Very many, in the first place, do not try to make their supplies at home. Very often much is lost by bad fences. Lots of them don't know where their hoes, plows, single-trees, etc., are at this minute. Lots of them buy butter, peas, beans, lard, meat and hay. * * * Well, really, to sum up, if there's anything like scientific methods among the vast majority of our people I don't know it. * * * I venture to say that not one negro farmer in a hundred ever saw the back of one of these bulletins (agricultural), much less the inside.
Very many, in the first place, do not try to make their supplies at home. Very often much is lost by bad fences. Lots of them don't know where their hoes, plows, single-trees, etc., are at this minute. Lots of them buy butter, peas, beans, lard, meat and hay. * * * Well, really, to sum up, if there's anything like scientific methods among the vast majority of our people I don't know it. * * * I venture to say that not one negro farmer in a hundred ever saw the back of one of these bulletins (agricultural), much less the inside.
If some of these primary lessons have not been mastered what chance is there that the Negro will overcome, unaided, the crop lien system and his other handicaps and introduce diversified agriculture, stock raising, etc.? Slavery taught him something about work and he is willing to work, and work hard, under leadership. Herein lies the possibility of his economic salvation. He is not yet ready as a race to stand alone and advance at the pace demanded by America of the twentieth century. He must be taught and the teaching must be by practice as well as by precept. Viewed from this standpoint, though it is equally true from another, one of the great needs of the South is that its white farmers should pay more attention to other things than cotton. So long as land is considered too valuable to use for pasture, for hay, for the various crops on which stock live and fatten, or so long as it is considered profitable to sell cotton seed for $5 a ton and throw away four or five times this amount in the food and manure which the same seed contains, the Negro will not see the advantage of a different system. Nor does the sight of thousands of tons of rice straw dumped into the Mississippi each year, just as a generation ago the oat straw in Iowawas burned, lead him to suspect unused sources of wealth. The possibilities of Southern agriculture are great, but the lead must be taken by the whites.
The Negro has a great advantage over the Italian or other European peasant in that the white man prefers him as a helper. He is patient, docile and proud of his work. He is wanted by the native whites, and if the reader doubts this let him go to any Southern community and attempt to bring about any great exodus of the Negroes and he will be surprised to find how soon he is requested to move on. This interest on the part of the whites is a factor which must be considered. It would be a happy day for the Negro if the white woman of the South took her old personal interest in his welfare. This friendly sentiment will not increase with time and each succeeding generation will emphasize, more and more, industrial efficiency, and the Negro will not be preferred. Corresponding to this is the fact that the Negro respects and willingly follows the white man, more willingly and more trustingly than he does another Negro. He is personally loyal, as the care received by the soldiers during war time illustrated. But slavery is gone and the feudalism which followed it is slowly yielding to commercialism, which gives the palm to the more efficient.
Hitherto the Negro has tilled much of the best land of the South. Meantime the great prairies have been settled and about all the good cheap land of the northwest taken. A tide of immigration is setting in towards the Southern states. Already the rice industry of Louisiana has been revolutionized by white immigrants. What may this mean for the Negro if these incoming whites defy race prejudice and seek the rich bottom lands of the Mississippi or elsewhere? Will the Negro be in a position of independence or will he only assist the white? Will he till in the future the best lands or will he be forced to the less fertile? With the knowledge of the present regarding yellow fever, malaria and typhoid the dread of the lowlands is disappearing. If the indications point, as many believe, towards the South as the seat of the next great agricultural development these questions become of vital importance to the Negro. Can he become economically secure before he is made to meet a competition which he has never yet faced? Or does the warmer climate give him an advantage, which the whites can not overcome? I must confess that I doubt it. In "The Cotton Plant" (page 242), Mr. Harry Hammond states that in 39 counties of the Black Prairie Region of Texas, in which the whites predominate, the average value of the land is $12.19 per acre, as against $6.40 for similar soil in twelve counties of the Black Prairie of Alabama, in which the Negroes are in the majority. He says further: "The number and variety of implements recently introduced in cotton culture here, especially in the prairies of Texas, is very much greaterthan elsewhere in the cotton belt." This would indicate that heat alone is no insurmountable obstacle.
