_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.