t &ugu£tme'£ IXecorb c 2 Vol. XXV EALEIGH, N. 0., COMMENCEMENT NUMBER, 1920 No. 5 THE NEGRO IN NORTH CAROLINA AND THE SOUTH His Fifty-five Years of Freedom and What He Has Done (Commencement Address at St. Augustine's School, Raleigh, N. C, May 26, 1920, by Chief Justice Walter Clark, of North Carolina) Mr. President, and Gentlemen, of the Faculty, and Board of Trustees and Friends: At the close of the great Civil War the colored people were like those lost at sea, without chart or compass by which to steer their way. There were nearly 4,000,000 throughout the south, without education, without property, without experience, with an uncharted and unknowable future before them. In this time of stress and uncertainty there were broad-minded men in the south who understood the situation and felt that the first need of the colored people was education. Religious in- struction you already had. Tour labor could command a support, but there was need of education that you might walk understandingly. This institution is a foundation created in 1867 by an his- toric church, and the Board of Trus- tees with which this institution was organized was a noble body of men with a broad outlook. They were Kemp P. Battle, afterwards president of our State University and State Treasurer, Gen. William R. Cox, a gallant soldier of the Confederacy, later a member of Congress from this dis- trict, and Secretary of the United States Senate, both of whom have but recently passed from among us, full of years and of honors ; then there was Bishop At- kinson of this Diocese," of loved and honored memory ; Rev. Dr. Mason, the Rector of Christ Church ; Rev. Dr. Joseph B. Cheshire, Rector of Calvary Church at Tarboro, N. C, and father of the beloved Bishop of this Diocese ; Rev. Dr. Aldert Smedes, founder and Rector of St. Mary's School ; the Rev. Mr. Forbes of New Bern and Beaufort ; Dr. A. J. DeRossett, an honored lay- man in Wilmington ; and Richard H. Smith, a wealthy planter, and formerly a large slave owner, of Halifax. These men saw well into the future and did that which was right and their works do follow them. Among' the many acts which they did that were of service to their State there was probably none in their lives which in the long course of the years will be of more enduring ben- efit to their State and its people than that which they did here. They builded wiser than they knew. Your institution beginning at that time was probably the pioneer in the great work of education of the colored race in the South. It was a light in great darkness. It has kept its lamps burning and trimmed. It has educated many thousands who have been a bene- fit to their State and their race and to- day your institution has a well equipped plant and more than 500 students. Progress of Colored People When requested by the authorities here to address you I felt unequal to the task of filling your expectations after these walls have heard the learn- ed, entertaining and instructive ad- dresses from Governor Bickett and other orators. But at the request of my good friend and yours, Bishop Ches- hire, I consented to undertake it, with the understanding that I would make a plain, simple talk, giving some idea of the progress that the colored people have made, especially in education, in attaining higher standards of living and morals, in the acquirement of prop- erty, in short a brief summary of what you have done for yourselves and for your State, in these fifty-odd years, and what the State has done for you. In looking into the subject I was amazed to find, and ashamed to learn, how little I really knew on the sub- ject. I applied to the State Tax Com- mission and the State Department of Education and to the Department of the Interior, and to the Agricultural De- partment, at Washington, also to the War Department for the record of the colored people in War, and to the au- thorities of this institution. Each and all kindly and promptly replied with authentic information and with such abundance of literature that my em- barrassment now is not lack of ma- terial, but how to condense it. A most interesting volume could be written on the subject of the progress of the col- ored people during the eventful past half century. The necessity of condensing renders almost necessary a statement of facts and figures which are usually dry and very uninteresting to an audience, but on this occasion they are really elo- quent, if I could properly present them. as a picture of the. marvelous progress of a great body of 10,000,000 people in their onward march in civilization and to a higher plane in life amid incon- ceivable difficulties and despite many discouragements. Interest in Negro Nearly 2.000 years ago Terence awak- ened thunders of applause in the Ro- man Forum when he said in the so- norous tongue of old Rome : "Homo sum ; humani nihil a me alienum puto," that is "I am a man and there- fore nothing that concerns the welfare of the human race is indifferent to me.'' It was a great and noble sentiment which has brought the name of this great poet and writer down through the ages. It is a coincidence that may be of some interest to you that he was born in Africa and though of the white race he was brought as a slave to Rome, for throughout Roman and Grecian, and earlier times prisoners taken in war, if not slain, became slaves, and their chil- dren after them, and throughout the Roman Empire its millions of slaves, many of them highly educated men, were white people. I was born and reared on a large farm, and my earliest friends, whom I still remember with affection, were among the colored people around me. I feel a deep and geunine interest in ST. AUGUSTINE'S RECORD your welfare, in the great progress you have made, in the steady advance in education and in well heing, in the great service which you have rendered to your State in peace and in war, and the assurance which the world feels that your progress and advancement will he accelerated as the years go by. It is absolutely impossible for any man, much less any race or large body of people, to live solely for and to themselves. None are above the need of sympathy nor can they withdraw themselves from their duty to others. What, affects one race will as surely af- fect others. If ignorance is permitted to abound the security of property is shaken. If slums are permitted to exist the diseases there bred will invade the palaces of the rich. If injustice is per- petrated and those in power and au- thority do not punish and repress it, the foundation of government is im- paired. Truly in this world we are "our brother's keeper." The query made of old, "Who is my neighbor," and why should I take any interest in his welfare, was never better exempli- fied than by an incident which, is said to have taken place in Raleigh not long since. A lady had two beautiful chil- dren, the idols of her heart. They were stricken with that terrible disease, scarlet fever. They had been guarded from exposure to every evil, and in her terror she was unable to recall where they could possibly have contracted the contagion. When her cook came the next morning the lady was consider- ate enough to tell her that she had bet- ter not come in, as her two children had been stricken with scarlet fever. The cook replied