UC-NRLF B 3 273 MI ' d/fa* +h+JL LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA warns , 4 A. WILLIAM O. SCROGGS Louisiana State University B. WILLIAM S. SUTTON University of Texas c. JAMES M. FARR University of Florida D. R. P. BROOKS University of Georgia E. W. M. HUNLEY Virginia Military Institute, formerly University of Virginia F. DAVID YANCEY THOMAS University of Arkansas G. E. C. BRANSON University of North Carolina H. Jos i AH MORSE University of South Carolina i. JAMES D. HOSKINS University of Tennessee j. JAMES J. DOSTER University of Alabama K. WILLIAM L. KENNON University of Mississippi PRESENT MEMBERS OF THE COMMISSION MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION ON SOUTHERN RACE QUESTIONS LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA DAVIS NOTE Copies of this publication may be had by applying to the Secre tary of the Commission, Box 722, Lexington, Va., or to Miss G. C. Mann, Box 418, Charlottesville, Va. Contents PAGE Organization Meeting, Nashville, May 24, 1912 5 Second Meeting, University of Georgia, December 19, 20, 1912 6 Third Meeting, Richmond, Hampton Institute and University of Vir ginia, December 18, 19, 20, 1913 12 Fourth Meeting, Washington, D. C, December 14, 15, 1914 18 Fifth Meeting, Montgomery and Tuskegee Institute, May 5, 6, 7, 1915 24 Sixth Meeting, Durham, N. C., Trinity College and University of North Carolina, January 4, 5, 1916 32 Seventh Meeting, Blue Ridge and Asheville, Aug. 30, 31, Sept. 1, 1916 38 Eighth Meeting, Washington, D. C., August 29, 30, 31, 1917 41 Appendix- Open Letters to the College Men of the South 45 Work of the Commission, by Dr. (now Governor) C. H. Brough 49 Report of Committee on the Civic Status of the Negro, by Prof. W O. Scrop r 2 r s. Chairman 53 OO ' Report of Committee on Economics, by Prof. R. J. H. DeLoach, Chairman 63 The Economic Condition of the Negroes of Knoxville, by R. G. Sanford 69 An Open Letter on Lynching to the Stuttgart (Ark.) Committee, by Prof. D. Y. Thomas 72 Index 74 "I am very glad to express my sincere interest in this work and sympathy with it." President Wilson to the Commission, December 15, 1914. UNIVERSITY COMMISSION ON SOUTHERN RACE QUESTIONS ORGANIZATION MEETING, NASHVILLE, MAY 24, 1912 The organization meeting of the University Commission on Southern Race Questions was held at the call of Dr. James H. Dillard at the Young Men's Christian Association Building, Nashville, Tenn.> on the morning of May 24, 1912. Dr. Dillard presided and outlined his purpose in calling together representatives of eleven Southern State universities, which was to foster a scientific approach to the study of the race question in the South. He stated that he had visited eleven State universities, and had found in each a cordial response to the plan of establishing a University Commission on Race Relations, with the idea that such Commission should consult with leading men in both races, should endeavor to keep informed in regard to the relations existing between the races, and should aim especially to influence Southern College men to approach the subject with intelligent information and with sympathetic interest. Dr. Dillard reviewed existing race conditions in the South as he saw them, and then called upon the members individually for an informal expression of opinion. Each member of the Commission responded briefly. The Commission was composed of one representative from each of eleven State universities in the South, as follows : James J. Doster, University of Alabama. C. H. Brough, University of Arkansas. James M. Farr, University of Florida. R. J. H. DeLoach, University of Georgia. W. O. Scroggs, Louisiana State University. W. D. Hedleston, University of Mississippi. Charles W. Bain, University of North Carolina. Josiah Morse, University of South Carolina. James D. Hoskins, University of Tennessee. W. S. Sutton, University of Texas. William M. Hunley, University of Virginia. Dr. W. D. Weatherford, who was invited to sit with the Commission, explained the nature of his work on race matters in the South. Professor Brough was chosen chairman, and Professor Hunley, secre tary. The Commission then adjourned to the meeting of the section on the 6 MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION race question of the Southern Sociological Congress, having previously decided to hold its next meeting on December 19, 1912, at the University of Georgia, Athens, Ga. SECOND MEETING, UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA, DECEMBER 19 AND 20, 1912 The second meeting of the University Commission on Southern Race Questions was held at the University of Georgia, Athens, Ga., December 19 and 20, 1912. Professor Brough, chairman of the Commission, presided. Three sessions were held, at noon and at 8 o'clock p. M. of the 19th, and at 9 o'clock on the morning of the 20th. All three sessions were held in the office of Chancellor Barrow, of the university. Those present were: Professor Doster, University of Alabama. Professor Brough, University of Arkansas. Professor Farr, University of Florida. Professor DeLoach, University of Georgia. Professor Scroggs, Louisiana State University. Chancellor Kincannon, representing Professor Hedleston, University of Mississippi. Professor Bain, University of North Carolina. Professor Morse, University of South Carolina. Professor Sutton, University of Texas. Professor Hunley, University of Virginia. Dr. Dillard, president of the Jeanes Foundation. Chancellor Barrow, University of Georgia. Professor Hoskins was unable to attend on account of illness. Dr. Dillard, Chancellor Barrow, and President S. C. Mitchell, of the University of South Carolina, were elected as an Advisory Committee. The question whether the Commission should permit visitors to attend the sessions was considered. An invitation to sit with the Commission was extended to such members of the faculty of the University of Georgia as Chancellor Barrow should name. It was decided that other persons might attend at the invitation of the Commission. Such invitation was extended to Mrs. J. D. Hammond, of Georgia; Mr. T. J. Woofter, Jr., Phelps-Stokes Fellow at the University of Georgia; and Dr. J. E. Spingarn, of New York, for the session on the morning of December 20. The secretary read a communication from Dr. J. Franklin Jameson, director of the Department of Historical Research, Carnegie Institution^ MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION 7 Washington, D. C., requesting that the Commission cooperate with him in the preparation of a history of the Negro in the United States. The secre tary was directed to advise Dr. Jameson that the Commission could not comply with his request, but that the members, if consulted individually, would be glad to aid him in any way feasible. The evening session was devoted to a general discussion of the race ques tion. The discussion followed in the main an outline which had been pre pared and sent to each member by Dr. Dillard, as follows : I. What are the conditions? (a) Religious: Contributions, excessive denominationalism, lack of the practical in preaching, etc. (b) Educational: Self-help, Northern contributions, public schools, etc. (c) Hygienic: Whole question of health and disease. (d) Economic: Land ownership, business enterprises, abuse 01 credit system, etc. (e) Civic: Common carriers, courts of justice, franchise, etc. Changes and tendencies in the above conditions. Attitude of Whites. II. What should, and can, be done, especially by Whites, for improve ment? III. What may be hoped as to future conditions and relations? Dr. Dillard gave a short talk and offered suggestions in four main divisions, as follows: 1. The Economic Advance of the Negro. (a) Is he advancing? (b) Is he meeting with encouragement? (c) Do the white people of the South really want the Negro to advance ? 2. Education. (a) Are methods as now employed the right ones? 3. Lynching. (a) What is the South's attitude toward lynching? (b) Reaction upon Whites worse than effect upon Negroes. (c) How may conditions be improved? 4. Attitude of Southern white people toward the Negro. (a) What is it? 8 MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION (b) Is it in the main friendly? (c) Is the friendly feeling of the Whites toward the Negro growing? (d) How may we help to improve conditions in the best interests of both races? After a round table discussion, in which Chancellor Barrow, Dr. Dillard, Chancellor A. A. Kincannon, and every member of the Commission partici pated, the session adjourned, to meet again at 9 o'clock next day, December 20. SESSION 9 O'CLOCK A. M., DECEMBER 20, 1912 In calling the Commission to order, Professor Brough read a paper entitled, "Work of the Commission of Southern Universities on the Race Question." [Appendix B.] The chairman called upon each member of the Commission to tell of his own investigations and of his ideas as to plans for the future work of the Commission. Professor DeLoach said, in part: "My investigations seem to show that the Negro is very appreciative of good advice and suggestions along all industrial lines, and will assimilate the same. By actual demonstration, here in Athens at a farmers' conference, I have found that each Negro present will listen closely to advice one season, and bring in a report the next season that he made an increase in yield of farm crops of from 50 cents to $5 per acre, depending largely upon the thriftiness of the individual. One young farmer increased his yield of corn in four years from 20 to 100 bushels per acre on a plot of seven acres. I am fully persuaded that we can not afford any longer to let the natural resources of the South, so generally left in the hands of the Negro, drift into the Mississippi River and the Atlantic Ocean. A word to the Negroes may be the means of saving millions to the South annually. It requires only one generation to waste natural resources in the form of soil that it has taken ages to form, and which can not be regained in a hundred years. One way to pre vent the waste is to give the Negro, who does his full share of wasting, access to scientific methods, especially since he responds so readily to this sort of advice. We should find out in dollars and cents just what this advice would be worth to the Negro and to the South and to the nation annually. This can be done by circulating cards and blanks to be filled in during the spring of 1913 and the fall of the same year, after the harvest is over. The success of this plan will depend largely upon how much work is done this winter in advising the Negro. I shall carry out this plan in part if I have to bear the MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION 9 whole expense of it. I believe heartily in this method of helping to preserve the soil of the South. If each Negro farmer improved annually to the extent of only one dollar, the South would be $1,500,000 better off next year. "There are figures, that have been carefully worked out, which tend to show that Negroes do best when reduced in numbers compared with the white population. Dissemination seems to be the only way to make Negroes better citizens in industrial, educational, and all other lines. They do best where their opportunity to imitate the white people is greatest, and where they can get most advice." Professor Sutton, of the University of Texas, said of the work of the Commission : "The problem to be attacked by this Commission is extraordinarily complex. The problems of all the institutions of civilized life must be con sidered the problems of the home, the church, the school, the State, the industrial world, and civil society. In a great measure our work will involve a patient and careful examination of actual facts. This examination must be made before rational conclusions can be reached. The study of concrete situations is absolutely necessary. For example, the study of a community of Negroes in Madison County, Texas, will reveal whether the members of that community are growing in wealth, in health, and in intellectual, moral, and religious power. A single problem that should be studied in this way is that of the housing of the Negroes in the South. There are many other problems that should be studied in the same manner." Professor Doster, of the University of Alabama, presented his ideas as to procedure in this way: "1. The Commission should gather facts concerning the economic, social, religious, and educational conditions of the Negro. "2. Should these facts, when collected, warrant such action, the Com mission should urge the State universities and other higher institutions of learning in the South to offer, through their departments of sociology and kindred departments, courses dealing with race relations. "3. The elevation of the Negro is chiefly a matter of education. To educate the Negro and at the same time promote good feeling between the races is a delicate task. Agencies controlled by ideals in accord with the spirit of the South should be provided for training Negro ministers, teachers, and supervisors of schools. The courses of study in the Negro elementary schools should be directly related to the environment of the Negro child and, in the main, should be vocational in character. 10 MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION "4. It must be borne in mind that any attempt to elevate the Negro must be met with a corresponding attempt to improve the condition of the poorer white classes of the South. Otherwise racial antagonism will be increased rather than diminished." Professor Scroggs, of Louisiana State University, said: "The four great needs in dealing with our Southern race problems are education, cooperation, publicity, and patience. As to education, I believe it is highly desirable that a course of instruction in the race question should be given in every institution for higher education in the South. In such a course it should be the object to place before the students the best thought of repre sentative American citizens on this subject, and to assist them in adopting a rational viewpoint on all matters concerning interracial relations. This would undoubtedly have a good effect, but even then much more will remain to be done. The real problem, I believe, is not so much to reach the university stu dent as it is to reach the man who lives on Jones' -Creek-at-the-Head-of-the- Hollow. He is not influenced by the printed page, but by the spoken word, and the only spoken word he ever hears on this subject is from one of his own group or from the lips of the demagogue. There is a possible antidote for the demagogue at this point in the rural clergyman. In the rural regions of the South the power of the pastor is still great, but he is prone to emphasize the other-worldiness of Christianity ; his theology needs to be socialized. The white churches are doing some work for the improvement of racial relations in the cities, but as four-fifths of our colored people live in the country, the Negro really presents a problem for the rural church. Ministers, educators, and all other influential citizens need to be brought into cooperation so as to get the best thought of the country on the Negro problem before the masses of the people. It is time that sane Southern sentiments should receive as much attention as the blasphemies of the demagogue. We ought, then, to formulate a program of cooperation and publicity. "And we shall have to practice patience. Whatever progress is achieved will come through a process of evolution. It is just as foolhardy to attempt to force the mental development of a group as it is to attempt to hasten the mental development of a child. No better example of the folly of attempting to force the process of social evolution can be given than that shown in the history of Reconstruction. But we can aid in the process of evolution by helping to increase the Negro's wants. As soon as his wants are satisfied he stops work. If his standard of living were higher and this means simply more wants to be satisfied he would be a much greater social asset than he is MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION 11 to-day. The Negro's legitimate wants can not be increased in a day; they must develop by a proper kind of training conducted, perhaps, through several generations. This further emphasizes the need of patience." Professor Farr, of the University of Florida, said: "Fundamental to my plan is the conception that the work we are under taking is the work of the eleven Southern State universities, not of the mem bers of the Commission as individuals nor even as representatives of their various institutions. It is too large a field for investigation by eleven men who are all very busy, and if it is to be done at all it can be done only by enlisting the resources of the schools in it. "The first step should be to break the subject up into its essential lines of inquiry and to appoint a committee from our body to head and direct the investigation along each of these lines. "Second, to have each institution organize a class in sociology to study the race problem, largely by the laboratory method, using the town and county in which the university is located as the field for investigation. The class should be as large as possible and contain representatives from as many of the towns and counties of the State as can be secured. "The committees of our Commission should formulate lines of inquiry and methods of investigation, transmit them to the instructors of these vari ous classes, and keep in active communication with these instructors and the work of their classes. In this way we shall have, at the end of the school year, a body of young men interested in the subject, trained in methods of investigation, working under our committees and representing a large part of the field under investigation. "Third, these students should, during the coming summer, devote a part of their time to investigating conditions in their home counties and accumulating data after the methods in which they were trained during the school year. "The success of such a plan will depend upon several considerations : the active sympathy and cooperation of all members of the faculty of the university; an enthusiastic presentation of the subject to the student body so as to get a large, representative, and able body of students to join the class; the ability and zeal of the instructor in charge of the class ; and the energy and wisdom of our committees in pushing forward the work. "This plan has primarily in view a feasible method of conducting investi gations to procure data. It has further advantages of opening up a channel through which our future work of formulating results and recommending action may be broadly transmitted to the public of our various States." 