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JTE.YRST’S SUNDAY AMERICAN, ATLANTA, (1A., SUNDAY, APRIL 20, 1010.
5 E
The Truth About
The Negro as He Is
To=day in the South
By JAMES B. NEVIN..
N O man writes more Intelli
gently, more clearly, or more
engagingly upon Southern
topics than does Clark Howell, of
Atlanta.
Mr. Howell inclines not so much
well-rounded periods and rhe
torical flights as to common sense,
facts and rational conclusion.
Wherefore, the things he writes
arrest attention, and that which he
sets up by way of comment abides
for future consideration and ma-
turer thought.
Mr. Howell of late has been dis
cussing the negro in the nation, and
more particularly the negro in the
South, where most abundantly the
negro is to be found, of course.
He declares that the negro of to
day exists at e lower ebb than ever
before—that his estate in 1913 is
melancholy, indeed, when compared
with his estate before the Civil Avar.
The distinguished Atlantan does
not blame the negro for this so
much as he blames the whites—and
not the whites of the South alone,
but the whites of the North and the*
South jointly.
He finds In the average negro of
to-day a shiftless, lazy, non-ambl-
tious, disease-racked human being,
getting up in the world in 1 per
cent of his entirety and getting low
er and lower always in 99 per cent
therecf.
He finds him ignorant and un
mindful of the most fundamental
lawn of sanitation, morals and do
mestic necessities, and withal un
willing to work and make himself
an asset rather than an ever-in
creasing liability.
He Blames the Whites.
The reason for this dwells largely
within the fact, so Mr. Howell con
cludes, that the white men, North
and South, have not co-operated In
the education of the ninety-and-
ntne negroes as they should have
done—that they have been content
to see the one negro experimented
upon, while the mass went to the
very depths of its own undoing.
Mr. Howell sees in a continuation
of this process the eventful iom-
plete elimination of the negro as a
helpful factor In society, and. under
the operation of the Inexorable rulf
of the survival of the fittest, the ne •
gro’s ultimate extermination.
The things that Mr. Howell SAYS,
the average Southern white man of
serious mind and analytical trend
of thought KNOWS to be mcit
true!
Here and there, loose thinking
men will see In Mr. Howell's picture
a far-off ray of light, and this, they
may imagine, some day will illumi
nate the entire negro question to
their satisfaction.
Others, men of earnest purpose
and sincere ideals, will see In Mr.
Howell’s picture things before
which their manhood rebels, for
they W'ill realize that the negro will
not go on to his doom without
criminal culpability attaching to the
white man existing beside him, and
that he will not go even then with
out dragging much of the flower of
white civilization along with him.
His Pathetic Status.
How genuinely pathetic, there
fore. is the negro’s status.
Brought to this country without
his consent, set into an environment
and thrown into a situation utterly
foreign to that under which his kind
had lived for thousands of years be
fore him, cast into a mold he no
more fits than a square peg fits a
round hole, and finally through no
fault of his own, hurrying to a fin
ish as unjust as it is unnatural and
unwise!
Honest men everywhere hardly
can help being profoundly moved to
pity of the negro!
If the negro errs through his Ig
norance, who is to blame? That dis
ease is rendering him more and
more unfit for work every day, and
that his decaying physical condi
tion is the result of his blindness to
the laws of sanitation, of health, of
morals, and of domestic decency,
who is to blame?
Not the negro—It is nbsurd to
think that he might have taught
himself the truth of these vitally
essential things!
Granting the natural and Inev
itable race prejudice against the ne
gro, that is not sufficient within
itself to account for the cruelty and
the unrighteousness of the negro’s
permitted dense ignorance and all
the consequent woes that ignorance
attaches to him.
Race prejud.ce concerns itself
with preserving the integrity and
the supremacy of the Anglo-Saxon,
not alone over the negro, but over
the Chinaman, and other races held
to be inferior to the Caucasian and
his kind.