that she did not mind it at all, for her own children were just get- ting over an attack and that one of them bad died. The lady had taken no interest in the surroundings or troubles of her servant, had made no inquiries and offered no aid, but on the viewless winds the disease had traveled and the germs which might have been destroyed by medical attention rendered in time to the children of her neighbor — though that neighbor was a cook — made her own home the abode of death. In making a brief statement of the most striking incidents of the wonder- ful progress you have made, I shall re- strict myself to a consideration of the subject as a business and humanitarian proposition and your development as a matter of history, without any refer- ence to the political standpoint. To get a fairer and fuller idea of the subject and contrast the status of your people when this institution was founded and at present it may aid us to consider the location of the colored people in this State and their relative numbers in proportion to total popula- tion. Distribution in North Carolina In North Carolina, in 20 counties, be- ginning with Rowan and then Burke, and in nearly all the counties north and west of Burke, there is less than one person in ten who is colored. In some counties in the extreme west there are practically none at all. In one county, I believe, the census shows only 3 colored people, and in others but the merest handful. On the other hand there are only 14 counties in the State in which the colored people are in the majority, and in most of them barely a majority. Contrary to the general opin- ion these 14 counties are not located in the east, or in a group on our southern border. Ten of these 14 counties in which trie colored people predominate in numbers are in one compact group on the northeastern border of our State — Vance, Warren, Halifax, Edgecombe, Northampton, Hertford, Bertie, Cho- wan, Perquimans, and Pasquotank — the other 4 counties are isolated. One is on our northern or Virginia border — Caswell. One only is in the east — Cra- ven. The other two are on our south- ern border, but not contiguous — Scot- land and Anson. On the other hand over the border in Virginia there are 30 counties in which the colored people are in the majority. To the south of us the colored people are in the majority in the whole State of South Carolina, and indeed in most of the counties. In none of them is there as low a ratio as ten per cent colored, and in four coun- ties they are over 75 per cent. There are 17 so-called Southern States, in- cluding Oklahoma, and the ratio of colored people to the whites through- out the whole of this great territory is about 30 per cent, ranging very low in Kentucky, West Virginia, East Tennes- see, Maryland, and Delaware. In only ■ two States, South Carolina and Missis- sippi, the colored people are in a small majority. In North Carolina at the close of the Civil War the colored people were about 36 per cent of the population. This ratio has dwindled till by the census of 1010 it was something over 31 per cent considerably under one-third — and at the present time they probably number a little under 30 per cent, for the cen- sus Department informs me that they have not yet complete returns. The ratio therefore of colored people in this State is about the average of the South as a whole. Change in Population In 1S65, when by Emancipation your future was placed in your own hands, the number of colored people in the Union was in round numbers 5,000,000, of whom about 4,500,000 were in the south. Those at the north were all free. The last slaves in New Jersey had been emancipated in 1850, and I believe there were a few slaves in New York and other northern states till about 1S20. Of the 4,500,000 in the south there were probably 200,000 previ- ously free, and among these, according to the census, were 6,275 colored peo- ple who were themselves the owners of slaves. During the War many also had been taken in the Federal lines or had gone north, so according to the best estimates the number of colored people in the South who were emancipated were around 4,000,000. The govern- ment publications on this subject are necessarily in round numbers, by tak- ing an average for 1865, the date of emancipation, between the figures of the census of 1860 and that of 1S70. In North Carolina the estimate is that at the surrender there were 400,000 col- ored people. Today in the United States, exclusive of the Philippines, there are in round numbers 110,000,000 people. Of these about one-tenth — 11 millions — are col- ored people. There are probably nine millions in the Southern States and something under two millions in the northern and western States. At our first census in 1790 the colored people in the whole Union were nearly one fifth ( to be exact 19 3-10) of the entire population of the Union, which was slightly under 4,000,000 at that time, and there were slaves in every State of the Union except one. There has been a steady decrease in the pro- portion of colored people to the whites, the colored people being now only about one-tenth in the Union, though they have increased from 750,000 at the first census to 11,000,000 at present. This has been due almost entirely to the im- mense immigration from foreign coun- tries of white people, there being almost no accession to the colored race from that source. Beginning slowly this im- migration from Europe took on enorm- ous proportions until between 1904 and 1914 the average increase of whites by immigration was a million per year, some years largely more than that. Negro and Immigrant It is estimated that in this country today between thirty and thirty-five millions of people are either foreign- born or their children. These have fur- nished the labor and the population to a very great extent which have given the North and the West their gigantic growth. A large number of these, how- ST. AUGUSTINE'S BE CORD ever, still speak only their own langu- age and are not yet fully assimilated to our customs and habits and institutions, and form a far more serious problem than the colored race, who are 100 per cent American by birth, are 100 per cent loyal, who all speak our language, are devoted to our institutions and are professors of the same religious faith with the people among whom they live. Notwithstanding some deplorable con-, flicts there has been therefore far less racial conflict than in those sections where there are vast bodies of people of other races not speaking our tongue and alien to us in religious faith and political ideas. Relative Loss in Population In North Carolina, while accurate figures can not yet be given by the Cen- sus Bureau, the best estimate is that we have now a total population of about 2,750,000, of whom 900,000, or about 30 per cent, are colored. The status and well being, the continued progress and contentment and the effec- tiveness of their labor, are of serious interest, both from a business and a humanitarian standpoint, to the entire State. While there has been an increase in the number of colored people in this and other Southern States their ratio to the whites has, however, steadily dwindled from causes that are worthy of consideration. The enormous white immigration at the north has