startling as the records of crime and immorality are, they are only the outgrowth of circumstances and conditions. Human nature at best is weak, and under fostering circumstances has always yielded to the power of sin and uncleanliness. The author tells us that immorality is a race trait. This is sadly too true, but it is a human race trait, and is limited to no particular variety thereof. CHAPTER VI. Subject: Economic Conditions. Gist: “As a general conclusion it may be said that the Negro has not yet learned the first element of Anglo-Saxon thrift.”[55] The Negro as a Farm Hand. The Negro as a Farm Hand. Attempt is made to show that the Negro has deteriorated as a farm laborer, and that as an industrial factor he has not held his own in the development of the resources of the South. With a process of reasoning with which we are fully familiar by this time, these assertions are sought to be upheld. The decline in agricultural interests throughout the country has had its effect upon the apparent efficiency of the farming class everywhere. The mad rush to the cities, with a vain hope of improvement in condition, has well nigh demoralized agricultural pursuits. The Negro as an Industrial Factor. The Negro as an Industrial Factor. The investigations which have been undertaken to determine the industrial efficiency of the Negro have shown results not unfavorable to him. The recent discharge of white workmen in the cotton mills of Charleston, and the substitution of colored workmen in their places, is quite significant. The hindrances which the Negro has to meet in the industrial field are fully suggested in the address to [Pg 34]the public of the discharged white employes of the Charleston establishment: “If the colored man’s status precludes him from competing with the office-holder, it should exclude him from competing with our wives, sons, and daughters in the light pursuits of the country. We affirm, by our physical powers and brave hearts, not to sit supinely by and witness this Negro horde turned loose upon the pursuits of our mothers, our wives, our widows, our daughters, our sisters, and rob them of their living.”[56] [Pg 34] This is the solemn declaration of 800 workmen in the metropolis of South Carolina, and
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