12 MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION Professor Morse, of the University of South Carolina, suggested that the Commission should become an agency for the dissemination of authoritative information covering the race problem. Also, that the Commission recom mend that the Southern colleges and universities send experts and lecturers to Negro agricultural and educational meetings, and that courses in the study of the race problem be introduced in Southern colleges and universities where they are not already offered. Professor Bain told of the work being done at the University of North Carolina, and Professor Hunley spoke about the investigations under way at the University of Virginia. The following working committees were appointed by the chairman : On Religious Questions Professors Doster, Kennon, 1 and Morse. On Educational Questions Professors Sutton, Farr, and Doster. On Hygienic Questions Professors Morse, Kennon, and Bain. On Economic Questions Professors DeLoach, Hoskins, and Brough. On Civic Questions Professors Scroggs, Sutton, and Hunley. On Race Adjustment Professors Farr, Bain, and Hunley. Professors Brough, Farr, and Hunley were constituted the Executive Committee. Dr. Spingarn spoke of his pleasure in being permitted to be present, and paid high tribute to the value of the Commission's work. Mrs. Hammond described her experiences in working among Southern Negroes, and Mr. Woofter spoke of his studies as Phelps-Stokes Fellow at the University of Georgia. The Commission adjourned at 2 p. M., December 20, to meet again at Richmond, Va., December 18, 1913. THIRD MEETING, RICHMOND, HAMPTON INSTITUTE, AND THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, DECEMBER 18, 19, AND 20, 1913 The third meeting of the University Commission on Southern Race Questions was held on December 18, 19, and 20, 1913. Two sessions were held at the Richmond Hotel, Richmond, Va., on December 18, one session at Hampton Institute, Hampton, Va., on December 19, and one session at the University of Virginia on December 20. The first session was called to order by Chairman Brough at 2 p. M., December 18, at the Richmond Hotel. Those present were: 1 Prof. Hedleston, of the University of Mississippi, having resigned, Professor W. L. Kennon was appointed in his place. MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION 13 Professors James J. Doster, Alabama; C. H. Brough, Arkansas; James M. Farr, Florida; R. J. H. DeLoach, Georgia; W. O. Scroggs, Louisiana; William L. Kennon, Mississippi; Charles W. Bain, North Carolina; Josiah Morse, South Carolina ; W. S. Sutton, Texas ; James D. Hoskins, Tennessee ; W. M. Hunley, Virginia; and Drs. S. C. Mitchell and James H. Dillard, of the Advisory Committee. The secretary read a letter from Dr. J. E. Spingarn requesting the privi lege of attending the sessions. After discussion, the secretary was authorized to send him a telegram advising him that he would be permitted to sit with the Commission at all but executive sessions. Dr. Dillard spoke of the opportunity before the Commission of perform ing a great service for the South in studying the race question carefully, acting deliberately, and speaking, when occasion arose, authoritatively. He said there was a feeling in the South of the need of means to speak out on the Negro question as contrasted with the means identified with the demagogue. Heretofore, he said, the best thought of Southern white people on the Negro question had not been expressed. An invitation was extended to President R. E. Blackwell, of Randolph- Macon College, and Jackson Davis to attend the session. Dr. Mitchell, of the Advisory Committee, spoke briefly of the changed conditions in the South, especially from the point of view of the attitude of Southern white people toward a serious study of race conditions. He said the Commission could help matters by fostering a right approach to the consideration of the Negro's status in Southern life, and urged moderation and patience in ar riving at conclusions. He added that already the influence of the Commission was felt in many ways in the Southern States. President Blackwell and Mr. Davis spoke briefly of education for Negroes, especially of phases of the situation in Virginia. Dr. Dillard suggested that the members of the Commission speak as representatives of their respective States as to Negro education : Is the senti ment for educating the Negro growing in the South ? The answer from every member was, in the main, in the affirmative. Special points made by several members were: Dr. Sutton : Need of better training for Negroes along industrial lines. Fit them for the actual life they must lead. There is great need of better ways of spending money for Negro education than at present used. Teach the Negro the dignity of manual labor, find what is most necessary for his 14 MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION happiness as a human being in the world in which he must live, what will best conduce to his becoming a good citizen, and emphasize that. Three needs in education especially felt: 1. To know better what to teach the Negro. 2. To know better how to teach the Negro. 3. To have better supervision of Negro schools. Professor Farr : Comparative tables would be of great service in show ing that the amount of money spent on Negro education is comparatively very small. Professor Doster: Greatest obstacle to education of the Negro in Alabama is educational condition of the poor white. Can not expect more aid to Negro education unless corresponding amount be given to White. But general conditions favoring education of Negroes are encouraging. Dr. Bain: Sentiment in North Carolina is in favor of educating the Negro. The great need is of competent Negro teachers. With competent Negro teachers the situation would be greatly improved. Professor DeLoach: Sentiment in Georgia good for Negro education, but some prejudice among Whites against educated Negro farm hands. Real need is of educating white people to the point where they will appreciate the increased efficiency of the Negro who has had the benefit of industrial education. Dr. Morse: Some prejudice against Negro education in South Carolina. Poor teachers and politics have had much to do with conditions there. Dr. Kennon: No distinct sentiment against Negro education in Mississippi. Great demand for trained Negro workmen in all lines, so emphasis should be put on industrial education. After a general discussion the Commission adjourned, to meet again at 8 o'clock. EVENING SESSION Mrs. B. B. Munford was invited to attend the evening session. She spoke about the segregation plan for Richmond, and of the interest of the people of Richmond in the aims of the Commission. Rion McKissick, of the Times Dispatch, was invited to attend the evening session. He spoke briefly of the satisfaction felt by thinking Southern people that a body of Southern university men had set about a serious study of Southern race conditions, and of the good effect that would be sure to follow. MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION 15 Dr. Brough read a paper dealing with phases of the economic life of the Negro. The following tentative reports of committees were submitted in written form (others were submitted orally by the chairmen) : COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC QUESTIONS We are expecting only to give some idea of the present conditions of the Negro, and of his economic habits, and to outline a system of investigation for the future study of the subject. The figures we find on the subject do not satisfy the, conditions of a complete investigation, and it will be our pur pose to get statistical data on certain heretofore neglected phases of the question, so that we can make the work constructive and consecutive. This being our purpose in a general way, we have thought best to classify the study as follows: The City-Country Population of the Negro. Negro Landownership. Property Other than Land Owned by Negroes. Relation of Negro Holdings to Price of Land. The Cropping System. Standing Rent System. The Probable Basis of Ascendency. The Application of Education to the Negro Farmer and Mechanic. The Present-Day Organizations for the Economic Uplift of the Negro Race. COMMITTEE ON Civic QUESTIONS Plan of study : I. The Negro and the Federal Government. 1. Resume of Federal Civil Rights Legislation. 2. The Federal Government and Negro Suffrage. 3. The Negro's Rights as an Interstate Passenger. 4. The Negro's Position as a Government Employe. II. The Negro and the State Governments. 1. State Legislation on the Civil Rights of the Negro. 2. Separation of Races in: (a) Hotels and Restaurants. (b) Places of Amusement. (c) Churches, Cemeteries, and Eleemosynary Institutions. (d) National Guard. (e) Public Schools. 16 MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION 3. The Negro as an Intra- State Passenger. 4. The Political Status of the Negro. (a) Resume of the History of Negro Suffrage. (b) Present Status of Suffrage Legislation. (c) Actual Operation of Suffrage Laws. 5. The Negro Before the State Courts. (a) As Defendant or Plaintiff. (b) As Witness. (c) As Lawyer. (d) As Juror. 6. The Negro and the Division of the School Fund. 7. The Negro and Mob Violence. III. The Negro and the Municipal Governments. 1. Segregation of Races by City Ordinances. 2. Separation in Street Cars. 3. The Negro's Share in Public Improvements, e. g., Libraries, Parks, Driveways, Playgrounds. 4. Housing the Negro in Southern Cities. 5. Policing, Cleaning, and Lighting of Streets in Negro Quarters. Following a discussion of reports submitted in writing and orally, the Commission adjourned, to meet again at Hampton the following day. VISIT TO HAMPTON INSTITUTE AND SESSION THERE The Commission left Richmond on the morning of December 19 and were met at Hampton by a delegation from Hampton Institute. A trip was made over the Institute grounds, and after luncheon a session was held in the office of Dr. Hollis B. Frissell, principal of the Institute. Addresses were made by Dr. Frissell, members of his staff, Major R. R. Moton, and by several members of the Commission. Professor Sutton later presented the following: "Reactions of members of the University Commission on Race Questions in the South to what was seen and heard at Hampton Institute Friday, December 19, 1913: "1. The principal, the members of the faculty, and the students appear to be greatly interested in their work. Their behavior towards one another appears natural. The principal and many members of the faculty, though white persons engaged in teaching Negroes, do not wear an apologetic air; they act as if they were men engaged in a perfectly normal and useful work. MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION 17 "2. What impressed me most at Hampton was the conquest of the two greatest enemies of the Negro or, for that matter, of any people idleness and filth. "3. The reaction of Industrial Education on an individual Negro soul; Major Moton looking beyond industrialism to justice. "4. Efficiency and advantages of industrial education. "5. Industriousness, system, cleanliness, earnestness. "6. The earnest desire for better relations between the races." On December 20, at 11 o'clock A. M., the Commission reconvened at Madison Hall, University of Virginia. The following letter was sent by President Edwin A. Alderman, who was unable to be present: "The so-called race question, which means the right adjustment of rela tions between the white man and the colored man in American life, still remains perhaps our most complex and momentous public question. On the whole, no man can deny that this complex problem has been handled for the past thirty years with a great deal of instinctive wisdom by the people of the South, and the result of their constructive thought has been acquiesced in by the people of the North with remarkable and commendable faith and confi dence. The problem, however, is not settled, and probably never will be, but may be counted upon to present difficult phases to every generation. Indeed, a certain paralysis of feeling about the whole matter, due to exhaustion, I am inclined to think, seems to have overtaken both sections, and those who are seeking to think quietly about the matter should be grateful for the fact that the Negro has somehow gotten off the Southerner's nerves and out of the Northerner's imagination. "Both sections have turned with unity of effort to bring about a change in the spirit and machinery of our democracy, whereby they believe the inter est of all the people can best be advanced. It is wise that, in this breathing spell, patient, wise, scientific, just men should labor at the problem and seek to place it where it belongs among the great economic and sociological ques tions of the time." The secretary was authorized to send a telegram to President Alderman thanking him for his letter and extending to him the Commission's best wishes for speedy restoration to health. President Alderman was elected to membership on the Advisory Com mittee. 18 MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION The chairman called upon each member for a short talk about his own particular study of Southern race questions. Each one responded. After a general discussion the Commission adjourned, to meet again in Washington on December 15, 1914. FOURTH MEETING, WASHINGTON, D. C., DECEMBER 14 AND 15, 1914 The fourth meeting of the Commission was held in Washington, D. C., December 14 and 15, 1914. An informal session was held at the Raleigh Hotel on the evening of December 14. Those present were: Professors C. H. Brough, W. S. Sutton, Josiah Morse, W. L. Kennon, James J. Doster, James M. Farr, James D. Hoskins, W. O. Scroggs, Charles W. Bain, R. J. H. DeLoach, W. M. Hunley, and Drs. Mitchell and Dillard. On the morning of December 15 the members of the Commission were received at the White House by President Wilson. Dr. Brough, as chairman, was spokesman for the Commission. He explained its purpose and described its personnel. In response, President Wilson said : "I am very glad to express my sincere interest in this work and sympathy with it. I think that men like yourselves can be trusted to see this great ques tion at every angle. There isn't any question, it seems to me, into which more candor needs to be put, or more thorough human good feeling, than this. I know myself, as a Southern man, how sincerely the heart of the South desires the good of the Negro and the advancement of his race on all sound and sensible lines, and everything that can be done in that direction is of the high est value. It is a matter of common understanding. "There is a charming story told about Charles Lamb. The conversation in his little circle turned upon some men who were not present, and Lamb, who, you know, stuttered, said, 'I hate that fellow.' His friend said, 'Charles, I didn't know you knew him.' Lamb said, 'I don't; I can't hate a fellow I know.' "I think that is a very profound human fact. You can not hate a man you know. And our object is to know the needs of the Negro and sympa thetically help him in every way that is possible for his good and for our good. I can only bid you Godspeed in what is a very necessary and great under taking." Leaving the White House, the Commission proceeded to the administra tion building of George Washington University, where the members were greeted by Admiral Charles H. Stockton, president of the university. The first formal session was held at 11 o'clock, Dr. Brough presiding. Admiral MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION 19 Stockton made a short address of welcome and spoke of his belief that the good of both races could only be attained ultimately by means of such investi gation as the Commission was undertaking. Dr. Brough called upon President Mitchell, who said that the European war had emphasized the fact that there must be something more than racial and national sentiment