Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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The Message of The Whites To the NogrooM off the smith. (By Clarence Toe. F.dltor The Pro? gressive Farmer.) My purpose is to bring you what 1 believe to be the message ot the white south to the negro rai e. If 1 were asked to put this message int ? a alngle paragraph 1 could not do batter than to quote the words of the foremost citizen of North Carolina. Charlea H. Aycock. who declared when he was governor of the state, at the opening of th* negro state fair In 1901." "No thoughtful, conservative and unright southerner has for your race aught but the kindest feeling, and we are all willing and anxious to see you grow Into the highest citizenship of which you are capable and we are willing to give our energies and beat thought to aid you In the great work necessary to make you what you are capable of. and to assist you In that elevation of character and of vlrture which tends to the strength? ening of the state. But to do this it la absolutely necessary that each race should remain distinct and have a society of its own. Inside of your own race you can grow as large and broad and high as Ood permits, with the aid. the sympathy and the encourage? ment of your white neighbors. If you can equal the white race In achieve? ment In scholarship, in literature In art. In Industry and commerce, you will find no generous-minded white man who will stand in your way. But all of them In the south will assist that you ahall accomplish this high end without social Intermingling; and this is well for you; It la well for us; It Is necessary for the peace of our ?action." This, as I conceive It. Is the true measage of the white south to the negro race expressed In a paragraph. Expressed In a sentence, it would read: Our race Integrity guaranteed, there Is nothing that we are not will? ing to do to promote your develop? ment. How tHe Negro Hand Has Hurt South And my answer to the hoary and oft-repeated charge that negro edu? cation Is a mistake and will spoil geld hands"?a charge repeated to me the? v.tv day I accepted your in? vitation by a man who had held honorable offlee by negro votes?Is that there is almost nothing else un? der high Heaven that the south ne? ds eo much as the "spoiling" of field hands of the type we have had until now. The ignorant negro field hand Is and has been one of the greatest eco? nomic curses with which any people has ever had to contend, and if I thought your race could never ad? vance to any higher t< gg of Industrial efficiency I would start an effort to? morrow ehiuori ,il a^ the plan might seem - for the eolonization of our entire negro population. If by "spoiling' field hands you mean making them Into something different then tfitmWf state and OOgnty in the south needs a campaign for spoiling them, for whom the stand? point of efflclenev almost any change would be for Me i.'t.r. Considered entirety apart from the losses of war. let me express to you the frank and deliberate opinion that even since ltt! the pretence of the negro In the gOSJtli has made the whole section and my entire race poorer?and chief? ly by reason of this same time-worn, half-sacred southern fetich of an Ig? norant Illiterate field hand as the ideal agricultural laborer?a 'aid hand who too much of the tlm i ha* make a mocking parody of what should have been the richest agricul? tural section In the world, sli.tply he cause h? has been Ignorant and the Whlt#? man has 'ef him reni;iin igno? rant; a field hand whom* most trust? ed agrleultural guide has been the Inconsistent moon. And yet when all is told I fear that the Ignorant negro depending upon the moon as a guide presents a less pitiful spectacle than the 19th century white man depend? ing upon Ignorance ns help! Ha- ? ost I be South Millions. Small wonder that the penalty has been that while the southern farmer haa grown pggf hiring an Ignorant negro to take one mule and plow an acre of land a day three or four Inches d< p. farmers In the west have grown ri h paving |g*efnj times M much to an Intelligent white rnan to take three or four horses and plow four acres a day six or eight Inches deep. And more than this, the intelli? gent laborer In the w? st has main? tained the fertility or the land while ignorant labor in th? south has not only failed to make Immediate profits but has laid waste the eapital of the land-holder nn well; millions of acres of once fertile land are now abandon? ed while In the *lx states of Virgin la. North Carolina. South Carolina. Oeorgla, Alabama and Mississippi, the farmers spend t?O.Ooo.nno each y and every vear for nogagagrolgl fertil? isers as compared with a total expen? diture for public gggjsjgjfj of only $11. ??O.OftO. And Mill with a blind fury Ilka that of the enrag? i Rphesian worshippers of Diana, thousands are continually srylng* out. "Great is our ignorant negro field hand, unspoiled by knowledge and Intelligence .turn mA loose to deal with tha one funda mental ISSQUrCS whbh must support tll? among Ul as long as the race shall last?the soil!" Hou We Ntr.i t,, spoil Field Hands. w, need t?? ??spoil" ? hundred thousand held hands by Riving them such Intelligence as to teach them not merely how to plow but how t<? plow so as to prevent washing and save moisture ami conserve fortuity; not merely how to plow deep and how to plow shallow but to know when each method Will help or hurt the crop yield in the fall; not merely how to put cotton reed in the ground but how to select cotton seed wisely