The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1909-03-20
New Series-VOI. xxx. IA 8

that llte in the country is made inst
as attractive and. safe as life in tho
city. The negro wants education To-
"is chlioren. He has an ambition TO
improve the life of his family. II
ne finds in the city, as he usua,lv
does, school well eouinned uxth
good teachers either by missionary
effort or by public school funds thar
Is IN session eight or nine months IN
the year, and if he finds in his own
community the public school taught
IN a broken down log cabin with a
poor teacher and the school term NOT
longer than four or five months IN
the year, the negro is tempted 10
move to the city where he can edu-
cate his children. This is natural
and any other race would Weld to
the same temptation under the same
circumstances. Our white friends
can help the negro, and help them
selves at the same time by seeing to
1T that the negro family is provided
with just as good school accommoda-
tions in the country as i'm the CITY.
In my opinion it would pay in the
matter of dollars and cents for every
white man who owns large pianta-
ton in this State to see to it that on
that plantation or near that pIanta-
ton there is a good school provided
and a good church, with a good
teacher and upright minister, who
are encouraged to. remain in that
community. This will mean that Ia
Dor will come to that plantation, win
be satisfied there, that the individual
who own such a plantation ana
makes these provisions for school and
church will not have. 10 seek labor
but labor will seek him.
i There are some things in the fffes
Of every race that must be settled as
speedily as possible before they will
be able to make any real permanent
progress. One of them is the matter
of permanent abode, a definite place
to live. A race cannot. make the high
est progress, become. in the highest
degree useful, until ii makes ND its
mind to settle down somewhere on,
the soil and become a useful part Of
the community in which il lives. We
must get rid of the habit, which in a
very large degree still clings to the
race, Of being an unsettled peop3e.
Some portion of our race moves every
year. People live on one plantation
! this year, on another next year. and
on still another the following year:
Some portion of our race lives in a
kind of haphazzard manner in one
town one year, and moves to a new
town another year. Some have been
, doing this for period of twenty
years, We cannot make progress, we
. cannot make ourselves respected as
we should be, until this habit is
changed.
while 1 am speaking upon the
subject of permanent abode for the
negro race, 1 wish to repeat here the
advice which l have given privately
and publicly in every part of the
country in which 1. have been, and
\ that is in my opinion, there is no pfax,e
v IN this country where the negro is
8 better off, or in any other country. all
Il things considered than our Southern
n states, and particularly in the coun-
h Try districts. 1 have had the. privil,
e ege of travelling pretty extensively
: throughout this country as well as
In foreign countries, and i have me-
v hesitation in stating that taking. the
e matter on the whole, there is no place
k where the masses Of the negro peopls
h are doing as WELL are SO hea,thy :,
( mind and body as they are in tbs
e country districts of the South. Imax
e say also, in my opinion, the mass q,
a my people have definitely de<e rp,inss
4 to stay where they are in wn,svy g
e known as the Black Belt or III.
y southern States"