobacco, called for abundant labor
which could be absolutely commanded
and severely %tasked In the season OF
extreme heat. For this work the
Negro proved to he the only fit man,
for while the whites can do this work,
they prefer other employment. Thus
1t came about that the power of slav-
cry In this country became rooted In
Its soil. The facts show that, based on
an ample foundation Of experience, the
judgment Of the Southern people was
| to the effect that this creature Of the
tropics was better laborer in their
fields than the men of their own race.
Much has been said about the ois
like of the white man for work in as,
| ISOLATION with Negroes. The failure of
| the whites to have a larger share In
the agriculture OF the South has been
! attributed to this cause. This seems
| to be Clearly in error. The dislike Of
| the association of races In labor, is, In
the slave-holding states, less than an
| the North. There can be no question
| that If the Southern folk could have
made white labore:s, profitable they
| would have preferred to employ them,
would have required less fixed capital
for their operation. The fact was, and
| is, that the Negro is there a better la
| boring man in the field than the white.
Under the conditions he is more en-.
during, more cOntented and more
trustworthy than the men of our own
race >'
Another complaint which Is fire.
quently made concerns the number OF
Negro criminals. 1t is said that the
educated Negro is the class from
| which the criminal element is mostly
recruited. l have made q searching in
veStigation, but | have not Deen able to
find that a single graduate of Tuske-
gee, Hampton or any of the Negro col
| leges can now be found in the prisons
Of the South. Last summer a special
and very thorough investigation was
| made among the graduates and ex-
students OF Tuskegee who are living
in Montgomery county, in which the
city of montgomery is located. OF
101 students of whom we were able
co get dennite information 80 were at.
work either as farmers, or in the case
of the women who had married, as
housekeepers, or at the trades in which
they were trained. Of the others, FIVE
we're employed in the postoffice de-
partment, three were employed in
stores in the City of Montgomery, one
was in the real estate business, one
in barber shop and one waiter in
a restaurant. OF this number SO have
already acquired homes of their own.
1t has been said-and the statistics
show that this is to a certain extent
true-that the Negro In the South has
been losing the control which he for
merly had of the trades. But this does
not already mean that the Negro has
been proven inefficient, or that his Ia,
Dor is no longer desired. The expert
ence Of the school at Tuskegee has
been that the Negro who has learned
his trade has no difficulty in finding
work. On the contrary, in the trades,
or elsewhere, there are two jobs for
every workman. Our great difficulty
has been to keep our students in
5cGoo1 until they could complete their
trades and become thoroughly cOslpg-
tent workmen, since the temptati6a:tO
go to work at high wages Is so great
| want to emphasize the fact that In
estimating the progress which the
Negro has made in the past or is like
ly to make in the future we too often
| overlook the conditions under which
this progress has been made. For In
stance. it Is well known to any one
who has looked into the matter that
the Negro people have advanced more
rapidly in certain parts Of the country
| than they have in others The only
explanation of this is the difference
in the conditions under which they
have lived. In Gloucester county,
Virginia, where the population is
about equally divided among the races,
| the conditions are perhaps unusually
| favorable For number of years the
| colored people Of this county have
been in their schools directly under
| the influence of Hampton Institute,
| from which most of the teachers i'm
| their schools nave been drawn. In Thu
county the Negroes pay taxes on land
valued at 1888 IS and on buildings
| that have been assessed at $79 1885.
| They own, in short, community
where they constitute half the popuia-
I ton, little more than one-seventh OF
| the real estate of the county. Almost
| all, IL not all, Of this has been aCcumu-
lated on the soil where they were for
merly slaves in the short period Of
forty years. ~,
Nor is this an isolated instance. One
| of the most interesting stories of
| Negro progress is that of the building
| Of the Negro town Of Mound Bayou,
Miss. 1t is situated about twenty miles
from the Mississippi about midway
between Memphis and Vicksburg. The
founder Of this town is Isaiah T.
Montgomery, who was a slave of JEFF
ferson Davis, president of the Con-
federacy. The land upon which this
town was located belonged to the rail
road, and it was at their invitation
| that no l1n6prfOOk tho YORK Of .oofa h.
fishing upon this rich but low-lying
land Negro town. New settlers be
can cutting and disposing OF the TIM
Der during the year 1890, when the
| original survey of the town was made.
! II embraced at tho time about TWEEN "