The Dallas express. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1893-1970, 1919-09-13

II is conceded that even the provi-
sion for education of the white chill
dren of the South is scarcely more
than one-third of that for the edu-
, cation OF child of the North and
West. If 1t requires $25 per capita
to prepare a white child in North
: for the duties of citizenship, whose
powers are reinforced by racial and
! social hereditary, by what law of
. logic or common sense, can II be ex-
, pected that $1.31 will prepare Ne
! gro child in Louisiana. who misses
such reinforcement, for the exercise
of like function?
/ am not bringing this glaring dis
crepancy to light for the purpose of
condemnation or denunciation, but
merely to describe q situation furn-
ishing basal argument for the ne
cessity of national aid to Negro edu-
cation. Without such aid the south
ern states must continue for genera
lions under the heavy handicap of
comparatively ignorant and lily
equipt citizenship.
II is a fatal mistake to suppose
that the efficient education Of the Ne
( gro can be conducted on a cheaper
scale than that for the whites. The
fact that his home environment and
his general grade of life is lower,
makes adequate educational facilities
all the more expensive. $1.31 per
capita applied to Negro education in
Louisiana accomplishes even less, in
effective results, than like sum ap-
piled to the whites. Imagine the edu-
cational status of Massachusetts, If
the state should suddenly reduce the
provision Of public instruction to the
level of the cost of Negro education
in Louisiana.
Philanthropic to commendable de-
gree has served to supplement the
deficiencies of the southern states for
Negro education. But neither the in
dividual state nor the United States
has the moral right to depend upon
voluntary philanthropy to prepare its
citizens for the responsible duties and
obligations of citizenship. At best
philanthropy is only temporary and
inadequate makeshift. AS huge as
philanthropic contributions seem to
be In the aggregate, they amount to
little more than one dose of medicine
in the hispital, when compared to
the magnitude of the task which they
are applied.
A generation ago Senator Henry w.
Blair of Hampshire, devoted his pub
lie career TO the PRONUNCIATION of ma
tional aid to Negro education. They
array of facts and arguments which
he marshalled In support of his pro-
paganda, was undisputed and indis-
putable. The urgency of the need
has been emphasized by generation
of neglect 1t is said that the Athen-
ians banished Aristides because they
grew weary of hearing him called
Aristides, the Just. By parity of I'M
gracious procedure, Senator Blair was
thrown out Of public life because Of
his loquaclous advocacy Of national
! equity and justice. But his cause
still remains. The nation has merely
/ deferred payment on debt which
: sooner or later must be liquidated
} with accumulated interest.
At the time of the Blair Educa-
: tienal Bill there were lurking sus-
I plcions in the minds of opposing
statesmen of political and partisan
, advantage, and sinister sectional ami
mostly concealed under the guise of
! Federal aid to education. The doc
trine of local sovereignty was sharply
accumulated; but opposition on these
/ grounds has veal ened with the in
} tervening years. There still sur
: wives statesmanlike duty of the ma
ton to meet its moral obligation to
, the least of its citizens.
\ 1t was unfair 10 the southern
{ states 10 require them. unaided, to
} prepare the Negro for duties of citi-
: zenship at the time Of his enfran-
J chinOment. The nation as a whole
| was responsible for the condition Of
| the Negro. The fact that slavery be-
came a localized institution was not
) due to the inherent deviltry of the
! South nor to the innate goodness of
the North. Slavery was a national
] institution and became localized I'M
! der the operation of climatic and
economic law. 1t is equally unfair
} today, to require the South to hear
| the heavy burden alone The Negro
problem is the nations problem; the
remedy should be as comprehensive
as the need.
} In democracy, as In ethics, the in
; dividual is the ultimately unit, and
there must be essential equality
among the units, or else the fabric
; of democracy, like the fabric of eth
les, must fall. Under the traditional
, attitude of the white race toward
the Negro, II was supposed that the
; guiding intelligence should be lodged
In the white mans brain, and the
muscular energy in the Negroes arm.
, RIIt tho atro1tft 10 Tn n
democracy each man must think as
well as work. The country can no
longer look upon the Negro merely
Tor his utility as tool, must re-
gard his totally as man. An ideal
American citizen is not that of a
working man; but that of man
working. The presence of the ig-
norant Negro lowers the general aver
age of efficiency of the community
in which he lives and of the nation
of which he forms a part. Georgia
with half of its population practically
illiterate can never hope to keep pace
with Iowa, which strives to make
every citizen intelligent and eff
cient The United States can never
reach the desired goal of efficiency,
until 1t utilities the undeveloped ener-
giles which lie dormant in the brain
and Drawn Of every citizen.
i So far I have dealt with the de-
mands for Federal assistance to pri-
mary and elementary education,
4 which fmparts to each citizen a more
or less well understood minimum of
necessary knowledge and standard Of
efficiency. But there is a higher
sense in which the nation is obligated
to the cause Of Negro education. At