reduced the national ratio. At the South, while in most parts there has been small im- migration from Europe, or from the north, there has been more or less a steady emigration of colored people to the north, most largely due to better wages, but to some extent to dissatis- faction with conditions in certain parts of the south. In North Carolina some years ago there was a very considerable emigration of colored people to the southwestern states, under the impulse of labor agents, who offered large in- creases in wages. This became so seri- ous a menace to our farmers in the loss of labor that stringent acts were passed by our Legislature requiring a license fee of $1,000 and imposing other restrictions. The emigration to the North in the last few years of colored people is esti- mated by the government authorities to have been, after deductions for those returning, a permanent loss of consider- ably over a million. These have been largely able-bodied young men or skilled cooks and other domestics. Another cause for the relative loss in numbers of the colored people in this State is the fact, as shown by the Bureau of Health, that the mortality among the colored people in North Caro- lina and the South is almost double that among the whites. Among the whites the average mortality is 13 to 15 per thousand, while among the col- ored it averages from 25 to 29 per thousand. The government authorities looking into this matter were first of opinion that this was due to the fact that the colored race, physically, were of less stamina and less able to resist disease, but when the great draft was made for the war the records of the War Department show that while 75 per cent of the colored people were ac- cepted as sound, only about 70 per cent of the whites could pass the physical test. This was due to the fact, doubt- less, that the large majority of colored men were engaged in agriculture, in healthy and outdoor life and accus- tomed to exercise. Judge Tourgee, well known in this State, some years ago created a sensa- tion in the South by articles in north- ern magazines demonstrating that by the greater relative increase of the colored people they would soon over- whelm the south. He did this by taking the statistics of the higher birth rate among the colored people and not ad- verting to the fact that their average mortality was nearly double. This lat- ter lias now been shown to be due not to inferior physique, but mostly to the terrific ratio of deaths among the very young children, which writers ascribe to the lack of knowledge among their mothers and the fact that so many of them are engaged in field work or in domestic service, and can not give proper attention to their children. Economic Basis of Society These matters as to population are of great importance, not only to his- torians, but to those who consider that the prosperity and progress of a State depend almost entirely upon the welfare and characteristics of its labor element upon whom in the last analysis rests the structure of society and the wel- fare of the whole people. All historians now recognize that the rise and fall of empires and of govern- ment have not depended upon kings or political parties, but have been due to economic conditions. The spread of malaria in Rome was more fatal than the irruption of the barbarians, and the pestilence of the Black Plague, which destroyed so large a portion of the work- ing people in Europe, doubled wages and changed the whole economic basis of society. A shrewd historian has said that it was this that overthrew the Feudal system. The basis of all progress and indeed of human existence is labor. The Crea- tor of all things made only the earth, the water, the air. The forests that have grown were a part of the soil and the animals have been dependent upon man whose function has been to de- stroy the harmful and to improve and increase in number those which serve for food or otherwise contribute to the wants of the human race. Outside of these elemental matters everything on this earth is the crea- tion of labor. It is to labor that we owe the food which we eat, the clothes that we wear, the houses that we live in and everything which renders possible the continuance of the human race. Thought and genius have created labor- saving devices, by which one man may do the work formerly done by ten, or a hundred, and in some cases of a thous- and men, but all these would be iu vain if the human machine was not there to operate the other machine. The gi- gantic engine on its narrow ribbons of steel that rushes across the continent with its long train of cars has move- ment only because human muscle and human intelligence have brought out the coal and the ore, transformed them into iron and steel and now moves the lever of the engine. The hills have been leveled, the trees have been made into cross-ties, the depots have been built from brick and lumber shaped by human hands. Without these workers the human race would disappear, as they have departed from the once popu- lous Sahara. Value of Negro Labor It is therefore of the utmost import- ance to every country to consider whether the supply of labor is decreas- ing or increasing, whether by educa- tion and proper support it is becoming more efficient. In North Carolina we have some years made as high as 1,100,000 bales of cotton. Last year we made over S75,000 bales, which, with its seed, is worth at present prices $200,000,000. Adding the tobacco and other crops the total agricultural prod- ucts in the State last year were worth $6S3,000,000, according to the United States Agricultural Department, mak- ing us the fourth State in agricultural products in the Union. The colored people, as I have said, are about 30 per cent of our population, but as they are more largely engaged in agricultural pursuits, and on the richest lands in the State, it is a fair estimate that one-half of our immense agricul- tural production, in which we now stand fourth in the entire list of 4S states, has (Continued on Page 4) ST. AUGUSTINE'S RECORD &l gtigugtine'S Kecorb Published during the school year at Raleigh, N. C, in the interest of St. Augustine's School, Rev. E. H. Goold, Principal. Subscription, 25 cents. Entered at the postoffice in Raleigh as second-class matter, under .the Act of March 3, 1879. We have increased the size of this issue of the Record in order that we may print in full the notable Commence- ment address of the Hon. Walter Clark, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of North Carolina. At their annual meet- ing our Board of Trustees passed a res- olution thanking Judge Clark for his address, and expressing the hope that it be given wide publicity. Will not our friends, and the friends of the Negro, both north and south, help in accomplishing this by calling the address to the attention of others, especially public speakers, writers, and press representatives. * Owing to lack of space we are com- pelled to omit our usual "Acknowledg- ments," as well as other important items. We thank most heartily those who have helped us during the past few months. Our deficit, however, is still a large one, and the school and hospital will need the continued sup- port of their friends for some time to come. At the May meeting of the Presiding