riodical press and in conventions relating to the progress of the colored race, a great deal is made of the advance of the race since the abolition of slavery. It is asserted that the race has accumulated many hundreds of millions of dollars. Just how much, it is difficult to say. Authorities differ widely. The last Negro member of Congress,* in a speech delivered in the House of Representatives on January 29, 1901, undertook to give the advance of his race in the thirty-two preceding years. "Since that time," he says, "we have reduced the illiteracy of the race at least 45 per cent. We have written and published nearly 500 books. We have nearly 300 newspapers, three of which are dailies. We have now in practice over 2,000 lawyers and a corresponding number of doctors. We have accumulated over $12,000,000 worth of school property and about $40,000,000 of church property. We have about 140,000 farms and homes valued at in the neighborhood of $750,000,000, and personal property valued at about $170,000,000. We have 32,000 teachers in the schools of the country. We have built, with the aid of our friends, about 20,000 churches, and support 7 colleges, 17 academies, * George H. White, of North Carolina. what they call education, this so-called education is unaccompanied by any of the fruits of character which education is supposed to pro duce. Among these are many who esteem themselves in the first class, and, because of a veneer of education, are not infrequently confounded with them. The first two classes may easily be reckoned with. They contain the elements which make good citizens and which should enable them to secure all proper recognition and respect. They need no weapon but that which they possess good citizenship. Unfortunately, the great body of the race, and a vast percentage of the growing generation, belong to the third class. It is this class. which has to be reckoned with. It is like a vast sluggish mass of uncooled lava over a large section of the country, burying some portions and affecting the whole. It is apparently harmless, but beneath its surface smoulder fires which may at any time burst forth unexpectedly and spread desolation all around. It is this mass, increasing from beneath, not from above, which constitutes the Negro question. In the discussion that takes place in the pe what they call education, tion is unaccompanied by character which education duce. Among these ar themselves in the first cla veneer of education, are founded with them. The first two classes m with. They contain the good citizens and which secure all proper recogniti need no weapon but that good citizenship. Unfortunately, the gr and a vast percentage of tion, belong to the third which has to be reckoned It is like a vast slug lava over a large section ing some portions and a is apparently harmless, 1 smoulder fires which may unexpectedly and spread It is this mass, increasi from above, which const tion. In the discussion that THELINCHING OF NEGROES ITS CAUSE AND ITS PREVENTION* with this question the writer "Inch Law," by Albert and reciting a score or so ach Law had been applied (his War's Life of Patrick Henry, 1818, sing as follows: and other material in my pos in the early days of lynch law, THERNER'S PROBLEM 87 groes furnish most of the ravishthat all Negroes are rapists. lynching in this country has, at other, become so frequent that it e interest of the whole people, rested the attention of people in corresponding manlier of Bacons. The five accumulated we stof property and de Sof property. We have some form an It has usually been caused by ith which crime was committed ciency of the law in dealing ers through its regular forms. ance, were the acts of the Vigi were sometimes punished, and suits for no means unknown; that, about 1830, e practice as on the wane and likely soon ether; that before about 1835 the victims e generally whites, occasionally Indians, s; that soon after 1830 a revival of lynch lue to the anti-slavery agitation, and the roughout the country; that between 1830 "lynch" underwent a change in meaning began to acquire the sense of to put to ng the same period Negroes were first ut 1835, we first hear of "Judge Lynch"; ars, lynching has been confined largely, wholly, to Negroes in the South and West. that there is a direct historical connection ng of a Negro in a highly civilized comnd the whipping of a white man along the Step by step, the illegal whippings of > the illegal burnings alive of 1902. In ivilized the country has become, the more he punishment meted out under lynch law." |