The Ocala evening star., 1911-04-11
WHO IS NY NDGHBOR :?
Continued from First Page,

cheer, comfort and sympathy. / know
your burden. and share your respon- J
sibiIity. / adjure you, in the name OF
the negro race. all that tends 10 the
uplifting Of humanity, You go from
tie PORTALS of this institution of in
structlon. that you will carry Its In
fiuence and teachings az they now ex-
Ist 10 yonr race and that you may De
a living testimony thereof
You have an ignorant and suPersti-
tIous race Of people to lead, you have
already been toyed with by unscrupul-
Gus politicians who have fattened upon
their credulity, and produced condi-
tion that had TO be lived down oy IN
teIIigence, forbearance, moderation ana
Christian influence, by the combined
acts both of the white and the negro
race. These negroes are today stand
ing with outstretched hands crying out
for your Intelligent leadership. and
they are In great need OF IT,
Be not discouraged, for you VIII
have disturbing conditions tnat Will
require all the intelligence OF your |
race TO cope with There never will be |
a repetition of the former conditions. |
for the negro has outliyed that age
and advanced to a higher degree of
intelligence. so 1T is not possible TO be
entrapped with such simple snares in
this day, but out of time new and diff
6cu1t problems will evolve requiring
new and intelligent applications, ana
then more than ever will you need IN
teIligent leadership to guide your race
Your race will never again be subject
ed 10 the modification and humiliation
of disappointment incident TO the old
story of forty acres and a mule prac-
ticed on him in the SOS, but 1t Is pos
sible, nay, likely that more delicate
and intricate matters will present
themselves more perilous conditions
that you will have TO deal with that
viii require wiser counsel The intel
ligence of your lears will never again
permit the interruptions white man,
adyenturist of the sixties nor his pos
terity or successors in schemes, VINO
found such easy prey upon the credul-
Gus negro as to ALLEVIATE him from his
white friend and neighbor.
The white man of the South is the
friend of the negro. Out of the ex-
hausted condition of his estate at the
close of the war, and at time when
the "scalawag" element came ike de-
youring locusts in our midst ana feo
upon the ignorant and superstitious
negro arraying him against the White
man, his friend and his neighbor. yet
under all these trying conditions the
Intelligent Christian white man or tht
South soon set himself about to provide
from his scanty resources and Wastec
estate, and gathered from their ruins
small scarps with which to educate
the negro and qualify him for citizen
shin. My friends. admonished tina
statistical quotations are uninteresfins
but in confederation of the assertion
that / now make, / beg to indulge to
brief reference to the report or IN
superintendent of public instruction 10
Marion county, that you may see tina
he Is not neglected here. From this re
port we find that for the school yea
ending 1909-10, June 3Oth, for Mario
county, that there were 1898 negr
children enrolled in 4S negro schools
with 6s negro teachers, 10 whom wa
paid the sum of s12,9S7.10. Nor is Ma
rion county the only county in thi
state undertaking to qualify the negr
for a credible citizenship. Some othe
counties are doing very much mor'
we find from the report OF Superin
tendent OF Public instruction w.
Holloway for the state Of Florida tha
for the years 1909-1O, that the aggre
gate amount of salaries paid negr
teachers for these years was S160,S5
Nor must we forget what the state
Florida has done by the establishmeT
of the agricultural and mechanical co
lege for negroes at Tallahassee.
this school we find that there al
students attending from the far o
land of Africa, and many of the oths
states in this Union. The attedant
there from Marion county for 1909 We
five, and for 1910. July 1st, it was se'
en- Under the caption. IAN 1nteres
ing Outline" in one of your greeting
noticed that a good bunch of hfcl
cries constituted a part of the furn
ture OF the old log cabin school. Tn
reminds me of Prof. Hattwell of II
Howard Academy, when / was one
the trustees.
NV young negro friends, do not d
ceive yourselves, nor by any means b
come infested with the delusion, tn
by reason of the fact that the finger
God had touched the spark tn
kindled the flame in the breast of NJ
Fessenden as he looked upon Il
tumbled down log cabin, where a re
years ago negro children were pack
like sardines in what was called
school house. and from which HI
grown the present accommodations
this most creditable institution, tn
when you graduate from 1t that "
are then to take charge or THIS cover
ment and to direct the affairs Of tn
nation. for If you do disappointme
will be your share; this is the whi
mans government and he is going
run il, or at least for such a period
time as the advancement of the neg
in moral intellectual and Christian a
tainments will entitle him TO sha
in its responsibilities.
I testify to you the truth that [
negroes receive fair trial in t
courts OF this state. am not unmin
full OF the fact that there are instano
In which the most shocking injusti
has been done him for which the hone
and intelligent white man is no mo
responsible than is the honest and
telligent negro responsible for |
brutal criminal assaults of his broth
on a white woman.
1t would be incredible, the We
height of folly, to expect the neg
race, within less than a half centu
from a state of bondage and servitu'
with no schools, or churches or educ
tion poor and without means, ignora
and superstitious, the natural result
their unfortunate condition, TO
qualified to manage and direct the
fairs OF government. You are cal!
to a higher and a nobler mission tn
that. Your race is crying aloud
qualified leaders. Your progress h
E