If these things be true, then as the late Mr. J. L. M. Curry said:
"It may be assumed that the industrial problem lies at the heart of the whole situation which confronts us. Into our public and other schools should be incorporated industrial training. If to regularity, punctuality, silence, obedience to authority, there be systematically added instruction in mechanical arts, the results would be astounding."
"It may be assumed that the industrial problem lies at the heart of the whole situation which confronts us. Into our public and other schools should be incorporated industrial training. If to regularity, punctuality, silence, obedience to authority, there be systematically added instruction in mechanical arts, the results would be astounding."
The question of classical education does not now concern us. The absolutely essential thing is that the Negro shall learn to work regularly and intelligently. The lesson begun in slavery must be mastered. As Dr. E. G. Murphy puts it:
The industrial training supplied by that school (slavery) is now denied to him. The capacity, the equipment, and the necessity for work which slavery provided are the direct cause of the superiority of the old time darkey. Is freedom to have no substitute for the ancient school? * * * The demand of the situation is not less education, but more education of the right sort.
The industrial training supplied by that school (slavery) is now denied to him. The capacity, the equipment, and the necessity for work which slavery provided are the direct cause of the superiority of the old time darkey. Is freedom to have no substitute for the ancient school? * * * The demand of the situation is not less education, but more education of the right sort.
I would not say that I thought all Negroes should be farmers, but I do feel that the farm offers the mass of the race the most favorable opportunity for the development of solid and enduring character. It seems to me that the following words from one of our broadest minded men apply with special force to the Negro:
If I had some magic gift to bestow it would be to make our country youth see one truth, namely, that science as applied to the farm, the garden and the forest has as splendid a dignity as astronomy; that it may work just as many marvels and claim just as high an order of talent."
If I had some magic gift to bestow it would be to make our country youth see one truth, namely, that science as applied to the farm, the garden and the forest has as splendid a dignity as astronomy; that it may work just as many marvels and claim just as high an order of talent."
There remain to be considered some of the agencies at work to better the lot of the farmer. In this I shall not attempt to give a list of institutions and outline of courses but to indicate various lines of work which seem promising.
In discussing the training of the Negro farmer credit must first be given to the white planters under whom he has learned so much of what he knows. Under the changing conditions of agriculture this training, or the training received on the average farm is not sufficient and must be supplemented by special training if the desired results are to be obtained.
It probably lay in the situation that the Negro should get the idea that education meant freedom from labor. It is none the less unfortunate for him. To counteract this idea has been a difficult matter and the influence of the average school has not been of any special help. The country school taught by a teacher, usually incompetent from any standpoint, whose interest has been chiefly in the larger salary made possible by his "higher education" has not been an unmixed blessing. The children have learned to read and write and have preserved their notion that if only they could get enough education they might be absolved from manual labor. Even today Hampton and Tuskegee and similar schools have to contend with the opposition of parents who think their children should not be compelled to work, for they are sent to school to enable them to avoid labor. Quite likely it could not be expected that the country school should hold up a higher ideal, for here we have to do with the beginnings of a system of instruction which had to make use of such material as it could find for teachers. The same excuse does not suffice to explain the attitude taken by the bulk of schools maintained by the northern whites for the Negroes. Their inability to comprehend the needs of the case can only be ascribed to the conception of a Negro as a white man with a black skin and a total failure to recognize the essential conditions of race progress. When the Roman monks penetrated the German woods the chief benefits they carried were not embalmed in Latin grammars and the orations of Cicero, but were embodied in the knowledge of agriculture and the arts which, adopted by the people, made possible later the German civilization. The old rescue mission sought to yank the sinner out of the slough of despond, the social settlement seeks to help him who has fallen in the contestof life or him to whom the opportunity has not been offered, to climb, recognizing that morality and religion attend, not recede progress. The old charity gave alms and the country was overrun with hordes of beggars; the new seeks to help a man to help himself. A similar change must come in the efforts for the Negro. It has been sought to give him the fruits of civilization without its bases. It will immediately be argued that this is wrong, that the chief educational work has been but primary and that little so-called "higher education" has been given. This is true, even to the extent that it is possible to find a town of 5,000 inhabitants one-half Negroes, in which the city provides but one teacher for the black children and the balance are trained in a school supported by the gifts of northern people. But, and this is the important thing, the spirit of the education has been clear and definite and that the plan has not been carried out has not been due to lack of faith in it. General Armstrong, thanks to his observations in Hawaii, perceived that a different course was necessary. His mantle fell on H. F. Frissell and Booker T. Washington, so Hampton and Tuskegee have been the chief factors in producing the change which has been noted as coming. Now that industrial training is winning support it is amusing to note the anxiety of other schools to show that they have always believed in it. I can but feel that had the plans of General Armstrong been widely adopted, had the teachers been trained to take the people where they were and lead them to gradual improvement, that the situation today would be radically different. It is, however, not too late to do this yet and the widespread founding of schools modeled after Hampton and Tuskegee indicates a general recognition of the needs of the situation.