P.ishop and Council the following reso- lutions were adopted, which cover very well the situation of St. Augustine's : Whereas, The Presiding Bishop and Council believe that many individuals in many Parishes and Dioceses, even in those which have completed their quotas assigned by the Nation-Wide Commission, under the authority of the General Convention of 1919, will be glad to hear of specific needs and to share in providing them, and Whereas, The Presiding Bishop and Council find that the proceeds from the Nation-Wide Campaign are insufficient to enable them to meet all the needs for maintenance and development of many institutions and other Church agencies, which entered into the campaign and thereby submerged their interests in the common effort of the Church in that campaign, and have, therefore, been seriously reduced in their incomes, previously received from individual givers, in some cases reducing them to a critical condition, and Whereas, The Presiding Bishop and Council feel the grave injury which has unintentionally been done to these en- terprises, and desire to render them any assistance which may be in their power, now, therefore, be it Resolved, That following its action on February 10, 1920, concerning special gifts, the Presiding Bishop and Council is of the opinion that the need for such gifts may very properly be brought to the attention of persons in those Dio- ceses, especially, which have not com- pleted the quota assigned to them by the Nation-Wide Commission, in ac- cordance with the orders of the General Convention of 1919. (Continued From Page 3) been made by colored labor. That is to say $340,000,000 in agricultural prod- ucts, exclusive of the value of their labor as domestics, as workers on the railroads, iu factories and in other pursuits. Strike from our products this im- mense sum of $340,000,000 annually and the other services rendered by colored labor, the State would be paralyzed. From fourth in the Union in the value of our products we would sink to near the bottom. The banks would no lon- ger be full of money. The railroads could neither be supported or kept in operation, at least to the same extent. The basis of civilization is wealth, and wealth comes from production and pro- duction is derived, in the last analysis, solely from labor. We have a large and prosperous element of white labor, which, man for man, may be more pro- ductive than the same number of col- ored men, but white labor could not supply their places unless brought hither from Europe in competition with northern employers and their foreign customs and alien tongues and ideas would here, as at the North, be a cause of greater race conflicts than that which we have with the colored people, who, despite exaggerated statements, are living on the whole in peace with their white neighbors and in content- ment. Without a sufficiency of labor no country can progress, and where it is diminished in number or efficiency it is a public calamity. North Carolina is dependent upon and interested in the growth in numbers and their greater efficiency by better education and bet- ter sanitary conditions and maintenance in their physical and moral well being of all its laborers, white or black, and in the continued kindly relations be- tween the races. Educational Facilities We have not done enough for the education of either white or colored children. In educational matters this State stands nearly at the bottom in the length of the school term, in the salaries to its teachers and the appro- priation to schools and in illiteracy. On an average, the State through, we pay only $5.27 per annum for the education of each white child and only $2.40 for the education of the colored children. In this county (Wake) it is $7.89 for each white child and $2.64 for each col- ored child. Fortunately there has been supplementary aid by donations or de- vises from philanthropic northern peo- ple to the education of the colored peo- ple, .particularly by the five great funds known as the Jeanes Foundation, the Slater Fund, the Rosenwald Fund, the Phelps Stokes Fund, and the General Education Fund. And besides, the col- ored people themselves have contributed by voluntary donations large sums for the support of education. The loss to the State in not increas- ing efficiency by the support of educa- tion was shown by Aycock, Alderman, Mclver, and Joyner, and their co-labor- ers in their apostolic campaigns to arouse our people to proper efforts in this respect. Yet it is said that there is $70,000,000 invested in automobiles I in this State, while the entire cost of ' our school buildings and equipments of all kinds for education, from the State University down,- is less than $14,000,- 000. Growth in Wealth Id the first few years of freedom the growth in wealth of the colored people was slow. As late as 1902 they listed in North Carolina for taxation only about $11,000,000. In 1917 they were on the tax list for $37,000,000. In 191S this had grown to $4S,000,000. Doubt- less this year, at the same rate, the property owned by colored people on the tax list would be $65,000,000. If it is true, as generally estimated, that property is listed in this State at one- third its value, the colored people of the State must own around $200,000,000. Among the colored people of this coun- try there are several well known million- aires. One colored woman who died recently in New York disposed by her will of more than $1,000,000, of which she left $100,000 to charitable pur- poses. In North Carolina there is more than one colored man who is believed to have passed the $100,000 mark. It is to the interest of the entire peo- ple of the State that the colored peo- ple should be educated and aspire to obtain a higher standard of living and ST. AUGUSTINE'S RECORD u I I on well being and to become owners of property, and especially of real estate. Educated men owning a stake in the country, living in their own homes, whether in country or town and on good terms with their neighbors, can never be a dangerous element to the stability of government, but will be a strong sup- port to the maintenance of law and order. As a brief summary of the financial condition to which the colored people have attained I give the following frag- mentary statement taken from the United States government reports. It is stated therein that the colored people in the late war aided the govern- ment by buying $225,000,000 of Liberty Bonds, and made other large contribu- tions to war activities. In the United States colored men own over 700,000 homes, and seventy-five per cent of them can read and write. The per- centage would be larger but for the illiteracy of the older negroes in the South who had no school advantages. The colored people have 500 colleges or other high institutions of learning, worth in equipments and endowments .