The Negro Problem

It might be profitable to my readers, after having sketched my life in

the army, to give some of my views pertaining to my race, relative to

the Civil War and the time since then.

Much is being said and written on the so-called Negro Problem. Why

it has taken this name, I have never been able to decide. For when

we examine into its intricacies, we find that it is the White Man’s

problem also. And certainly it is true, that if this problem is ever

settled in this country on a proper basis, it will be settled when the

White and the Colored people come together on some practical basis of

agreement. There are more than ten millions of Colored people in this

country and they are here to stay. They have paid at least a part of

the debt which they owe to the nation, on the battlefield. They have

never shirked their duty in this respect and they never will. Soldiers

during both the Civil and the Spanish-American wars, demonstrated the

fact that they are patriotic to the core and that on the battlefield

they are not afraid of the belching cannon. They have done their duty

in this regard. And when we look into the history of the Colored

people since the Civil War we are satisfied that the progress which

has been made, is a most satisfactory one. It is acknowledged by some

of the leading White men of the nation, that the progress of the Negro

Race since the Rebellion has been unparalleled in history.

But that there is much to be done by my own people yet, is evident. We

have just begun the work of our race. A race that is not over fifty

years old in the arts of civilization, is but an infant in swaddling

clothes. We are to wait until he is able to walk and especially

to work. The Negro Race in this country has a most trying ordeal

before it. It is one of the most difficult of undertakings, to work

out our destiny in a land of such high civilization as that of this

country. While on the one hand it would seem an easier task in such

a civilization, because of the advantages which we have thrown about

us; on the other hand, there are probably more disadvantages. And

why? For the simple reason that the Colored man comes out of the past

without the centuries of training which the White man has. He comes

out of the past without any history. He comes out of the past in a

crude condition, untrained and with the curse of slavery still resting

on him. It will take time for him to prepare himself to compete with

the White man and compete he must! The Colored people must wake up to

the fact that they have to pay for everything that they get in this

country. The mystic “mule and forty acres,” promised by Uncle Sam, has

never been forthcoming. And this is but an indication of any other

mystic gifts that we might dream of in days to come. It will be by the

dint of hard labor, that the Colored man will rise and make his mark.

There are many features of this situation which we will be compelled to

look into and many conditions which we must face, as men.

I have often asked myself the question, why is it that on our railroads

and street car tracks, there is such a lack of our working men? We

see thousands upon thousands of white men, chiefly foreigners. There

was a time when the larger portion of railroad laborers was Colored

men. There are two or three reasons for this which are obvious. One

is that the foreigner will work for a cheaper wage and will live on

less than the Colored man. He is willing to undergo certain hardships

and privations that the Colored man does not undergo. I am not willing

to concede that he is a better workman than the Colored man, for the

Colored man has proven his ability as a laborer along every line of

work. Another reason is that the White man may be more reliable. He

can be depended on with more certainty. And at this point let me say

that if the Colored race is ever to take its place in the mart of

trade, it must become more reliable.

Promises must be kept. When a man agrees to work for six days in the

week, for a certain number of weeks, he must stay his time out and

do his work. It is not a question of his disliking the work or the

employer, but the question of his fidelity to his trust. For this

reason, that the Colored man is not faithful to his promises, he has

been discounted in the field of manual labor. The more important the

job of the employer, the more important the fidelity of the employee.

No employer wishes to undertake an extensive and costly piece of work

and be dependent on a class of labor that may fail him at the place

where he needs steady, persistent work. So he will, in making his

choice select that class of labor that will stick to him through thick

and thin. Fidelity to a trust is one of the essentials of man and

womanhood that must be cultivated among my people. If I am correctly

informed, I understand that in our large cities, our girls are not

holding their own as house servants. They are being set aside for the

White girls and these for the most part are foreigners also. Here

is a large and remunerative field that will be ultimately closed

to our girls if they do not take hold of the situation and meet all

competition. Surely it is due us, if we make good, to receive the

labor that is being given out on every hand. We were here before the

foreigner and are the native laborers of the country. And the country

owes it to us to give our race the labor of the field, of the trades

and of the homes, if we merit it. I greatly fear, however, that we do

not merit it. We need more sterling worth among us.