Yet, even these schools have not turned out as many farmers as is often supposed. On examination of the catalog of Tuskegee for 1901 I find only sixteen graduates who are farming and thirteen of these have other occupations (principally teaching). The combination, I think, desirable rather than otherwise. Three others are introducing cotton raising in Africa under the German Government. From the industrial department nine have received certificates in agriculture and six in dairying, but their present occupations are not given. Asking a prominent man at Tuskegee for the reason, he exclaimed, rather disgustedly, that they disliked work and preferred to teach. This merely indicates the handicap Tuskegee has to overcome, and perhaps the average agricultural college of the North cannot show a higher percentage of farmers. An official of the Department of Agriculture tells me that only 5 per cent of the graduates of the agricultural colleges become farmers. To show how much agricultural training is given at Tuskegee the following statement for the year 1902-3 is of interest: No pupil is counted twice. One hundred and eighty-one students are engaged in the actual operations of the farm, truck garden, orchard, etc. Seventy-nine are taking thedairying, etc., and 207 are taking agriculture as part of their academic work. Yet, more of the graduates become professional men (lawyers, preachers, etc.) than farmers, the proportion being about three to one. In citingTuskegeeI am, of course, not forgetting that other schools, such as Tougaloo andTalladega, have excellent farms and are seeking (though their chief emphasis is elsewhere) to give agricultural training.
Reverting to the different lines of work which seem hopeful, the subject may be subdivided into several sections. We have first to do with the efforts to make the young child appreciate Nature and become interested in her processes. Perhaps Hampton has developed this side most extensively, both in the little garden plots cultivated by the children and the nature study leaflets prepared for use in other schools. Personally I can but feel that there is a possibility of vastly extending such instruction by means of the country schools. If they may be consolidated, and this is being done in many sections, I think a way can be found to make the school house the social center of the district in such a way as will greatly help conditions.
Actual instruction in practical farming, dairying, horticulture, etc., is given in an increasing number of schools, but the opportunities are still very inadequate to the needs. If it be possible the way must be found to enable the Negro to use more and better machinery. The average planter does not care to introduce expensive machinery lest it be ruined by careless and ignorant tenants.
