Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1909-11-25
NEGRO ORATOR
MADE A hit
Continued from First Page.

, | Deen almost Overwhelmed ana sur
prised to see how much interested
, the white citizens are in every com
munity in the elevation of the negro
The school facilities for the negro il
the cities and towns ] have visited
are far better than ! had any
thought they were. What is needed
on our part as race is to make our
selves a necessity in the field of labor
! We must not be merely content C
be tolerated, but must make the peo
pie feel our labor is so thorough, SC
intelligent and conscientious that
nobody else can be- secured who will
perform il better.
In the matter of labor, our race
has an advantage in the South which
| sometimes fear it does not rightly
appreciate. In the old countries of
Europe, and in many of the large
cities of the North, people for large
part of the year are without work;
they walk the streets day by day.
seeking employment but cannot find
it, La our case, no negro who wants
to find work need go without it. On
the other hand. in most cases, in
stead of the black man having to
seek labor, labor seeks him. And
then here IN the South the negro is
not shut out as in many other parts
of the country, from skilled labor.
In many countries of the world peo-
pie who have the same degree of civ
il zation work when they can only
get from Is to 20 cents a day for
their labor, In every part of the
Southland we get many times that
much money per day for our labor.
Education Of the Negro.
That which in the past has made
the Southern white people hesitate
about the education of the negro
h Is been the question as 10 whether
or not he could use that education in
a way to produce more riches, more
comfort, more high moral living in
his community after he was educat-
ed, but the minute we can prove to
the white man in the community
where we live that education makes
us more law abiding, more industri-
Gus. more saving, gets rid of idle
ness. that minute millions of dollars
will be poured out for our education
in every part of the South. In city
like Hopkinsville in a large degree
we cook the white mans food, we
serve the food on his table, we nurse
the white mans child, and every
white housekeeper in the city ought
to be sure that the person who cooks,
serves or nurses her children ought
to be clean and intelligent, and above
all things, moral.
In the punishment of crimes of
omission and commission the law
draws no color line. Since the law
draws no color line at the finishing
end, the negro should have an equal
chance with white Leople of other
races at the preparing end as he is
punished in the same way other
races are. If the negro fails to pay
his taxes, if he steals, if he fights,
if he commits murder, he ia punish
ed by the same law by which the
white man is punished. ! am sure
that every white man in Kentucky
will agree that if this is true the ne
gro should have the same chance
preparing himself for life so that he
will understand the law and know
how to obey the law, if he must be
put on equality with the white man
at the finishing end of life he should
also have an equal chance at the pre-.
pairing end of life, and this can only
be brought about through proper
methods of education; Imean educa-
ton of head, heart and hand; that
education which will teach every
member of our race the dignity of
labor and the same time will teach
every member of the race trade or
special occupation by which a living
n be btained.
Responsibility of White Man.
Wherever | have gone in this and
other states | have found that the
negro is very much what the white
man is. This being true, the white