The Colorado statesman., 1916-04-15
AFRO-AMER|CAN CULL|NCS

A few days before he died Booker
t. Washington wrote to the editor of
the Forum magazine suggesting the
printing of an article dealing with
the definite, fndisputable facts relat-
ing to the Negroes progress as a race"
He inclosed what he called a rough
outline Of such an article, which, of
course, was never completed. What
he wrote is presented in it's unfinished
state IN the current issue of the mag
aZine
rlrst he presented striking figures
to show Negro progress toward lit
eracy. On emerging from slavery. he
wrote, the Negro was not more tnan
per cent literate. The census of
1910 shows that the Negro has re.
duced his illiteracy from 95 per cent
to 30.4. Contrasting the percentage
of ifliteracy among Negroes with that
of other people, Mr.. Washington wrote
that If the Negro had done no more
good than lead Greece and Italy in the
matter of literacy his showing would
have been profoundly significant" His
hgures show the comparative per-
centage: of illiteracy as follows: Ne
groes, a0.4; Bulgaria, 655; Greece,
o7.2;. Hungary, 40.9; Italy, 4S.2; Po-
land 59.3;. Portugal, 1874; Russia, 70;
Serbia, 1873; Spain, 5S.7; Chile, 49.9;
Cuba. SOS; Mexico. 1853; Porto Rico,
1916; India, 92.5; Philippine islands,
55.5: Cape of Good Hope. 65.S; Egypt,
92.7.
f1nh hln fn,- 4
of the Negro's wealth, but the census
bureau gave the value of the Negros S
farm property alone as SLAP 900, 900,
or $116.20 for each Negro in the Unit
ed States. Comparing this with the
statistics of the wealth of nations, Mr.
Washington said that, with the excep-
ton OF Argentina, whose money
wealth is S1S5 per capita, the Negros
per capita wealth is more than twice
that of any nation on earth. Negroes,
he wrote, operated S93,37O farms in
1910, having an acreage of 42.279,51O.
and the value of these farms increased
1884 per cent during the period of
1900-1910 alone.
AS against an estimated value of
about s1,000,000 of the $50 Negro
churches owned in 1863 he set the
value of s56,636,159 of buildings alone
of the 36,421 churches and halls owned
In 1906. This. he held, indicated not
only economic progress but a continu-
ing and increasing devotion to reli-
gious life. Starting in 1863 with about
1000 business enterprises. the Negro
has developed in some fifty years
over $4,000 business concerns with an
annual volume of business of about
$1,000,000,000. Fffty-seven banks are
operated by colored people with a cap
italization of $1.600,0 600, and an annual
business of about $20,O00,OOO. Among
indications of progress in the stand
ard of living Mr. Washington cited the
increase in the southern states alone
of the percentage of homes owned free
from incumbrance from 20 per cent
in 1900 to 22.4 per cent in 1910. An
other indication of the rising standard
of living cited is the recent widespread
Legislation to prevent Negroes from
buying property in desirable localities
Progress in health is indicated in a
death rate of 3.9 per cent in ten years
in a registration area embracing 1877
per cent of the Negro population. Mr.
Washington also quoted census figures
to show an increased percentage of
Negroes entering skilled industries
In general, he argued that when 1t
was considered that the progress
made in the last fifty years by the
American Negro had been largely in
the face of obstacles, it was great
progress.