These industrial schools can never hope to reach more than a certain percentage of the people. There must be measures adopted to widen the influence of the school. Tuskegee may be mentioned for its attempts to reach out. For many years an annual Farmers' Conference has been held which bids fair to become the Mecca of the Negro farmer. The influence exerted cannot be measured, but it is believed to be great. One weak spot in many of the schools is that they have little if any direct influence upon the life of the community in which they are situated. There are, however, some exceptions. The Calhoun Colored School has a farmer's association meeting monthly. This is made up chiefly of men who are purchasing land through a company formed by the school. Topics of local interest, methods of farming, etc., are the subjects for discussion. There is also a mother's meeting with subjects of more domestic interest, with a savings department for co-operative buying. Curiously enough the formation of the mother's meeting was at first opposed by the men (and by some whites), as it took the women out of the fields occasionally. Now it is more favored. As Tuskegee and many other places there are similar farmers' associations, of which no special mention need be made. Tuskegee has an outpost some miles from the school which is doing a general neighborhood work. The following papers circulated by the schoolwill give a general idea of their conceptions of the needs as well as of their efforts to influence conditions for the better:
MY DAILY WORK.I may take in washing, but every day I promise myself that I will do certain work for my family.I will set the table for every meal. I will wash the dishes after every meal.Monday, I will do my family washing. I will put my bedclothes out to air. I will clean the safe with hot water and soap.Tuesday, I will do my ironing and family patching.Wednesday, I will scrub my kitchen and clean my yard thoroughly.Thursday, I will clean and air the meal and pork boxes. I will scour my pots and pans with soap and ashes.Friday, I will wash my dish cloth, dish towels and hand towels. I will sweep and dust my whole house and clean everything thoroughly.Sunday, I will go to church and Sunday school. I will take my children with me. I will stay at home during the remainder of the day. I will try to read something aloud helpful to all.QUESTIONS THAT I WILL PLEDGE MYSELF TO ANSWER AT THE END OF THE YEAR.1. How many bushels of potatoes, corn, beans, peas and peanuts have we raised this year?2. How many hogs and poultry do we keep?3. How much poultry have we raised?4. How many bales of cotton have we raised?5. How much have we saved to buy a home?6. How much have we done towards planting flowers and making our yard look pretty?7. How many kinds of vegetables did we raise in our home garden?8. How many times did we stay away from miscellaneous excursions when we wished to go? What were our reasons for staying at home?9. How have we helped our boys and girls to stay out of bad company?10. What paper have we taken, and why have we taken our children to church and had them sit with us?HOW TO MAKE HOME HAPPY.Keep clean, body and soul. Remember that weak minds, diseased bodies, bad acts are often the result of bad food.Remember that you can set a good table by raising fruit, vegetables, grains and your meat.Remember that you intend to train your children to stay at home out of bad company.Remember that if you would have their minds and yours clean, you will be obliged to help them learn something outside the school room. Remember, that you can do this in no better way than by taking a good paper—the New York Weekly Witness or The Sabbath Reading, published in New York, cost very little. Have your children read to you from the Bible and from the papers.YOUR NEEDS.You need chairs in your house. Get boxes. Cover with bright calico, and use them for seats until you can buy chairs.You need plates, knives and forks, spoons and table cloths. Buy them with the tobacco and snuff money.You need more respect for self. Get it by staying away from street corners, depots and, above all, excursions.You need to stay away from these excursions to keep out of bad company, out of court, out of jail, and out of the disgust of every self-respecting person.You need more race pride. Cultivate this as you would your crops. It will mean a step forward.You need a good home. Save all you can. Get your home, and that will bring you nearer citizenship.You can supply all these needs. When will you begin? Every moment of delay is a loss.HOW TO BECOME PROSPEROUS.1. Keep no more than one dog.2. Stay away from court.3. Buy no snuff, tobacco and whisky.4. Raise your own pork.5. Raise your vegetables.6. Put away thirty cents for every dollar you spend.7. Keep a good supply of poultry. Set your hens. Keep your chickens until they will bring a good price.8. Go to town on Thursday instead of Saturday. Buy no more than you need. Stay in town no longer than necessary.9. Starve rather than sell your crops before you raise them. Let your mind be fixed on that the first day of January, and stick to that every day in the year.10. Buy land and build you a home.
MY DAILY WORK.
I may take in washing, but every day I promise myself that I will do certain work for my family.
I will set the table for every meal. I will wash the dishes after every meal.
Monday, I will do my family washing. I will put my bedclothes out to air. I will clean the safe with hot water and soap.
Tuesday, I will do my ironing and family patching.
Wednesday, I will scrub my kitchen and clean my yard thoroughly.
Thursday, I will clean and air the meal and pork boxes. I will scour my pots and pans with soap and ashes.
Friday, I will wash my dish cloth, dish towels and hand towels. I will sweep and dust my whole house and clean everything thoroughly.