$22,000,000 and supported by themselves with aid from the states and some as- sistance from the funds si>oken of and other contributions. In the whole Union there are 1,800,000 colored stu- dents in the public schools. The ex- penditures for education of the colored race in the South is annually $15,000,- 000, of which $500,000 is contributed by themselves, besides their share of the taxes. They own 45,000 churches with 4,500,000 members, and the value of their church property is $90,000,000. Throughout the South, especially in Texas, there are colored men owning 500 to 5,000 acres each. In one comity in Georgia there are three times as many colored men own- ing farms as white men, and this is not an exceptional case. In another county four-fifths of all the farms cultivated by their owners were cultivated by col- ored men and there was no mortgage whatever recorded on the farms owned by the negroes. From a tax list furnished me by the State Tax Commission I find that in 1919 the colored people listed in North Carolina over $51,000,000 property, the highest in this respect being Halifax County, with nearly two and one-half millions property listed by colored men, the next highest being Wake with $2,- 377,000, and Warren being third with $1,622,000. By the census of 1910 there were 21,443 colored men owning the farms on which they lived and 44,139 operating farms as tenants. These numbers have been greatly increased since. Government Reports In a publication issued by the United States Department of the Interior in 1910 it is said that "No other racial group in the United States shows a bet- ter adjustment in their relations with the white natives than the 10.000,000 of negroes (now 11,000,000. . . .( In the fifty years since freedom, illiteracy among them has decreased from 90 per cent to 30 per cent. One million colored men are now farmers, either as renters or owners ; over a quarter of a million of them being owners, and the total amount of land owned by them aggre- gates over 20,000,000 acres." It is fur- ther said that they are "capable of prog- ress and their white neighbors have not only looked with favor upon their struggles but in many cases have given substantial aid, outside of that fur- nished by the State governments, and that it is clear that the masses of the colored people are just beginning to appreciate the possibilities of their gaining an independence financially and improving their moral standards and attaining a higher grade in the comforts and conveniences of life. But that they are still retarded by the lin- gering ignorance and poverty of a por- tion of the race and the still unfavor- able conditions in which a large part of them are compelled to live." The re- port comments upon the fact that the death rate among them in the South was nearly double that of the whites and that there are five times as many of them in the prisons in the south as whites, but adds that "The decrease of illiteracy and the increasing owner- ship of land and other property are sure evidences of the inherent worth of the colored people and of the genu- ine friendship of their white neighbors." It also said that the gifts of the colored people to the public schools in the South over and above the support given by State aid and the charitable funds already mentioned would aggregate over half a million dollars a year over and above their share of the public taxes. This was said four years ago, and doubtless today these figures as to the ownership of property and the de- crease of illiteracy have been very largely bettered. Among the later statistics it appears that there are in the South more than 50,000 colored men engaged in business as bankers, lawyers, doctors, and in various other business other than farm- ing. There are now in the South 100 banks owned and operated entirely by colored men, having an aggregate capi- tal of three and one-half million dollars and doing more than $50,000,000 busi- ness annually. The center of colored population, which at the first census in 1790 was near Petersburg, is now in Northern Alabama. Much more infor- mation could be given from the official reports, of the almost marvelous prog- ress which the colored race has made along these lines, but it would take too much of your time. The race has fur- nished, and from the South, orators, painters, sculptors, authors, poets, mu- sicians, lawyers, doctors, and bankers prominent in their professions. For music and poetry the colored people seem to have an especial talent. I will give only two quotations from the many interesting letters which I have received from public officials in sending the literature requested. A chief of bureau in the United States De- partment of Agriculture writes : "The negroes as a rule are ready and willing to take advice and have followed it even more closely than the average white farmer." The latest official re- port shows that the colored people in the South own 35,000 square miles of land, a territory nearly a fifth larger than the entire State of South Caro- lina. Interracial Harmony Dr. James H. Dillard, in a recent ad- dress says : "Never in the history of x the world has any race in the same length of time made such progress in physical, intellectual, and moral im- provements as the colored race has done in the last sixty years. There are still thousands who are uneducated, thousands who are very poor and in need of moral advancement." And he added, "Never before in history, during the short period of sixty years have two races — thrown together as these two races — been known to make such approach towards satisfactory adjust- ment. . . . We forget that a period of 56 years is a short time in history ; that habits of thought and habits of feeling are not changed overnight. It takes time for individual habits of thought and individual habits of feel- ing to change. It takes even longer for the habits and morals and customs of a whole people to change, and we have got to be patient, as Carlyle said, 'yet awhile,' " and adds : "We are here in the South together, we are going to stay together, and the sensible people of both races know and feel and believe more and more that it is much better for us to stay here in good fellowship and cooperation than in hostility." Farm Ownership Mr. C. R. Hudson of our State offic- ial demonstration work, writes a most ST. AUGUSTINE'S RECORD interesting letter, from which I would be glad to quote largely, but from which I would take this only : "The average yield of corn in the State last year was about 20 bushels per acre. The yield of negro farmers was probably not over 12 bushels per acre. Over 500 farmers who were following our teachings on 4,500 acres produced an average of 40% bushels per acre, or twice the average yield of the State. Results were similar in the growing of cotton and other crops. The important fact in this connection is that these high yields were made without a correspond- ing increase in the cost of production, but in most cases with a reduction in the cost per acre." Besides further in- teresting details as to their purchase of 154 dairy cows of improved strains and of hogs and poultry and planting of orchards and in cooperative buying and selling and the preparation of food and in sanitation and canning and other details he says of our State along these lines : "Negroes are taught to make their farms self-supporting rather than to depend on the buying of home sup- plies at high rate time prices or the borrowing of money at exorbitant rates. We believe that since the negro is with us to stay, anything that can be done to help him help himself is benefic- ial for the white race and the country as a whole. . . . The attitude of negro farmers