Page:The Negro a menace to American civilization.djvu/193

Rh THENEGRO 171 first step of the barbarian toward civilization. An in- creasing wage equalized to his moral development is doubtless the ideal condition for furthering ethical culture in the barbarian of any race. " Liberal thinkers resident north of Mason and Dixon's line, look to education and more universal schooling as the one thing needful to elevate the negro. Do they know what a school taught by negroes in- stills into the formative minds of the colored children? Do they realize that the friction between the races probably starts in this schoolroom? Young negroes in the South now are evidently trained to regard the white race as enemies, not as friends. There appears to be no endeavor to teach these colored children re- spect for the aged or for superiors, and no emulation for social position founded on morals. The money of the state spent for education should also carry an ob- ligation to teach civic duties to all children, white and black. In case of the colored schools the appearance goes far to justify a belief that the altruistic money of the white people is spent in teaching colored chil- dren anarchism. " Affection does now exist, and has always existed, between the cultivated whites and the uneducated blacks of the South. Between these is no competition whatever, but the caste line is recognized by both parties as strictly as the division between Brahmans and Sudras in India. Hence caste instinct, instead of being an evil as generally taught, is a blessing to both high and low. If the primitive doctrine of caste were to be religiously observed, there would cease to be any race problem. A caste instinct divides the white peo- ple of the North by minor differences into many