It does not say to the inferior
race. “Thou shalt not exist in any
circumstances!” It merely says—
and contents Itself with saying—
“Thou shalt exist as my helper and
my depend^:, *nd, if you will, my
friend, but not as my equal!” No
bless oblige!
Tile negro, after the Civil war.
was most unfortunately and most
unjustly treated, in that a misguid
ed sentiment at the North, utterly
uninformed as? to a fraction of the
truth concerning the lately freed
slaves, undertook to make such a
civic thing of him as he never could
be—never could even hope to be!
The North, in its foolish frenzy to
make a silk purse of this sow’s ear,
made all the harder the manufac
ture In after years of the few' sim
ple and useful things that might
have been fashioned of that ear.
Slavery a Mistake.
The slave could not be trans
formed into the master—the veriest
tyro seemingly should have known
this!
Had the Anglo-Saxons in this
republic not fallen Into fratricidal
strife, and thus, for the time being,
lost their poise and common-sense
point of view, the attempt to per
form the Impossible never would
have been made. The slaves would
have been freed eventually—no doubt
of that—for slavery was a mistake,
but their freedom would have been
accomplished along equitable lines,
and without working either upon
them or their erstwhile masters, as
sociates and more frequently than
not friends, unspeakable hardships
and injustices, and without the set
ting up of impossible conditions.
Encouraged In Reconstruction
times to hope for unthinkable
things on the one hand and ruth
lessly made to understand that nev
er could his hopes come true on the
other, the Ignorant, stupid, childish
negro floundered in the mire, and
had no chance to gain a foothold in
a territory all unknown, unexplored
and crowded, at best, with dangers
and discouragements to him.
Such bitterness and hatred as ex
ists toward the negro in the South
to-day is the outgrowth of Recon
struction times—and the white man
is to blame for that l
Had the white man been as pa
tient with the negro as he is with a
child, had he sought to teach the
negro—all of him, not a chosen few
—step by step, in tolerance, in kind
ness, in forbearance, and, above all,
in exact Justice, there would be no
negro problem to-day.
Had the white man—all of him,
North and South—done these things
and worked in conscientious con
cert to a definite end, our hopes to
day would stand triumphant o’er
our fears, and all would be well.
Freed Slave a Child.
And the freed slave of the 60s
was nothing more than a child in
point of understanding, and that
with few of the average child's op
portunities to learn and shed Its Ig
norance, under the light of benign
and deeply interested instruction.
The cause of the negro’s low es
tate to-day la becoming more and
more definitely fixed. Men of high
minds and purpose are frankly ad
mitting the Initial fault—and in
that dwells the optimistic promise
of the future.
The Clark Howells of the North
and the South are getting together
upon a platform of respectful un
derstanding and are candidly
speaking the honest truth to one
another.
Negro cooks, negro butlers, negro
chauffeurs, negro washerwomen and
negro nurses, who reside in Insani
tary homes and who live regard
less of the laws of morality and de
cency, are dreadful things to con
template in the homes of the peo
ple.
Yet when It Is admitted that theso
conditions among the negroes are
more the white man’s fault than
otherwise, and that the negro may
be educated and lifted out of them
—even at some additional imme
diate expense—if honest white men
will co-operate Intelligently to the
negro’s betterment—then, in those
circumstances, a brighter day Is
dawning for the negro, and he may
look forward to a happier time in
this nation!
Negroes make the best of cooks,
the best of nurses, and the best of
butlers in the home. These are oc
cupations they may feel that they
may excel In, and through which
they may earn a livelihood. They
make the best of farm hands, the
best of drivers, and the best of
servants in many directions.
The white peopie—the white peo
ple of the South, anyway—prefer
negro servants In the house, of the
right sort. Any housewife will tell
you that is true. That the ones “of
the right sort” are woefully' few
nowadays Is an effect growing out
of a cause that runs far back; but a
fault admitted is a fault, more than
half atoned for—it Is a fault on its
way to correction. And the correc
tion of the white man’s ancient fault
in respect of the negro—that is the
consummation most devoutly to be
wished. *
Combined Help Is Needed.
