CHAPTER VI.
Subject: Economic Conditions.
Gist: “As a general conclusion it may be said that the Negro has not yet learned the first element of Anglo-Saxon thrift.”[55]
The Negro as a Farm Hand.
Attempt is made to show that the Negro has deteriorated as a farm laborer, and that as an industrial factor he has not held his own in the development of the resources of the South. With a process of reasoning with which we are fully familiar by this time, these assertions are sought to be upheld. The decline in agricultural interests throughout the country has had its effect upon the apparent efficiency of the farming class everywhere. The mad rush to the cities, with a vain hope of improvement in condition, has well nigh demoralized agricultural pursuits.
The Negro as an Industrial Factor.
The investigations which have been undertaken to determine the industrial efficiency of the Negro have shown results not unfavorable to him. The recent discharge of white workmen in the cotton mills of Charleston, and the substitution of colored workmen in their places, is quite significant. The hindrances which the Negro has to meet in the industrial field are fully suggested in the address to the public of the discharged white employes of the Charleston establishment: “If the colored man’s status precludes him from competing with the office-holder, it should exclude him from competing with our wives, sons, and daughters in the light pursuits of the country. We affirm, by our physical powers and brave hearts, not to sit supinely by and witness this Negro horde turned loose upon the pursuits of our mothers, our wives, our widows, our daughters, our sisters, and rob them of their living.”[56]
This is the solemn declaration of 800 workmen in the metropolis of South Carolina, and represents fairly the white labor sentiment of the South. The trades unions and labor organizations preach the same doctrine. If the alleged low industrial efficiency of the Negro is to be chargeable to race traits, it should be attributed to the domineering and intolerant race traits of the white workmen who are not disposed to give the colored man a fair chance. The fact that in almost every contention between white and colored workmen the employers take the side of the Negro, is an eloquent argument in behalf of the industrial merits of the latter; for these employers are in the business for profit and not for philanthropy.
Accumulation of Property.
The accumulation of property on the part of the blacks shows that in Georgia they own $12,941,230, in North Carolina $8,018,446, and in Virginia $13,933,908. The land held by the colored people in Virginia alone has an area nearly equal to that of the State of Rhode Island. These facts make a decidedly favorable showing.