The cities are becoming the great centers of my people and in these

cities there is plenty to do. The work is there. It must be done. My

people must live. They must have money to live. They should get this

money honestly, and this means by work. But suppose that the Colored

people of the cities, both North and South, fail in getting their

portion of the work that is to be done, how are they going to live?

That is the question. And we are sure of this conclusion, that if a

man does not earn his bread by the sweat of his brow, which is the

Divinely appointed way to earn it, that he will be forced to earn it

in some dishonorable manner. He will be forced to become more or less

a criminal. He will become a menace rather than a benefit, to the

community in which he lives. So that unless my people look to their

own welfare in our cities there is an ever growing future of darkness

for them. I need not stop to tell of the unsanitary conditions in

which they live. These conditions are enough to deplete their living

greatly every year. I need not talk of the crowded tenement houses of

the city where many persons of both sexes are frequently huddled into

one room and many families into one house. I need not tell of the bawdy

houses, the gambling dens and the saloons, thickly scattered through

the sections of the city where the Colored people live. It is enough to

damn them all. I need not tell of the growing criminal class among the

Negroes in the cities and of the recruits that flow in from the South

every year. I need not speak of the White and the Black Slave traffic

among the young girls of both races. The cities are the death centers

of the Negro race, unless there is something radically done to overtake

these conditions. This, of course, is the dark side of the picture,

but I have not painted it as dark as it is. It would be impossible

to do this. It might be profitable for my readers, when they are in

Philadelphia, to visit South street and its adjoining streets, that

they may see with their own eyes, the signs of infamy, idleness and

debauch among my people. You will find scores of young men there well

dressed, simply straggling about. How do they live? Why are they not

at work? The dens of infamy hidden in houses answer to their vocations.

It would be well in our cities to have such municipal regulations that

such loafers, male or female, could be arrested, unless they could

show that they were actually engaged in some legitimate work. Unless

something of the kind is done in the cities, they will become more and

more the cess pools of sin and death, and into these pools thousands

upon thousands of my people will be thrown annually to sink to hell!

There is not only the obstacle of instability which my people must

overcome in order that they may get and hold the place that they

should have in the field of labor, but the Trades Unions are rapidly

closing up these fields against the Colored laborers. The basis of the

opposition to the Colored people is primarily the desire to eliminate

him from the ordinary industrial lines of work that he will not be

able to compete with the White man. Of course, if he is not permitted

to work there is no danger of competition. This is the real cause of

the opposition of Labor Unions to the Colored laborer, but this cause

is hidden, and the outward cause is, because his skin is black. They

do not want to work by the side of the black man. This, however is

but a good excuse in the mouth of the white man for it is accepted

as satisfactory by the white employer. An examination into labor

conditions in our Northern cities reveals a deplorable condition so far

as the Colored man is concerned. He cannot get a job calling for the

skilled artisan however skilled he may be. The Union will not permit

him to win his bread by the sweat of his brow. He cannot work because

he is not allowed to work. What is to be done for hundreds of laborers

who are thus excluded from the fields of honest livelihood? There is

no likelihood that these avenues will ever be opened and unless he can

find employment among his own people of what value is his skill as an

artisan to him and of what use is the acquiring of such a training?

The only answer to this question is that the Colored laborer must

thoroughly prepare himself and be on the ground ready for action.

He must be patient. He must be prepared to meet every objectional

condition with manliness and kindness, for the odds are against him.

There are many lessons that we have learned and there are many lessons

yet to be learned. New conditions in this most complex civilization

must be met with the application of the principles of fidelity,

honesty, industry, and the like, or we will never win for the race in

this country.

