THE NEGRO AND THE SIGNS OF CIVILIZATION.

There are certain visible signs of civilization and strength which the world demands that each individual or race exhibit before it is taken seriously into consideration in the affairs of the world. Unless these visible evidences of ability and strength are forthcoming, mere abstract talking and mere claiming of “rights” amount to little. This is a principle that is as broad and old as the world and is not confined to the conditions that exist between the white man and the black man in the South. We may be inclined to exalt intellectual acquirements over the material, but all will acknowledge that the possession of the material has an influence that is lasting and unmistakable. As one goes through our western states and sees the Scandinavians in Minnesota, for example, owning and operating nearly one-third of the farms in the state; and then as he goes through one of the cities of Minnesota and sees block after block of brick stores owned by these Scandinavians; as he sees factories and street railways owned and operated by these same people, and as he notes that as a rule these people live in neat, well kept cottages where there are refinement and culture, on nice streets, that have been paid for, he can't help but have confidence in and respect for such people, no matter how he has been educated to feel regarding them. The material, visible and tangible elements in this case teache a lesson that almost nothing else can. It may be said in opposition to this view that this is exalting too high the material side of life. I do not take this view. Let us see what is back of this material possession. In the first place the possession of property is an evidence of mental discipline, mental grasp and control. It is an evidence of self-sacrifice. It is an evidence of economy. It is an evidence of thrift and industry. It is an evidence of fixedness of character and purpose. It is an evidence of interest in pure and intelligent government, for no man can possess property without having the deepest interest in all that pertains to local and national government. The black man who owns $50,000 worth of property in a town is going to think a good many times before he votes for the officer who will have the liberty of taxing his property. If he thinks that a colored law-maker will use his taxing power wrongfully, he is not likely to vote for him merely for the sentimental reason that he is a black man. The black man who owns $50,000 worth of property in a town is not likely to continue to vote for a republican law-maker if he knows that a democratic one will bring lower taxes and better protection to his property. Say or think what we will there is but one way for the Negro to get up and that is for him to pay the cost, and when he has paid the cost—paid the price of his freedom—it will appear in the beautiful, well kept home, in the increasing bank account, in the 0004 4farm, and crops that are free from debt, in the ownership of railroad and municipal stocks and bonds (and he who owns the majority of stock in a railroad will not have to ride in a “Jim Crow car”), in the well kept store, in the well fitted laundry, in the absence of mere superficial display. These are a few of the universal and indisputable signs of the highest civilization and the Negro must possess them or be debarred. All mere abstract talk about the possibility of possessing them or his intention to possess them counts for little. He must actually possess them and the only way to possess them is to possess them. From every standpoint of interest it is the duty of the Negro himself, and the duty of the Southern white man as well as the white man in the North, to see that the Negro be helped forward as fast as possible towards the possession of these evidences of civilization. How can it best be done? Where is the beginning to be made? It can be done by the Negro beginning right now and where he finds himself. What I am anxious for is for the Negro to be in actual possession of all the elements of the highest civilization and when he is so possessed, the burden of his future treatment by the white man must rest upon the white man.

I repeat, let the Negro begin right where he is, by putting the greatest amount of intelligence, in skill and dignity into the occupations by which he is surrounded. Let him learn to do common things in an uncommon manner. 'Whenever in the South, for example, the Negro is the carpenter, let him realize that he cannot remain the carpenter unless people are sure that no one can excel him as a carpenter. This black carpenter should strive in every way possible to keep himself abreast of the best wood work done in the world. He should be constantly studying the best journals and books bearing on carpentry. He should watch for every improvement in his line. When this carpenter's son is educated in college or elsewhere, he should see that his son studies mechanical and architectural drawing. He should only have his son taught practical carpentry, but should see that in addition to his literary education, that he is a first class architect as well—that if possible, he has an idea of landscape gardening and house furnishing. In a word, he should see that his son knows so much about wood work, house construction, and every thing that pertains to making a house all that it should be, that his services are in constant demand. One such Negro in each community will give character to a hundred other Negroes. It is the kind of effort that will put the Negro on his feet. What I have said of carpentry, is equally true of dozens of occupations now within the Negro's hands. The second or third generation of this black man need not be carpenters, but can aspire successfully to something higher because the foundation has been laid.

It is not only the duty of the Negro to thus put himself in possession of the signs of civilization, but it is also the plainest duty of the white man, North and South, to help the Negro to do so in a 0005 5more generous manner than ever before. One-third of the population of the South is colored. Ignorance in any country or among any people, is the sign of poverty, crime and incompetence. No State can have the highest civilization and prosperity, with one-third of its population down. This one-third will prove a constant milestone about the neck of the other two-thirds. Every one-room Negro cabin in the South, where there is ignorance, poverty and stupidity, is an adverse advertisement of the State, the bad effects of which no white man in the next generation can escape.

THE NEGRO's PART IN THE SOUTH's UPBUILDING.