in solving the questions of humanity. "Inclusion, and not exclusion, must be the policy pursued in studying race questions," he said. He congratulated the Commission on its method of approach, and said that nowhere in the South did gloom exist as to the ultimate solution of the prob lem upon a broad and just basis. Dr. Dillard was the next speaker. He said he was satisfied that there was a growing sentiment among white leaders of the South in favor of the educa tion of the Negro race; that he had come to realize that there was already a large number of able leaders in the colored race itself, and that he believed this fact was not recognized generally either in the North or the South. The work of the Commission, and among the Y. M. C. A.'s of the South, he be lieved to be the most beneficent work on the race question. "We do not know," he said, "how many able Negroes, capable and will ing to lead their race to better things, there are in the South to-day." He added that happily there was a change in the type of white leadership in the South in race matters, and that there was a pronounced disposition for cooperation between white and black in a great many ways. He concluded by saying that he thought one of the biggest benefits that would come from such work as the Commission was trying to do would be the stimulation of the thought of the younger generation of white men of the South, and urged that the whole question of the relation of the races be put on a basis of common humanity to replace the relation of master and slave. The work of the student holders of the Phelps-Stokes Fellowships estab lished at the University of Georgia and the University of Virginia was next discussed. The success already attained by this means in interesting Southern students in race questions in the right way was so apparent that a committee was appointed to draw a resolution to be sent to Mr. Anson Phelps Stokes for the consideration of the Phelps-Stokes Trustees, urging that additional Fel lowships be established at other Southern universities. Professors DeLoach, Hoskins, and Hunley were appointed to compose the resolution. Their re port was adopted, as follows : "In consideration of the fact that the Phelps-Stokes Fellowships at the University of Virginia and the University of Georgia have accomplished most 20 MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION excellent results, besides arousing the interest of hundreds of students at those institutions in a serious and scientific study of Southern Race Questions, "And in view of the growing importance of having first-hand informa tion on the present status of race relationship in the South, "And in view of the great difficulty of developing methods of securing such information on account of the many obstacles that obviously confront such investigation, "Therefore be it Resolved, That we are in sympathy with the method typified by these Fellowships, and "Resolved, That we respectfully request the establishment of additional Fellowships at other Southern State universities. "UNIVERSITY COMMISSION ON SOUTHERN RACE QUESTIONS." The members of the Commission were the guests of Admiral C. H. Stockton and Dr. Charles Monroe, of George Washington University, at luncheon at the Cosmos Club. The afternoon session was called to order at 3 o'clock. Dr. Thomas Jesse Jones, of the Phelps-Stokes Fund, was invited to tell of his work in the field of Negro education in the Southern States. He gave an interesting dis cussion of various phases of his studies. Before doing so he took occasion to speak of his interest in the work of the Commission. He said he was looking forward with hope to what it may do, particularly in the way of getting young Southern white men to study and take a deep interest in race relation ships in a sane and helpful way. He emphasized the importance of getting Southern men to tackle the problem, and said the North was beginning to have confidence in the Southern people to handle the difficult matter them selves. He saw a twofold responsibility and opportunity for the Commission : First, to get scientifically accurate information, and, second, to create right convictions in the minds of Southern people. Dr. Sutton followed Dr. Jones. He said the North and South must work the race question out together, or it will never be worked out at all. He urged that in the matter of education, especially, the work be undertaken from the point of view of the whole citizenship of the State. He argued for uniform standards and more attention to the right sort of training for the Negro, with a view to making him a more useful member of society. Dr. Doster spoke of the difficulty of getting better schools for Negroes in the South without at the same time doing as much or more for the poor whites. More and better progress was being made in Alabama at this time, he said, than at any other time in the field of education for both races. He MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION 21 spoke of the transformation that has taken place in school buildings in Alabama, and in the condition of school grounds. Negroes themselves, he said, are helping wonderfully in all these things for their own schools. In matters having to do with sanitation, he said, the improvement in Negro schools was especially noticeable. Dr. Farr said he was convinced that the white people of the South were not opposed to education for the Negro, if they could be convinced that educa tion would do the Negro any good. Many white people, he said, are not so convinced at this time, and he thought one of the best things the Commission could do would be to show those who scoff at the value of education for the Negro wherein they are wrong, and to set them right. When the Southern white people are convinced that education will help the Negro to be a better man and to render a greater service to the South, then, he said, he was sure the white people would be willing to divide with the Negro on an equitable basis. After hearing from the other members of the Commission as to con ditions in their respective States, Dr. Brough read a paper on "Recent Negro Progress." The concluding session of the meeting was held at the Raleigh Hotel, beginning at 8 o'clock in the evening. Dr. Morse proposed a resolution of thanks to Admiral Stockton and Dr. Monroe for their hospitality. Such a resolution was adopted and forwarded by the secretary. Drs. Morse and Kennon, speaking on the work of the Commission, believed that perhaps the most effective work the Commission could do would be to stimulate the thought of students in Southern universities along sane and dispassionate lines in race matters. To this end, they thought the best way to proceed would be for each of the members to strive to arouse such interest among the students of his own institution. Therefore, they sug gested that such available funds as the Commission might have should be divided among the several members and used by them as prizes for creditable work in race investigation by their own students. Dr. Hoskins, Dr. Bain, and others shared this view, emphasizing their belief that the most important service any organization could perform at this time was to bring young men of the South to a better understanding of the Negro, and to encourage them to study questions affecting the Negro in the proper way. Dr. Hoskins stated that at the University of Tennessee this sort of work had been going on for some time, and students who a short time ago were indifferent, if not antago nistic, to such study, were now alive to the need of a right understanding of race conditions, and were reading books and making investigations in a way 22 MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION that would have been thought impossible a few years ago. The Commission could not do better than stimulate this sort of thing among students of the South, he said, and he proposed that until the next meeting each member devote as much time as possible to efforts to stir up his own students. He referred to results already apparent, and, as evidence of the new spirit among Southern students, he read a report entitled, "The Economic Condition of the Negroes of Knoxville." prepared by Mr. R. G. San ford, a student at the University of Tennessee. [Appendix E.] Dr. Scroggs said that last year, students at Louisiana State University had, for the first time, done actual work among the Negroes of Baton Rouge in an effort to understand conditions. He said they had organized a club for the study and discussion of race questions, and many of the best students showed great interest in the work. Dr. Kennon reported that at Mississippi the Y. M. C. A. had undertaken similar study and had enlisted the active cooperation of many of the leading students. Dr. ' Farr stated that at Florida a three-hour course in Southern race questions had been started with great promise, and that university credit was being given for creditable work done. He mentioned fourteen students who were actively engaged in this field, where a short time ago there were no stu dents at all at work. Similar reports were made concerning student activity at Virginia, Georgia, South Carolina, Texas, and North Carolina. It was agreed that until the next meeting the Commission apply itself chiefly to efforts to bring the students of the South to a realization of the need of studying race questions scientifically and sympathetically. The next subject discussed was that of publication. Dr. Morse spoke of the danger of haste, and urged that the Commission think well and long before speaking officially. Care should be exercised, he said, in giving to the public statements that might be taken as coming from the Commission as a body. He suggested the appointment of an editorial board, which should serve as an agency to assemble such facts as the Commission should decide to publish, and give them out. The Commission adopted this suggestion and appointed the secretary to serve temporarily in this capacity. Dr. Brough next called for reports from the various committees. Drs. Morse, Bain, and Kennon spoke of improved hygienic conditions among the MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION 23 Negroes of their respective localities, Dr. Bain referring especially to a "clean up week" undertaken with great success by the Negroes of Chapel Hill, N. C. Dr. Doster, in his report on religious conditions among the Negroes of Alabama, laid stress on the lack of cooperation between white and Negro ministers. Drs. Sutton, Doster, and Farr submitted a report for the Committee on Education. Dr. DeLoach, in his report for the Committee on Economic Phases of the Negro Question, gave a stimulating review of the improvement in the earning capacity of Negroes in Georgia, especially Negro farmers, in the last three years. He said this earning capacity had increased from 10 to 33 per cent in that period. He spoke of canning clubs among colored boys and girls, and of the good results attained in this and other ways. Young Negro farmers were anxious to learn improved methods, he said, and readily fol lowed the advice of their white neighbors and friends. He discussed the tenant system, and then told of his plans for the coming year, which would aim to get accurate information as to economic conditions among the Georgia Negroes. Dr. Scroggs, chairman of the Committee on Civic Relations, submitted a report on that subject. [Appendix C.] The Commission then had a very frank discussion as to the general out look. Each member gave his personal views. Some expressed doubt that, outside of the highly intelligent classes of white people, there was among the Southern white people any real desire to help the Negro advance to better conditions of living. Others believed that there was a disposition to help the Negro, provided it could be demonstrated to the satisfaction of the white people that such aid really did the Negro good, made him a better worker and a better citizen. All agreed that the most pressing need at present was to educate the Southern white people. To do this, one of the most effective agencies at hand was believed to be the Commission, working through Southern students who could, if they would, transform the average white man's attitude toward the Negro in the near future. Patience, however, it was emphasized, was absolutely necessary, as well as care and lack of haste in reaching conclusions. A resolution was adopted extending an invitation to Mr. Anson Phelps Stokes to meet with the Commission at Montgomery, Ala., on May 5. The Commission adjourned at 12:45 A. M., December 16. 24 MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION FIFTH MEETING, MONTGOMERY AND TTISKEGEE INSTITUTE, MAY 5, 6, AND 7, 1915 The fifth meeting of the Commission was called to order at 3 p. M., May 5, 1915, at the Exchange Hotel, Montgomery, Ala. Dr. DeLoach occupied the chair and was chosen chairman for the meeting in place of Dr. Brough, who was absent. The members present were : Professors Hoskins, Kennon, Morse, Doster, Scroggs, DeLoach, Hunley, and Dr. Dillard. Absent: Dr. Brough, Dr. Farr, and Dr. Sutton. The chair welcomed Prof. E. C. Branson, of the University of North Carolina, as a member of the Commission, succeeding Dr. Charles W. Bain, who died last winter. The chair also welcomed Dr. J. Carleton Bell, of the University of Texas, who represented that institution at the meeting in place of Dr. Sutton, who was prevented by illness from attending. Dr. Farr, of the University of Florida, sent word of his regret in being unavoidably prevented from being present, as did Dr. Brough. The chair appointed a committee, consisting of Professors Scroggs, chairman; Hoskins, and the secretary, to compose a minute on the death of Dr. Bain. The following was presented as the report of this committee and was adopted : "The University Commission on Southern Race Questions, having heard with profound regret of the death of one of its members, Charles Wesley Bain, of the University of North Carolina, desires, at its session in Mont gomery, Ala., on May 5, 1915, to record its appreciation of his services in connection with this organization, and to express its sympathy with the bereaved family and with the faculty of the University which he so ably represented. "By his genial disposition and personal charm Professor Bain endeared himself to the members of this Commission, and his death brings to each of them a sense of keen personal loss. "It is hereby ordered that a copy of this testimonial be spread upon the minutes of this Commission, and that a copy be forwarded to Professor Bain's family and to the faculty of the University of North Carolina. "Committee : W. O. SCROGGS, Chairman, JAMES D. HOSKINS, W. M. HUNLEY." A. *CHARLES W. BAIN University of North Carolina B. tCiiARLES II. BROUGII c. $R. J. H. DELOACH University of Arkansas University of Gcoryia FORMER MEMBERS OF THE COMMISSION *Died March 15, 1915. fNow Governor of the State. JNow residing in Chicago. MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION 25 The secretary sent a copy of this minute to Mrs. Bain and to newspapers in North and South Carolina and Norfolk, Va. It was printed in these papers and was, in addition, made the basis of editorial comment in two of them. It was also printed in publications of the University of North Carolina, the Uni versity of South Carolina, and the University of Virginia. Dr. Dillard was asked by the chair to start discussion. He spoke of the importance the race question in the South was assuming, and said that it was becoming more and more important from every point of view as time passed. He had once thought it well, perhaps, to let it drop from active discussion for a few years, but this was impossible in view of the fact that ill-disposed people will talk, so the well-disposed must talk about it. Speaking of the Commis sion, he said it was a real force and had already justified its existence. He thought the reflex influence of the Commission on the thought and attitude of young men in Southern colleges and universities was of great value. If we could look back to this time from twenty-five years hence, he said, we should not be ashamed of the part the Commission played. The immediate job before us, however, he said, was to get the better class of white people in the South interested in the race question so interested that they would feel the need of speaking out frankly when occasion required. As to the future work of the Commission, he doubted whether it should attempt, except so far as it might use college students, to be an investigating body. Data can be better collected, and will be collected, by other agencies more adequately prepared for such work. The Commission should study these facts and use them. The Com mission, furthermore, he said, should hear from as many persons as possible who are interested in Southern race matters. He suggested that a meeting be held in the North at some future time, so that the members of this body might get the point of view, first hand, of people up there who are thinking along the same general line. The chair welcomed Dr. W. D. Weatherford, of the Y. M. C. A., and Mr. J. L. Sibley, State Rural School Agent in Alabama. Dr. Weatherford spoke of the influence of college professors on the thought of students, and saw in that a source of great service on the part of the Commission. He