The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1917-07-20
A HARD TEXT MADE CLEAR


pass of the Bible to fifty interpret is
the one that reads as follows:
"Tor everyone that hath shall be
given. and he shall have abundance;
but from him that hat not shall be ia
ken away even that which he hath.
1t remained for a negro, but one OF
the most learned of his race. the late
Booker T. Washington. to point out
to US its beauty, strength and force
fulness.
He said it was the keynote not only
| for individual success. but for racial
success.
| Let the negro. he argued, convince
the world that he has opportunities
and is conscious OF them, and instant
ly more opportunities will come to
him The more he presses against the
door of opportunity the wider It will
open to him.
ITO him that hath shall be given
|
his eyes to the opportunities that are
offered to him. refuses to appreciate
them and fails to take advantage of
them, that which he hath shall be
taken away from him
The world is interested in the man
who succeeds in the race OF life. and
it is with races as it is with individ-
uals
In this address this great negro
leader said:
THE world today seeks the Japan
ese. it seeks the Canadian. it seeks the
Jew in New York it seeks the white
man in Oregon, in Alaska and in the
southern states to pour into their laps
riches, more opportunities, because
they possess something. and because
they emphasize their possessions
"On the other hand let any group
of people or race make a business of
advertising their want of opportunity,
and their poverty of possession, and
the world passes them by or fees
from them"
| Here is another extract:
Another fundamental condition for
business and commercial success on
the part of my race is the opportunity
for the masses of the race to find
work. Speaking now of the ten mil
lions of colored people and speaking
OF the southern states. where the
great bulk of the race lives, | would
remind you that we have the advan-
tage of having plenty Of labor for the
masses. For the most part. labor
seeks the man. instead of the man
having to seek labor AS compared
with any ten millions of people in the
old world the price received for our
labor is three and four times higher
than that received in many of the old
countries"
Many times we have pointed out in
this paper how the negro has failed to
take advantage of his opportunities.
AS this leader of his race said. the ne
gro is getting larger pay for his labor
than is paid for unskilled labor in any
other part of the globe If the negro
had been frugal. had been diligent.
had he improved his homestead. had
worked early and late in building and
planting, had he saved his earnings
and judiciously invested them. the
same as other races with the same
opportunities had done what would
he not have been tOdayi
Booker Washington said that the
world is not looking to employ the la
zy, shirtless man. That no one en-
ploys the lawyer who has no clients
nor the doctor who has no patients.
Pay heed to this extract:
Again to the negro in business. es-
pecially in the southland, in the mat
ter of freedom of trade there is
golden opportunity While in other
directions there are restrictions, in the
business world there is a freedom and
an opportunity that has rarely come
to any race so recently out Of slav
cry. The negro retail merchant can
buy his goods from the wholesale
dealer on as favorable terms as the
white retail merchant can. The ne
gro business man can borrow money
at the local banks just as readily as
the white business man can. The best
white people in the south are Just as
ready to purchase from the negro
merchant as from the white merchant.
With all that l have mentioned in
this country the negro enjoys freedom
or opportunity to get education. free
dom of religious worship to degree
not afforded any similar group of our
people in the world"