If this is true of the whites, what of the
blacks? I am becoming more and more convinced, as I look
upon the system of common-school training in the South, that
the national government must soon step in and aid popular
education in some way. To-day it has been only by the most
strenuous efforts on the part of the thinking men of the South
that the Negro's share of the school fund has not been cut
down to a pittance in some half-dozen States; and that move-
ment not only is not dead, but in many communities is
gaining strength. What in the name of reason does this nation
expect of a people, poorly trained and hard pressed in severe
economic competition, without political rights, and with ludi-
crously inadequate common-school facilities? What can it
expect but crime and listlessness, offset here and there by the
dogged struggles of the fortunate and more determined who
are themselves buoyed by the hope that in due time the country
will come to its senses?
I have thus far sought to make clear the physical, eco-
nomic, and political relations of the Negroes and whites in
the South, as I have conceived them, including, for the
reasons set forth, crime and education.
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