The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1909-03-23

lIlllfS itlIu dS Lax aS GIL oDte ~ "'o
gest something to make the negro
more useful to himself. more useful
to the State and 10 the nation than
he llas been in the past.
| "A< I have said. | have sought to
keep in close ;ouch wG;!: thr :'ro9TesS
Of Your State bu; one who lives out
side Of South C;roIi!:a j. al a certain
,li<advaat,a"r in learning ah'| what
that actual progress t:sa< been.
"Both races in I>.:v SoatiI suffer
at the hands of public opin!"" i'll one
respect, and that is by reason oI the
fact that the outside world hears Of
our difficulties. hears Of crime. hears
Of mobs and lvncEIinsS. but the out
side world does mt hea: Of. neither
does it know about. the evidences Of
racial friendship and rood will which
exist in the majority Of the co1imunl-
ties Of South Carolina and other
Southern States where black and
white live together / Go not believe
tl:.:rt one can find another section of
the globe where Two races which are
d;SSimilar in many respects dwell to-
ecfheY in 50 large nEmberS where
they GET on better in al the affairs
Of life than they do IN our Southern
States. When We consider all that
has taken place during Il" pass 10
years, I believe that we have every
reason to congratulate ourselves that
things have gone on as we'll as they
have. that they are 10 worse than
they are.
II am perfectly sure Of the fact
that there is an element Of our whlte
friends who are timid and often re-
frain from helping the negro to the
extent that they otherwise would, on
account Of the bugbear Of What Is
something referred to as social equal
itv. | am constantly mingl:ng ;lmoNg
members of my own race. North and
South, and Of all subjects discussed
that is very rarely referred to.
LET ME say as emphatically as [
can that Judging by my observation
and experience with my race, no
where in this country is it seeking to
obtrude itself on the White race. and
especially here in the South. I think
you Will find that the more sensible
the negro is and the more he is edu-
Gated, the more he finds Satlsfac-
ton in the company of his own race.
"To a very large extent the pro-
blem of the negro in the Southern
States is a labor problem. In order
to secure effective and satisfayrtco
to secure effective and satisfactory
labor from any race two things have
cot to be borne in mind. First, peo-
pie must be taught a love for labor,
must be taught the dignity of labor
and at the same time given proper
methods i'm the direction of skill. Sec
ondly, they must have their minds
and their ambitions awakened so that
their wants Will be increased. No
Individual labors except as he has a
motive for doing so. The Ignorant,
UNFRAMED negro in South Africa
works for only one or two days III
each week. He quits and returns
to his little hut at the end Of that
time. The white man in South Af1l-
ca wonders why this is true, grows
impatient and angry with the Afrl-
can for this kind of conduct.
"The white man in South Africa
forgets that he ought to do the same
thing with the negro that has been
done with the negro in the Southern
States-that he ought to educate the
negro so that he will want more. The
knowledge Of the South African is so
limited, his ambitions are so low, that
he can satisfy all the wants that ne
knows ANYTHING about by working OH
ly one or Two days in each week.
When he has satisfied those he quits.
Human nature is much the same way
all over the world. In the case, how
ever, Of the Southern negro, he 'rks
four or five days in each week be-
cause he has been educated by con-
tact with the white man, educated
through the church, the Sunday
school, the day school, so that his
wants are increased, are multiplied
in many directions. The Southern
negro wants land, wants a house with
two or three rooms in it, wants some
furniture, books, newspapers. educa-
tion for his children. wants to sup
port the minister and the Sunday
school, and in proportion as these
Ia - 1ol ~, ,,-H,,1-