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22     THE CRISIS

to Abraham Lincoln is not yet wholly understood by either race that he benefited."

The New York Nation expresses the view of those who are still striving to emancipate black men and adds to it a curious and certainly unworthy touch of pessimism:

"As for the colored people themselves, despite all the injustice under which they still stagger, they have every reason both to venerate the name of Lincoln and to take heart as they look back fifty years. From a chattel to a human being—that is the measure of the effect of Lincoln's pen. To own one's body and one's soul; to know no longer the anguish of seeing wife and child sold to meet a creditor's demand or an executor's order—surely the burdens of to-day are but slight compared with those of half a century ago. And the future is still theirs. How can they falter or fail to have faith and hope when they think not only of the change since 1862, but of the story of the fifty years which preceded the proclamation? Their weakness to-day is chiefly their inability to organize to defend their rights. United they would stand far better; divided they fall before oppression. Can anything else be expected when one reflects on the conditions of their servitude? Or is there an innate race weakness such as the Jews have never known in the darkest days of their age-long battle against prejudice and injustice? Time alone will show."

The South has little to say, but the Oklahoma City Times is glad that slavery is gone:

"Well, it is all past. Perhaps not a single soul now living would care to defend the morality of the institution, and we of the younger generation, even although born and reared among former slaveholders, are rejoiced that the institution did not come down to us, and that Lincoln was persuaded to sign that proclamation fifty years ago.

"Perhaps it may be argued with force that the material condition of the Negroes has not improved, but certainly the moral condition of the white race, the former slave owners, is lifted, and the Negro's moral and intellectual life has been greatly advanced."


THE SOUTH AND EDUCATION.

The division in the white South concerning the advisability of giving the Negroes an effective education is plainly evident in this month's comment. The president of the board of education in Savannah acknowledges how badly the Negroes have been treated in school facilities, while a correspondent in one of the daily papers asks why they should be educated at all.

The Petersburg Index-Appeal, a prominent white paper, says:

"The Negroes of Petersburg need better school facilities. Conditions are so bad that they hardly should be discussed in print, unless, indeed, there should develop evidence that the city school board fails to appreciate the terrible lack of necessities which exists. It is certain that a portion of the board does recognize the needs of these schools, just as there is evidence that some members fail to do so.

"There may be more than one opinion as to the wisdom of educating the Negro, as many of them now are being educated, but there should be but one as to the absolute necessity of keeping him in good health. A tuberculous Negro is as much a menace to the whites as is a tuberculous white. It is impossible to have a city with a low death rate among whites if conditions which cause a high mortality rate among the colored are allowed to exist. And it is impossible to have a low death rate in Petersburg as long as conditions which exist in the Negro schools are permitted to continue."

The New Era, a colored paper of New Orleans, commenting on the forcing of twenty-four white girls into the colored public schools, charges that the reasons for this "are not far to seek," and it goes on to explain the failure of the colored teachers to pass the examination:

"Last year certain colored schools were in charge of white substitute teachers. Most of them were persons who had been found unfit to teach in the white schools. Their work was so unsatisfactory that the mothers of the children were loud in their criticisms and did not conceal the fact that they wanted colored teachers for their children. This is one cause.

"Last session the city normal school turned out nearly 200 graduates, a much larger supply than is required by the white schools here. Although educated in the long-cherished traditions of the South, these young ladies have manifested an inconsistent and peculiar preference for salaries earned in bringing up Negro children in the schools, although every one of them would balk at



OPINION     23

doing the same thing in their homes. As years go by more teachers will be turned out and more colored schools will be required for these normal girls and a correspondingly less number of colored teachers will be needed. This is evidently the chief cause of the recent humiliation of the graduates of our schools.

"The examination questions were apparently framed with the purpose of eliminating as many of the colored teachers as possible. Mr. Bauer's wholesale accusation of the colored teachers of the intention of stealing in the examinations appeared to be a part of the program to unnerve the applicants, to put them in a state of mind where they would be unfit to do their best work. It was untimely and uncalled for, and as the results of examinations have indicated that his charges were wholly unfounded, Mr. Bauer will undoubtedly have quite a hard time convincing many of the applicants that they were not intentionally deprived of their certificates.

"Consequently, the whole situation is bad, and does little credit to our public-school system here. The attempt to discredit the work of the colored universities here in order to furnish an excuse to fill the colored public schools with white teachers is much to be deplored. The colored people do not want white teachers in the colored public schools, and the sooner the white teachers are removed from the colored public schools the better will it be for the advancement of Negro education here."

THE ULTIMATE PROBLEM.

Franklin H. Giddings, the sensational "sociologist" of Columbia University, has again expressed his reactionary opinions on the race problems in the public press. He is forced to "admit that the Negro has made some progress, that he has become a property owner, a small farmer, and has come to enjoy some of the privileges of the white man. But I cannot see that the Negro has made any political progress, and I cannot see that he is likely to make any in the near future. I am not discussing whether this is right or wrong. I merely wish to make clear the point, irrespective of its ethical considerations, that there is no likelihood that the Negro will be permitted to vote in considerable numbers where he may control results for a long time to come, or that he will enjoy the same privileges as the white man. The South does not intend to allow such a condition to come about. And of one thing we may rest assured—the North will never make another attempt to force the South to yield the Negro greater privileges."

He is, of course, sure that a great mistake was made in ever enfranchising Negroes, but apparently does not know whether he wants educated Negroes to vote or not. He concludes that:

"There is a considerable likelihood that for a long time to come the prejudice shown against the Negro in the skilled trades will continue. In many places in the North he has been effectively driven out. In the South he is not in such great danger because he has many opportunities there to work for his own people.

"I have mentioned these considerations as a general impression. I have not made a special study of this special aspect of a great problem. I feel certain, however, that the race problem is far from solution. I am also certain that the problem of the future will be even greater than that of the present. The white man considers the black man so inferior to himself that he does not oppose him or give him much consideration as a rival. But with the improved opportunities of the Negro, with a better education and extended privileges, he must inevitably claim a place alongside of the white man as his equal. If he should be able to back up his claim on the strength of educational and economic equality, then we may prepare to witness a race conflict compared to which the present situation is a love feast."

The comments on this outburst are rather to the point.

The Pittsburgh Despatch [[Dispatch]] says:

"The Negroes, or the fractional Negroes, are here to stay in one form and in one condition or another. They have increased since the emancipation by Abraham Lincoln, the semi-centennial of which is celebrated, from about 4,000,000 to more than 10,000,000. They have established great schools and acquired hundreds of millions of property. They are in every calling and every profession and the proportion of those who are making good is equal to the proportion of the whites who are making good. They have been disfranchised in the South, in flagrant violation of constitutional enactments. They go on in their beleaguered way to try for the best. 

"If we are to have a race war it will not