The Southern indicator. (Columbia, S.C.) 1903-1925, June 06, 1914, Image 6
WHY THE NEERQ SHOULD
STICK TO THE FARM
Read l?e fore the Last Race Con
Held in Columbia-A Splen
did Paper.
Mr. Chairman. Ladies Contle
men :
It i- unfair. I claim, lo ask ai
unpopular sci of men i<? speak ol
au unpopular subject thc last <la\
o? the Conference.
lt is tn he remet tillered that niosi
of our yoting tuen want lo lake u|
some trade or professant or to g<
lo u?wn to live easy, i bereft ire yoi
can't expect us to entertain tl?
pc? ?plc.
Wc like lo follow (lu.- white peo
ple, dress linc every day and ride
ai omul. Wc nev er stop to thinl
that thc while people had our ltcl|
more than two centuries before wt
began lite life that has counted foi
si mtclhing.
The Negro is, hy nature, adaptei'
lo agriculture. We wen- pre
pare<l for this work on ibo bank
of lite Nile. When the culture*
while people of V irginia st.1 ii
need of farm labor a band of Ne
groes were imported winch wer*,
used in the cult ?val iou of tobacco
Thc white people could not work
the Indian- would not, so ii wai
left for thc people of our father
land to contribute thc muscle iure-,
sa ry for lite agricultural advance
ment of the I 'nited Stale-.
I'or more than two centuries tile
majority of ti- spent our lime on
Ihc farm under the strict super
vision of white fanners, who had
been well educated, lt was in this
capacity we learned the arl anti
habit o? industry, so that when wc
became emancipated we bad some
idea oj farming from a business
point of view, as well as an idea nf
cultivating the si ?il.
I know of no business or trade
which the Xcgro had been so well
prepared lo make his way in life
as a free man. I say il without
nv just fear of contradiction that
:he reason why we. as a race, have
been so much more successful as
farmers is due to the training wc
received at the hand of intelligent
music rs.
lt i< claimed that we spend
every year m.ooo.ooo for medi
cine ami advice from practicing
physicians. This could be greatly
reduced il we would go where we
c. .nhl live ill a healthier atmos
phere. The condition of the masses
in town- and cities is far from thal
which is ci inducive in long life.
Poorly built houses in unhealthy
places, eating poor and half pre
pared food will shorten the life ol'
any race, nation or individual.
Statistics show that farmers live
longer than any other people. Not
withstanding, a farm properly con
dueled requires business judgment,
there is less risk. less worry, more
i HU-of-door exercise where we can
breathe more jun e air and eat mon
pille food.
II was not till the Negro began
to enter the skilled trade- and pro
fessions I hal he became a victim ol
consumption. As long as lie
slaved in the air he was healthy.
The need of a practicing physician
was seldom felt. A race spending
two hundred years in one life and
changing lo another could expect
no less.
lt Likes time lo become skilled
in any trade or learned in any pro
fession, or perfect in any business.
Thc vast number of intentions
that have facilitated ministry,
thoughts that have mouled senti
ment, the men who with brain held
thc masses in their hands, were not
the efforts of a day.
This being a free country, every
person must meet competition in
nearly every walk of life, the farm
being the exception.
f do not mean to be understood
as meaning that thc Negro is un
able to compete with his white
brother, because T believe the Ne
gro has the ability, if properly
trained, and can do anything for
which he is by nature titled, lilli
we have to contend willi prejudice
which has made its way into laboi
uni? ?ns.
A race half intelligent and pov
erty-stricken cannot compete wi tl
a people superior in number. I
stronger intellectually, stronger |
financially, willi the law ol' the.
country at hi^ back. < 'ur success
inusi be along uncontested line-.
While the records show thal thc
Negro is gaining in oilier occupa
lions, only goes lo show that ibo
trained Negro is gaining ground,
bul not t,, th,- point t" insure sta
ble success.
There arc _\i.|3.17'> Negroes en
gage? I in agricultural pursuits or
J I and 7-10 per ceiil. of all persons
i- by IM means displeasing.
lhere seems to be an unrest of
leaving thc faim ami going lo
town lo live by wits, but il seems
(he interest is greater among white
than among Negroes. From i<>oo
to 1010. the increase of while fann
ers was o 1 - m per cent., (hat ol"
the Negro was nj per cent. 'The
Negro farm labor decreased nu
mcrically. while ihe Negro farm
ers increased. This i- doc to the
fact that farm work i- depreciated,
tin- masses of colore? 1 people are
made to feel thal it is more honor
able to move to (own and follow
si une trade and hal f starve.