The State and the church must
combine In Its work to bring about
a better condition for the negro.
The State by providing him the
proper education—all of him, not a
part of him—along sanitary lines
and in the domestic sciences. The
church by showing him the light of
reason in decent living and moral
ity. There is philanthropy's golden
opportunity.
Through these two agencies the
negro’s destiny may be worked out
—and will be worked out!
But the happiest and most en
couraging circumstance in the pres
ent situation is the acknowledg
ment that the negro all these years
has been more sinned against than
sinning—that his melancholy and
pitiful estate is more the fault of
the white man than the fault of
himself.
JUST BREAD By Ellen Sigsbee
kX'
i
§0
“Give us, this day, our daily bread,”
May mean that the spirit must be fed;
But there are those, on bendod knee,
Who lift their hearts, and long to see
Something to eat; just bread and meat—
Bread and meatl
"Give us, this day, our daily bread,”
Is the God of the fatherless children dead!
They still are there, on bended knee.
Still lift their hearts, and look to seel
Shall they be fed! Just meat and bread—
Meat and Bread!
WIGHTMAN F. MELTON, Emory College, Oxford, Ga.
Beating the Meter
M R. CONSUMER entered the
office of the company which
supplies Atlanta with elec
tricity with blood in his eye and
a bill in his hand. Mr. Consumer
was mad enough to swallow a dy
namo and chew up the wires. The
slip of yellow paper In his hand
was plainly the cause of his wrath.
It was an electric light bill.
Mr. Consumer insisted on seeing
the manager and was shown in.
“See .here, what d’ye mean by
charging me $750 for current last
month?” stormed Mr. Consumer.
“My bill averages around $300, and
I'm not using any extra Juice.
What’s the trouble?”
The young man at the desk
wasn’t visibly affected by Mr. Con
sumer’s wrath. He merely pressed
a button and asked a bookkeeper
for the details of Mr. Consumer’s
account.
“If you really want me to tell
you,” he returned, quietly, “I’ll do it.'
But you know as well as I.
“You began using power a year
ago and your bills ran to about $300
a month. Five months ago you In
stalled new machinery which in
creased your consumption a fourth.
But your bills did not Increase.
Why? Because you, or somebody
you hired, jumped the meter with
a loop and fed that new machinery
without the current registering.
Your bill to-day represents what
you’ve stolen In the past five
months. You can settle it now or
tell the Judge about It, whichever
you like. Good morning.”
Mr. Consumer Settles.
Mr. Consumer preferred to set
tle. He mumbled something about
a subordinate having done it, but
he hastened to the cashier’s desk
with check book in hand.
“How did you get next to his
game?” the office man was asked.
“Our inspectors noticed that his
plant had grown and his bills
hadn't,” he explained. “We have
men trained to keep tab on their
territory. After that the inspector
went in to read the meter and
looked around .the plant until he
found the wire, though it was neat
ly hidden under the floor.
“Here’s another case,” he contin
ued, referring to a page from a
loose-leaf ledger. “John Soandso
is a plumber's helper with a kit of
tools. I see here that he has dis
connected his gas meter and run a
bit of rubber hose around the ma
chinery. getting his light and cook
ing fuel for nothing. Just before
the meter reader is due Soandso
will put the meter back as it be
longs.
“These figures tell me that. Soand-
so’s bill has been about $5 a month
for more than a year. For the past
two months it had dropped to a
dollar. In this ledger every account
is entered month by month, so
Soandso’s bills from January to De
cember are all in the same column.
The bookkeeper can not fall to note
any sudden falling off In his bill.
