The advocate. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1901-1913, 1911-09-07

given time Is due to race; that Is,
constitutional, and in tho blood, so
TO speak, then Of course, there is moth
ing to do. If, however, it is due to
environment education may help. The
discussion and emphasis on the fact
OF race has been made the excuse, in
the Southern States, for a good deaf
of apathy and indifference in regard to
the hopes and progress of the Negro
In fact, whenever 1 hear a politician
in the South esk the rhetorical ques-
ton Can the Leopard change his
spots?" l usually find that he is op-
posing the establishment of a Negro
school or is discouraging some other
effort to improve the condition Of tho
Negro people.
The real trouble with explanations
of this kind is that, as soon as man
has made up his mind, for example,
that a people, or class of people belong
inclined to support any kind of expert
ment, like the building of school,
that may prove that his explanation
was mistaken.
The real reason for the backward
condition of Sicily is. in my opinion,
not so much the intermiXture of race
as the neglect and oppression of the
masses of the people. In 1861, when
Sicily became a part Of the Italian
Confederation 80 per cent of the pop
10
or write. This means that at this
time the people of Sicily were not
much better off, as far as education
is concerned. than the Negro slaves at
the time of emancipation 1t has been
estimated that between five and ten
per cent Of the slaves could read and
write.
One Of the first things the Italian
government attempted to do. after an
Nexation, was TO reorganize he school
sysem of Italy. But even under the
new government, and with a compul-
sory education law on the statute
books, progress has been slow In
1881, twenty years later, more than
"a per cent of the population could
neither read nor write and as late as
1901, for every hundred inhabitants
of school age, more than seventy were
illiterate
In practically the same period, that
Is, fr@n 1866 to 1900. the Negro pop
ulation in the United States reduced
its illiteray to AS per cent of the
population of school age, and for every
100 Negroes in the Southern States,
81 could read and write.
Sicily has three universities,
one in each of it's three largest cities,
Palermo, Catania, and Nlessina, but
they are for the few and have in no
way connected themselves with prac-
tical interests and the daily life Of
the people One result of the ignor-
ance Of the people is that in Sicily,
where the educational qualifications
exclude more persons than elsewhere
from the suffrage, less than four per-
sons in every hundred Of the popula-
ton vote. This is in accordance with
statistics, which go back, however, 10
1895. | have learned since | return
ed to America that law has been
passed, although it is not yet in op-
GRAFTON, which will greatly extend the
suffrage At the same time a deter
mined effort is being made to stamp
out the secret political and criminal
organizations.
AS near as I can make out, the
Malta seems to have grown up, in the
first place, like the White Caps, the
Night Riders, and the lynchers in our
own country as a means Of private
vengeance. The people, perhaps be-
cause they despsel and hated the gov
eminent, preferred to settle their
scores in the old barbaric fashion Of
private warfare. The consequence
was that the small towns were di-
vided by tribal or family fcuds Under
such circumstances professional out
laws became of service either for the
purposes of attack or defense From
conditions something like this what
Is known as the Malta sprang.
1t is said that it was the rich fruit
gardens Of the Shell Of Gold" out
side of Palermo, which gave the Malta
its secure foothold and eventually
made that city the centre Of it's ac-
tiyity. In that region field guards
were necessary in addition to the
high walls, to keep thieves out Of the
plantations where the golden fruit
ripened almost all the year round
| might, perhaps, say in passing
that there never was time when it
was necessary to erect walls or ever
fences to protect the crops from the
Negro labOrcrs on the plantations il
=. the Southern States. When the cot
y ton Is being gathered in the fall grea
quantities Of it are left heaped up il
the open fields but, even in thos
parts Of the country where the blacl