said much progress had been made in the last five years in race conditions in the South. Institutions of learning, both for white and black, he said, were doing an important work in bringing speakers to address their students on the subject, and he commended those institutions that have incorporated courses in race study in the curriculum. The Negroes them selves, he said, were beginning to study in a serious way their own problems. He stated that there was a decided increase in the interest taken in race ques- 26 MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION tions by Southern college women who heretofore have been pessimistic about the whole thing and loath to take personal part in studying any phase of it. Now, he said, about 1,500 Southern college women are actively engaged in the study, and there are about 5,000 Southern college men similarly employed. One difficulty, he said, was to get white and colored people to come together and talk the thing over. Such conferences he thought essential to a full under standing of different points of view and relative needs. But, in spite of the difficulty, a number of such meetings between white citizens and leading colored men are held every year in Southern communities. One of the great est needs at present, he said, was to induce Southern white people to realize that they bear a heavy responsibility to the Negro. Leading white people of the South, and the best colored people, he said, are putting much faith in the attitude of college men, and that is where this Commission can render its greatest service, namely, in giving Southern students a right point of view. Mr. Sibley spoke briefly about the Negro schools in Alabama. He stated that in Alabama there was very little opposition to the vocational idea in Negro education, and that there was not much opposition to the Negro buying land. "Our experience is," he said, "that when the Negro owns land he is a better citizen, because it gives him a real stake in the county. Least race fric tion is to be found in counties where the Negro owns land." He also said that there was a widespread improvement in the attitude of Southern white people toward the Negro. "In many small communities white citizens are earnestly trying to help the Negroes from the point of view of civic, moral, economic, and educational progress. In Montgomery," he added, "the Civic League of the white people and a similar league composed of leading Negroes work together admirably. This sort of thing," he said, "is going on quietly in the South to a much greater extent than is generally recognized." Mr. J. Wyatt Rushton, of the University of Alabama, was presented to the Commission. He spoke of his work in Tuscaloosa in studying the status of the Negro artisan. He seemed to think that, in the main, the white artisan was driving the skilled Negro out. There followed a general discussion dealing with the objects of the Com mission, how it should conduct its work, and what that work should be; also with the question of land ownership by Negroes, and whether there is really any improvement, fundamentally, in the desire of the great mass of Southern people to see the Negro better educated and to have him become a better citi zen. Further discussion was reserved for a later session. Before adjournment, Dr. Hoskins presented a report about work being done at the University of Tennessee under the direction of Prof. T. W. MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION 27 Glocker, of that University, in investigating housing conditions, economic wel fare, and insurance among the Negroes of Knoxville. The second session was convened at 8 o'clock. Professor Branson started discussion with a review of efforts in North Carolina, chiefly under the direction of University people, in trying to aid the Negro. He spoke par ticularly of the Negro community sanitation survey in North Carolina, one of the first and best-conducted surveys of the kind ever undertaken. Referring to the work of the Commission, he said it had not yet broken into the student life of the South as it should. He suggested that a syllabus, consisting of 15 or 20 problems, be prepared and sent to civic clubs, literary societies, Y. M. C. A.'s, etc., of the Southern colleges, with the request that students be put to work on those problems. In this way, he thought, the influence of the Commission might be widely spread and a large number of students be brought into the field of actual investigation, the result being a better point of view for them. Something similar to this had been done, he said, through the debating clubs of the University of North Carolina. This suggestion of preparing a syllabus was favorably received by the Commission, and it was moved that it be discussed at length at a later meeting. Dr. Bell, after presenting Dr. Sutton's regrets and good wishes to the Commission, discussed race conditions in Texas. The race question there, he said, was complicated by the presence of Mexicans and others in addition to the Negroes, and the matter was made more difficult by reason of that fact. The most important and encouraging progressive step in Texas in recent years, he said, was the passage of a compulsory education law. "It will not be universally enforced," he said, "but it furnishes a rallying point for every one interested in public education of all the people, irrespective of race." There was a general feeling in Texas, he believed, for education of Negroes, provided as much, or more, were done for Whites at the same time. "There are a great many, however," he said, "who still sincerely oppose education of the Negro." He spoke of efforts now being made by a number of white edu cators to have Negro schools put on the same basis as schools for white children. "The biggest problem in Texas," he said, "is to induce the white people to accept the Negro on the basis of what he can do." The chair introduced Superintendent Feagin, of Alabama. He said Alabama had more of a white problem than a Negro problem from the school point of view. Last year, he said, the school attendance of Negroes was one per cent better than of Whites. He thought conditions in Alabama were far better than they had ever been, and were improving steadily ; but he said the Negro was not yet getting a square deal in educational support. Alabama's 28 MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION real problem, he said, was concerned with ignorant, prejudiced white people, who were apparently incapable of seeing any ultimate value in educating the Negro. "We do not need compulsory education for Negroes," he said, "but we do need it for white people." Jackson Davis, of Virginia, gave a short review of conditions in Vir ginia. He thought the political issue was becoming less and less important, and that the land-tenure question was looming up with grave possibilities of friction between the races. He also said a need that was widely felt at present was for secondary schools for Negro teachers. In the course of general discussion, the impression seemed to be that as the Negro in the South improved in educational and economic well-being the danger of friction increased. Also, that as there was less friction on this account, and less probability of it, in rural communities, the Negro should be induced, if possible, to stay in the country. The chair called on members of the Commission individually to tell of conditions in their respective states. These reports showed, in the main, that while much remained to be done, and many of the white people of the South were apparently more or less indifferent, if not opposed, to Negro progress, yet there was decided improvement and faith in greater progress in the immediate future. William H. San ford, of the Montgomery bar, accepted an invitation to address the Commission, but was called away unexpectedly. He sent the paper he had prepared, which was read by the secretary. The Commission adjourned to Tuskegee, where the third session was called to order in Tantum Hall at 11 A. M. next day, May 6. Dr. Booker T. Washington attended two sessions. He made a short address of welcome and answered questions asked by members of the Commission. Dr. Washington said colored people were glad that the Commission was identified with the race study movement. The Commission, he said, was making it easier for others to work for the uplift of the Negro. He was especially glad that the Commission was composed of teachers. "Right pub lic sentiment at educational centers will go far indeed." The most trouble some thing in the South, he said, was distorted relations and reports. "If we could get the actual facts as to race relations in the South before the public," he said, "we should get along pretty well with conditions as they are. The trouble is, most Southern white people do not know the facts about the Negro. They get their information largely in roundabout ways. "I think," he con- MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION 29 tinued, "that we are nearing the end of political opposition to the Negro as expressed in party platforms. The Negro has put as many men into office as he can afford to do, and I hope the last one has ridden in on the back of the Negro. It is a hopeful sign that the Negro is ceasing to be an independent political issue. "Some white people seem to think that the Negro is trying to edge into political control and social equality. As a matter of fact, such questions are scarcely ever discussed among Negroes. One very essential thing is to remove from the minds of white people the idea that the Negro is ambitious for political and social control. The fact is that as the Negro becomes educated he finds increasing satisfaction among the members of his own race. If white people would pop unexpectedly into Negro homes they would be surprised at the conditions there, and would then understand why the Negro finds satis faction in his own home circle. "Our great problem now is to get ordinary white men to favor Negro education. If the vast number of Negroes are to be educated at all, it must be in the rural public schools. White men will vote funds for Negro education just in proportion to their belief in the value of that education. Educational and political leaders must, and do, consider the opinion of the average white man, so the big problem is how to convince him. When he knows the facts about the value to the whole country, as well as to the Negro himself, of edu cation, he must be convinced. We are trying to instil into the Negro mind that if education does not make the Negro humble, simple, and of service to the community, then it will not be encouraged. When the white people know that the Negro understands this, I feel that much of the opposition now encountered will disappear. And all the time we ought to remember that the Negro is just beginning to understand the meaning of education. Let us try to make progress in the big, fundamental things; the little jolts will then disappear. "This Commission is working in the right direction, and, I believe, is going as fast as it ought to go. Its present policy, as I understand it, is right. "As to the influence of the educated Negro on the uneducated, while it is not true here, yet in many large cities it is a fact that the educated Negroes are weaned away from the masses and grow very sensitive in many cases. We should try to keep the young, educated Negro from becoming bitter in his attitude toward people and things in general. Therefore, I believe in industrial education, which tends to make the Negro lose himself in his job. He does not then have so much opportunity to become bitter. 30 MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION "We hope for great things from the young, educated white people of the South. Here is another point of contact between the Commission and the best work that is being done. If white Southern college men and women get the right point of view they will not fail to see the importance of educating all the people, white and black. "Large landowners who oppose Negro education are growing fewer in number. Some of them are actually supporting students at Tuskegee. "The railroads are giving more attention to the comfort and convenience of Negro passengers. There is great improvement and encouragement in that respect. "There is little, if any, opposition, generally speaking, to the Negro buy ing land. If the Negro has the money, his greatest difficulty is to get out of the way of the white man who has land to sell. "Capable Negro artisans have no difficulty getting jobs under favorable conditions. The graduates of Tuskegee are having no trouble at all. Those who fear increased friction when the Negro becomes better educated and better trained to take part in skilled occupations overlook the fact that all the time white public opinion is getting broader and broader too. Some friction, however, is bound to come in this transition period. It is sure to end, how ever, in a readjustment on a higher plane. "Colored people feel very keenly about the way crime committed, or alleged to have been committed, by Negroes is played up in the newspapers. We never see the Negro's good qualities mentioned. As a rule, when a Negro's name appears in the newspapers he has done something to somebody, or somebody has done something to him. It may be true that the newspaper's attitude toward the Negro does not influence white public opinion as much as the Negro thinks, but it is bound to affect the point of view of those white people who do not know the Negro." Dr. Washington concluded by saying that he spoke for the educated Negroes of the country when he commended the aim of the Commission and its present methods. He said he knew that already the mere use of the names of the members, as representatives of Southern State universities, had been a source of great encouragement to those who were working to bring about a permanent basis for race adjustment in the South. Twelve members of the staff of Tuskegee attended the morning session. Each one spoke briefly of the attitude of the educated Negro, which, though pessimistic in many instances, was, on the whole, hopeful. They seemed par ticularly eager to effect a better understanding between the educated white man and the educated Negro. MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION 31 Others who addressed the Commission were Superintendent W. B. Riley, of Macon County, Emmett J. Scott, and Prof. W. T. B. Williams. The Commission was taken by automobile over the farm at Tuskegee, and then on an inspection tour of the buildings, class sections, and shops. The members of the Commission were the guests of honor at an assembly in the main auditorium on the night of May 6. Addresses were made by Dr. Washington, Dr. Dillard, Professors Scroggs, Branson, and DeLoach. The closing session was held in Tantum Hall on the afternoon of May 7. The chairman of the Committee on Economic Conditions of Negroes in the South submitted a report. [Appendix D.] It was decided to have the office of chairman of the Commission filled annually. Dr. Sutton was chosen chairman of the next meeting, time and place being left for selection to a committee composed of the chairman, Dr. Dillard, and the secretary. The secretary was authorized to purchase a gift to be sent in the name of the Commission to Tantum Hall as an expression of the Commission's appreciation of the hospitality extended by the matron and young women of that hall. The secretary sent a silver flower stand, suitably inscribed, in care of Dr. Washington, from whom he received a cordial letter of acknowledg ment. The last hour and a half of the last session were devoted to a frank dis cussion of plans of the Commission for the future. Dr. Scroggs submitted an outline for investigation as to the civic status of the Negro. Dr. Bell spoke of work being done in Texas by students under the direc tion of Dr. Sutton, some of whose advanced students were engaged in making surveys of two colleges for Negroes in Austin Tillotson and Samuel Huston colleges. The president of the former is a white man, and nearly all the members of the faculty belong to the white race; while the president and the members of the faculty of the latter are Negroes. "The survey," said Dr. Bell, "is to include the more important items bearing upon school efficiency, such as the school plant, organization and administration, the teachers, the pupils, the course of study, and finances. Among the minor problems which the young men will attempt to solve is the relative ability of full-blood Negroes and mulattoes as disclosed in their school work. Especial attention is to be given to the operation of dormitories. A still more comprehensive problem is to determine what need exists for each of the schools, and to what extent that need is being satisfied. Effort will be made to find out, if possible, what are 32 MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION the definite aims which the management of each of these schools is seeking to realize. Another problem of great difficulty centers around the course of study. Is each of these schools offering such culture material as will help to relate the students to their future environment ? In a word, it is the purpose of the survey to discover to what extent each of these schools is functioning in the preparation of colored students