He reported this, and I called in the
inspector for that territory. He says
Soandso’s family hasn’t been away,
his gas stove Is still connected, they
haven’t put in electric lights or a
coal range, so a jumped meter Is
the only answer. We shall catch
him easily, too. The reader will
pay him an unexpected visit to
morrow, right in the middle of the
month, and if he doesn’t find that
rubber hose at work I’ll buy you
the best luncheon you can order.
Trouble With Thieves.
"Yes, we have our share of trou
ble with thieves. Our company fur
nishes light and power current, gas
and steam heat, you know, and all
of it is subject to the experiments
of crooks who think it Isn’t a crime
to beat a corporation. A large pro
portion of meter-beaters is com
posed of small fry—artisans like our
friend Soandso, expert with tools
and willing to take a chance. Their
thefts don’t amount to much. But
if you could read the list of names
I have locked in that safe you’d
sit up and whistle. Some of our
‘best people’ have tried to beat the
company and failed.
“It hasn’t been a year since the
pastor of a suburban church came
to tell me of something he said his
conscience wouldn’t let him carry
any longer, lie made me promise
not to prosecute or ask him for
names, and then told me his church
had been stealing current for the
past year. One of his deacons, an
electrician, had put in some new
lights In the edifice and had taken
advantage of the oportunity to
run a loop around the meter which
carried half the current without
affecting the registering. The pas
tor had learned of it only a week
before, through the deacon’s brag
ging of his saving the church’s
money, and felt it his duty to call
and offer to settle, if I’d give him-
time to raise the money. I thank
ed him, canceled the bill, and sent
a man to remove the deacon's loop.
We might never have got next to
that particular scheme, for church
es, with their dull seasons and
their protracted meetings, are so
irregular In light consumption that
we can’t keep close tab on them.
Cheap Range Fuel.
"A cheap restaurant in the slum
district had two big ranges going
night and day, with gasoline tanks
on the walls at a safe distance and
pipes running down to the stoves.
We tried to get the proprietor to
sign a gas contract, but he insisted
gasoline was cheaper and he was
sore on the company, anyway. But
one night we had a broken main
and had to shut the gas off that
block without notice. An inspector
who had just ordered his supper In
this restaurant noticed that both
those ‘gasoline’ ranges went out
suddenly and simultaneously with
the gas lights on the sidewalk, and
began an investigation, with a po
liceman to back him up. He found
a very neat bit of concealed gas
fitting Inside the walls.
“You might rhlnk that stealing
steam heat Is as hard a proposition
as the tramp undertook when he
carried off the red-hot stove with
breakfast on it, but they get away
with it sometimes. We furnish up
town business houses and facto
ries with live steam from our cen
tral plant. Steam heat is meas
ured by the condensation of the
water in a pipe set in the basement,
with a gauge attached. The meter
reader calls once every day, late
in the afternoon, to Inspect the
gauge. Well, an economical con
sumer with a mechanical turn of
mind went down In his basement,
put a cock in the condensation pipe
and drained off every day about
t.wo-thirds of the water before it
reached the meter. He would shut
it off every afternoon in time to
let the meter show enough for a
bluff. But his bill ran so low for
the size of his store that the In
spector got suspicious and found
the cock in a dark corner. Yes, the
consumer settled.
Affairs Kept Secret.
“You don’t see much in the news
papers about these cases because
we never go to court when wo can
avoid it. We prefer to make the
thief settle, and they seldom try it
a second time. And we don’t care
to educate good customers into
ways and means of beating the
company.
“And by the way, don’t let these
trade secrets tempt you into try
ing to beat the meter. There’s the
chance of getting caught with the
goods, and there’s worse danger
than that. Listen!
“Did you read not long ago of a
yonng man who was killed by elec
tricity? It said he was shocked
to death by a live wire in an alley
behind his home. But the reporter
didn’t say what the man was doing
so close to the wire. As a matter
of fact, the reporter didn't know.