an<l thereby get the $3.000,000 a year which Director Williams says a prop? er policy of seed selection would sa\o to North Carolina alone; not merely how to scatter out $50,000,000 worth of fertilizer in the rows but how to use it so as to save the $45,000,000 lost each year by ignorant handling of this $50,000,000 purchase; not merely how to drop peas but how to use them to enrich the land; not merely how to give hay and grain to cows but how to feed so as to make the cows profit-bearing Instead of eaters, not merely how to plant crops but how to plant them In a land bulldlng Instead of a land-ruining ro? tation; not merely how to set out a frlut tree, but how to combat the pests and disease so as to make It fruitful after It Is set out?and to have this sort of Intelligence on the part of our field hands and farm la? borers we must have men who know a fertiliser formula from a doctor's prescription; men who have been "spoiled" by education until they are able to read intelligently about the principles of fertilizing, crop rota? tion, plant breeding, seed selection, soil management, and a thousand other things. The Challenge of Economic Law. The south has repudiated long.long ago the fallacy that slavery was an economic good, and it is to be hoped that sho is now ready to repudiate once and for all time the no less mon? strous heresy that Inorant glabor is better than Intelligent labor. Let me repeat to you the frank hold state? ment which I made to the southern commercial congress a few months ago, I repeat it to you because It is, 1 believe, the growing feeling of the dominant south, repeat it because it Is well know you should know the feeling and because, if it sound cruel, then like Hamlet, "I must be cruel only to the kind." I gave you In the beginning a quotation from Gov. Aycock's speech as a message of the w hlte south to the negro race. It was kindly and should have stirred your sympathy. Duty to you demands also, however, that I should give you the message of economic law to the ne? gro race?the stern message of a law that knows of sentiment of the gods. It is a challenge* and should stir your ambition. This message 1 would put before yon In the same words 1 used when I addreeesd ? meeting of white leaders In Washington city. "I do not know what we are going to do with the negro. I do know that ws must either frame a scheme ot* edueatl >n and training that will keep him from dragging down the white level of life in the south, that will make him more efficient ,a prosperltv maker and not I poverty breeder, or else he will get out of the south and give way to the white Immigrant. No acre of land will long own as Its master the man or the race who mis? treats it, and makes it unfruitful. We must either have the negro trained, or we must not have him at all. Cheap, Ignorant labor, whether of white man or black. Is a curse to any ountry and anv community. And so today every man who is telling an aon ! land In the South so that it produces only half what Intelligent? ly directed labor would get out of it. sry man who is doing poor work of any kind, every man who Is creating and earning only ."<? rents or 7". rents a day instead of from three to ten times that much, is Intolllegnt labor wouM do; every Inefficient man, no matter In what line of work. Is a burden on the community, is drag? ging down the level of life for every other man In the community. IndilTercnt Labor Hurts Community. Suppose you are his fellow-citizen; then because of his Inefficiency, his poverty, because of his failure to con? tribute to public Hinds and public movements, you must have poorer roads, poorer schools, ? meaner school house and court house, a shabbier church, lower priced lands, your teacher will he more poorly paid, your preacher's salary wll be smaller, your newspaper will have u smallei circu? lation, your town will be a poorer market, your railroad will have a smaller traffic, you merchant smaller trade, your banks smaller deposits. your manufacturer diminished pat? ronage, and so on and on. The raml< Mentions are infinite, unending. < ?n the Other hand, every efficient man. every man trained to do good work by the Schools or by any Othel method he I? making the whole community richer, if by doing bet fer work he earns $|, $3, or $1 a day Instead of r,0 rents or 75 cents, or If he double the corn yield or cotton yield or lobnceo yield, does that not mean your merc hant will have mors trade, your bank larger deposits, your newspaper better patronage, your prea< her ;i larger salary, your county and State better resources, eo thai your ro. de, schools ana school houses \ will all feel and show the thrill of a new power that has come to them? No matter what you have to sell? your muscular labor, your skill, your scientific knowledge, your manufac? turing product, your land?you get i paid for it In proportion of the effi? ciency and prosperity of the average man with whom you deal, and the great manses In the community must be intelligent and efficient If the gen? eral level of prosperity is to he high. Immigration and the Negro? i This is the great bedrock principle on which the south is beginning to build its institutions, and among all the tendencies in Southern life today it is the awakening to this principle that seems to me to be most mean? ingful for your race. Heretofore there has been oftlmes a menace to your future in the threat to withdraw negro schools in the belief that the white man would he helped by keep? ing the negro down, a policy that would have dragged down both