The Denver star., 1914-07-25
SOUTH EXTENDS
WILLING HAND
Affords Race Greater Ghancs
Than tho North

In Many Fields Of Endsavor the Col
orsd Man Of the Former Slave
States 10 outstrippins His Brother
In the North-PoIitiesi Recognition
Will Follow Industrial Advance.
By RALPH W. TYLER.
Washington.-To one who makes q
tour of the south to study carefully
conditions in so far as they have an ef-
feet upon the present and future mate
rial progress Of the Negro race. the
fact that the race in the south Is very
rapidly outstripping the race in the
north, educationally as well as indus
trially and commercially. Is most Inn
pressive. / have just completed my
third trip into the heart Of the south as
representative for and in the interest
of the National Negro Business league.0
the wonderfully effective organization
DR.. Booker T. Washington conceived
and organized On the three trips l
covered more than 5000 miles. visited
isolated farming communities as well
as the congested cities. To the close OBJ
server, and my twenty years connec-
ton with the fourth estate has made
me a close observer. the apparent op-
timism, In spite Of restrictions and dis
ordinations, prevailing among the Ne
groes Of the south in contradistinction
to the apparent pessimism prevailing
among Negroes Of the north compels
first astonishment and then hope.
In practically every Negro home.
every Office and every business estab-
lishment in the south one visits the
visitor becomes conscious Of the In,
Visible motto, '.EnthusiAsm y . com
sldttioot1 Ge vlns|
motto expresses the sentiment Of only
the really earnest, hopeful and strenu
ously active class. In the same places
before mentioned found photograph
Of DIR. Booker T. Washington.
No one will attempt to deny that the
Negro in the south is grossly discrlmi-
mated against or that he is denied GER
tain citizen rights. but from all I saw
and learned on my trip these have
served as an accelerant rather than q
deterrent to race progress. paradoxicall
as it may seem. In politics the Negro
in the south is practically nonentity.
but in the trades. professions and in
business he IL becoming virile fac
tor. And just In proportion as be in
creases respect for himself because OF
advancement along industrial and COM
mercial lines I found political restric-
tions for the Negro becoming less re-
strictive. For instance. In one south
ern city I met q most enterprising and
substantial Negro business man, whom
the best white citizens OF the city had
urged to become a candidate for MEM
Der Of the city council from ward In
which the whites largely outnumbered
the blacks. He refused. however, to
comply with their request. stating that
the ofice would Interfere with his
business: that It could serve as no ad-
vantage. while 1t might prove disad-
vantage No white man in that COM
munity enjoys higher respect from
white men than he. and the judgment
of no white man in that community
on business matters is more highly re-
spected and followed than that of this
Negro who declined the urgent request
Of white men to become their candi-
date for the city council In a southern
city where the whites outnumber the
Negroes three to one.
On this trip also learned that the
number Of Negroes who qualify and
vote each year Is increasing. and to
such an extent that the trainers and
supporters Of the grandfather clause.
which permits the white progeny Of
Confederate soldiers to vote without
complying with the educational quail
ncation. while denying the same right
to Negroes. have begun to realize that
the educational qualification Is serving
as a positive incentive to Negro educa-
tion and a depiorable retardance for
what are termed in the south the ''poor
whites" for the reason that the chill
dren of the poor whites" knowing
that they are exempted from the opera
tion Of the educational test are not &C
cepting the unrestricted. for them. op-
portunities for education with anything
like the avidity with which Negro
children pursue education.
1 also learned that the whites are
not in the least alarmed over the In
creasing number Of Negroes who vote
each year. but on the contrary. II
many communities, white citissns who
desire to build up the commercial and
educational prestigs Of the south arc
encouraging the industrious. thrifty. In
telligent Negro to pay his poll tax and
qualify a. an eloctOP.