Oxford eagle. (Oxford, Lafayette Co., Miss.) 1876-current, 1919-05-22

By Clements C. johnson, Assistant to
the Director of Information u. s.
Employment Service.

which is being given them at this time
by some of the serious-minded and
more intelligent, negro educators Of
the Southern States-those who were
born and rearded in the South and
understand conditions as they actually
exist-they will take advantage of the
unprecedented opportunities which are
presented to them during the recon-
struction period and place themselves
upon firm and substantial basis in
the. indnstril life of the country posi-
ton from which it will be difficult if
not quite impossible to remove them.
Never has there been time in the
history of the country when the white
employer has manifested more sin
cere desire to help the negro than the
present. Scarcely is there an employ
er of labor in the South who does not
earnestly, hope that the negro will
realize his opportunity and grasp the
fact that he will receive just compen-
sation for services rendered; but that
he must show willingness and deter
mination to perform satisfactory SER
vice before the employer will advance
the rate of his compensation or i'm
prove his working conditions to an
appreciate extent is an controvert-
ible fact and one which the negro must
realize in order that he may reap the
lasting benefit of conditions which
now exist.
This idea was most forcibly express
ed recently by William H. Holtzclaw
principal of the Utica Miss Nor
NAL and Industrial Institute (colored)
in an address delivered at the closing
exercises of the Franklin, La, Indus
trial School when among other things
he said:
The one great thought that should
occupy our minds today is the thought
of the great opportunity which con-
fronts us at every turn Of the high
way of our lives. know that there
are thousands Of things that the best
people, both white and black would like
to see changed, that there are condi-
lions which all of us would Like to see
bettered, that there tire wrongs that
ought to be righted and yet despite all
those and thousands of others it still
remains that few people in history or
few people living today for that mat
ter have ever been confronted with
such numerous opportunities for adj
vancement as are the people of the
negro race. This is what l want you
to see. This is the opportunity that
| want you to grasp, for despite dis
tant rosy outlooks l can't feel that the
present opportunities will go on for
ever if we do not take advantage OF
them now."
That this negro has grasped the sit
uation comprehensively and realizes
its significance to his race is evidenced
by the following.
Zone Of the things want to see
done is general Tightening up OF the
loose screws along the machinery OF
our lives. A race is very much like
machine. Take your old pillow stock
or your wagon, you know that if you
are careless and if one screw after
another one, nut after another is al
lowed to loosen up, it is only matter
of time when every bolt in it will be
loose and the thing will go to pieces,
whereas if you tighten up each bolt as
It has tendency to become loose your
|plow or your wagon OF your wheel
b,rrow will: be given a new lefse on
life. Hercin is Cur lesson. AS a
race-we have got to tighten up the
bolts. We can't allow this and that
thing to go wrong, and yet be able to
play our part in this great country
among the fellow citizens with whom
we live.
81 hope to see the time when the
majority of the people Of this country,
both white and black, will own the
homes in which they live, but until
that time comes, and SO long as some
of us live in the houses prepared for
us by our landlords, and work the
lands which they rent us, we must
learn to care for this property in the
same sense we would care for it if it
were our own. have often heard
complaints when talking to various
members Of my race, to the effect that
one of the great troubles with the
Southern white man is that he is not
willing to pay the negro sufficient
wage to enable him to live under pres
ent conditions.
II have studied this condition at
some length and with considerable
care, and yet ! would be willing to say
l that sf khn xryonoc Vxyovo ovon hiOhor-