for rational, effective service." Dr. Kennon, Dr. Morse, Dr. Hoskins, Dr. Branson, and Dr. DeLoach described investigations and studies by students at their respective universities and by others in their respective communities. The Commission adjourned at 5 P. M., May 7, 1915. SIXTH MEETING, DURHAM, N. C., TRINITY COLLEGE AND THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA, JANUARY 4 AND 5, 1916 The sixth meeting of the Commission was called to order at the Mai- bourne Hotel, Durham, N. C., on the morning of January 4, by the chairman, Dr. W. S. Sutton. All the members were present except Dr. Farr and Dr. Kennon. Dr. Dillard presented a note from President W. P. Few, of Trinity Col lege, on behalf of some of the leading colored business men of Durham, in viting the Commission to hold a session at the North Carolina Mutual and Provident Association building. The invitation was accepted. Dr. Dillard had proposed that a copy of the minutes of the meeting held at Tuskegee be sent Mr. Anson Phelps Stokes. This was done, and a reply from Mr. Stokes stated that he was greatly pleased with the sort of work the Commission was doing, and that he appreciated the thought in bringing it to his attention in this way. The chief business considered at the Durham meeting was a proposed letter on lynching to be addressed to the college men of the South. The draft submitted by Dr. Morse was taken up a paragraph at a time and carefully considered from every point of view. The draft, with amendments, was referred to a committee composed of Dr. Morse, Dr. Scroggs, and Dr. DeLoach for final wording, and when reported to the Commission was adopted and ordered published. [Appendix A (I).] A copy of the letter was sent to the Associated Press, and copies were sent by telegraph to the leading Southern and several Northern newspapers. Four hundred copies were later sent to college, university, denominational, and other papers, and to libraries and other institutions. As far as the secre tary was able to learn, the letter was widely circulated through the press and MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION 33 was printed in many college papers. It was favorably commented upon edi torially in many instances, and in some was highly commended. Rev. Dr. E. R. Leyburn, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Durham, was a guest at the afternoon session. He spoke briefly in commen dation of the aim of the Commission, and the influence it must have, not only in bringing about a wiser consideration of race questions in the South, but also in the general way of encouraging open discussion of all matters of vital public interest. He thought the Commission would exert a helpful influence in destroying an undoubted aloofness that had grown up between the college and the community in many parts of the South. "The college," he said, "should be an aid to the community in handling all public questions," and he believed the University Commission was already rendering service in making possible greater cooperation between the college and the community, and a better understanding of each other's point of view. He said the Commission was helping to put the colleges in the right relation to the masses of the people. "When it is understood," he said, "that the college can and will help, not only its own crowd, but the people at large as well, the mass of the people will rally to its support and will fall in behind public movements championed by the college." The evening session was held in the board rooms of the North Carolina Mutual and Provident Association. This is an insurance and banking com pany whose officers and directors are the leading colored men of Durham, twelve of whom were present. President Few, of Trinity College, accom panied the Commission and took part in the meeting. Dr. Sutton called on several of the colored men present to speak to the Commission frankly on any topic that was of particular interest to them. Three subjects were empha sized segregation, education, and industry. Dr. A. M. Moore spoke of segregation and its effect on the Negro and on the white man in the South. He said that the Negro objected to the treat ment he received after segregation was accomplished. "The Negro," he said, "prefers to live to himself. Segregation will always follow naturally, pro vided the treatment given the Negro in the way of paving, sewerage, and general conditions of life is reasonably decent. Even here in Durham, where we have had no trouble at all about this question, the Negro section is poorly paved, where paved at all ; the lighting is miserable, and the sewerage question is so inadequately handled that conditions are a menace to health. It is only natural that, in view of this situation, which seems to be general, the Negro should look with disfavor on the idea of segregation. We naturally segregate ourselves. All we ask is justice." 34 MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION Dr. Moore pointed out how dangerous to the safety and health of the white people of a community was this neglect of the section occupied by Negroes. "The Negro section of many a Southern town," he said, "is a breeding place for germs of disease and crime, largely because of miserable sanitary and housing conditions." Dr. Moore also spoke of Negro education, and said the greatest need felt among Southern Negroes at this time was that of competent teachers. "The teachers," he said, "are so poorly prepared and paid that the Negro schools are seriously handicapped. The Negroes of Durham are working hard to improve this condition, but not much can be done without the help of the white people." C. C. Spaulding, general manager of the North Carolina Mutual and Provident Association, spoke of the industrial growth of the Negroes in North Carolina. He estimated that the assessed valuation of property owned by Negroes in North Carolina had increased more than 30 per cent in the last year. Also, that the Negroes of Durham alone paid taxes last year on $500,000 assessment. He said the Negro owed much to the kindly counsel of his white friends, and he believed the white business men of Durham were as proud of the progress the Negroes were making as the Negroes themselves were. This feeling, he said, was especially noticeable among the young white men, which, he said, was a most encouraging sign from the point of view of cordial relationship. He believed conditions in Durham were exceptional, but he thought there was general improvement throughout the South, with a few exceptions here and there. John Merrick, said to be the wealthiest Negro in the Carolinas, in the course of an unusually interesting talk, said the members of the Commission would never know how great was the encouragement felt by the thinking Negroes of the South when they learned that a number of Southern college and university professors were taking the trouble to go about the South, encourage white and colored men to meet together and talk frankly about their mutual problems, and hear both sides of the much-misunderstood race question. He said he was sure he spoke for thousands of influential Negroes when he said that no single thing had occurred in the South in many years that had had such a stimulating effect on the thinking Negroes as the organi zation of a body of Southern college men with the object, among others, of encouraging open and unprejudiced consideration of all matters affecting both races. The meeting was concluded with an informal round table question and answer discussion, in which the members of the Commission, President Few, Dr. Ley burn, and several of the Negroes present took part. MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION 35 The morning session on the 5th of January was held at Trinity College. In addition to President Few, the following members of Trinity College faculty were present and spoke briefly about various phases of the race question : W. K. Boyd, Professor of History ; E. C. Brooks, Professor of Educa tion; W. F. Laprade, Professor of Political Science; R. L. Flowers, Pro fessor of Mathematics, and W. H. Glasson, Professor of Economics. Professor Brooks spoke of a school survey which he had recently com pleted in Durham. One of the results of this survey, he said, was the discovery that the teeth and eyes of the Negro school children were in much better condition than were those of the white school children. It was also found, he said, that the Negro children were far more proficient at manual exercises than the white children, and that the white children excelled in academic studies. He believed that home conditions had much to do with these results, and not incapacity on the part of Negro children to master book learning. A culture background, be believed, was essential in most cases to progress with book studies for both white and black, and he believed the lack of such background was responsible largely for the failure of Negro children to measure up well in comparison with white children. But these conclusions, he said, were tentative, and he recommended a wide survey of the whole South, which might, he said, shed light on the question concerning the wisest way to use funds voted for educational purposes to the best advantage of both white and black. Professor Boyd said he was surprised to find how eagerly his students at Trinity went about the study of race questions when given topics bearing on the general subject for discussion as class exercises. He thought this practice should be encouraged at all Southern colleges. Southern college men, he said, should be brought face to face in a scholarly way with the race problem, and he said he had found essay writing, with such subjects as segre gation, education of Negroes, manual training versus book learning, the Negro in politics, the colored church, the colored minister as a leader, the Negro business man, the Negro and the trade union, the Negro club, social and beneficial, etc., both interesting to the student and productive of good results. Professor Laprade thought the Negro should be taught to have race pride, to be proud to be a Negro. Economic independence, he said, and what Dr. Dillard had referred to as a new attitude on the part of the white man namely, to treat the Negro man to man, and not as master and servant were the most desirable aids to this race pride. 36 MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION Professor Glasson said factory life in the South showed that the Negro was not holding his own industrially. "The Negro can not live a decent life," he said, "without the opportunity to earn and the desire to have decent living." President Few said he was again impressed with one great service the Commission could perform, and that was to induce thoughtful white men of the South to have the courage to do the right thing in dealing with the Negroes in their communities. "Washington Duke's attitude toward the Negro," he said, "did much to make possible the excellent conditions between the races in Durham." The following telegram from Clarence H. Poe was received and read to the Commission: "Keenly regret inability to accept your invitation. I should like to emphasize that there are three parties to the race problem first, the Negro; second, the wealthy or professional white man unaffected by Negro competi tion; third, the poor, laboring white man who does, and must, face such competition. I would not have less sympathy or thought for the Negro, but more for the disadvantaged white man. Hope your Commission will study this third factor, and also inquire if separate grouping does not encourage better Negro leadership and community life; also make a study of mulatto traits and achievements as distinguished from pure Negro, and inquire to what extent mulattoes are increasing." A paper, dealing with "Booker T. Washington as a Leader in the Field of Negro Education in the South," was presented by Professor Doster. The Commission then adjourned, to meet again in the afternoon at Chapel Hill. After dinner at the home of Professor Branson a meeting was held in Peabody Hall, University of North Carolina. The following members of the faculty of the University were present and took part in the discussions : Dean M. H. Stacy; Dean C. L. Raper, Professor of Economics; H. W. Chase, Professor of Psychology; Archibald Henderson, Professor of Pure Mathematics; M. C. S. Noble, Professor of Pedagogy; T. J. Wilson, As sociate Professor of Latin; K. P. Battle, Professor Emeritus of History; J. G. deR. Hamilton, Professor of History; E. L. Rankin, of the Department of University Extension, and H. H. Williams, Professor of Philosophy. President E. K. Graham sent a cordial letter of welcome, in which he ex pressed keen regret that an engagement in New York prevented his being present. MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION 37 Professor Williams spoke of the inadequate pay and training of Negro school teachers. He said he was almost ready to state as his belief that many Negro teachers who were available were worse than no teachers at all. Professor Chase said too few facts were available as to relative mental ability of white and black school children. He thought a very helpful thing would be a careful psychological study of white and black school children, with the object of finding out, if possible, how the education of the children of both races should be directed. He felt sure, he said, that through ignorance a great deal of time and money was being wasted. Dr. Battle spoke earnestly against segregation. He said that he believed segregation made matters worse wherever and however it was tried. As to rural segregation specifically, he said he believed a Negro neighbor was a decided help rather than a hindrance to the white man. Professor Hamilton said there was widespread ignorance throughout the country of the rural Negro. Permanent improvement in the lot of the Negro in the South, he said, can only come after we understand the Negro who lives not in the cities or the more or less thickly populated sections, but away off in the country. We'll never get far in this business, he said, until we know the point of view of the genuine common country Negro, and we know little, if anything, about him now. Professor Wilson said the University of North Carolina was beginning, with much success, to include the Negro in the work of the extension depart ment. Bible classes and reading clubs were conducted by students, he said, and were largely attended by the Negroes of Chapel Hill and vicinity. The students, he said, showed lively interest in the work. Professor Henderson spoke of the fact that the Negro youth of ability was constantly being drawn away from the South. He believed that the edu cated Negro youth would be of great service if kept at home. One reason why the educated, progressive young Negroes leave the South, he said, was the lack of sympathy and encouragement from their white neighbors. "We do not seem to get the point of view," he said, "of the educated young Negro to-day. We don't understand him. This lack of understanding breeds dis trust. On the other hand, the ignorant Negro is still exploited in many ways by white men. We must try to protect the ignorant Negro from his own ignorance, and also we must try to make it worth while for the young Negro of the better sort to stay in the South." Dean Stacy said he believed the political question was settling itself, as segregation and other questions would if permitted to .be worked out natu rally. "Negroes vote here in Chapel Hill," he said, "and there is no white opposition at all, so far as I know." 38 MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION At the business session Professor Hoskins was unanimously elected chairman for the next meeting. It was decided to hold the next meeting late in August, the exact time and place to be fixed by the chairman and Dr. Dillard. This meeting, it was decided, should last at least three days, when the work of the Commission and its usefulness in the future might be fully discussed. The conference adjourned at 3 :30 P. M., January 5. SEVENTH MEETING, BLUE RIDGE AND ASHEVILLE, N. C., AUGUST 30, 31, AND SEPTEMBER 1, 1916 The seventh meeting of the Commission was called to order in Lee Hall, Blue Ridge, N. C., at 10 A. M., August 30, 1916, by the chairman, Professor Hoskins. Mr. C. F. Quillian, representing Dr. Weatherford, welcomed the Commission to Blue Ridge. He made particular reference to the class con ducted by Dr. Branson at Blue Ridge, and stated that the meeting of the Commission there emphasized in a very helpful way the attention given by the Blue Ridge conferences to social matters. The chairman called on Dr. Dillard, who referred to the first open letter to the college students of the South. He said he had heard many favorable comments on this letter in the North and South, and said it seemed to him to be exactly in line with the sort of thing the Commission should do. A big problem in the South, he said, was the creation of sound public opinion, not only as to the Negro, but in many other ways. ' There are plenty of people in the South," he said, "who are ready to stand by the man who speaks in the name of justice." He suggested that the Commission issue another letter, this one to deal primarily with the education of the Negro. The chairman called on each member of the Commission