Another great need of my people is the ownership of their homes. This

makes the people, citizens in the most realistic sense, they pay

taxes and have the right of representation on such basis. They become

independent. They are then able to lay up some money. They are prepared

to enjoy life in its real and true sense. They will command the respect

of the White race and share with them the burdens of government in

times of peace. They become producers to some degree. There cannot

be said too much in favor of the gospel of ownership in this form of

government. It is our sheet-anchor of hope. The money that is paid out

annually for rent if invested through the right channels will in a few

years pay for the rented house. The time seems to be drawing closer

when it will be more difficult for a Colored man to buy good property.

There are many sections now in our cities from which the Colored man

is eliminated as a purchaser. The rule is to confine him to certain

undesirable sections of the city. This can be overcome to some degree

by the practice of economy and the purchase in the next few years of

homes.

I wish it to be known that I am by no means a pessimist, regarding

my people. The same God made my race that made the White race and He

has a destiny for us and He is with us that we may reach that destiny.

But I realize that we have our own part to perform and that it must be

done on the foundation of certain great principles which God Himself

has taught us in His Book. It is in recognition of these eternal laws

that I speak, these principles will stand forever and the people that

puts them into daily practice, will abide with the principles, but the

people who violate them must go down.

I am deeply interested in the education of the ministry of the race.

There are thousands of Colored preachers whose education is sadly

deficient. They are really not capable of doing the work of ministry

either in or out of the pulpit, and yet they are leading millions of

the people. In a most peculiar sense the Colored pastor is the leader

of his flock. The members of the church follow him and that too almost

blindly. They will condone his faults, overlook his ignorance, and

receive what he says as “The law and the Gospel.” That the people are

disposed to this most kindly attitude toward their ministers is most

praiseworthy, but that in many cases the ministers are unworthy of

such confidence is most lamentable. It has been carefully estimated

that only about ten per cent of the pastors who have been ordained are

college men and that the average education of the Colored minister

is not above the seventh or eighth grade of the common school, with

practically no Bible or Theological training. This is a sad state of

affairs when we consider that the minister is the leader of the people.

And I am sorry to say that the disposition to improve themselves is

not apparent on the part of many of these ministers. They rather make

pretensions and hide behind these pretensions, they mask themselves

behind the smattering of an education, and think that they are passing

for educated men; but how sadly they are deceived. How this condition

is to be remedied is yet to be seen. It is evident that the present

system of ministerial education in vogue is not sufficient for the

need. Out of over fifteen hundred young men who enter the ministry

yearly, only ten per cent are graduated in the Theological course of

all our schools. The schools of the United States doing Theological

Training for the ministry of the Negro race are therefore not beginning

to do the work.

I might mention in this connection that there is an organization which

is beginning this work in the right manner, The Bible Educational

Association, with headquarters in Philadelphia, Pa. This is an

association of Bible colleges or schools. These schools are located

where they are needed and maintained by the Association. By the plan

of this Association schools can be established where the ministers

are located as pastors and the advantages of this training is thereby

brought to their very doors. The Bible College of Philadelphia and the

Bible College of Washington, D. C., both schools of this Association

are doing a great work. The ministers are being greatly benefited by

taking the practical and helpful courses. These schools train also

young men for the ministry.

There is much more that I might say on this great subject of the

Negro Problem, but time and space will not allow. Whatever course

may be pursued and plans adopted, it must always be remembered that

“They labor in vain, except the Lord build the house.” Our plans are

like the nests of mice, the straw before the wind, the dust in the

gale, they amount to nothing without God’s co-operation. And His

co-operation cannot be had without our obedience to His laws and

commands. The people of this country of both races have much to learn

of vital Godliness. The prejudice which exists in both races, the

hatred and antagonism engendered thereby, the separation of the races

in educational and religious matters, are all parts of the condition

which we are forced to face and in some manner to meet. Both races must

know each other better. They must recognize the rights and privileges

of manhood and womanhood. They must build promotion, on merit and

service, on ability, regardless of the color of the skin or previous

condition of servitude. All must become the followers of the Meek and

Lowly Christ, and they will be brothers and our brothers’ keepers.

There is no Fatherhood of God and Brotherhood of Man, excepting on this

foundation. Whether I live to see it or not, the Negro problem will

never be settled, unless on this basis.