not to vote for a man simply because he is black. They should vote for the
best qualified man whether he is black or white. If they have the power
they will certainly elect some of their own number. But this means, if it
means anything good, that there shall be those of their own number who are
qualified to hold office and to hold it honorably to themselves and
usefully to their constituents and the country. But this implies higher
education to a good many colored people. It will not do for them to have a
few men educated as professional politicians. May Heaven save them from
the day when they will encourage the growth of such a class of men. They
will need to have a large number of educated men in the various walks of
life, from whom suitable candidates may be selected, just as white men
have. But if they are to have such a class of men, adequate measures must
be taken for their higher education, and those friends of the Negro who
desire and help to educate him only in primary studies, while they are
doing a great and essential work, are not doing all that is needed. It may
be all well enough to say to the Negro, "Work hard and keep out of
politics." But if he is allowed to enter into politics freely, he will do
it just as other men do. There is enough human nature in him to secure
that. And any view of this matter that accepts the theory of a free ballot
to the Negro, will be short-sighted, if it does not aim at the education
of the mass of the Negroes as the mass of the white people are educated,
and at the higher education of a proportionally large number of the
Negroes. If Congress and Mississippi Conventions should turn their
attention in this direction, their work would be more significant than the
efforts they are now making.




Notes From The West.