Sunday, I will go to church and Sunday school. I will take my children with me. I will stay at home during the remainder of the day. I will try to read something aloud helpful to all.
QUESTIONS THAT I WILL PLEDGE MYSELF TO ANSWER AT THE END OF THE YEAR.
1. How many bushels of potatoes, corn, beans, peas and peanuts have we raised this year?
2. How many hogs and poultry do we keep?
3. How much poultry have we raised?
4. How many bales of cotton have we raised?
5. How much have we saved to buy a home?
6. How much have we done towards planting flowers and making our yard look pretty?
7. How many kinds of vegetables did we raise in our home garden?
8. How many times did we stay away from miscellaneous excursions when we wished to go? What were our reasons for staying at home?
9. How have we helped our boys and girls to stay out of bad company?
10. What paper have we taken, and why have we taken our children to church and had them sit with us?
HOW TO MAKE HOME HAPPY.
Keep clean, body and soul. Remember that weak minds, diseased bodies, bad acts are often the result of bad food.
Remember that you can set a good table by raising fruit, vegetables, grains and your meat.
Remember that you intend to train your children to stay at home out of bad company.
Remember that if you would have their minds and yours clean, you will be obliged to help them learn something outside the school room. Remember, that you can do this in no better way than by taking a good paper—the New York Weekly Witness or The Sabbath Reading, published in New York, cost very little. Have your children read to you from the Bible and from the papers.
YOUR NEEDS.
You need chairs in your house. Get boxes. Cover with bright calico, and use them for seats until you can buy chairs.
You need plates, knives and forks, spoons and table cloths. Buy them with the tobacco and snuff money.
You need more respect for self. Get it by staying away from street corners, depots and, above all, excursions.
You need to stay away from these excursions to keep out of bad company, out of court, out of jail, and out of the disgust of every self-respecting person.
You need more race pride. Cultivate this as you would your crops. It will mean a step forward.
You need a good home. Save all you can. Get your home, and that will bring you nearer citizenship.
You can supply all these needs. When will you begin? Every moment of delay is a loss.
HOW TO BECOME PROSPEROUS.
1. Keep no more than one dog.
2. Stay away from court.
3. Buy no snuff, tobacco and whisky.
4. Raise your own pork.
5. Raise your vegetables.
6. Put away thirty cents for every dollar you spend.
7. Keep a good supply of poultry. Set your hens. Keep your chickens until they will bring a good price.
8. Go to town on Thursday instead of Saturday. Buy no more than you need. Stay in town no longer than necessary.
9. Starve rather than sell your crops before you raise them. Let your mind be fixed on that the first day of January, and stick to that every day in the year.
10. Buy land and build you a home.
The various states are beginning to establish institutions in which agriculture and industrial training may be given. Among these may be mentioned that of Alabama at Normal, and of Mississippi at Westside. Alabama has also established an experiment station in connection with the Tuskegee Institute.
In Texas there is an interesting movement among the Negro farmers known as the "Farmers' Improvement Society." The objects are:
1. Abolition of the credit system.2. Stimulate improvements in farming.3. Co-operative buying.4. Sickness and life insurance.5. Encouragement of purchase of land and home.
The Association holds a fair each year which is largely attended. According to the GalvestonNewsof October 12, 1902, the society has about 3,000 members, who own some 50,000 acres of land, more than 8,000 cattle and 7,000 horses and mules. This organization, founded and maintained entirely by Negroes, promises much in many ways. In October, 1902, a fair was held in connection with the school at Calhoun, Ala., with 83 exhibitors and 416 entries, including 48 from the school and a very creditable showing of farm products and live stock.
