The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1907-01-01

the majority of the white families in Ala
bama is prepared and served three times
a day by the hands of the negro woman.
1t is mighty important that this woman
| who prepares and serves the food which
is to make blood and bone and flesh and
brain for the white people, as well as
members of her own race, be just as intel
| ligent, skilled and conscientious as pos
! sible In nine cases out of ten the indi-
vidual who sells and fits a shoe on the
| foot of his customer is clean, intelligent
and cultured. His duty is to put piece
of leather on the outside of the foot 1t is
| ten times more important that the woman
who puts food on the inside of the stom-
| ach be equally clean, skilled and intel
! ligent Perhaps over half the children of
the white families in Alabama spend a
| large proportion of their lives in the
presence and in direct contact with col
ored girls, or colored women. 1t is tre-
mendously important for the future hap
| piness and prosperity of Alabama that
| every black girl or woman who serves as
a nurse to any white child be morally and
| physically clean that she be conscientious
and intelligent; otherwise her filth, her
| ignorance, or her immortality will show
! themselves in connection with the life of
7 the white child. IN all these matters the
| two races are vitality related to each
other. In all such matters the Tuskegee
institute is trying to help the whole cit
| izenship of our state.
| Disappointment has been expressed that
I the educated negro from Tuskegee and
| elsewhere is seldom found in farm work.
| / wish in this respect, as in others, that
the white citizens of Alabama would
| take more time to investigate and il
/ they would, they would be surprised to
! find the large number of Tuskegee grad
yates who are on the farm, as well as in
| other industries. 1t is not, however all
| ways an easy task to train the negro
| youth to love farming boy graduates
| at the Tuskegee institute in brick ma
| sonry, for example. At once his services
| are in demand at a high rate of wage in
almost every city in the south; he needs
no capital to begin business except enough
| money with which to buy trdwel. With
| his trowel he can begin at once to earn
| from 50 to SO day. If he wishes to enter
| farming he has got to have land, and to
| secure enough money on which to live for
| a year while he is producing his first
crop. 1t is our constant endeavor to teach
large proportion of our students to love
| farming, so that when they get their edu-
| cation they will come back to their homes
and raise more produce on an acre of land
than was true before they got their ed
ucation, but the tremendous demand for
skilled labor in the cities of Alabama is
always a temptation for these boys to
come to the city rather than to go back to
the farm.
In a word. in my opinion, the white
| people of Alabama have right at their
doors a veritable gold mine in the shape
| of negro labor and 1T is our ambition to
held the state to so encourage to so ed
| ucate, to so use this labor, that 1t will
prove an advantage to the negro himself
and to every white citizeniAThe negro is
unlike almost every otheb9 class of la
| borers. In the first place, he spends his
money at home, unlike the Chinaman I'M
| Ito hn Ifa1 tyh xUh ION
their money go back to their ancestral
homes to invest 1t and to spend it. The
negro spends his with the merchants and
other business men, right in his own conf
| munity, and thus all share in the advan-
tage.
The Moral and the Immoral.
More and more as race of people, We
must learn to draw the line between the
moral and the immoral. between the good
and the bad: we must set the standard
| of life among our own people high, and
let them understand that we feel our
selves ashamed TO associate with idlers
and criminals. We must use our IN
fiuence wherever possible to get rid of the
large idle class that hang about the
street corners and dens of misery in our
large cities This is the element in nine
cases out of ten that creates friction be-
tween the races. We must see to 1t that
our influence is always on the side OF law
do not hide or shield criminals, but do
our duty in seeing that the officials of
the law get hold of such individuals and
that they are properly punished. Wher-
ever it is possible and practical, l be-
lieve that we should organize law and
order leagues, to the end that we can CO.
i operate with the officials of the law and
bring to light the criminal element of
our people
| While there have been disturbance and
riot in other states in the south, / am
glad to testify to the fact that for the
most part here in Alabama there has
been peace and good will. This is due
largely to the fact that the educated and
leading black men in Alabama are con-
sentative and sensible. 1t is also due to
the further fact that We have brave
white officials who are not afraid to en-
force the law.
l repeat that we are to live together
for all time, and can do SO in peace and
in harmony am in constant touch with
all classes of our people in every part
of America. and l assert without hesita-
ton that it is not the ambition of the
negro to interningle socially with the
white race; it is not the ambition of the
negro to dominate the white race In
| political matters. What the negro does
desire is that he shall receive Justice and
the absolute protection of the law; pro-
lection In his home: protection for his
family; protection in his labor; pro lection
| frov,, tho u,ronrs IF p1oh violence Secure