ABSTRACT
There are certain visible signs of civilization and strength which the world demands that each individual or race exhibit before it is taken seriously into consideration in the affairs of the world. Unless these visible evidences of ability and strength are forthcoming, mere abstract talking and mere claiming of "rights" amount to little. This is a principle that is as broad and old as the world and is not confmed to the conditions that exist between the white man and the black man in the South. We may be inclined to exalt intellectual acquirements over the material, but all will acknowledge that the possession of the material has an influence that is lasting and unmistakable. As one goes through our Western States and sees the Norwegians in Minnesota, for example, owning and operating nearly one-third of the farms in the State; and then as he goes through one of the cities of Minnesota and sees block after block of brick stores owned by these Norwegians; as he sees factories and street railways owned and operated by these same people, and as he notes that as a rule these people live in neat, well-kept cottages where there are refmement and culture, on nice streets, that have been paid for, he can't help but have confidence in and respect for such people, no matter how he has been educated to feel regarding them. The material, visible and tangible elements in this case teach a lesson that almost nothing else can. It may be said
in opposition to this view that this is exalting too high the material side of life. I do not take this view. Let us see what is back of this material possession. In the fIrst place the possession of property is an evidence of mental discipline, mental grasp and control. It is an evidence of self-sacrifIce. It is an evidence of economy. It is an evidence of thrift and industry. It is an evidence of fIxedness of character and purpose. It is an evidence of interest in pure and intelligent government, for no man can possess property without having the deepest interest in all that pertains to local and national government. The black man who owns $50,000 worth of property in a town is going to think a good many times before he votes for the offIcer who will have the liberty of taxing his property. If he thinks that a colored law-maker will use his taxing power wrongfully, he is not likely to vote for him merely for the sentimental reason that he is a black man. The black man who owns $50,000 worth of property in a town is not likely to continue to vote for a Republican law-maker if he knows that a Democratic one will bring lower taxes and better protection to his property. Say or think what we will there is but one way for the Negro to get up and that is for him to pay the cost, and when he has paid the cost~aid the price of his freedom-it will appear in the beautiful, well-kept home, in the increasing bank account, in the farm, and crops that are free from debt, in the ownership of railroad and municipal stocks and bonds (and he who owns the majority of stock in a railroad will not have to ride in a "Jim Crow car"), in the well-kept store, in the well-fItted laundry, in the absence of mere superfIcial display. These are a few of the universal and indisputable signs of the highest civilization, and the Negro must possess them or be debarred. All mere abstract talk about the possibility of possessing them, or his intention to possess them, counts for little. He must actually possess them, and the only way to possess them is to possess them. From every standpoint of interest it is the duty of the Negro himself, and the duty of the Southern white man as well as the white man in the North, to see that the Negro be helped forward as fast as possible towards the possession of these evidences of civilization. How can it best be done? Where is the beginning to be made? It can be done by the Negro beginning right now and where he fmds himself. What I am anxious for is for the Negro to be in actual possession of all the elements of the highest civilization, and when he is so possessed, the burden of his future treatment by the white man must rest upon the white man.