The pour while man ha- neither
the money or the brain lo control
Negro lab. .f. Some leading white
politician- arousing race haired,
make (be poor while man feel hu
miliated working in (be fields willi
Negroes. The well-to-do while
man will noi du manual work, at
die -ann- lime prefers lo live in
town where be can educate his
children. The poor white man
linds employment in colton facto
ries. This leaves the farm lo thc
Negro and the nude. Herc is a
chance to buy land and live nnino
leste.l.
< 'ur white friends are grieving
over thc race problem. Let us bin
farm land, cultivate il intelligently
and let our white friends talk poli
iii-- and look dignified. Sell him
ail that lie need-, in short, let ns
produce while be consumes. This
u ill solve the problem.
There arc in the South several
I millions 0/ acres of unimproved
i land which the Negro can buv and
!
j cultivate successfully, which, if we
I wait a feu years, w ill be owned by
j si une < ?ne else.
I The newspapers and the railroads
?are advertising the South in for
I eign countries with the hope of
(?ringing people of foreign birth,
loreign ideas, people w ho are in lit
tlc <>r no sympathy with conditions
in this country, for thc sole pur
pose of maintaining white supre
I macy.
In case tin- country is overrun
with these ignorant people the
irpiestiou that ought to concern us
is : where will w e -land ?
We are practically debarred
from white labor unions, hence the
j
i unimproved kimi is oin" place.
Notwithstanding there is little or
I no inducement to the unthinking
j young Negn). the Negro must take
i that as his lot and thank (iod it i
j Ul > Wi >rSC.
'Thc National House of Repre
sentatives seems to be unfavorable
to the progress of Negro agricul
ture, and in no Stale do we get all
1 (be encouragement necessary for
? intelligent farming among Ne
groes. Putt this is in no way due
to the white people of character and
' ability. Anything done to discour
age the Negro in his progress 011
i ward is the work of the politician
! whose stock is in arousing the bat
j red of the poor, ignorant white
j people against colored people,
i Let it ever bc remembered that
I the white people who have stood
i for progress among their own race,
have extended a helping band to
I the Negro struggling, the Negro
i who wanted to rise. There arc
hundreds of farmers herc and else
where whose success has opened
! the way for Negroes to stick to the
{ farm, and whose career stands as
?possibilities. 'They owe their suc
cess io thc kindly advice and finan
cial help of their white friends,
i Hut we must not let any of these
prove barriers in our way. To be
sure, wc must go the faster.
? . We must boar in mind that wc
" are no longer slaves, but free men.
walking and thinking as other peo
? ; pie.
i ; We. like thc other people whom
(: >d made. owe something to su
nely. Wi- ari' not here jusl lo sla\
(tmil wc ?lie. ( '-.?I made u> for
- ' . 11K ? 111 ? H ;. \\ r eau hesl serve die
end ?nr which we were create?! I>\
doh 154 111 : . 1 u Iii. li we ;uv hc-t prc
pared '. i "lo.
! believe 1 lint we can b?tler
leach mir people tin- hahn- ..f in
du-: r\ and li? ?liest v mi thc farm. I
I here are n< > t ricks lo he learned!
nor pi arl ?? ed oil the farm.
I here are hundred - of \egr? >
larniers who are making good.!
What lhc\ are doing ol hers eau do.
Why remain in crowded tenement
houses ?:i cities, half -larve, suffer
fi"* 'in coiuagiou> di-ca-cs. and in a
nlaee where ciuplovmcnl hard to
get, when in the rural di-lrictla
hoi- i- waute.1 and needed and must
he had if material progress con
linues ?
In the Solidi ihe p?ople arr wak I
iug up truck farming and cattle j
raising. The Si ?nth i- in ?\\ the ,
garden -t?o| of die e. ?uni rv. 1'eo
plc I nu n other sections are coining
here (hiding forluue- in our unhu- !
pr? ?ved land.
The I uited Male- I ?vernmenl j
i- -nen.ling thousands of dollars
everv vcar to cnn heat?- the eadie ?
j
lick and i).>ll weevil. We must not j
let the < ?pp. .rluuity slip u< i\v. Ti i
he sure, town property will eu- |
liane?- in value or depreciate a- the
town builds up or goes down, lu
the country, properix enhances in I
proportion a- we build up our in
dividual properly.
\ mau in town bu i li 1- a cit \ home
for -ix thousand dollar-. A mau in
the country buys a farm for three
thousand dollar-. The man in the
city eau do nothing willi hi- home:
but live in it. In case he l?>ses out
the home becomes worlhle-- prop-j
city. The man in the country iu
vc-t - j u-t half ihi' amount - three
thousand dollar-- has room for
-n ek. for chicken-, at the -ame
lime make- a goo?l living.
ll* you will pardon nie for per-1
soual reference. I ow n both city and |,
country property. Taking hilo con
sideration', insurance and taxes.!
country property is the cheapest
you can buy. I
I ask m\ friends to leave the
town:; ami dies, come to thc conn
try and help us clear the w.I- 1
and make things go.
