cities of the South are due to ignorance; vice; debauchery; poor food,
illy prepared; unsanitary environments; their habitation in the
over-crowded tenement houses; in old stables; damp cellars; and low,
damp sections and in narrow, filthy alleys, where the foul air,
improper nourishment, poor ventilation and the want of personal
cleanliness, furnish the proper condition for the development of
disease and death. Correct these conditions and educate the people up
to a thorough knowledge of and a strict compliance of the laws of
health and the problem is solved. The death-rate among our people will
not only be lessened, but I believe the Negro will outlive any other
people on earth.
SIXTH PAPER.
WHAT ARE THE CAUSES OF THE GREAT MORTALITY AMONG THE NEGROES IN THE
CITIES OF THE SOUTH, AND HOW IS THAT MORTALITY TO BE LESSENED?
BY HENRY R. BUTLER, A. M., M. D.
[Illustration: H. R. Butler, A. M., M. D.]
HENRY R. BUTLER, A. M., M. D.
Dr. Butler was born in Cumberland county, North Carolina,
April 11, 1862. His early life was spent on the farm, during
which time he received at odd times three months' free
school instruction.
In 1874 his parents moved to Wilmington; there he worked in
saw mills, lumber yards, with the cotton compresses and as a
stevedore. He spent his nights studying under Prof. E. E.
Green, now Dr. E. E. Green of Macon, Ga. January 3, through
the assistance of his instructor, he entered Lincoln
University, Pa., and was graduated June 18, 1887, receiving
the degree of A. B.; October, the same year, he matriculated
in Meharry Medical College, Nashville, Tenn., graduating
with the degree of M. D. February 27, 1890. The same year
the degree of A. M. was conferred on him by Lincoln
University. While at Nashville he won the H. T. Noel gold
medal for proficiency in operative surgery and dissecting.
He arrived in Atlanta March, 1890, and began the practice of
medicine. He was one of the organizers of the first drug
store owned and operated by colored men in Georgia. It was
known as Butler, Slater & Co. He was organizer and first
president of the Empire State Medical Association of colored
physicians. He was appointed surgeon of the Second Georgia
Battalion, colored volunteers, in 1891, with rank of first
lieutenant, by the Honorable W. J. Northern, then governor.
May 5, 1893, he married Miss Salina May Sloan of Atlanta, a
graduate of Spellman Seminary, who has been a most faithful,
loving and helpful companion. He took a special course in
the diseases of children in 1894 at the Harvard School of
Medicine, Boston, Mass. In 1895, in the same school he took
a special course in surgery. November 1, 1900, H. R. Butler,
Jr. came, adding new blessings and happiness to his home and
life. Dr. Butler is the first and so far the only colored
man to be a regular contributor to the great Southern daily,
_The Atlanta Constitution_. He has held that position since
1895. He was three years president of the Y. M. C. A. of
colored men. He was four years physician and surgeon in
charge at Spellman Seminary, and is now holding a similar
position in Morris Brown College, and is organizing a nurse
training department to that institution. He owns some
valuable real-estate, besides a beautiful home on Auburn
avenue. He has a large and lucrative practice. He is Grand
Master of Masons of the Jurisdiction Georgia, is grand
Medical Register of the Knights of Pythias. His life is
truly full, every moment of his time is taken.
The causes of excessive mortality among the colored people in Southern
cities are _said_ to be _many_ and have been discussed from just as
many points of view by students of the social status of this people.
But after several years of professional service among these colored
people, which service gave me an opportunity to more closely study
them, their faults, habits, needs, methods of living and their
knowledge of hygiene and its laws, I have calmly reached the
conclusion that the want of money is the main cause of the excessive
mortality of this people. It is true that there are several minor
causes, _but all_ have their origin in the one mentioned.
Among the most prominent of these _minor_ causes may be mentioned
_Ignorance_ and _Poverty_. Let us briefly consider the first of these.
