The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1909-03-25
Untitled Ideals Of LilCOIn.

This solemn and instructive day
that marks the anniversary Of the
birth of Abraham Lincoln a century
ago should nerve all Americans to
take up with fresh courage the three
untitled tasks that engrossed his
thought, and for which chiefly he
would have desired to live longer.
What we're these incomplete under
takings of his?
THE UPLIFTING OF THE WHITES.
First, is the uplifting of the mass
es of plain white people in the South,
to whom Lincoln belonged. God
must love the common people, be-
cause he made so many of them"
Such sentence, so full Of the milk
of human kindness, bespeaks his in
dividual history as well as betrays
his unfaltering affection for his kith
and kin in their lowly estate. Four
millions of native American stock
are skulking yonder in the passes of
the Appalachian chain, with mental
horizons no broader than their mar
row valleys. and all unconscious OF
social eficiency-"our contempora-
ry ancestors" In the remote rural
districts they lead joyless lives upon
thin patches of soil, or they have
been swept by the thousand about
the newly built cotton mill, where
child labor brings it's train of social
ills. Proofs abound that these peo-
pie do not lack capacity, but oppor-
tunity. The school opens to them
/ the door to life. If we love Lincoln,
let us serve this humble folk, Of
whose native worth he is an inspir
ing example.
THE EDUCATION OF THE BLACKS.
Second, is the training of the Ne
groes for life under conditions of
freedom. Slavery was only one
stage in the continuous process Of
racial adjustment which is going or
in the South. There was never a
greater mistake than to suppose that
the abolition of slavery was the END
of the Negro problem. 1t is truer
to regard emancipation as marking
the beginning Of that problem in its
most battling aspects. If Lincoln
had lived to fill out the span allotted
to his contemporary in birth, Glad
stone, his mightiest achievement
would probably have been in efforts
to train these millions Of former
slaves IN the basal lessons of respon-
sible life. love Of home, obedience to
law. kindly feeling for ones neigh
Dor, and, in a word, character.
In the alembic of the school, can
the nature Of the Negro be trans
muted IN the character Of the citi-
zen? | believe firmly that it can.
The school must be nicely adapted
to this specific racial purpose. If
results thus far do not satisfy you,
fault is 10 be found, not with the
principle or efficacy of training to
attain this end, but rather with the
kind Of school which has been used.
If the school We inherited from the
English does not do the work needed
for the Negro, let US experiment
until we find the exact discipline
that will yield the moral results de-
manded in his case. Human nature
is too elastic and susceptible to right
education for me to despair of the
Eegro's ability to rise in the scale
of economic efficiency and moral re-
liability.
This stern necessity OF discovering
the best method Of fitting the Negro
for freedom is commanding chal-
lenge to the constructive energies OF
modern educators. 1t is because
Hampton and Tuskegee have man
fully addressed themselves to this
knotty question that they merit the
attention of the American people
If we love Lincoln, let us serve the
black people whom he set free by
. moralizing them for the daily duties
of life. Universal education is {
, surer test of democracy than univer
sal suffrage. According to the stric
ethics of democracy, quality Of citi
zenship is more necessary than equal
: ity among citizens. Let us energizt
reason and conscience to do theil
, perfect work in every American, am
politics will take care of itself.
! NATIONAL RECONCILIATION.
, Thirdly, the task of reconciliation
: between the rent sections OF ou
common country was what lay hea