1 inlier < ieneral.
_ I
RACE RELATIONS DISCUSSED!
AT MEMPHIS. j
From (Benedict) College Journa
Memphis. Tenn., May 7. The
co- operation of the races for the
purpose of bettering conditions
in the South, as discussed by
Bishop Theodore I). Bratten, of
Jackson. Miss., and Hooker T.
Washington. attracted large:
crowds at the afternoon session
of the Southern Sociological con-1
gress here to-day.
1 Bishop Bratten pointed out the :
necessity of race cooperation in
church work as a contributory'
factor in laying the foundation;
for the solution of the race prob
lem.
"The first point of cooperation ;
! for the two races, in this" he i
?said, "is the example of a solid j
religious faith and justice: the j
; second is the points of contact in
their churches and schools and '
sharing with them the benefits I
of our great public school system.
But above all is to live the Cos
Pel."
The Bishop took to task PX
j tremisti of both races.
Following the address of Bish
Bratton, former Gov. Mann, who
occupied a seat on the platform,
called on K. R. Moton, a leading
Negro of Virginia, to lead the
colored portion of the audience
in singing "Climb, Climb Up
Higher," and "Down on the
Suwanee River, " brought rounds
of applause.
Booker Washington discussing j
race cooperation in securing law i
ami order, pointed to the socio
logical congress as the best !
means of bringing the two races
to a better understanding of each
other, as well as the needs and
aspirations of the Negro. His
subject was "How can the Ne-;
gro in the South do his part in ?
using this Congress to bring a
bout better conditions." He'
said :
"We can use this organization
. to spread an influence among our
people for the prevention of
World's Best Pianos
?nd PL?YER-PIMQS
SOLD AND GUARANTEED BY
SSS PIANO CO. ??8
QUALIN [Established 191 Oj Sgfje
1271 Main St.
Phone 1316
crime. In spite of all that may
bc said, in palliation, there is too
much crime committed by, our
people in all parts of the country.
We should let the world under
stand weare not going to hide|
crime because it is committed !
by black people."
To You, Mr. Slock Owner
Would you own a horse and let
him suffer and besatisned? Why
the horse needs a dentist as weil
as the human being; dues. If you
have his teeth kept up iL will
save other trouble on the horse.
When this is done the animal j
will eat better and give you bet
ter service. Do you know that
you give away better stock than
what you buy every year because '
you don't call a veterinary sur-,
Keon and ask his opinion about it.
As long as you do so it will keep
you buying stock Our business
is to take care of the stock and
his owner. The white people
have us to work the same ones
over again and then they sell
them right back to you for the
same price you first paid. Why
can't you do the same thing and
save the price of another horse or I
mule? We are called allover
this county todo so for the white
people and you are paying for it.
lt is time to wake up and get
busy. We will do the same thing
for you. Yours truly,
DR. J. H. SIMS.
Veterinary Surgeon and Animal
Dentist, 1518 Williams Street,
Columoia. S. C. Phone
Small Farms
Five acres ami up with dwelling
Productive Soil
Will rent. Sell or Exchange for
other property.
A Few New Lot H nuil Houses
Low Prices
Easy Terras
Martin Storks
1544 Main Street, Columbia
DR. L. M. DANIELS
PHYSICIAN & SURGEON
( Ulice 1 lour.-;: !> to IO \. M. ; 1 to Li P.M. ;
to 4 v M. ; 7 lo s p M.
Resilience K'?10 Sumter Street,
Office, 11(H) Washington Street.
PHONE l-l?'.l, : : Columbia, S. C.
. L. BAILEY
L tensed Architect & Builder
Plans and Specifications
gotten out for Residences,
Churches etc.
'.YM) PINE ST. - COLUMBIA, S. C.
if?i? ? ?????1 - ii i? iiref^?Bi
Mail Orders
No need send to the mail order houses
for what you want. We have it here at
the same price, if not cheaper. You
owe us a trial anyway. Send a list of
what you require and let us figure on it.
We have specially laid ourselves out to
execute mail orders and you may rely
on prompt attention. Our PAINT de
partment is unexcelled in this country.
L?rick & Lowrance
i INCOUTOKATKI)!
Columbia, South Carolina.
Palmetto Meat Market
J. S, DENT, Prop'r.
Butcher and Green Grocer, Fish, Oysters and
Game in season,
1330 Assembly St. Phone 172. Columbia
rt H. Collin's Big Department Store
THIS ls the store that
gets the new things first.
We are now showing many new
and stylish STETSON HATS-a
Hat for every face-ior every taste.
1125 Washington Street, - Columbia