to discuss con ditions of race relationship in his own State. This resulted in an "experience meeting" of great interest. The general impression seemed to be that Southern white men were more ready now than ever before to uphold the idea of justice to the Negro, and that there was a frankness in discussing race matters that was absent a few years ago. There seemed to be a growing willingness to share educational funds more equitably, the railroads were giving Negroes better accommodations, the white business men were taking more interest in Negro business men and their organizations, municipal governments were more ready to consider living conditions in the Negro quar ters of Southern cities relatively to those obtaining in the sections occupied by white people, trade unions were showing a more sympathetic feeling toward Negro workmen, etc. Dr. Kennon mentioned the fact that in conferring the MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION 39 degree of doctor of laws recently, the University of Mississippi emphasized the point that the degree was conferred in that instance in recognition of studies made by the man who received it in the field of race relationships. Reports from the Southern States showed somewhat improved conditions of Negro living and opportunity. An earnest discussion followed, in which each member of the Commission gave his views as to the future of the Negro in the South. All seemed to think that the real problem ultimately would be : What will be the attitude of the South when the Negro is economically and educationally capable, in large numbers, of competing in a fair field with the white man? At present, it was pointed out, the ignorant white man's jealousy of and antipathy toward the well-to-do, as well as the shiftless Negro, constituted a problem of grave concern. Dr. Sutton expressed the belief that the white man would develop in his attitude as the Negro developed in his opportunity and capability, and that it was a waste of time to anticipate the problems of the future. "Our busi ness," he said, "is to see that the Negro becomes as good a citizen now as possible, with opportunities commensurate with his aptitudes, economically and morally." Dr. Thomas, in the course of a statement as to conditions in Arkansas, read a letter which he wrote in condemnation of a recent lynching in that State. The letter was printed in the newspapers. Dr. Scroggs suggested that the letter be incorporated in the minutes of the Commission, and Dr. Morse moved that the Commission formally approve it. [Appendix F.] A committee consisting of Professors Sutton, Morse, and Scroggs was appointed to draft a letter dealing with the education of the Negro. MEETINGS IN ASHEVILLE B. C. Caldwell, of the Slater and Jeanes Funds, addressed the Com mission at the morning session at the Battery Park Hotel, Asheville, on August 31 . Among other things, he spoke of the liberal attitude of Southern newspapers toward the Negro and his achievements and derelictions. He thought there was a growing tendency among Southern newspapers to be just to the Negro. The effect of this, he said, was tremendous from the point of view of public opinion. He also spoke of the better chances of the Southern Negro nowadays in trades and other forms of business enterprise. The report of the committee on the second letter was considered and further discussion postponed to a later session. 40 MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION In the afternoon the Commission's guests included Dr. Carl V. Reynolds, City Health Officer of Asheville; Rev. Dr. Robert F. Campbell, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Asheville; D. Hiden Ramsey, Commis sioner of Public Safety of Asheville; and Rev. Willis Clark, rector of the Episcopal Church of Asheville. Dr. Reynolds spoke of the Negro and public health. He said that in a large measure the burden of a high death rate was unjustly saddled on the Negro. The Negro was really immune to a great many diseases, he said. He spoke of the fact that living conditions forced on Negroes in many localities made adequate protection against tuberculosis an impossibility. Dr. Campbell said the mere fact of the Commission was heartening. He commended the policy of trying to reach college students. In the South there is vast ignorance of the Negro by the white, he said, and he thought the Com mission was on the right track in its efforts to arouse the interest of Southern college men in the question of race relationships. Rev. Mr. Clark thought the point of greatest contact between the races was religion, and he urged that colored ministers be induced to work with the white people who were seeking the improvement of the conditions of the mass of the colored people. Mr. Ramsey spoke especially of the Negro criminal. The masses of the Negroes, he said, do not, as a rule, recognize any social obligation on their part to help enforce and keep the law. It was also a fact, he said, that sen tence to jail was not as great a social detriment to the Negro as to the white man. The same penalty that would deter a white man would not deter the average Negro. He further stated that the ownership of property seemed to curb criminality among Negroes. He found that among Negro criminals there were very few who owned property. In the evening the Commission held a meeting at the City Hall in Ashe ville, at which time Dr. J. W. Walker and Dr. R. H. Bryant, colored physi cians; Rev. C. B. Dusenbury, pastor of the colored Presbyterian Church; B. J. Jackson, a successful colored business man; and W. S. Lee and J. H. Michael, principals of the colored schools, spoke to the Commission. As many as twenty Negro citizens were present, as well as a number of white citizens, including several city officials. The concluding session was devoted to a revision of the proposed second letter to the college men of the South. [Appendix A (II).] Professor E. C. Branson, of the University of North Carolina, was chosen chairman of the Commission for the succeeding year. MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION 41 The selection of the time and place of the next meeting was left to a committee consisting of the chairman, Dr. Dillard, and the secretary. Those present at the meeting were : Prof. E. C. Branson, Dr. William L. Kennon, Dr. Josiah Morse, Prof. James J. Doster, Prof. James D. Hoskins (chairman), Dr. William O. Scroggs, Dr. William S. Sutton, Dr. David Y. Thomas, Prof. William M. Hunley (secretary), Dr. James H. Dillard. EIGHTH MEETING, WASHINGTON, D. C., AUGUST 29, 30, AND 31, 1917 The eighth meeting of the Commission was held in Washington on August 29, 30, and 31, 1917. Professor Branson presided at the several ses sions. All the members were present except Professors Farr, Kennon, and Brooks. The meeting was scheduled to be held in Washington chiefly that the members might have an opportunity of attending the sessions of the Educa tional Conference held at the call of the United States Commissioner of Education. The Commission's first session was called to order in one of the rooms of the Bureau of Labor Building on the evening of August 29. The minutes of the last meeting were read and approved. Guests of the Commission included Dr. Thomas Jesse Jones, George Foster Peabody, Julius Rosenwald, Dr. R. R. Moton, T. J. Woofter, Jr., T. R. Snaveley, R. H. Leavell, Prof. W. T. B. Williams, and Prof. Francis D. Tyson. Dr. Jones extended an invitation to the Commission to attend as many sessions of the conference on Negro education as possible. On motion of Dr. Sutton, it was decided that the members attend as the Commission. Professor Branson explained the purposes of the Commission and out lined its activities. He then called on several of the guests to speak briefly about Negro Migration, which, he said, was to be the chief subject that the Commission would consider at this meeting. Those who spoke were Mr. Peabody, Mr. Rosenwald, Dr. Moton, Mr. Woofter, Mr. Snaveley, Mr. Leavell, Professor Williams, and Dr. Tyson. It seemed to be the consensus 'of opinion that the cause of the Negro leaving the South was a natural one, namely, that he was influenced in part by dissatisfaction with conditions under which he was forced to live, and mainly, perhaps, because of the lure of higher wages. After a general discussion the session adjourned, to meet again on August 30th at the Hotel Raleigh. 42 MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION SESSION AT THE RALEIGH The Commission was called to order by the chairman at 10 o'clock A. M. Before proceeding to the educational conferences there was a brief discussion of Negro Education, in which the following points were emphasized: "The importance of elementary schools to the economic, hygienic, and moral welfare of the white and colored people of the Southern states is funda mental. "The reports of State superintendents are practically unanimous in their presentation of the poverty and inadequacy of the elementary schools. "The elementary schools are peculiarly the responsibility of public authorities. "The State and Jeanes Fund supervisors are rendering great service in awakening the interest of State and local authorities. "There are great possibilities in the private schools in improving the elementary schools." In the afternoon the Commission met in a room in the Department of the Interior Building. President John Hope, of Morehouse College, Atlanta, spoke of the growing feeling among the Negroes of Atlanta that "it won't do no good." In nineteen years, he said, Atlanta had gone backward in public school facilities for the Negro. There is no Negro high school in Atlanta, he said, and only about three in the State of Georgia. He stated that in the Atlanta colored schools there was no industrial training at all. He added, however, that the Negroes had voted for school bonds and had been promised additional schools. "The Negroes have complained and have received a respectful hearing from the school board," he said, "but they still believe that it ' won't do no good.' The Negroes are growing restless. When Atlanta was 'cleaned up,' the Negro quarter was ignored. These things are conducive to migration." Prof. Monroe N. Work, of Tuskegee, gave his impressions of the migra tion. "It is a leaderless movement," he said, "and presents the greatest oppor tunity since emancipation for readjustment of racial relations." He said good should come out of the exodus : better health conditions, less crime, and better educational facilities in the South. Discussion brought out the fact that there was a considerable migration of whites, as well as blacks. President Hope stated that he had seen labor agents in Cincinnati getting Negro laborers to go South to work in Alabama mines. He said many Negroes were going, and this constituted a counter- migration movement of considerable importance. i MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION 43 Prof. George E. Haynes, of Fisk University, pointed out that the move ment of the Negro to the North had been going on since the Civil War, especially since 1880. He said the Negro was going cityward, more to Northern than to Southern cities. He said he had traveled extensively in the South in the past year and had found districts where there were no emigrants ; in other districts the population had almost vanished. In the districts of the last-mentioned kind, he said, racial troubles were more frequent. Discussion indicated that the opinion was prevalent among students of the question that migration so far had not been very harmful to the South; that conditions in the North where the Negroes had gone in large numbers were in many cases a repetition of those prevailing in the Southern sections of large Negro population ; that there was as yet no very pronounced short age of labor, and that better racial relations, based on frankness, fairness, and knowledge, would check the migration movement. NIGHT SESSION AT THE RALEIGH The Commission convened again at the Raleigh at 8 p. M. On motion of Dr. Sutton the secretary was directed to write a letter of sympathy on behalf of the Commission to Mrs. Frissell on the death of her husband, Dr. H. B. Frissell. Professor Doster was unanimously chosen chairman for the year fol lowing this meeting. There was discussion of a proposal presented by Dr. Dillard that the Commission authorize Mrs. J. D. Hammond to act as publicity director and send to the newspapers articles dealing with the Negro question and allied topics. The Commission decided to leave the proposal with the chairman, sub ject to final vote by the members. Dr. Morse presented a letter to be sent out as a third open letter to the college men of the South. After some discussion and amendment it was unani mously adopted, subject to the approval of the absent members. It was de cided that the secretary should publish the letter. [Appendix A (III).] It was decided that the Commission should attend the closing sessions of the educational conference on August 31st. The Commission then adjourned, subject to the call of the chairman. From the large amount of matter so far collected the papers contained in the following Appendix were selected for publication in these Minutes as being perhaps of most immediate interest and of most value for future reference. APPENDIX (A) OPEN LETTERS FROM THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION ON SOUTHERN RACE QUESTIONS TO THE COLLEGE MEN OF THE SOUTH LYNCHING This letter is not written to convince you that lynching is a crime, for you know it already. Its object is to urge you to show others whenever opportunity presents itself that lynching does more than rob its victims of their constitutional rights and of their lives. It simultaneously lynches law and justice and civilization, and outrages all the finer human sentiments and feelings. The wrong that it does to the wretched victims is almost as nothing compared to the injury it does to the lynchers themselves, to the community, and to society at large. Lynching is a contagious social disease, and as such is of deep concern to every American citizen and to every lover of civilization. It is especially of concern to you, and you can do much to abolish it. Vice and crime know that their best, though unconscious and unwilling allies, are luke-warmness and timidity on the part of educated, "good" citi zens. Wrong is weaker than right, and must yield whenever right is persistent and determined. It is, of course, no argument in favor of lynching, nor can we derive any legitimate satisfaction from the fact that it is not confined to any one section of our country and that the victims are not always black. One of the bad features of lynching is that it quickly becomes a habit, and, like all bad habits, deepens and widens rapidly. Formerly lynchings were mainly incited by rape and murder, but the habit has spread until now such outrages are committed for much less serious crimes. The records of lynching for 1914, compiled by three different agencies, give the total number for the year as 52, 54, and 74, the authority for these figures being Tuskegee Insti tute, the Chicago Tribune, and the Crisis, respectively. The conflicting reports can not be harmonized, but, to avoid any possibility of exag geration, we may employ the most conservative of these for analysis. It reveals these facts : Number lynched colored : male 46, female 3 ; white : male 3, female 0. Total 52. Crimes charged against victims: Murder 13, robbery and murder 6, robbery and attempted murder 1, suspected of murder 1, rape 6, attempted rape 1, killing an officer 5, wounding officer 1, murderous assault 3, alleged murderous assault 1, biting off a man's chin 1, accused of wounding a person 1, killing person in quarrel 4, beating child to death 1, trying to force way into woman's room 1, stealing shoes 1, stealing mules 1, setting fire to barn 2, assisting a man to escape who had wounded another 1, being found under a house 1. The three women were lynched for the following reasons: One, 17 years old, for killing a man who, it was reported, had raped her; the second was accused of beating a child to death; the third was accused of helping her husband set fire to a barn. In the last case, both husband and wife were lynched in the presence of their 4-year-old child. 