The Colorado statesman., 1911-11-04
Fifteen Hundred People, Many
of Them White Hear Address
of Noted Educator.
THE RACE IS IMPROVING
WHITE MEN IN THE SOUTH
SHOULD ENCOURAGE THE Me-
GRO TO BECOME AMBITIOUS.

pie, one-fourth of whom We're white,
heard Washington at the fair grounds.
The speaker said in part:
I'm the last analysis the negro, like
any other race of people, will be test
ed by his usefulness to the community
in which he lives. Our greatest pro-
lection in any community will be our
usefulness. The race that learns to
do something better than anybody
else, that makes itself so thrifty skill
full and conscientious in its work that
a community will feel that 1t cannot
dispense with the presence and service
of that race, is the one that Will sue
ceed anywhere.
Il have said before that the average
white lady in the south who is a
housekeeper will never believe thor
oughly in the education of the negro
until she can see some of the results
of education in her own kitchen and
in her own dining room. The average
white man in the south who owns
farm will never believe thoroughly in
the education of the negro until he
can see sape of the results of educa-
tion on his own farm. Our white
friends must be patient, however, with
us while we are reaching this point.
The kind of education that manifests
itself in the kitchen, and on the farm
in this country is new for the white
man, but gradually, year by year. We
are making progress in these direc-
ticEs.
Value of Education.
Our efforts VIII prove of little
value, however, unless the influence of
the church and school reaches the
most ordinary member of our race.
Education and religion must reach
and help the man who uses the pick
and shovel, must reach and help the
woman who washes, who irons. who
cooks. From the very beginning,
every negro child should be taught the
dignity of labor, should be taught to
get rid once and for all time of the
old idea that the educated man and
the educated woman should not work
with their hands.
THE negro must improve year by
year as laborer, The kind of labor
which would satisfy on the farm and
in the kitchen twenty years ago will
be brought about by putting brains
and skill into the most ordinary occu-
pations.
"A large number of white people,
both north and south, have never
reached the point where they believe
thoroughly in the wisdom of educating
the masses of our people. We cannot
change their opinion by abusing them
or by arguing with them. We must go
on patiently, day by day, educating
the negro youth in way to let the
world see that education makes the in
dividual negro more reliable, more
progressive, more conscientious in
labor, makes him a larger producer
than he was when he was ignorant.
The very minute the world becomes
convinced that this is the result of
negro education, then public opinion
will support in a large degree those
who are attempting to give us educa-
ton.
White Men Must Encourage.
1T will pay the white man in the
south to encourage the negro to get
education. The negro must have his
mind awakened. his ambitions aroused.
No man works unless he has an in
centive, unless his wants are in
creased. In proportion as the negro
has his wants increased, he becames
more reliable as a farmer, as a labor
er. I need not refer to the fact that
In a city like Dallas the negro man or
woman who is most reliable as a la
borer is the one who owns one house
and wants to add another room to the
house, or perhaps wants to build an
other house; is the negro man or
woman who has 500 in the bank and
wants to put another 500 in the bank.
''On the other hand, the ignorant,
shiftless negro, who has no ambition,
who wants nothing except perhaps a
chew of tobacco and a drink of whis-
ky, will work only one or two days in
the week, until these wants are sup
piled, and then he ceases to work. In
proportion as the negro's wants can
be increased through education, in
the same proportion will he become
more helpful to himself and more
helpful to his white neighbor as a la
borer.
Race Is Improving.
The time Is mere, and L see many
signs of 1t throughout the south, when
in my opinion, the best white people
of the south are going to take more
part in the education and elevation of
the negro. The negro does not ask
or desire to thrust himself among the
white people in social matters; all
that the negro wants is the protection
of the law, that protection which will
make his life and property safe, which
will insure him fair trial, whenever
he or his family are charged with
crime In the courts of the state of
Texas, when the negro is brought to
trial before the bar of justice, charged
with the crime of stealing or the crime