On the other hand, the settled belief of the mass of
the Negroes that the Southern white people do not have the
black man's best interests at heart has been intensified in later
years by this continual daily contact of the better class of
blacks with the worst representatives of the white race.
Coming now to the economic relations of the races, we are
on ground made familiar by study, much discussion, and no
little philanthropic effort. And yet with all this there are many
essential elements in the cooperation of Negroes and whites
for work and wealth that are too readily overlooked or not
thoroughly understood. The average American can easily con-
ceive of a rich land awaiting development and filled with
black laborers. To him the Southern problem is simply that of
making efficient workingmen out of this material, by giving
them the requisite technical skill and the help of invested
capital. The problem, however, is by no means as simple as
this, from the obvious fact that these workingmen have been
trained for centuries as slaves. They exhibit, therefore, all the
advantages and defects of such training; they are willing and
good-natured, but not self-reliant, provident, or careful.
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