46 MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION It should be especially noted that of the fifty-two persons lynched, only seven two white and five colored or 13 per cent, were charged with the crime against womanhood. This shows clearly how far and how quickly the habit has spread beyond the bounds set by those who first resorted to lynching as- a remedy. According to states, the lynchings were distributed as follows : Alabama 2, Arkansas 1, Florida 4, Georgia 2, Louisiana 12, Mississippi 12, Missouri 1, New Mexico 1, North Dakota 1, North Carolina 1, Oklahoma 3, Oregon 1, South Carolina 4, Tennessee 1, Texas 6. The same agency which reported fifty-two lynchings for 1914 makes the following report for 1915: Number lynched colored: male 51, female 3; white: male 14, female 0. Total 68. This is an increase of 16, or 30 per cent, over the total number for 1914. According to states, the lynchings for 1915 were distributed as follows: Alabama 9, Arkansas 5, Florida 5, Georgia 18, Illinois 1, Kentucky 5, Louisiana 2, Mississippi 9, Missouri 2, Ohio 1, Oklahoma 3, South Carolina 1, Tennessee 2, Texas 5. It is worthy of note that in at least four cases it later was discovered that the victims of the mob were innocent of the crime of which they were accused. These are the terrible facts. Is there no remedy? Have we not sufficient legal intelli gence and machinery to take care of every case of crime committed? Must we fall back on the methods of the jungle? Civilization rests on obedience to law, which means the substitution of reason and deliberation for impulse, instinct, and passion. It is easy and tempting to obey the latter, but to be governed by the former requires self-conrol, which comes from the interposition of thought between impulse and action. Herein lies the .college man's opportunity to serve his fellows; to interpose deliberation between their impulses and action, and in that way to control both. Society has a right to expect college men to help in moulding opinion and shaping conduct in matters of this sort. It is their privilege and duty to cooperate with others in leading crusades against crime and mob rule and for law and civilization. The college man belongs in the front rank of those fighting for moral and social progress. For this reason the University Commission makes its first appeal to you and urges you strongly to cooperate with the press, the pulpit, the bar, officers of the law, and all other agencies striving to eliminate this great evil, by speaking out boldly when speech is needed and letting your influence be felt against it in decided, unmistakable measure and manner. (Signed) W. S. SUTTON, Texas, JOSIAH MORSE, South Carolina, W. L. KENNON, Mississippi, W. O. SCROGGS, Louisiana, JAMES D. HOSKINS, Tennessee, R. J. H. DELOACH, Georgia, W. M. HUNLEY, Virginia, E. C. BRANSON, North Carolina, JAMES M. FARR, Florida, D. Y. THOMAS, Arkansas, J. J. DOSTER, Alabama. January 5, 1916. MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION 47 II EDUCATION In its first open letter to college men of the South, issued at the beginning of the present year, the University Commission urged them to unite their efforts with those of the press, the pulpit, the bar, the officers of the law, and all other agencies laboring for the elimi nation of the monster evil of mob violence. These agencies have labored diligently and with substantial results, as is indicated by the decrease of the average annual number of lynch- ings from 171 for the decade 1886-1895 to 70 for the decade 1906-1915. Nevertheless, the Commission wishes to reiterate its appeal with renewed emphasis, knowing that the. eradica tion of so virulent a social disease as the lynching mania can be effected only by the pro longed and vigorous efforts of sane and patriotic citizens. In this letter the Commission wishes to direct the attention of the college men to the educational aspect of the race question, inasmuch as the solution of all human problems ultimately rests upon rightly directed education. In its last analysis, education simply means bringing forth all the native capacities of the individual for the benefit both of himself and of society. It is axiomatic that a developed plant, animal, or man is far more valuable to society than the undeveloped. It is likewise obvious that ignorance is the most fruitful source of human ills. Furthermore, it is as true in a social as in a physical sense that a chain is no stronger than its weakest link. The good results thus far obtained, as shown by the Negro's progress within recent years, prompt the Commission to urge the extension of his educational opportunities. The inadequate provision for the education of the Negro is more than an injustice to him; it is an injury to the white man. The South can not realize its destiny if one-third of its population is undeveloped and inefficient. For our common welfare we must strive to cure disease wherever we find it, strengthen whatever is weak, and develop all that is undeveloped. The initial steps for increasing the efficiency and usefulness of the Negro race must necessarily be taken in the school room. There can be no denying that more and better schools, with better trained and better paid teachers, more adequate supervision and longer terms, are needed for the blacks, as well as the whites. The Negro schools are, of course, parts of the school systems of their respective states, and as such share in the progress and prosperity of their state systems. Our appeal is for a larger share for the Negro, on the ground of the common welfare and common justice. He is the weakest link in our civilization, and our welfare is indissolubly bound up with his. Many means are open to the college men of the South for arousing greater public interest in this matter and for promoting a more vigorous public effort to this end. A right attitude in this, as in all other important public questions, is a condition precedent to success. For this reason the Commission addresses to Southern college men this special (Signed) J. J. DOSTER, Alabama, D. Y. THOMAS, Arkansas, JAMES M. FARR, Florida, R. J. H. DELOACH, Georgia, WILLIAM O. SCROGGS, Louisiana, W. L. KENNON, Mississippi, E. C. BRANSON, North Carolina, JOSIAH MORSE, South Carolina, JAMES D. HOSKINS, Tennessee, WILLIAM S. SUTTON, Texas, September 1, 1916. W. M. HUNLEY, Virginia. 48 MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION III MIGRATION On two previous occasions the University Commission on Southern Race Questions addressed open letters to the college men of the South, setting forth briefly the results of their studies and conferences on topics of importance to both races. The first of these dealt with the lynching evil, and, after pointing out the inherent injustice of it and its menace to the established institutions of society, emphasized the fact that human actions are like boomerangs, affecting those who act as much as, if not more than, those who are acted upon. It is becoming more and more recognized that the white race in many subtle ways has suffered more from lynching and its consequences than has the black. The second letter dealt with the education of the Negro, and stressed the need of larger support, better teachers, longer terms, and more adequate facilities, again on the ground of inherent justice of the proposal, and the fact that in doing for others we do even more for ourselves. In the present letter the Commission wishes to address the college men on what it considers the most immediate pressing problem of the South, and one of the most important for the nation, namely, Negro Migration. The present migration of the Negro is not an anomalous phenomenon in human affairs. The economic and social laws that affect the lives and actions of white men produce practically the same effects upon the Negro. It should not be surprising, therefore, to find him obeying so promptly and in such large numbers the economic law of demand and supply. There was no extensive migration until the industrial centers, facing a dangerous shortage of labor, owing to the complete shutting off of the European sources of supply, turned to the South, where large sources were available. And so they sent their agents, with very alluring promises,' and liberally used the Negro press, hand-bills, letters, lecturers, and other means designed quickly to uproot the Negro and draw him to the railroads, factories, and mines, where his labor is sorely needed. The dollar has lured the Negro to the East and North, as it has lured the white man even to the most inaccessible and forbidding regions of the earth. But the human being is moved and held not by money alone. Birthplace, home ties, family, friends, associations and attachments of numerous kinds, fair treatment, opportunity to labor and enjoy the legitimate fruits of labor, assurance of even-handed justice in the courts, good educational facilities, sanitary living conditions, tolerance, and sympathy these things, and others like them, make an even stronger appeal to the human mind and heart than does money. The South can not compete on a financial basis with other sections of the country for the labor of the Negro, but the South can easily keep her Negroes against all allurements if she will give them a larger measure of those things that human beings hold dearer than material goods. Generosity begets gratitude, and gratitude grips and holds man more powerfully than hooks of steel. It is axiomatic that fair dealing, sympathy, patience, toler ance, and other human virtues benefit those who exercise them even more than the beneficiaries of them. It pays to be just and kind, both spiritually and materially. Surely the South has nothing to lose and much to gain by adopting an attitude like that indicated above. (Signed) E. C. BRANSON, Professor of Rural Economics and Sociology, University of North Carolina. R. P. BROOKS, Professor of History, University of Georgia. JAS. J. DOSTER (chairman), Dean of the School of Education, and Pro fessor of Education, University of Alabama. A. DAVID C. BARROW Chancellor of the University of Georgia c. SAMUEL C. MITCHELL President of Delaware College, formerly of the University of South Carolina ADVISORY COMMITTEE EDWIN A. ALDERMAN President of the University of Virginia JAMES II. DILLARD President of the Slater and Jeanes Boards, formerly Professor in Tulanc University, New Orleans MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION 49 JAMES M. FARR, Professor of English, University of Florida. JAMES D. HOSKINS, Dean of the University of Tennessee. W. M. HUNLEY (secretary), Professor of Economics and Political Science, Virginia Military Institute. W. L. KENNON, Professor of Physics, University of Mississippi. JOSIAH MORSE, Professor of Psychology and Philosophy, University of South Carolina. W. O. SCROGGS, Professor of Economics and Sociology, Louisiana State University. W. S. SUTTON, Dean of the School of Education, University of Texas. D. Y. THOMAS, Professor of History and Political Science, University of Arkansas. (B) WORK OF THE COMMISSION OF SOUTHERN UNIVERSITIES ON THE RACE QUESTION (Presented at the Second Meeting, University of Georgia, December 19, 1912, by C. H. Brough, Chairman) Thinking that this Commission could do no better than follow the constructive outline which Dr. Dillard has mapped out, I invite suggestions along the following lines: I. What are the conditions? (a) Religious : Contributions, excessive denominationalism, lack of the practical in preaching, etc. (b) Educational : Self-help, Northern contributions, public schools, etc. (c) Hygienic: Whole question of health and disease. (d) Economic: Land ownership, business enterprises, abuse of credit system, etc. (e) Civic: Common carriers, courts of justice, franchise, etc. II. What should, and can, be done, especially by whites, for improvement? III. W r hat may be hoped as to future conditions and relations? With reference to the religious contributions to the betterment of the Negro, it may be said that our churches have been pursuing a "penny-wise and pound-foolish economy." The Presbyterians last year gave an average of three postage stamps per member to the work. The Methodists averaged less than the price of a cheap soda water just a five-cent one. The Southern Baptist Convention has only been asking from its large membership $15,000 annually for this tremendous work. In view of these conditions, as Southern churchmen we may well echo the passionately eloquent outburst of Dr. W. D. Weatherford, one of the most profound thinkers and virile writers on the Negro question, and the leader of the young men of the South in their Y. M. C. A. work, "Do we mean to say by our niggardly gifts that these people are helpless and worthless in the sight of God? Do we mean to say that one cent per member is doing our share in evangelizing the whole race? God pity the Southern Christians, the Southern churches, and the Southern States if we do not awake to our responsibility in this hour of opportunity." But the responsibility for deplorable religious conditions among the Negroes is not altogether with the whites. While it is true that the Negro is by nature a religious and emotional animal, while there are approximately 4,500,000 church members among the 10,000,000 Negroes in the United States, and these churches represent property values of 50 MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION nearly $40,000,000, yet it is also painfully true that excessive denominationalism and ecclesiastical rivalry and dissensions prevent the formation of strong, compact organizations among them, and, as a result, there are twice as many church organizations as there should be, congregations are small, and the salaries paid their preachers are not large enough to secure competent men. In connection with the character of the average Negro preacher, it is interesting to note that in an investigation made by Atlanta University concerning the character of the Negro ministry, of two hundred Negro laymen who were asked their opinion of the moral character of Negro preachers, only thirty-seven gave decided answers of approval. Among faults mentioned by these Negro laymen were selfishness, deceptiveness, love of money, sexual impurity, dogmatism, laziness, and ignorance, and to these may be added the fact that preaching is generally of a highly emotional type and is wholly lacking in any practical moral message. At the April meeting of the Southern Sociological Congress I trust that some one will discuss the necessity of holding up before the Negroes the conception of the Perfect Man of Galilee of unblemished character and spotless purity, who went about doing good, as well as the conception of a Saviour of power and a Christ of divinity. Educationally, the Negroes of the South have made remarkable progress. In 1880, of the Negro population above ten years of age, 70 per cent was illiterate. By the end of the next decade this illiteracy had been reduced to 57.1 per cent, and by the close of the century it had declined to 44.5 per cent. During the last ten years of the nineteenth century there was an increase of the Negro population of 1,087,000 in the school age of ten years and over, yet, despite this increase, there was a decrease in illiteracy of 190,000. In 1912 there are over 2,000,000 between the ages of five and eighteen, or 54 per cent of the total number of educable Negro children, enrolled in the common schools of the former slave States, and the percentage of illiteracy among the Negroes is only 27.5 per cent. In the State of Arkansas, for the year ending June 30, 1912, 109,731 Negro children were enrolled in the common schools out of a total educable Negro population of 175,503, and the percentage of illiteracy among the Negroes was only 26.2 per cent. Besides the Branch Normal at Pine Bluff, maintained by the State at an annual expense of $15,000 an institution which has graduated 236 Negro men and women in the thirty-eight years of its useful history and six splendid Negro high schools at Fort Smith, Helena, Hot Springs, Little Rock, and Pine Bluff, there are six denominational high schools and colleges in Arkansas that are giving the Negroes an academic education and practical instruction in manual training, domestic science, practical carpentry, and scientific agriculture. These facts tell the story of praiseworthy sacrifice, frugality, struggle, and aspiration. The amount devoted to Negro education in the South for the forty years ending with the academic session 1910-11 is approximately $166,000,000. Of this amount the Negro is beginning to pay a fair proportion, especially in North Carolina and Virginia. But the Southern white people have borne the brunt of the burden, meriting the stately eulogy of the late lamented commissioner of education, William T. Harris, that "the Southern white people, in the organization and management of systems of public schools, manifest wonderful and remarkable self-sacrifice," and also the tribute of Dr. Lyman Abbott, editor of The Outlook, "While Northern benevolence has spent tens of thousands in the South to educate the Negroes, Southern patriotism has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars for the same purpose. This has been done voluntarily and without aid from the Federal Government." The South as a whole has appreciated the truth of the six axioms in the program of Negro education so admirably set forth by Dr. W. S. Sutton, of the University of Texas, in MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION 51 a recent bulletin, and she boldly affirms that the highest welfare of the "black child of Providence" committed to her keeping lies not in social or even political equality, but in equality of industrial opportunity and educational enlightenment. In the problem of Negro education, the keystone of the arch is the rural school, which has been shamefully neglected. Dr. Dillard, by his wise administration of the Jeanes and Slater Funds, has rendered an invaluable service in the improvement of rural Negro schools, employing at the present time 117 supervisors in 119 Southern counties at an average annual salary of $301.38 to competent teachers who cooperate with the county examiners and superintendents in the supervision of Negro schools. The question has been raised by Hon. George B. Cook, superintendent of Public Instruction in Arkansas, as to whether these supervisors and the funds for their employment should not