The colored people have made wonderful progress in the acquirement of
knowledge since emancipation, and this improvement has played no small
part in reducing their excessive death-rate. Yet from this height we
look down and see the great masses of these people still held in the
death-like grip of _ignorance_. To these, education has taken no
knowledge of clean homes, pure air, ventilation, soap and water and
other things conducive to good health. These are they who to-day are
falling so rapidly before the great reaper, _death_.
It is a truth known to the profession, health departments and students
of this subject that most of the deaths of the great human family
occur between birth and the ages of five years. The children of the
colored race are not an exception to the above statement.
If the children of the intelligent, good, better and best die fast, it
stands to reason that those of the ignorant, bad and poor would die
even faster, and this is just what I have found to be the case.
Ofttimes, among the lowly masses, ignorance is the first to take
charge of the babies at birth; it sticks a slice of fat meat in their
innocent little mouths immediately after birth; it rocks the cradle;
it fills their little stomachs with all kinds of decoctions, of teas
and whiskies to bring out the "hives;" yea, ignorance feeds these
little ones on all kinds of solid foods before they are able to digest
them, until it finally feeds the grave with the bodies of its little
victims.
Even when manhood and womanhood are reached, _ignorance_,
_ghost-like_, stands forbidding the ventilation and cleaning of homes;
it says: "It's too cold to bathe;" it sends men and women to bed in
wet and damp clothes and does many other acts that multiply the graves
in the old church-yard on the hill.
We come now to consider _poverty_. Oh, what an enemy it is, and has
been, to the human family! It makes its home mostly among the
ignorant, and especially among the masses. In the cities of the South
the great masses are colored people. Hence it is among these that
poverty sits enthroned--a sceptered king ruling amid disease and
death. It retards the masses of the race in their march to the city of
improvement; it prevents them from having larger and cleaner and
better homes; with its bony fingers it points them to the cheap
renting huts in alleys, dens, dives and basements of cities, and
commands them to enter and die; it follows them into the market places
and fills their baskets with cheap adulterated and semi-decayed
food-stuffs; aided by prejudice and man's inhumanity to man, it drives
the colored people from the healthy country districts into the
crowded, sickly settlements of the Southern cities, where they soon
sicken and die.
Poverty, supplemented by ignorance, and the want of the true Christian
spirit, stands in the doorways of the public hospitals, infirmaries
and libraries where aids to health are to be found and forbids these
people to enter either on account of their color or the "want of
space." Poverty keeps these people from building such institutions for
themselves.
Again, the colored people of Southern cities constitute the great
labor force, hence most of the diseases that result from exposure are
more prevalent among them than they are among the white race.
Those diseases that result from improper foods, poor sanitation, want
of pure air, need of better homes and want of public parks and baths,
together with those untimely deaths due to the want of proper medical
attention, good nursing and surgical operations at the right time are
more extensive among the colored masses because they are the ones
that suffer the privations mentioned to a greater extent than any
other people.
Along with the observations already mentioned on this subject, and
which observations have led me to reach the conclusion that "the want
of money" is at the base of this excessive mortality, is this
encouraging fact--that the colored people are not dying now as fast as
they were even a decade ago. The reason of this is not far to seek.
The truth of the matter is, these people are growing in wealth and
intelligence and in proportion as they have acquired these essential
qualities their mortality has decreased.
I have observed in my practice that those who live in good, clean,
well ventilated homes have no more sickness and deaths than white
citizens of equal intelligence and wealth. I now call to mind, here in
Atlanta twenty homes of colored citizens which are fitted and
furnished with all modern conveniences, including heating and baths.
The owners are well-educated and spend much time and money in keeping
their homes and yards clean and in good sanitary condition. What I
wish to say is this, in twelve years' time only two deaths have
occurred in that circle of twenty homes, and one of these was a baby
whose death was due to an accident, and the other was an aged person
whose death was the result of Bright's disease. Does not this speak
volumes to prove the truth of my position? What I have observed here
in Atlanta relative to the _real_ causes and prevention of this
excessive mortality is true in other Southern cities.