I have just finished reading a little pamphlet written by a well-educated colored man, Mr. George W. Carver, giving the result of some of his experiments in raising sweet potatoes this year. In this pamphlet, this colored man has shown in plain, simple languages, based on scientific principles, how he has raised 266 bushels of sweet potatoes on a single acre of common land, and made a net profit of $121.00. The average yield of sweet potatoes to the acre in the South where this experiment was tried, is thirty-seven bushels per acre. This same colored man is now preparing to make the same land produce 500 bushels of potatoes. I have watched this experiment with a good deal of interest. The thing that has interested me most regarding this experiment, has been the deep interest which the neighboring white farmers took in it. I do not believe that a single one of the dozens of white farmers who visited the field to see the unusual yield of potatoes, ever thought of having any prejudice or feeling against this colored man because his education had enabled him to make an unusual success in the raising of potatoes. On the other hand, there were many evidences of the deepest respect for this colored man and gratitude for the information which he had furnished.

If I were to write a volume I do not think I could state the case of the Negro more strongly than this illustration puts it.

I am fully aware of all the disadvantages to which the Negro is subjected, and the wrongs that are too often inflicted upon him in certain sections. Notwithstanding all this, I believe I do not overestimate matters when I say that it seldom ever happens in history that a race has such an opportunity to make itself felt in the upbuilding of a country, as is now true of the Negro race, especially in the South. I feel equally confident in saying that no individual or race that makes itself permanently felt in the building of a country, is long left without proper reward and recognition

The most important problem that is now confronting the Negro and the Negro's friends, is the turning of the force of the Negro's education in that direction that will contribute most effectually toward the betterment of the condition of the country and the Negro himself.

Recurring again to the instance of the colored man who made his education felt in the production of sweet potatoes, I would say that if we had a hundred such men in each county in the South, there would be no race problem to discuss But how are we to get such men? In the first place, those interested in the education of the Negro must begin to look facts and conditions in the face. Too great a gap has been left between the Negro's real condition and the position which we have tried to fit him for through 0007 7the medium of our text-books. We overlooked in many cases the long years of schooling in experience and discipline that any race must have before it can get the greatest amount of good out of the text-book matter that has been given the black man. Much that the Negro has studied presupposes conditions that do not as yet exist in his case. I do not want to be misunderstood. I favour the highest and most thorough development of the Negro's mind. No race can accomplish anything till its mind is awakened. But the weak point has been in the past, in too many cases, between the Negro's educated brains and his opportunity or manner of earning his daily living. There has been almost no thought of connecting the educated brain with the educated hand. The education of the Negro, in too many cases, has presumed that he had years of wealth, culture and even luxury, behind him, just as is true of New England. Even Mr. Cornelius Vanderbilt, with his millions behind him, finds it necessary to put his son into a machine shop and thus connect his brain-training with something that is vital and practical. If this is true of the Vanderbilts, should it not be true a thousand fold more so of the Negro, in his present condition? Education of the head increase wants. Unless the hands are educated at the same time so as to supply these increased wants, in too many cases you will have an individual who is of little benefit to society.

But, to return more directly to my subject, I would say without hesitation, that judging by what I have experienced and observed, the best way for the Negro to contribute toward the building up of the South and his own welfare, is for him to turn the force of his education, during the next fifty years, very largely in the direction of scientific and industrial training, in connection with moral and religious training. It is almost a crime, in many cases, to take young men from the farm, or from a farming district, and educate them, as is often done, in every other subject except Agriculture—the one subject that they should know the most about. The result is that the young man, instead of being educated to love agriculture, is educated out of sympathy with it; and instead of returning to his old father's farm, after leaving college, and showing him how to raise more produce with less labor, the young man is often tempted to go into the city or town, to live by his wits.

In most parts of the South the Negro has the labor in his possession but he will not hold it, unless he is taught to put brains and skill into the common occupations that are about him, and at the same time to dignify common labor.

In most of the cities of the South the Negro can be an architect, a contractor, a builder and a brickmaker; and what is true of these callings, is true of any number of other occupations—for women as well as men.

Whenever a black man makes himself of real service to a community or State, that service will not remain unrecognized, as is 0008 8the case of the man who raised the sweet potatoes. If our people enter heartily, in a whole-souled manner, into all the industrial walks of life, by preparing to do some conscientious work, by doing something better than some one else can do it, they will not only make a great contribution to the wealth of the South, but they will earn the gratitude of the white citizens to the extent that every black man will find a secure place in the hearts of the white people of the section.

Not only this, but it is only through industrial development that the Negro can promote his own development. I know how strong the temptation is to say that what the Negro wants to have emphasized is the languages, fine arts and the various professions. These are very well for a few, but for the great mass of our people this is not what we want in this generation. The best way to promote what is called “higher education” for the black man, is for us in this generation to throw aside all nonsense, all non-essentials, and begin at the bottom and work up through agriculture, the trades, domestic science and household economy. In this way we lay a material foundation for our children and grandchildren to get the greatest benefit out of abstract education.