Besides these general lines which seem to be of promise it is in place to mention a couple of attempts to get the Negroes to purchase land. There have been not a few persons who have sold land to them on the installment plan with the expectation that later payments would be forfeited and the land revert. There are some enterprises which are above suspicion. I am not referring now to private persons or railroad companies who have sold large tracts to the Negroes, but to organizations whose objects are to aid the blacks in becoming landholders. The Land Company at Calhoun. Ala., started in 1896, buying 1,040 acres of land, which was accurately surveyed and divided into plots of fifty acres, so arranged that each farm should include different sorts of land. This was sold to the Negroes at cost price, $8 peracre, the purchasers to pay 8 per cent on deferred payments. The sums paid by the purchasers each year have been as follows:
There have been some failures on part of tenants, and it has been necessary to gradually select the better men and allow the others to drop out. The company has paid all expenses and interest on its capital. A second plantation has been purchased and is being sold. There is a manager who is a trained farmer, and by means of the farmers' association already mentioned much pressure is brought to bear on the Negroes to improve their condition. The results are encouraging. In Macon County the Southern Land Company has purchased several thousand acres which it is selling in much the same way, but it is too early to speak of results. Even at Calhoun but few of the men have yet gotten deeds for their land.
A word regarding the methods of the Southern Land Company will be of interest. The land was carefully surveyed in forty-acre plots. These are sold at $8 per acre, the payments covering a period of seven years. The interest is figured in advance, and to each plot is charged a yearly fee of $5 for management. In this total is also included the cost of house and well (a three-roomed cabin is furnished for about $100, a well for $10). This sum is then divided into seven equal parts so that the purchaser knows in advance just what he must pay each year. The object of the company is to encourage home ownership. Until the place is paid for control of the planting, etc., remains with the manager of the company. Advances are in cash (except fertilizers), as no store is conducted by the company and interest is charged at 8 per cent for the money advanced and for the time said money is used.
On this place in 1902, H. W., a man aged 68, with wife and three children, owning a horse, a mule and two cows, did as follows. He and his son-in-law are buying eighty acres. They made a good showing for the first year under considerable difficulties and on land by no means rich:
This leads me to mention the question of land ownership on the part of the Negroes. This has not been mentioned hitherto for several reasons. In the first place the data for any detailed knowledge of the subject are not to be had. Few states make separate record of land owned by the blacks as distinct from general ownership. The census has to depend upon the statements of the men themselves, and I have heard tenants solemnly argue that they owned the land. Again a very considerable proportion of the land owned is also heavily mortgaged, and these mortgages are not always for improvements. Nor is it by any means self evident that land ownership necessarily means a more advanced condition than where land is rented. Moreover, a considerable proportion of thefarmsowned are so small that they do not suffice to support the owners. Conditions vary in different districts. In Virginia it has been possible to buy a few acres at a very low price. In parts of Alabama, or wherever the land has been held in large estates in recent years, it has often been impossible for the Negro to purchase land in small lots. Thus, though I believe heartily in land ownership for the blacks and believe that well conducted land associations will be beneficial, I cannot think that this alone will solve the questions confronting us. Retrogression is possible even with land ownership. Other things are necessary. On the basis of existing data the best article with which I am acquainted on this subject appeared in theSouthern Workmanfor January, 1903, written by Dr. G. S. Dickerman, in which he showed that among the Negro farmers the owners and managers formed 59.8 per cent of the total in Virginia, 57.6 per cent in Maryland, 48.6 per cent in Kentucky, falling as we go South to 15.1 per cent in Alabama, 16.4 per cent in Mississippi, and 16.2 per cent in Louisiana, rising to 30.9 per cent in Texas. Evidently the forces at work are various.
Within a few months, at the suggestion of Mr. Horace Plunkett, of the Irish Agricultural Organization Society, a new work has been taken up, whose course will be watched with great interest. I quote from a letter of Mr. Plunkett to Dr. Wallace Buttrick, of the General Education Board:
From what I have seen of the negro character, my own impression is that the race has those leader-following propensities which characterize the Irish people. It has, too, I suspect, in its mental composition the same vein of idealism which my own countrymen possess, and which makes them susceptible to organization, and especially to those forms of organization which require the display of the social qualities to which I have alluded and which you will have to develop. Thesecharacteristicswhich express themselves largely, the old plantation songs, in the form of religions exercises, and in the maintenance of a staff of preachers out of all proportion I should think, to the spiritual requirements, should, in my opinion, lend themselves to associative action for practical ends if the organizing machinery necessary to initiate such action were provided.What, then, is my practical suggestion? It is that your board, if it generally approves of the idea, should take one, two, or, at the most, three communities, such as that we inquired about, and organize them on the Irish plan. The farmers should at first he advised to confine theirefforts to some simple object, such as the joint purchase of their immediate agricultural requirements. * * * I would at first deal solely with the colored people, beginning in a very small way, leaving larger developments for the future to decide.