It is no doubt plain to the reader that I have not mentioned here a
single cause upon which this excessive mortality rests, but that which
money can remove. That being true, what is the conclusion of the whole
matter? It is simply _this_:
1st. Pay the masses sufficient wages to remove their ignorance and
poverty, to build better homes and to furnish and equip them with
baths and other things necessary and conducive to good health, to
purchase proper food-stuffs, fuel and comfortable clothing.
2d. The cities should enlarge their present hospital facilities, or
build others especially for these people, cities and towns that have
no such facilities should provide them at once, parks, public baths
and libraries should be opened by the cities for the poor.
It is simply a matter of money, before that mighty king, ignorance and
poverty, together with all their allies, take flight.
TOPIC XIII.
WHAT SHOULD BE THE NEGRO'S ATTITUDE IN POLITICS?
BY HON. GEORGE H. WHITE.
[Illustration: Hon. George H. White]
HON. GEORGE H. WHITE, LL. D.
Mr. White was born in a log cabin, located at the confluence
of "Richland Branch" and "Slap Swamp" in Bladen County,
North Carolina, near the line of Columbus County, remote
from cities and towns. His maternal grandmother was
half-Indian and his paternal grandmother was Irish,
full-blood. His other admixture is facetiously described as
"mostly Negro." His early boyhood was a struggle for bread
and a very little butter, his schooling being necessarily
neglected. He usually attended two or three months in the
year. Later, by dint of toil, and saving a few dollars, he
was able to secure training under Prof. D. P. Allen,
President of the Whitten Normal School at Lumberton, N. C.,
and afterwards entered Howard University at Washington,
graduating from the eclectic department in 1877. Believing
that he could best serve his race and himself as an advocate
of justice, he read law while taking the academic course,
completing his reading under Judge William J. Clarke, of
North Carolina, and was licensed to practice in all courts
of that State by the Supreme Court in 1879.
Although Mr. White has won marked success in several walks
of life, as lawyer, teacher and business man, it is his
political achievements that have won for him not only a
national reputation, but have evoked no small degree of
comment from the press and diplomats of many of the
countries of the old world. It is worthy of remark that up
to this time, at the age of forty-nine, he has never held an
appointive office, his commissions coming invariably from
the hands of the sovereign people direct. He was elected to
the North Carolina House of Representatives in 1880, and to
the State Senate in 1884; was elected solicitor and
prosecuting attorney for the second judicial district of
North Carolina for four years in 1886, and for a like term
in 1890; was nominated for Congress in 1894, but withdrew in
the interest of harmony in his party. He made the race for
Congress in 1896 and was triumphantly elected by a majority
of 4,000, reversing a normal democratic majority of over
5,000--a change of fully 9,000 votes, indicating in no
uncertain tone the confidence and esteem in which he was
held by his friends and neighbors. He was re-elected in
1898. His services as a legislator were conscientious and
valuable. At the close of his second term, he delivered a
valedictory to the country, which was universally praised as
the best, truest and most timely expression of the Negro's
plea for equality of citizenship that ever rang through the
halls of Congress. The speech was widely circulated, and was
favorably commented upon by the leading newspapers of the
nation.
Mr. White has accumulated quite a handsome fortune, his
wealth being estimated at from $20,000 to $30,000. His
personal popularity and the respect for his ability are
attested by the fact that several honorary degrees have been
conferred upon him by a number of the noted educational
institutions of the land.
Mr. White is a thirty-third degree Mason. For six years he
was Grand Master of Masons for the State of North Carolina,
having filled most of the subordinate offices in that body
before his elevation to the Grand Mastership.
