The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-06-01

all the negro churches in the South
had made more progress than the
Episcopal Church and he attributed
that partly to the reason that lmme-
diately after the war all the other
churches established separate eccle-
siasticaI establishments and that the
negroes met in their own conventions
and conferences and discussed then
church affairs, whereby they learned
something OF parliamentary law, Of the
government of public bodies, ana tell
the responsibility among them Of man
aging their churches. They were not
embarrassed by the presence Of white
bishops and White men Of superior
learning and they could be free, where
as in the Episcopal hurc the ne
grOeS. belonging to the same OnNe
ton as the white people, their clergy
and layn,en were depressed and lacked
hat freedom essential to their best
development. The Episcopal Church
must come to a separation in its
conventions throughout all the South
ern diOceses If that church is to de-
VelOp for the best interest OF the ne
gro. After the war the negro laymen
who had the temporal care of the
church, to pay the preachers salary, to
collect the funds. had a training in
business affairs which helped in the
every day work Of life. In the socie-
ties, because they were separate, they
did better. The need is for q negro
race separation hat it may develop
the best that is in the most capable
negroes and give them play for such
leadership as they possess. The negro
ought to welcome separate cars on the
train, separate street cars, just as they
have welcomed separate churches and
schools, demanding always that public
service corporation shall give equal ia
c%ilities, and should look forward to
their future in the South as an impe-
rum in imDerio. The waters of the
Gulf Stream are clearly defined from
the waters in the ocean. The negro
life and society in the South must look
to such perfect and complete Separa
ton as Will enable them to build up a
race pride n a race self-reliance.
They have before them an example in
the case Of the Hebrews. q highly
favored and highly gifted race, The
Chosen People of Cod who through
out the centuries, whether prosecuted,
as in Russia or honored. as in Amer
lea, have preserved their religion, their
traditions and their race purity. The
example of this great race hat has
produced mar of the world first
men, should stimulate the negro to try
to build up the negro race, not on the
lines of any other race, but on the
line of hat demarcation and Separa-
ZION lIldl dlOIle can ueA clOD IL INTO the
best of which it is capable. History has
shown that the negro, separated from
the white people, and having the bene-
lit OF their example and help, has re
lapsed into his old conditions. Self
government in Liberia has been q fail
ure. The only hope of the negro ris-
ing to a higher place is through liv-
ing in contact with the white race and
learning of them but preserving such
race separation as will unite the ne
gro II give an opportunity for the
brightest members of the race to lead
and instruct the masses of their race.
This is a slow work, it is a difficult
work, calls for sacrifice. calls for con-
structive ability and the test of this
constructive ability lies in whether the
negro will seek to lift UP his race by
such separation and race self-reliance
or losing himself by lacking the race
pride and race solidarity that lies at
the very foundation Of any race pro-
gresS.
The greatest wrong ever done the
negro race was putting the ballot into
the hands of every enfranchised slave
without regard to fitness. The con-
ferring of the ballot on the negro at
ter the var was in effect asking them
TO make bricks without straw and was
not done by the politicians to help the
negro but to ~perpetuate a political fac
ton in power. Mr.. Lincoln was too
1eVel-headed and clear-sighted a states
man ever to lave committed so great &
blunder. He laid down in a letter to
Governor Hahn. of Louisiana, q sug-
gestiOn, which a quarter Of a century
later the dominant political power of
The South took as its principle of ac-
ton, when the Southern States adopt
ed restricted suffrage amendments. In
a letter to Governor Hahn. on Jan
uary 18th. 1854, Mr.. Lincoln suggested
the experiment Of entrusting the ballot
to some of the colored people, for in
stance the very intelligent, and as a
reward for those who had fought for
the Union Lincoln's plan not 10