white and black together. Today, on the contrary, there is. a challenge to your manhood in the South's imperious de? mand for efficiency, in its determin? ation to give you a square deal, to try your mettle, to give you if you I show yourselves worthy, the greatest opportunity here in the Southern States that any man of your race has I ever enjoyed in human history?all mat will he yours if you are willing to I if you refuse to improve these oppor I tunities they must be passed on to the alien and the foreigner, j In passing, however, let me de J clare my conviction .that there, .is, nothing of peril but rather much of I positive good for you in the normal tide of immigration from the North and West that I am sure is coming 1 South, and that only a large stream I of lower clasp-of European immigra? tion invited by a breakdown of your own efficiency would really narrow your opportunities. An increase In I the, relative proportion of whites by merfns of immigration from the North and West, should lessen race feeling Of the anxiety of work for your race In -the more varied civilization we I should develop. With an increasing feeling of race security, moreover, the Southern White man will deal not less liberal - I ly but more liberally with you. In proof of this we have only to recall that it has now been just ten years since this State adopted the policy of suffrage restriction ,and that every right of your race has been even more scrupulously safeguarded since the negro's disfranchleement than before. I Of late little has been heard of the I once troublesome proposition to cur? tail the negro's school fund; the legis? lature has refused to extend the now defunct grandfather clause, permit? ting illiterate whites to register while excluding illiterate blacks; and the public school term of the negro has I been increased 4 <I per cent, in ten I years of democrat!) rule, while the increase In length of white school I terms In the same period has been only 43 per cent. Practical Education Wecetenry. In a word then, the South is going to give you a square deal. She no long< r wants you inefficient; her only fear Is that you may not become effi? cient enough. And to have efficiency there must be intelligence and to pro? mote intelligence there must be schools. As for the kind of schools, so trite has become the argument for Industrial education that I have not thought In necessary to say in this ad? dress that the education I am ad? vocating for the negro is practical ed? ucation?education that "trains for the mastery of environment" in the fine phrase of Qov, Mann of Vir.ginia. I only hope that In urging its Impor lance for the negro rac< we shall not forget that it is not one whit less im? portant for the white man. Only a few days ago I stumbled upon the saying in Plutarch, that Agesilaus, King of Sparta, four centuries before Christi when asked what boys should be taught, gave the sententious an? swer "That which they shall use when men." Str ange imb ed that it has tak? en twenty-three hundred years for the self-evident truth to get even a respectable footing in the public mind. Now that we arc at last putting this ancient doctrine into pract'ec I however, it Is gratifying to sec that the watchword Of the late J. L. M. Curry. "We must lift the black man up or he will drag the white mm down," Is also winning recognition as being no mere benevolent and philan? thropic generalization, but stern and practical truth, as I have shown, that expresses itself with equal force in the moral world and In the practical realm of dollars and cents. No mat? ter in what respect we view it, it is plain that in an industrial sense the white man and the black man In the South are surely linked together SS the Alpine mountain (limbers bouil 1 together by ropes about their waists. Either they wish it were not so, but the fact remains. Everything that helps the white man forward helps you forward; everything that helps the negro forward helps the white man forward. A Frank and Simple Statement. And this stat? ment brings m< to the last point that l have to put before you. 1 promised to be frank with you and you are witnesses that l have been, ami I shall be frank now. Let me say then plainly that if ever tin typical Southern white man is tempt? ed to put any stone in the way of the black man it is only from the fear of that specter which haunts many and many a high-minded Southerner? the fear of ultimate amalgamation of the races. Before that should come we would give our own lives and sac? rifice with our own lives the lives of those who threatened us. But here, too, let me say that the ideas of Southern leaders have changed or are changing. We are coming to believe that we have a hetter safeguard for racial purity in a programme of ln telligence and opportunity for the ne? gro than/in a programme of ignorance and repression?coming to believe that with education and property you will develop, as ignorance and slavery have never anywhere developed, a so? ciety based on character and morals and that you will begin to ostracize as we are beginning to ostracize those who are traitors to their race and to their blood. We hope, in a word, that you will develop a loyalty to race as definite as the white man's. There are oppor? tunities for achievement and leader? ship among your race perhaps even I greater than the- same talents would win in the white race. Every color? ed man of ability stands out all the more prominently, wins all the grea' I er recognition, because he Is of a peo? ple but recently in