towards the bettering of their condition shows they are in- tensely interested in these matters. They are calling for help; they are teachable ; they respond readily to sug- gestions and follow the methods given very satisfactorily. "We believe that the outlook for the negro race for the future is very bright. The better methods which they are rapidly getting will give them funds with which to bet- ter their, condition. Civilization can rise no higher than the earning capac- ity of the masses of its people to sup- port." This is a very statesmanlike conclusion in which the ablest minds of the country will concur. Dr. E. O. Branson of the State Uni- versity, in an address made some two years ago on "The Negro Working Out His Own Salvation," says : "During the last 30 years the negroes of the South have come to feel that bank books and bonds are more important than ballot boxes." And he adds that one-fourth of all the negro farmers in the South (not including laborers) own their farms — in Florida, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Mary- land, and Virginia, more than half of them ; in West Virginia, four-fifths ; and that while they have increased 10 per cent in population they have in- creased 17 per cent in ownership of farms as against 12 per cent increase of white farm owners throughout the South. In Georgia the white farm own- ers increased 7 per cent and the negro farm owners 38 per cent. In North Carolina there was an increase of only 9 per cent white farm owners and 22 per cent colored, and in Arkansas about the same. Along this line the "University News Letter" states that the census shows that in the counties of Warren and Halifax there are more colored men working on land which they own than white men. This does not mean, of course, that they own a larger number of acres, for their holdings generally must be smaller than many of the hold- ings among the whites. Education in North Carolina While North Carolina has not done what she should as to education for either colored or white, this State has a larger percentage of colored children in the public schools (over 75 per cent) than any other southern State, except Oklahoma. In this State there is for the colored people, maintained by the State, an A. and M. College, an Insane Asylum, a Deaf and Dumb and Blind Institute ; 10 county training schools ; 3 Normal Schools, and 3S separate county superintendents of education for the colored people. No Negro Problem A northern man not long since told me that the greatest drawback at the South was what he called the "Negro Problem." I told him that frankly there was no "Negro Problem." I pointed him to the fact that the north, where the immigation from the least advanced states in Europe for severab years prior to the war had average over a million a year, they had millions speaking all languages, advocating all kinds of isms, and professing all kinds of religion, and many of them ignorant of our customs and our forms of gov- ernment, there was perpetual hostility between the different races and to- wards the government, whereas down here the colored people were all native born, there was no diversity of langu- ages, for they all spoke our own speech and they were 100 per cent loyal to the government. I told him that in no country that I knew of was there bet- ter feeling between the races. In Ire- land the immense majority are Catho- lics and Celts, while the English are mostly Protestants and arrogant, with the result that Ireland is in perpetual rebellion. In Austria there were ten or twelve different races, ignorant of each others' language, antagonistic to each others' religious views and in perpetual turmoil and there was not a state in Europe scarcely which did not have its problems of one or more "subject races." At the South we all speak the same tongue and practically there is no hos- tility on account of religion, which is ever the cause of the bitterest antago- nism wherever it exists. It is true that our colored people wear "the shadowed livery of the bur- nished sun" and there is no social equality between the races, but the lat- ter condition exists in every country where there are two or more distinct races of people. The colored people do not wish social equality, and the white people would not tolerate it, and there the matter ends. It is not a matter of debate, but is settled and not a cause of strife like the divergence in langu- age, in religion, in national aspirations which exists in nearly every other country. Administration of Justice As to the administration of justice with which in some capacity I have been associated all my life, I told my friend that there was absolute equal- ity. A colored man may have differen- ces with a white man, as will happen between any two men, but when they go into the courthouse to have it set- tled every man knows that colored men are at no disadvantage. The white men on the jury, with the pride of the Anglo-Saxon race, will see that equal and exact justice is done, and if ever I have seen any partiality shown it is that if the juries and the judges have tipped the scales at all, it has been in favor of the colored men upon the in- nate belief that if any advantage has been taken it has been by the white man by reason of his advantages. War Record of Negro I have spoken of the loyalty of the colored man. No sedition laws have ever been needed for him. At all times he has stood by his country and its in- stitutions. His good humor and cheer- fulness, patience and endurance make him a good soldier. The record of the colored mau in war has been as loyal and patriotic as in times of peace. Dur- ing the Revolutionary War there were thousands of colored men who served in the Patriot Army under Washington. The first Patriot killed in that strug- gle was a negro, Crispus Attucks, whose monument in bronze stands on Boston Commons. At Bunker Hill, Major Pitcairn of the British Army was killed by Peter Salem, a colored soldier. Amid the dark days of Valley Forge one-seventh of Washington's army was colored men. In those crude times they served in the same compa- nies with the whites, and many thous- ST. AUGUSTINE'S RECORD anils of them won their freedom from their owners by service in the Patriot armies. In the War of 1S12 there were many colored troops, but they usually served in separate regiments under white officers. There were several regi- ments of these under Jackson in the battle of New Orleans when he broke forever the British power on this Con- tinent. After the battle General Andrew Jackson issued a special general order thanking the colored troops for their patiotism and valor. In the great Civil War on the Northern side 17S.000 col- ored men served as soldiers. Many of these were, of course, from the North, where they lived. On the Southern side, while there were no colored troops in our army until very late in the war there were many thousands of them who were most efficient help to the Southern army, as much so as if they had borne arms. They made the roads over which our armies marched. They threw up most of the breastworks and forts behind which the Southern sold- iers fought, and more than all, they made the crops, the food and the cotton for clothing, necessary to the very ex- istence of the Southern