He must be able to compete with the skilled white labor, ready to crowd the South, or he must go to the rear. This is a stern fact, becoming more and more patent daily.
I am not speaking only of the Negro as a domestic servant, carpenter, brick-mason, and other occupations of the cities, but of him as a farmer. Sentimentality, which has had much to do with holding the Negro and white man together in their relation of employer and employe, is fast giving way to business principles which are to govern the future South. If my forty acres can be made to produce more by A's method of farming than by B's, A is a more scientific, skilled and desirable tenant, so B must stand aside. This is the "Negro problem", in its relation to labor, in a nut shell.
I wish I could impress you with the importance and the opportunity of monopolizing the cotton production of the South. I wish I could arouse every Negro in the South to seize this opportunity which may pass away in the next decade. Scientifically cultivated, there is money in cotton. For two hundred years it was the South's only source of income. It now brings to the South $300,000,000 per annum.
The white people of the South, if they were inclined, are as illy prepared to part from the Negro as a laborer, as the Negro is to seek service elsewhere. A breaking of the present relations and the introduction of white servants, would necessitate a change of the social system of the South, which southern people hold as sacred as life. So, while there are some things which seem to demand an exchange of labor, there are certain other things which appear to be able to hold haste in check. But, how will the Negro remain in the market? How will he keep himself from being elbowed from the brick walls, the forge, the bench, the embankment, the kitchen, the dray, and other places? This brings me, in answering these questions, to the consideration of
X. The Laborer's Education and Home.
1. Education.—An old Spartan King was asked by an anxious father what he should teach his son. The king replied: "Teach him those things which he will practice when he becomes a man." This is the correct principle of education. A father should study the abilities and capacities of his children, and encourage them to follow the inclinations of their talents. A boy who has a mind for mechanics, or mathematics, or agriculture, cannot be made a doctor. Money spent on his medical education is money misspent.
I have shown above that only about one in every two hundred colored persons are engaged in the law, medicine, clergy, and other professional and literary pursuits. I do not pretend to question the Negro's ability to attain the acme in these vocations. I concede it and verily believe it. But I am dealing in cold facts, not speculation nor sentimentality. Again, I do not doubt that with the growth of population, the increase in learning and property among the Negroes, there will be a corresponding increase, yes, larger increase in the number engaged in the professions, and in the trades and personal service—as merchants, clerks, etc., etc. As shown above, only five in every two hundred of the whole population engaged in occupations, in the United States and Territories, are in the six professions mentioned. Of the Negro race, only about ½ of one per cent., or one in every two hundred, are so engaged.
The bread winners, or working population, are only 39½ per cent. of the whole population of the country, and are distributed as follows:
| Agriculture | 7,670,493 |
| Professional and personal service | 4,074,238 |
| Trade and transportation | 1,810,256 |
| Manufacturing, mechanical and mining industries | 3,837,112 |
| ————— | |
| 17,392,099 |
It is easily seen that nearly one-half of our working population must be educated for agriculture; not quite one fourth for professional and personal service; about one-eighth for trade and transportation, and a few more than one-fourth for manufacturing, mechanical and mining pursuits. There are certain fundamental principles common to all education. After these are inculcated, the aim should be to develop the individual for his life work, or prepare him for that occupation which is to bring him bread.