The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1916-09-28
Tells Negroes TO Stay.

Tells Negroes TO Stay.
Another of the well known
thinking negroes. who look deep
ly into the matters pertaining to
the welfare OF his race, raises
his voice in warning in order to
restrain the tendency noticeable
among many southern negroes to
leave for northern sections,
drawn by the lure Of higher
wage rate than is obtainabIe at
home This man is Dir. S. D.
Redmond, of Jackson, who is not
only practicing physician. but a
lawyer and property holder of
Jackson. Redmond has prepared
an open letter to the colored peo-
pie of Mississippi, giving practi-
cal reasons why they should
pause and consider carefully ere
answering he call of the north,
writing from the standpoint of
one who has studied the situa-
ton. SO far as colored people are
concerned, first hand, and warn
ing them in effect to Stop !!
Look Listen.!" ere hearkening
to the lure of the siren song of
promise.
Redmond's address to the
members of his race is in part as
follows:
Let us not become a nomadic
or rowing people. History affords
no example of rovers ever i'm
proving their condition or get
ting up in the world. Once a
rover always rover.
Gas the late and lamented
Booker T. Washington has well
admonished.. Let down your
buckets where you are. Neither
can ever forget his story Of the
negro who moved so much that
his old rooster on the first day of
every January always came to
the front door and lay down and
crossed his legs to be tied to get
ready.
"Of course, the labor agents
tell yeu of the hard times now in
the south. Well, we admit that
the times just now are not the
very best, but how could we ex-
pect better times during this aw-
full war coupled with short crops,
and when our principal staple.
cotton, not allowed free access to
European markets ? But we
may rest assured they will not be
this way always. Behind each
cloud there is a silvery lining
The north would be in the same
condition as the south today or
worse, but for the war, but for
the factthat they are furnishing
Europe with its cannons and am
munition to kill millions and mil
lions of men, and wheat to feed
them on while they do their dead
lily work, but when the war is
over the south is coming into her
own and is going to be the recip-
lent of a prosperity unparalleled
lin it's history.
Again, statistics show, that
the southern negro accumulates
property and improves his condi-
ton far more rapidly tnan the
northern negro, who only too
often has altogether an artificial
idea of life. The worst thing
possible for us to do is to drift to
the large cities, sWhere we are
only too soon swallowed up in
the whirlpool of excuses, forget
the real object of life, and be-
come only the sgnat on the char
lot wheel Of progress.
! Il have oftentimes stood on
the corner in the thickly popu-
lated negro district f New York,
Philadelphia and Chicago and at
the entrance to the rumwooms
and wondered what would be
able to save my people rom such
traps and internal SHARES and
pitfalls.
Hence, let us stay in the
country, on the farms and IN the
smaller towns. There we live
longer, do best and save most.
We are tae only logical laborefs
lof America today and must nee
essarily be, unfortunately, spend
| ing as fast as we earn, as we 90.
If we remain our place is ever
secure. Any such people can al
ways be depended upon to stand
Lat the head of the laboring class
of the southland masters OF the
situation.
IF we ever hope to become a
people really worth while we
must become SO here in the
south, where we know and UNI
derstand our neighbor, who in
turn knows and understands US,
| appreciates our real worth and is
! oxyor roodu ~ nvtnrad l1c q hn1flin0