Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1914-08-07
AFR0:AMER|CAN CULL|NCS

That the South Is the best place
for the negro and that education ought
to prove his salvation were two of the
points made by Robert r. Motion, com.
mandant Of cadets at Hampton insti-
tute, in a recent address.
Thoughtful negroes as we'll as
thoughtful white men," he said, are
agreed that the South offers the
largest opportunity for the masses Of
the colored people. 1t is fair to as,
sumo, then,
That, for the present at least, the
South cannot depend on foreign i'm
migrants for it's farm operatives, It's
domestic and personal service, or its
unskilled and semi-skilled labor;
THAT it must depend on the negro
tor the present and also the very dis
tant future to recruit the ranks OF this
form Of labor;
That, II the negro Is to constitute
the mass of industrial operatives Of
the South, it is imperative for the
common good that there should be
sympathetic cooperation with the
white workers engaged in similar
forms of industry;
That every effort should be exert
ed on the part Of the South to make
these laborers, black and white, more
reliable, more skillful and more eff
cient; that the laborer can be kept
efficient and skillful only as his en-
vironment is wholesome and strength
ening and not weakening and democrat
zing;
That it is the duty of every pa
triotic southerner to use every posi-
Bile means for the practical, sympa-
thetic training Of these workers and
their children through thorough,
well-regulated school system.
1T is frequently asserted by care
less and thoughtless speakers and
writers that all negroes are lazy, shift
less and inefficient; but in practically
every district where negroes are en-
ployed, whether as farm laborers or as
mechanical laborers. the verdict Is
that large majority Of negro work
ers are reliable, many of them are
skillful and very efficient, and not a
few are almost Indispensable There
are very few places in the South
where the employer would be willing
to dispense with the services of his
negro employees"
The speaker gave hint Of the
means which must be employed to
keep these workers faithful and eff
cient "No leader, either black or
white" he remarked, can give skill
ful, efficient, conscientious service
when he is surrounded day and night
by all that tends to lower his health.
'distort his mind, weaken his morals.
|embitter his spirit and shake his faith
in his fellow men,"
Major Motion was led to emphasize
the very great necessity OF education
for the negro There has been much
criticism" he said, "and some fun
and ridicule made at the expense Of
the educated negroes by, perhaps,
well meaning people. But, after all ls
said and done, the most successful and
the most reliable and the most intlu-
entail element in the negro race. as in
every race, is the educated class-the
men and women who have done most
to cement cordial and sympathetic
relations between the races; who have
had the greatest influence for eau
ton and conservatism upon the reck-
less and radical negroes; who have
been most patient and most persistent
In their efforts to fit the whole negro
race for freedom and citizenship, in
their broadcast and most perfect sense,
by practical Christian education and
sane, wholesome advice"
Kindergartens for colored children
are being adopted in different parts
of the South as one Of the agencies
for improving social conditions that
have troubled two generations. Rich
mond. Va, has lately opened an ex'
perimental kindergarten which has
already created such interest among
negro parents and the school author1-
ties that It is expected it will soon be
made permanent. The Richmond
kindergarten was opened by the Ma
tional Kindergarten Association OF
New York at the request OF Richmond
people who knew Of the success OF the
demonstration given among the COL
ored children at Chattanooga. Tenn,
where the local association assumed
the care and support Of the school on
March l.
The largest motor vessel IN the world
10 the Siam, recently built at Copen-
hagen, with a displacement OF 13.zoo
1sns.
The first telephone is said to have
attracted little attention until Dom
Pedro picked it up and expressed his
oeRght at It.
Canadian farmers are gradually dis
sarding the heavy fence rails which
have surrounded their properties for
Assades, and are erecting serviceable
Nare field fencing with attractive en-
ksance gates.
Jack pine trees planted ten years
40 In the sand hills OF Nebraska are
now large enough to produce fence
4osts.
The new wireless station at Fort
Ayer, near Washington, D. O., has
1nge of more than 5000 miles.