Since his retirement from Congress, Mr. White has been
engaged in the practice of law in Washington, D. C., and so
favorably has he impressed his qualifications upon the bench
and bar of the national capital that one of the judges
publicly, and without precedent, complimented him in open
court and set his methods up as an example for other lawyers
who practice there. Eminent as are his abilities, Mr. White
is proverbially modest. Of strong character, well-balanced
mind and an unswerving sense of justice, liberal in views
upon all subjects, political, social or religious,
companionable in private life, unostentatious in manner of
living or in the bestowal of charity, ready to sacrifice
personal convenience to serve the worthy, Mr. White is
indeed a typical American. The Negro people, in slavery or
freedom, as serfs or citizens, offer no model more
inspiring, no picture more inviting.
In presenting this subject to the public, I shall endeavor to treat it
from a broad and liberal standpoint, eliminating all selfishness or
individual political bias, and viewing the situation from the
standpoint of an American citizen.
The first prerequisite to good government in a republic, is purity in
the ballot. No stream can be pure unless its source is pure; neither
can a republic hope for just and fair laws and the administration and
execution of them, unless there is purity and fairness in the sources
from whence these cardinal principles of government spring. Laws
should be enacted for the whole people and not for individuals, races
or sections--thereby securing the support and retaining the confidence
of all the parts of our heterogeneous compact, to the end that a
homogeneous whole may move in the same direction for the good of all
concerned.
The Negroes ask for--and as a part of this republic--have a right to
demand the perpetuation of these basic principles of our government.
While we are young in citizenship, and admit having made many
political mistakes, yet we are willing that the search-light of reason
be thrown upon our acts, and a fair and impartial verdict rendered as
to our conduct, when all the circumstances surrounding our variegated
political history are taken into consideration. Liberated,
enfranchised and turned loose among our former masters, who could not
take kindly to our new citizenship, we naturally sought friendship and
political alliance with those claiming to be our best friends--those
who had been instrumental in obtaining our freedom. These new friends
came largely from the Federal army, interspersed with many adventurers
who followed in the wake of that army, seeking strange fields in which
to ply their vocations. Many of these new-comers proved to be true
friends to the Negro of the South and led us on and taught us as a
faithful guardian would teach and care for his wards. But the great
majority of them were wholly unscrupulous and worked upon the
ignorance, inexperience and gullibility of the Negro, overtime, to
place themselves into positions where they had unlimited sway. The
result that followed was most natural--the use of public trust for
private gain, the looting of many of the Southern states, the
political degradation of the Negro, and the complete estrangement
between him and his former neighbors. When all these things were
accomplished, these human cormorants betook themselves to their
Northern homes to live in ease and splendor on the results of their
pillage, while the black man was left in the South to endure
disfranchisement, torture and murder on account of the malice and
hatred begotten from his first political experience.
Surrounded by such environments, the suppression of his right of
franchise, the open and notorious examples of fraud, ballot-box
stuffing and intimidation practiced in every Southern election for the
last thirty years, on the one hand, and the unfaithfulness,
"Jingoism," the free offering of bribes and the continued practice of
duplicity, on the part of those claiming to be his friends, on the
other hand, no fair-minded man would expect to find complete political
perfection among a people thus treated. Thus has the Negro been
obstructed, not only in politics, but his civil rights have been
denied him, and the doors of many industries are closed against him.
But let us turn our faces away from all the horrors of slavery,
reconstruction and all kindred wrongs which have been heaped upon us,
and stand up, measuring the full statue of an American citizen, upon
the threshold of the new century as a New Man. The slave who has grown
out of the ashes of thirty-five years ago, is inducted into the
political and social system, cast into the arena of manhood, where he
constitutes a new element and becomes a competitor for all its
emoluments. He is put upon trial, to test his ability to be accounted
worthy of freedom, worthy of the elective franchise. After all these
years of struggle against almost insurmountable odds, under conditions
but little removed from slavery itself, he asks a fair and just
judgment, not of those whose prejudice has endeavored to forestall--to
frustrate--his every forward movement; rather those who have lent a
helping hand that he might demonstrate the truth of "The fatherhood of
God and the brotherhood of man."