But the man who caused the story
was trying to light his house with
out paying for the current. He had
put in his lamps and run his wires
underground to the alley. But when
he climbed the pole In the darkness
and tried to make a connection he
was not on his job. That's why
they found him dead with a ^air
of pliers in his hand. ’ M
The Boy and the Man
By JOHN TEMPLE GRAVES.
T
HE hero of my school days at
Greenville, South Carolina, in
1868, was a tall, blonde
young fellow with a handsome face
and a clarion voice.
He was a student and a recluse.
He stood way up In all his classes.
His power of declamation was ex
traordinary. He was always the
idol of the Friday afternoons which
In every Southern school were given
up to oratory and declamation.
On these Friday occasions young
R reigned supreme. The audi
ence of his youthful contemporaries
sat spellbound and thrilled by his
ringing and inspiring eloquence. To
this day I can remember how the
electric “goose bumps” used to rise
on my skin as that silver voice de
claimed:
“We’ll fling proud Freedom’s ban
ner out,
Unsullied and so fair.
We’ll swell the chorus and we’ll
shout:
For Seymour and for Blair.”
The very hauteur and exclusive
ness of the young Carolinan added
to his prestige. The boys of our
school believed that no achievement
was beyond that youth. We thought
that he would scarcely finish his
college course before an impatient
constituency would call him to Con
gress or the Henate. and we looked
upon his occupancy of the White
House as absolutely certain—even
despite the barriers of reconstruc
tion and the prejudices of the Civil
War.
And I am sure that R thought
so himself.
I left South Carolina after the
school commencement and there
after lived In Georgia. I lost sight
of the brilliant R for many
years.
Twenty years later, in 1888, I was
an elector-at-large on the Cleveland
ticket in Florida. In the course of
that fiery campaign I spoke one day
with the State ticket at the little
town of Mlcanopy population one
thousand.
In the open-air audience before
me I was fascinated by a man blow
ing a silver horn in the band. The
bearded face was strangely attrac
tive and strangely familiar. His
eyes never left me while 1 spoke. I
was the last speaker, and as soon
as I concluded we advanced upon
each other.
It was he!
The head bugler of the Mlcanopy
brass band was my friend the bril
liant und incomparable It , the
embryo Senator, the prospective
President—the “Admirable Crich
ton" of the Greenville High School.
And after twenty years he was
earning his living In a curio shop
by carving alligators and lizards
upon orange walking canes!
I never could understand It. I do
not yet understand. They told me
that he had been spoiled, that his
development was premature, that
he had grown abnormally sensitive,
that he had been disappointed, and
that in the zenith of his possibil
ity he had voluntarily lapsed Into
Inglorious lelsuie—an-1 obscurity
"Hie fabula docet as the old
Aesop used to say—this story
teaches that the boy is not always
the father to the man.
It Is not in superficial gifts, nor
in natural talents, nor in brilliant
beginnings, but In the resolute am
bition, the steadfast purpose and In
the capacity to endure toil and to
conquer disappointment that the
strong, great men of the world are
made.
I have another story that illus
trates the other side. It is just as
good as this one
With your permission I will tell
you that at another time.
What the Railroads Do.
Leslie’s.
It seems very simple to see the
passenger trains run in and out of
the station; to order the freight
car and send the grain to market;
to telegraph to the nearest large
town for supplies, and in 24 or 48
hours have them delivered. But it
is not so easy and simple as it
seems, and there Is danger to-day
that the next great uplift In busi
ness in the United States v/ifl find
the railroads, as a whole, sorely
taxed to furnish the transportation
needed for the commerce of the
country. Why? Because a misdi
rected public opinion is demanding
rates too low, taxes too high, wages
too high, service too elaborate, and
there are not cents enough In the
dollar to meet all these obligations
and still permit the business to he
attractive enough so the man with
the dollar will invest it. Our
American railroads have done good
work and can do better and, and it
is to the farmers’ selfish Interest to
see that they arc so treated that
they will be ready at all times to
handle business. To be ready re
quires constant expenditure.