army. And during those four eventful years, though knowing that their freedom was at stake, and that the able-bodied white men were at the front, be it said to their everlasting credit, no harm came from them to any white woman or white child throughout the wide bor- der of the Confederacy. They were loyal to the people among whom they lived, and to the government. In the Southern Army there were thousands of colored men as cooks and body serv- ants. There were many instances in which the latter carried their wounded masters off the field under fire and took them or their dead bodies home. I never heard of a single instance in which any of these men deserted. Later in our War with Spain the col- ored troops went to the front in pro- portion to their numbers equally with the whites. That is about one-tenth of our 300,000 troops in that war were col- ored. North Carolina sent two white regiments of 12 companies each and one colored regiment of 10 companies, officered by colored men and com- manded by Col. James H. Young of this city. And there is no complaint on record as to their conduct in- camp or in the field. They were native-born North Carolinians and conducted them- selves as such. At Santiago, at San Juan Hill, where Mr. Roosevelt won his promotion to the presidency, the two colored calvary regiments in the regu- lar army (9th and 10th Cavalry) bore the brunt of the fight. They were com- manded by white officers and at the head of one of these companies Capt. William E. Shipp, of this State, met a soldier's death along with men he led. Negro in World War In the late World War of the four and one-half million men drawn as sol- diers 458,000, just about one-tenth, were colored men. On the fields of France they proved again their capac- ity and their courage in the service of their country and on more than one occasion. Of the 80.000 soldiers fur- nished by North Carolina over 25,000 were colored. These colored troops dis- tinguished themselves and helped to save the day. At Chateau Thierry, when the dense columns of the Ger- mans had driven out the French and were bending back the second line, the colored troops from North Carolina, and other Southern States, came up and held the line. Just here I will say that the officers who commanded these col- ored troops must have been Southern- ers, or at least they understood negro psychology, for on every critical oc- casion when they were thrown in, they went in singing. After the War I remember seeing in northern maga- zines the statement that when the war was over and these colored soldiers should be disbanded then would come the strain : that they would not go back into the places from which they came, but would assert new rights and privi- leges and claim equality. We south- ern men knew them, and they knew us, better. When these regiments and companies were disbanded it was done quietly and without disturbance. The colored soldiers who did their duty in France are now, as they were before the war, helping in the industries of civil life and undistinguishable from their fellows, who were not in the war. Only one disturbance throughout the country has been reported and that at Washington City. I will not discuss the conflicting accounts as to the cause of that, but certainly there has been no such trouble in North Carolina, nor so far as I remember anywhere else in the South, from disbanded men. It is but justice to the colored peo- ple of North Carolina, and to ourselves, to say that in the more than half cen- tury of freedom the vast body of them have been industrious, law-abiding, and on good terms with their white neigh- bors. They have not been assuming, hut have patiently borne hardships and poverty, hoping for a better day. It is to the interest and duty of the white people to recognize this and encourage them not only by doing them equal and exact justice but by aiding them in all their legitimate aspirations for obtain- ing education and a better and higher standard of living. Lynching is Lawlessness There has been no complaint by the colored people as to partiality in the courts, and I think there has been none as to any inequality in the laws. There has been complaint as to lynchings. but that is not a matter of law, but law- lessness, which officials have endeav- ored to prevent and have done so when- ever they could. There have been lynch- ings of white people as well as of col- ored. This is not a matter of race but of the lawless passions of men who be- lieve that prompt action is necessary be- cause the processes of the courts, often uncertain, are often too long delayed. Personally I believe that the true cure for lynching is in the promptest and most efficient execution of the laws. Remedy for Discrimination There has been some times complaint as to what is known as the "Jim Crow cars," which are established by law. At the North, where there are few colored people in proportion to the pop- ulation, the railroads cannot afford to furnish separate cars for them. With us, where nearly one-third of the people are colored, and probably one- fourth of the travelers by rail,' it is better for them and the whites that separate cars should be furnished for them. The real objection is that some- times these cars are inferior to tiiose furnished the whites. This is contrary to the law, which requires the same rate to be charged for fare and the same and equally good accommodations furnished for both races. When rhis is not done it is not because of the law, but in violation of it, and the remedy is by application to the Corporation Com- mission to require better accommoda- tions. Suffrage As to suffrage, which I do not intend to discuss in any way, I think that the wiser heads among the colored people have discouraged any attempt to in- termeddle in politics and that the col- ored race has lost nothing but gained much by abstaining from doing so against the wishes of the white peo- ple, notwithstanding the decision of the United States Supreme Court that the "Grandfather Clause" is void. Best White People in South Wish Negro Well Being Southern-born and having lived here all my life, and having traveled somewhat in foreign countries. I believe there is no other county or locality in which there is more than one race, where they live on as friendly rela- tions with each other as in North Caro- lina, and that there is no large body of labor of another race that is more' ef- ficient and less assuming or trouble- some than the colored people of the South. The Southern people as a rule take an interest in your welfare and if they have not done more for the education of your children it is because they have not done as much as they should for the white children. When the Civil War ended the South was devastated, its property destroyed, a large propor- tion of its best and noblest young men dead on the battlefield. Our people had to start life anew, without capital and with their labor system disorgan- zed. Then there came upon us the trouble of Reconstruction, which left some bitterness behind, but since then there has been a steady increase in prosperity and at all times friendly co- operation between the races. Your growth in education, in the ac- quirement of property, in the attain- ment of better standards of living, have been almost