slavery. Booker Washington has far greater influence as a negro than he would have as a member of the Caucasian race; W. B. DuBois is better known than he I would be if he were a white educator, I the poetry of Paul Lawrence Dunhar found more ready recognition with I the public because of his color. Start? ing on your career of freedom but yes? terday, the shackles newly struck I from your limbs, without education I or property or demonstrated indus? trial capacity as independent workers ?such a situation should bring out I the best that is in you in prof of what I your race can do, and it can have no other effect if your race he worthy to live, if you are to have either self respect or the respect of other peo? ples. If no spirit of loyalty develop from such a condition then there is no hope for the colored man in America. Mature itself will abhor and repu? diate a people whose ambitions is not self-preservation and development but to lose its identity in the blood of a mongrel breed. Men Who Are Traitors to Their Race And to Their Blood. The Southern white people are be? ginning to understand that only through immoral and depraved men can the integrity of their race he im? perilled and just, as we should spurn and loathe a Benedict Arnold, a trait? or to his country; even more bitter must he our loathing, even more blighting must be our ostracism of the man who. worse than a traitor to his country, is traitor to his race and to the Integrity of a people who are bat? tling for the purity of their blood as a treasure dearer than life. Yet even the group of apostles was not without its traitor and it would be too much to expect that our race should not al? ways have some element too deprav? ed to be moved by such considerations as I have mentioned, and in such a sit? uation our surest safeguard must he the pride of race among the masses of your own people as definite as the pride of race among our own. We be? lieve that this pride can best be de? veloped by giving you the opportun? ities of education and industrial fair play, by giving you an opportunity to show proudly what a race can accom? plish in industry and character-build? ing even without the heritage of an? dient achievement. This. I repeat, is our hope. If, on the other hand, your educated men and women show so little self-respect as to prefer to sacrifice character by alliance with the low and immoral of our race, if their ambition be to go North or elsewhere and "cross over the line," if this be the estimate you place upon your race, then I repeat that the world will take you at your own estimate. Nature itself will ab? hor you, and T know not what titanic fury of mingled pasison and despair (he Southern white man will seek to free himself from the Laocoon ser? pent threatening his life and the life of his descendants. in Conclusion. In brief, then, let me say in con? clusion, the message of the white South to the negro race is a message of opportunity, an appeal which, if it have much of challenge about it. the challenge to character and Indus? trial achievement, also has about it even more of friendliness and anx? ious good will. Stern as the message may seem, It Is but the trial of your strength and fitnes ,, and you may go forth for the testing heartened by the knowledge that the challenge Is one not of hatred but of the most gener? ous sympathy, given not with the se? cret hope that you will fail, but with the fervent prayer that you may win ?aye, more, with the tense, keen premonition ,su< h is our strange fate, that our own safety ami well-being*! hardly leas than your own, demands i that both in character and in Indus I trial achievement you shall show yourself worthy of" the splendid fu? ture that should he yours. Science Jottings. j One of the distinctly new "tell-tale" I instruments of the day is the Hantier? j Bddy smoke-recorder, which shows i with Infallible accuracy to just what ! extent a stack is smoking at any hour j and any minute during the day. * The Bddy machine produces a pie I ture of the condition of the chimney 1 on a roll of ruled paper on a verti- I cal drum. Against this paper are con? stantly being blown little puffs of the air and smoke, drawn from the chim? ney through a small pipe. ,, When the chimney is smoking heavily a heavy black line is left on the paper at that particular hour an*? minute. When there is no smoke the paper is left clean. The chief engin? eer examines these sheets at his leis? ure. If they are fairly white and clean he does not fear a Visit from the smoke inspector, but if not the fireman "gets his." The particular taste of a cold-stor? age egg is something not easy to mis? take. It is possible that this taste may be removed, if experiments now being conducted are successful. It is claimed that when fresh eggs are placed in cold storage the eggs are alive, and that they are slowly frozen to death, and, in spite of the preserv? ative qualities of the ice, the eggs do not taste good when cooked. It is now believed that by "electro? cuting" the eggs the natural, fresh taste may be retained and not remov? ed v/hen the eggs are placed in cold storage. The eggs are "killed" by placing a metal cap on each end of the egg and then throwing on a pres? sure of 500 volts. Mr. W. T. Bovie, an instructor at the University of Missouri, at Colum? bia City, has arranged an electrical recording device for measuring the growth of plants.. To measure the stem-elongation a thread Is attached by means of a clip to the tip of the stalk, this thread being passed around a freely pivoted