I Our Public Schools I
By ELBERT HUBBARD.—*
(Copyright, 1918, International New*
Service.)
T HE first public schools in
America were instituted In
1829. The credit for the idea
must go to Thomas Jefferson.
Once the clergy were practically
the only people who could read and
write. The clergy kept the records.
The word "clerque” comes to us
from the word clergy.
Only one man out of twelve In
the Revolutionary War could read
and write.
Thomas Jefferson said: “TL^
University of Virginia is founded
with the desire not only to fit
young men for the church, but to
educate them for positions of honor
and trust In various other occupa
tions and employments.”
Benjamin Franklin said: “An il
literate individual forms a menace
to the State. Education should be
universal, and at the disposal of all
citizens.”
It is somewhat surprising that the
first public schools, which were
founded simultaneously In Philadel
phia, New York and Boston, were
violently opposed. Movt of the
newspapers and periodicals were of
the opinion that when education be
came general It would not be prised
and, therefore, educated men would
receive no honors.
The first public schools had ta
mind the segregation ef the sexes-—*
that is to say, thsre were achoole
for girls and schools for boys. But
on aooount of the extra expense in
volved In maintaining these two
system* of schools, the walls were
broken down and the girls and boy*
attended one school. Then, through
carelessness or oversight or indif
ference, no one, after that, ever put
up the fences.
The old colleges maintained the
position that education was for men
only and that the ability to read,
and write, and figure, and know his
tory and geography were accom
plishments that would add nothin*
to a woman’s charm. These things
would neither make her a betetr
housekeeper nor a better mother;
and, in fact, might unfit her for a
homemaker, causing her te leave
her household and go out into the
world and usurp the occupations of
men.
The Quakers, however, from tji#
very first, held to the Idea that the
Voice spoke through women the
same as through men. And, there
fore, they opposed the idea of sep
arate schools for girls and boys.
So hotly was the question of free
education discussed in several cases
that mobs, made up of students,
raided the public schools, drove the
teachers from their desks, broke up
benches and sent children scurrying
for safety.
Education means growth, evolu
tion, bringing out, releasing the
pent-up powers of the mind.
Until very recent times education
was regarded ae one thing and work
as another. Now it Is understood
that all good work Is mental work,
and that the more Intelligence that
can be brought to bear on a task,
the better 1s the task performod.
Education and employment must go
hand in hand.
Any education which does not
help a man to earn a living, and
adapt him to his environment so he
can improve his condition, is faulty
in the extreme.
The modem high school Is now
equipped with many Industrial fea
tures. Manual training, domestic
science, business training, econom
ics, efficiency in various forms, art
now being taught not only in tho
high schools, but in preparatory
schools, in colleges and unlversltiea
School houses are being used as
civio center*. In Wisconsin thart
Is a State law that any citizen caa
apply for the use of a school houat
for meeting purposes at any time
when the school proper Is not la
session.
The school house should be a club
house, a meeting place for all of th#
people, sacred to social progrett
and the matter of education.
?hus we find that music, stereop-
ticon lectures, dances, concerts are
all being regarded as educational.
That which brings people togeth
er to discuss and enjoy mutual
themes and recreations is wise and
excellent. It means a breaking
down of caste, cutting out of ex
clusion, thus eliminating pride, ar
rogance and ignorance. For igno
rance takes many forms and Is not
the monopoly of the llllterats.
The value of coupling up the ac
tual work of the world with the
public school system and its secur
ing the co-operation of parents and
grown-ups in the utilization and
management of public schools cifn
not be overrated.
The criticism on our public schofll
system, so far, has been that school
is regarded as one thing and life,
home and industrialism another.
The amalgamation of all the
beautiful influences of life is the one
big thing desirable at the present
time. It means a safeguarding of
the best interests of the nation.