marvelous. Your pros- perity makes for the prosperity of the whole people. Any man who would willfully create prejudice between the races is an enemy to both. In conclusion, it is very clear that the colored people have become masters of their own destinies and are working out their own salvation along their own lines. Intelligent men, good men, who desire the good of the whole people, must view with pleasure and with pride the success of these peo- ple, natives of our own State, subject to our laws, adding to our prosperity, living peaceful, industrial lives, and should, and I believe will, give them ST. AUGUSTINE'S RECORD every encouragement and aid in their power. Colored friends, I believe I .speak the sentiment of the overwhelming majority of the white people of North Carolina when I say that we have appreciation of your fidelity to our institutions, your loyalty to our State, the great contributions you are making to the wealth of the country and of your laud- able ambition to better your condition, and that we wish you a continuance of your success and the good reputa- tion as a people which yon have so well and nobly earned. Report of St. Augustine's School, Including St. Agnes Hospital The following report was made at the Convention of the Diocese of North Carolina, May 4-6, 1920 : During the past school year there have been 507 students enrolled in all departments, the largest number in the history of the institution. They will have paid over $1S,000 toward their board and tuition. During the year a new building has been erected for Teacher-Training and Normal Work. The General Education Board of New York City contributed $5,000 toward the cost of the building. The same Board has given $2,000 toward the expense of equipping our proposed model farm, which will be used as a practical illustration of what can be accomplished by scientific methods in small-scale farming. The Raleigh Board of Education has undertaken to provide a high school training for colored children by paying the tuition of Raleigh students enter- ing the Academic Department of St. Augustine's School or Shaw University. After twenty-five years of fruitful service Mrs. A. B. Hunter has retired as active head of St. Agnes Hospital, of which she was the founder, and has become Honorary Superintendent. Dr. Mary V. Glenton, well known for her missionary work in Alaska and China, who has been resident physician at the hospital for the past two years, is now Acting Superintendent. She reports that since May 1, 1019, there have been 1,110 patients, 648 ope- rations, and 19,973 hospital days. The expenditures have been about $28,000, of which amount over $20,000 has been paid by the patients. Nine nurses have been graduated. The religious work in the School and neighborhood has shown a healthy growth. Every teacher and student made a pledge toward the Nation-Wide Campaign Fund. Since my last report there have been fifty persons baptized and eighteen confirmed in St. Augus- tine's Chapel. This should mean much for the future strength of our Church work among the Negroes. Five graduates and former students of the School are now attending the Bishop Fayne Divinity School. Respectfully submitted, Edgar H. Goold, Principal. The Events of Commencement Season Thursday, May 20, S :00 p.m. Closing Exercises of the Practice School. Friday, May 21, 8 :00 p.m. Barber Prize-Speaking Contest Saturday, May 22, 8:00 p.m. Class Exercises With Play, "When the Fates Decree" Sunday, May' 23, 5:00 p.m. Baccalaureate Sermon, by the Rev. A. Myron Cochran, Rector of St. Ambrose Church, Raleigh. Monday, May 28, 8 :00 p.m. Anniversary of the Literary Societies Tuesday, May 25, 7 :30 p.m. Musical Tuesday, 9 :00 p.m. Alumni Supper. Wednesday, May 26, 10 :00 a.m. Annual Commencement Wednesday, 3 :30 p.m. Business Meeting of the Alumni (Taylor Hall) The following account of our Com- mencement exercises is taken from the Raleigh Times of May 26: The sound of the hammer and saw was mingled with the music and choruses and commencement speeches at St. Augustine's School, Wednesday morning, not as a disturbing olement outside the hall, but as an interesting feature of the exercises of the morning. In less than ten minutes, on the stage, in sight of the audience, pieces of wood were sawed and nailed into shape as a substantial porch bench. The carpen- try demonstration was given by Pariis Holland, with two assistants. Cooking and sewing demonstrations have been given at St. Augustine's commencement before, but this was the first time the carpentry work had been featured. Preceding the making of the bench, Laura Elma Harrison gave a demon- stration in sewing, featuring the use of unbleached muslin as a substitute for linen. She gave many suggestions for the use of unbleached muslin for gar- ments, curtains, luncheon sets, tea cloths, bed-room sets, and bed cover- lets, and exhibited several articles at- tractively touched up with colored em- broidery and crochet work. With a boy acting as the "patient" Theresa Exodus Barringer and Jessie Mae Alford, two of the graduates of the St. Agnes Training School for Nurses, gave a demonstration in ban- daging the head for a scalp wound and bandaging the arm for a fracture when no splint is handy. The salutatory address, "The Value of Self-control," was delivered by Nezza Maud Jackson, and the valedictory ad- dress, "Education," by Drucilla Alex- andria Lushington. Among the musical numbers the plan- tation melody, "Some o' Dese Morn- in's," was especially enjoyable, also the chorus, "Lift Every Voice and Sing," the national negro hymn. Address by Judge Clark Chief Justice Walter Clark of the Supreme Court of North Carolina in the commencement address of the morn- ing reviewed some of the things that have been accomplished by the negroes in North Carolina for the past fifty years for their own advancement and for the benefit of the State. (Here fol- lowed extracts from the address of Chief Justice Clark, printed in full elsewhere in this issue.) Splendid Exhibit of AVork The demonstration in carpentry and sewing included in the exercises of the morning served to attract attention to the splendid work shown in one of the buildings on the campus. There was furniture that would have done credit to the most up-to-date furniture store made by the students in cabinet mak- ing,.a display of dressmaking that might have been taken from the racks of Raleigh's most high-class ready-to- wear shop, cookery that would have graced the table of the best home. ■ Tables. desks, chairs, benches, chests, desks, kitchen cabinets, side- boards, and china closets, almost en- tirely hand-made, were included in the display. The dress-making included underwear, women's and children's dresses, and both plain and fancy sew- ing. The exhibit of cooking included both plain and fancy dishes also. There were breads and meats, deserts and salads. The exhibit is altogether one that is well worth taking the time to see. St. Augustine's is planning to turn into a model farm the hill just east of the school, bordering on the Milburnie road. There is already a fund for this purpose furnished by the general edu- cation board. It is planned to make that section of the school property not only a model farm but an ornament to that part of the community.