In a nation like ours, blessed with peace, plenty and full of
prosperity; filled with the spirit of "Expansion," sound money and a
protective tariff; when there is a disposition to forget all sectional
lines, and to know no North, no South, no East, no West, but having
all to stand out in bold relief as one reunited whole, when one
political party slaps the other upon the shoulder with a knowing look
and a smile indicating the fraternal feeling everywhere present, the
question naturally comes home to every colored American, "What should
be the Negro's attitude in politics?" Constituting as we do,
one-eighth of the entire population of this Nation, the Negro's
political attitude should be a firm stand for the right, the support
of honest men for office, the advocacy of strong, pure American
policies, an unceasing contention for fair elections, a pure ballot, a
complete repudiation of any party or man who seeks to bribe, or in any
way to hamper or degrade him politically. Should he become
self-effaced, politically? No, never! He should, at all times, contend
wisely, firmly for every right accorded to other American citizens
under the organic laws of the nation. He should identify himself with
that political party which proves to be the most friendly towards him.
There is very little in a name. Results should be sought, and the
Negro should never waver until they are obtained. This will
necessitate a division of the Negro vote. No fixed rule can be
established as a political guide for him, any more than it can be done
for any other people. The location, environment, men and measures
sought to be obtained, should guide him. The political pathway for the
future may seem dark and discouraging, but nothing daunted, we should
continue to press forward, contending for every inch of our rights--no
right which man enjoys aside from his own household should be guarded
more sacredly than his right of franchise--a right which makes each
one a sovereign in himself; a right which determines what laws shall
govern us, who shall construe them and execute them.
I am not unmindful of the fact that the views here expressed, may
sound rather Utopian. But in this age of rush and bustle for place,
preferment and national gain, by individuals and the nation; and in an
age when anarchists, lynchers and murderers set at defiance all law
and government; in an age when, in certain sections of the country,
the ballot-box ceases to stand as an exponent of the registered will
of the people, but stands rather as a political cesspool of reeking
rottenness, impregnating the national atmosphere with germs of discord
that may yet stagnate and throttle the Union; in such an age, it is
quite necessary that a halt should be called; a reckoning had, and
that these small, though dangerous political sores should be lanced
from the body politic before they develop into putrifying cancers that
will destroy the life of the republic.
From any view that may be taken of the present political situation, it
is apparent that the time is ripe for the colored American to think
and act for himself. If he reasons correctly, he will certainly reach
the conclusion that right must some day prevail; and in order that he
may enjoy the resultant blessings flowing from a pure ballot, the
colored man must set the pace, and thereby place himself in a position
to command respect and proper recognition. "He who would have equity
must first do equity."
The Negro's loyalty to his friends, his impressionable soul, his
devotion to church, his yearning for education and enlightenment, his
thrift, industry, devotion to country, fidelity to the flag shown upon
hundreds of battle-fields, must be admitted and command the admiration
of all fair-minded men. Let him add to all these attributes, purity in
all things; let him cultivate a love for justice and fair play, live
as an example for his neighbors, ally himself with the best men in the
community or state where he lives, and the day must certainly come
when his rights--political and civil--will be conceded to him.
Let us learn what is _right_ and then dare to do the _right_; ever
pressing forward to higher and nobler things; never lagging, but
remember, "That constant effort will remove the mountain, and that
continued dripping will wear away the stone."
SECOND PAPER.
WHAT SHOULD BE THE NEGRO'S ATTITUDE IN POLITICS?
BY T. T. FORTUNE
[Illustration: T. Thomas Fortune]
TIMOTHY THOMAS FORTUNE.
Timothy Thomas fortune, the subject of this sketch, is an
author, a journalist, an agitator and a lecturer.
Mr. Fortune's grandmother was a mulatto, and his grandfather
a Seminole Indian. Thomas was born of slave parents in
Florida in 1856. His father took an important and active
part in the reconstruction of Florida, being a delegate in
the Constitutional Convention that framed the present
constitution of Florida, and a member of the first five
sessions of the reconstituted Florida Legislature.