shaft, the movement of which is magnified by a lever-arm which moves over, electrical contacts. By the use of this machine it has been demontsrated that the growth of plants occurs with alternate rests. Thus, a test of a bean plant showed that it grew at its most rapid rate about four times each day, with in? tervening rests of from four to eight hours. Not being satisfied with the slow rate at which drugs act upon the so called "sleeping sickness," so common in Arifca, a young mine-owner who contracted the disease in Rhodesia is also being treated by a refrigeration method in the tropical hospital at Liverpool. The method used requires him to he kept in a room at a uni? form temperature somewhat below the freezing point, a number of hours daily. At the last reports the patient had increased the time during which he could stay awake in the cooled room from two to about six hours and was suffering much less from the usual pain in the joints. The telephone company in Wil? mington has equipped a department with phonographs and has on file a complete line of records. When a subscriber wants music he asks for the music operator and selects from the music catalogue, supplied to all subscribers, the record he desires to hear. The result is as good as though the phonograph itself were transport? ed to the receiving end of the line. The charges are three cents for regu? lar records and seven cents for those by operatic stars. If a torpedo which the British Ad? miralty is now trying out comes up to the claims of the inventor Eng? land's navy will possess an instru? ment of destruction from which a hostile vessel has no chance of es? cape. It is claimed this torpedo will How Much? If it's a matter of limited amount you have to spend?our stocks will fill your nee^ds in qual? ity, in price in FINK FURNITURE For the bed room, dining room, foyer hall, drawing room or par? lor, we solicit your examination of our displays ?our prices. Good furniture at the least cost here. Witherspoon Bros. Furniture Co. follow a warship unswervingly. It If fitted <?ut with a delicate instrument called a microphone. When it is aim? ed at an eiu iny's warship the micro? phone picks up the vibrations of the man-o'-war's propellers and deflects the rudders Bo that the torpedo will take a Straight course for the vessel. ANNOUNCEMENT. 1 beg to announce my candidacy for the office of Governor, subject to the decision of the Democratic vot? ers of the State. Campaign promises are easily made. My purpose is, if elected, to give the people a plain, honest and business? like administration. Of course, I shall advocate good roads, good schools and good government, my at? titude as to the same being well known to the public for many years. I consistently advocated prohibition and was among the first to give money and lend Influence to push that movement more than twenty years ago. As a business man my chief aim, if elected, will be to conduct a State government along business lines. F. H. HYATT. Columbia, S. C, June 6. Winthrop College SCHOLARSHIP and ENTRANCE EXAMINATION. The examination for the award of vacant scholarships In Winthrop Col? lege and for the admission of new students will be held at the Coiintw Court House on Friday, July lt at t>" a. m. Applicants must be not less than fifteen years of age. When Scholarships are vacant after July 1 they will be awarded to those making the highest average at this examln j ation, provided they meet the condi? tions governing the award. Appli? cants for scholarships should write to President Johnson before the ex? amination for Scholarship examina? tion blanks. Scholarships are worth $100 and free tuition. The next session will . open September 21, 1910. For furth? er information and catalogue, address Pres. D. B. Johnson, Rock Hill. S. C. ? ? Don't Neglect Your Eyes? cell and have our optician examine your eyes if they are troubling you; by having this done you may not have to wear them long. But to continue straining them may necessitate you wearing them your lifetime. Our optical parlor is fitted with every device for thoroughly examin? ing the eye. We have installed a lense grinding plant and do our own lense grinding and driling; carry a stock of compound lense frame mountings and optical goods. We can fill your prescriptions at once properly; all work guaranteed Graduate optician In charge. W. A. Thompson, Jeweler and Optician. Phone 333. - - No. 6 S. Main St PATENTS f_ SROCU RED AND DEFENDED.Send model, rawing orphoto.tor expert tjearvh and free report. | Five advice, how to obtain patente, trade iuarlu, j copyright*.etc., )N ALL COUNTRIES. Business direct ici/h Washington saves ttme,\ money and often the patent. patent and Infringement Practice Exclusively. Write or come to u ? at B23 Nlnta Street, opp. United States Patent Office,| WASHINGTON. D. C. Anyone tending a sketch mnC description r?;?? quickly ascertain our op i free whether ss invention ts prohnM? v itent?bja, CommniilcA. tlontstrictlyronltdotitlnl. IIAHPUOOK on Patent* sent free. Oldest agency for secui nig patent Patents token throeeS Maan A Co. receive 'p'cial notice, without ehnree, lu the Scientific American. A handsomely lltastaetoi weekly. T,?reest cir? culation of any n ienUtfe )<>nrnal. Terma,SJa year: four niontlta, $L Sold by all newsdealers. MUNN & Co.38,B??*?? New York Branch ? *?~\ t% W St.. Washing, n. 1>. C Are You Looking for a Position? We can offer you good Paying Employment that you will enjoy and at home. Write to-day Iddrsss The Butter!ck Publishing Co. Bntterlek Building. New York, N. Y.