From what I have seen of the negro character, my own impression is that the race has those leader-following propensities which characterize the Irish people. It has, too, I suspect, in its mental composition the same vein of idealism which my own countrymen possess, and which makes them susceptible to organization, and especially to those forms of organization which require the display of the social qualities to which I have alluded and which you will have to develop. Thesecharacteristicswhich express themselves largely, the old plantation songs, in the form of religions exercises, and in the maintenance of a staff of preachers out of all proportion I should think, to the spiritual requirements, should, in my opinion, lend themselves to associative action for practical ends if the organizing machinery necessary to initiate such action were provided.
What, then, is my practical suggestion? It is that your board, if it generally approves of the idea, should take one, two, or, at the most, three communities, such as that we inquired about, and organize them on the Irish plan. The farmers should at first he advised to confine theirefforts to some simple object, such as the joint purchase of their immediate agricultural requirements. * * * I would at first deal solely with the colored people, beginning in a very small way, leaving larger developments for the future to decide.
Hampton Institute has taken up the suggestion and is planning to organize a community. Everything will, of course, depend on the management as well as on the people. If the results are as satisfactory as they have been in Ireland the efforts will be well expended.
With this brief and incomplete account we must take leave of the Negro farmer. Throughout the thesis I have attempted to keep two or three fundamental propositions constantly in sight. Briefly summarized these are that we have to do with a race whose inherited characteristics are largely of African origin; that these have been somewhat modified under American influences, but are still potent; that the economic environment in America is not a unit and must finally result in the creation of different types among the blacks; that the needs of the different habitats are various; that the segregation from the mass of the whites is fraught with serious consequences; that measures of wider application must be adopted if the Negro is to bear his proper part in the progress of the country; that owing to the great race differences the whites must take an active interest in the blacks; that in spite of the many handicaps under which the Negro struggles the outlook is not hopeless if his willingness to work can so be directed that a surplus will result. To my mind the Negro must work out his salvation, economic and social. It cannot be given without destroying the very thing we seek to strengthen—character. This is the justification for the emphasis now laid upon industrial training. This training and the resulting character are the pre-requisites of all race progress. Industrial education is thus not a fad nor a mere expedient to satisfy the selfish demands of southern whites. It is the foundation without which the superstructure is in vain. If I have fairly stated the difficulties in the way and have shown the possibility of ultimate success, I am content. For the future I am hopeful.
These maps are particularly referred to inChapter II. The chief geological districts are indicated. The figures are based upon the census of 1900. The maps are here included in the hope that they may prove of value to students of the problems herein discussed.
Virginia
VIRGINIA
Negro Percentage of Population, 1900
Virginia
VIRGINIA
Negroes per Square Mile, 1900
North Carolina
NORTH CAROLINA
Negro Percentage of Population, 1900
North Carolina
NORTH CAROLINA
Negroes per Square Mile, 1900
South Carolina
SOUTH CAROLINA
Negro Percentage of Total Population, 1900
South Carolina
SOUTH CAROLINA
Negroes Per Square Mile, 1900
Georgia
GEORGIA
Negro Percentage of Total Population, 1900
Georgia
GEORGIA
Negroes per Square Mile, 1900
Florida
FLORIDA
Negro Percentage of Population, 1900
Florida
FLORIDA
Negroes Per Square Mile, 1900
Alabama
ALABAMA
Alabama
ALABAMA
Negroes per Square Mile, 1900
Mississippi
MISSISSIPPI
Negro Percentage of Total Population, 1900
Mississippi
MISSISSIPPI
Negroes per Square Mile, 1900
Tennessee
TENNESSEE
Negro Percentage of Population, 1900