be placed under the immediate control of the State Departments of Education by Dr. Dillard, and I respect fully submit this as a fruitful subject for discussion by this Commission. Closely allied to the proper solution of the problem of Negro education are the prac tical questions of better hygienic conditions and housing, the reduction of the fearful mortality rate now devastating the race, and the prevention of disease. At the present the death rate of the Negroes is 28 per 1,000 as opposed to 15 per 1,000 for the whites. The chief causes of this excessive death rate among the Negroes seem to be infant mortality, scrofula, venereal troubles, consumption, and intestinal diseases. According to Hoffman, over 50 per cent of the Negro children born in Richmond, Va., die before they are one year old. This is due primarily to sexual immorality, enfeebled constitutions of parents, and infant starvation, all of which can be reduced by teaching the Negroes the elementary laws of health. The highest medical authorities agree that the Negro has a predisposition to con sumption, due to his small chest expansion and the insignificant weight of his lungs (only 4 ounces), and this theory seems to be borne out by the fact that the excess of Negro deaths over whites from consumption is 105 per cent in the representative Southern cities. But however strong the influence of heredity, it is undeniable that consumption, the hook worm, and fevers of all kinds are caused in a large measure by the miserable housing con ditions prevalent among the Negroes. Poor housing, back alleys, no ventilation, poor ventila tion, and no sunshine do much to foster disease of all kinds. Furthermore, people can not be moral as long as they are herded together like cattle, without privacy or decency. If a mother, a father, three grown daughters, and men boarders have to sleep in two small rooms, as is frequently the case, we must expect lack of modesty, promiscuity, illegitimacy, and sexual diseases. It is plainly our duty to preach the gospel of hygienic evangelism to our unfortunate "neighbors in black," for the Ciceronian maxim, "Mens sana in cor pore sano," is fundamental in education. Certainly he who is instrumental in causing the Negro to build two and three-room houses where only a one-room shack stood before, and to construct one sleeping porch where none was before, deserves more at the hands of his fellow-man than the whole race of demagogues put together. Economic progress has been the handmaid of educational enlightenment in the improvement of the Negro. Indeed, to the Negro the South owes a debt of real gratitude for her rapid agricultural growth, and in no less degree does every true son of the South owe the Negro a debt of gratitude for his unselfishness, his faithfulness, and his devotion to the white people of Dixieland, not only during the dark and bloody days of the Civil War, but during the trying days of our industrial and political renaissance. 52 MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION To the Negro, either as an independent owner, tenant, or laborer, we partly owe the increase in the number of our farms from 504,000 in 1860 to over 2,000,000 at the present time; the increase in our farm values from $2,048,000 in 1860 to $4,500,000 at the present time; the decrease in the size of our farm unit from 321 acres in 1860 to 84 acres at the present time. In this substantial progress of our glorious Southland the Negro has had a distinct and commendable share. It has been estimated by workers in the Census Bureau that in 1890 Negroes were cultivating, either as owners, tenants, or hired laborers, one hundred million acres of land, and at the present time the estimated value of property owned by Negroes in the United States is $750,000,000. Of the 214,678 farmers in Arkansas in 1910, 63,593, or almost 30 per cent, were Negroes, and of these Negro farmers 14,662, or 23 per cent, were owners and 48,885, or 77 per cent, were tenants. In the United States as a whole, at the period of the last decennial census, there were 2,143,176 Negroes engaged in farming, 1,324,160 in domestic and personal service, 275,149 in manufacturing and mechanical pur suits, 209,154 in trade and transportation, and 47,324 in professional service a remarkable showing for a race that emerged barely three centuries ago from the night of African darkness and depravity. However, there are four well-defined retarding forces to the fullest economic develop ment of the Negro in the South, and to these evils this Commission should give thoughtful and earnest consideration : the tenant system, the one-crop system, .the abuse of the credit system, and rural isolation. I believe that industrial education, teaching the Negro the lessons of the nobility of toil, the value of thrift and honesty, the advantages attaching to the division of labor and the diversification of industry, and the dangers lurking in the seductive credit system will prove an effective panacea for these self-evident evils. Therefore, as a Southern man, born, raised, and educated in the proud commonwealth of Mississippi, I welcome the splendid efforts of such men as Booker T. Washington, of the Tuskegee Institute; Major Moton, of Hampton Institute; Joseph Price, of Livingtone College, North Carolina ; Charles Banks and Isaia.h Montgomery, of Mississippi ; and Joseph A. Booker and E. T. Venegar, of Arkansas, in behalf of the industrial education of their race. As the sons of proud Anglo-Saxon sires, we of the South doubt seriously the wisdom of the enfranchisement of an inferior race. We believe that Reconstruction Rule was "a reign of ignorance, mongrelism, and depravity," that the Negro is the cheapest voter and the greatest Bourbon in American politics, North and South alike, and that as a political factor he has been a disturbing factor in our civic life. Personally, I believe in the Mississippi educational qualification test for suffrage, sanely administered, with as much ardor as in a literacy test for foreign immigration. However, "a condition and not a theory confronts us." As an American citizen the Negro is entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and the equal protection of our laws for the safeguarding of these inalienable rights. The regulation of suffrage in the South, as well as in the North, is and always will be determined by the principle of expediency. But none but the most prejudiced Negro-hater, who oftentimes goes to the extreme of denying that any black man can have a white soul, would controvert the propo sition that in the administration of quasi-public utilities and courts of justice the Negro is entitled to the fair and equal protection of the law. Separate coach laws are wise, but discriminations in service are wrong. MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION 53 If "law hath her seat in the bosom of God and her voice in the harmony of the world, all things paying obeisance to her, the greatest as not exempt from her power and the least as feeling her protecting care," then the meanest Negro on a Southern plantation is entitled to the same consideration in the administration of justice as the proudest scion of a cultured Cavalier. It is, indeed, a travesty on Anglo-Saxon jurisprudence to send a Negro to the peni tentiary for a term of eighteen years for selling a gallon of whiskey in violation of law and at the same time allow scores of white murderers to go unpunished, as was recently stated to be a fact by a Governor of a Southern state. Even if it be only theoretically true that "all people are created free and equal/' and if, as a practical proposition, the Negro is a "ham sandwich for the Caucasian race," it is undeniably true that he is entitled to the equal protection of our laws and to the rights safeguarding every American citizen under the beneficent provisions of the Constitution of the United States. If I may use the eloquent words of the golden-tongued, clear-visioned, and lion- hearted Bishop Charles B. Galloway, "The race problem is no question for small politicians, but for broad-minded, patriotic statesmen. I\ is not for non-resident theorists, but for clear-visioned humanitarians. All our dealings with the Negro should be in the spirit of the Man of Galilee." The task confronting this Commission, composed of Southern white men and repre senting the universities of the South, is Atlean in its magnitude and fraught with tre mendous significance. I believe that ours is a noble mission that of discussing the ways and means of bettering the religious, educational, hygienic, economic, and civic conditions of an inferior race. I believe that by protesting against the miscegenation of the races we can recognize the sacredness of the individual white and the individual Negro and do much to preserve that racial integrity recently jeopardized by the Johnson-Cameron misalliance. I believe that by preaching the gospel of industrial education to the whites and Negroes alike we can develop a stronger consciousness of social responsibility. I believe that by the recognition of the fact that in the Negro are to be found the essential elements of human nature, capable of conscious evolution through education and economic and religious better ment, we will be led at last to a conception of a world unity, whose Author and Finisher is God. (C) REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE CIVIC STATUS OF THE NEGRO (Presented at the Fourth Meeting, Washington, D. C., December 15, 1914, by W. O. Scroggs, Chairman of the Committee) The Committee on the Civic Status of the Negro, appointed at the meeting of the Commission of Southern Universities on Race Problems held in Athens, Ga., in December, 1912, realized at the outset that the first work of their organization was "to find itself." Study, investigation, and discussion have now convinced this committee that the one great task before the people of the South is to develop a more rational viewpoint on all matters pertaining to interracial relations. Our people as a whole feel very much on this subject, but they know very little. Most of the discussion of the problem that we hear is merely an airing of the emotions. But few of our citizens are familiar with the actual civic, economic, educational, hygienic, or religious conditions among the Negroes of their own communities, and with so little knowledge at hand they can form no real judgment as to the public policy that intelligent citizens should advocate. 54 MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION Fortunately, our thinking men and women are coming to realize how little is really known, and a great change is noticeable in their attitude toward what we usually call "the race problem." In the past there was a tendency on their part to leave the question alone, and there was a belief, or at least a frequently expressed hope, that the problem would eventually solve itself if only discussion and agitation were not allowed to disturb the forces of racial adjustment. But time has shown that discussion and agitation will not subside, and that while the enlightened citizenship of the South has sat in silence the voice of the demagogue has been heard throughout the length and breadth of the land, quaking with the assumed fear of "Negro domination," and shouting in stentorian tones for "Anglo- Saxon supremacy." Politicians of this stripe have found that the race issue possesses wonderful possibilities in the way of vote-getting, and they have not scrupled to fan the flames of race prejudice, even to the extent of advocating mob violence, if this seemed an effective means of riding into power. It is unnecessary for us to say that such types of men have not voiced the sentiment of the thinking South. Nevertheless, they have reached a vastly greater audience than have those who entertain enlightened opinion on this subject. Where one man has read a book by such exponents of straight thinking on Southern problems as Stone, Murphy, Page, Weatherford, or Mrs. Hammond, it is safe to assume that a hundred have heard or read the Negrophobic diatribes of designing office seekers ; and while the latter have raged and imagined vain things, bench and bar, preacher and teacher, with a few notable excep tions, have sat mute and lethargic, and by their silence have given an impression of probable acquiescence in such views. Of the views of earnest students on this vital problem the man on the street is densely ignorant, and who can blame him? In the last few years, however, the thinking as well as the feeling South has been making itself heard, and its voice has been growing ever louder and stronger. The social conscience of this section has found its expression in the Southern Sociological Congress, which has declared for "the solving of the race problem in a spirit of helpfulness to the Negro and of equal justice to both races." With this splendid ideal the members of this Commission are in hearty sympathy. This does not mean, of course, that we ourselves are actually to undertake to solve this tremendous social question, but it is our firm conviction that the difficulties are enormously increased by the all-pervading ignorance to which we have just referred. We regard it as our function, therefore, to turn on the light wherever we may; and if by any means we can assist in supplying knowledge where now we find only blind prejudice and ignorance, we believe that our duty will have been performed. In studying the civic status of the Negro we find three distinct phases : the first coin cides with the period of slavery and lasts till 1865 ; the second corresponds roughly to the Reconstruction era and ends with the judicial annulment of the Civil Rights Act in 1883; the last period, which still continues, has been marked by a general undoing of Reconstruc tion and by a tendency on the part of the American people to leave the civic status of the colored population to be determined by the slow process of evolution. THE Civic STATUS OF THE NEGRO BEFORE 1865 During the period before 1865 slavery was the normal condition of the vast majority of the Negroes, and those who were not enslaved suffered serious disabilities. Even in colonial times there were sporadic outbreaks of mob violence against persons of color, which are in many respects analagous to the race riots of modern times. Two examples MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION 55 often cited are the riots in the city of New York in 1712 and 1741, due to incendiarism on the part of slaves. In both cases numbers of Negroes were hanged, burned at the stake, and otherwise punished. In 1788 the Massachusetts legislature passed a law providing that "no person being an African or Negro, other than a subject of the Emperor of Morocco or a citizen of some one of the United States (to be evidenced by a certificate from the Secretary of the State of which he is a citizen), shall tarry within this Commonwealth for a longer time than two months." * This law was never enforced, and in 1822 a legislative committee declared that the harsh "Black Laws" of other states were driving Negroes into Massachusetts, and that the committee viewed with alarm "the increase of a species of population which threatened to become both injurious and burdensome. 2 A Connecticut judge in 1833 ruled that a Negro was a person and not a citizen. In 1803 Ohio required every free Negro who came into the State to give bond in the sum of five hundred dollars. Oregon (1849), Iowa (1851), Indiana (1851), and Illinois (1835) forbade free Negroes to come within their borders, and Delaware permitted them to come only from Maryland. Ohio, Iowa, and Maryland denied Negroes the right to testify in cases in which white persons were involved. Before the Civil War, Negroes were excluded from the militia service. New York excluded them from the basis of State (not Federal) representation unless they paid taxes, and in 1838 forbade colored aliens to hold real estate. 8 Much opposition, not only to mixed schools, but also to separate schools for colored pupils, developed at various places in the North. The suppression of a school for Negroes established in Canterbury, Conn., in 1833 by Miss Prudence Crandall is a case in point. The founder of the school was sent to jail for violation of a law requiring the consent of the civil authorities for the establishment of such an institution, and when the verdict against her was set aside on technical grounds a mob attacked and damaged the school building and caused the abandonment of the philanthropic undertaking. 4 In New York City, until the Civil War, the street railway companies allowed Negroes equal privileges with whites on some of their cars, but on others compelled them to ride on the front plat form. In 1855 a colored minister, James W. C. Pennington, insisted on taking a seat in a car not designated for colored persons and was forcibly ejected by a conductor. He com plained so strenuously to a policeman that the officer arrested him for disorderly conduct. He brought suit against the company, but a jury declared that the corporation was within its rights in excluding a person on account of color. 6 The incidents thus cited might be multiplied many times over, but they will suffice to show the civic status of the Negro in the North before the War between the States made him the ward of the nation. In the Southern States, during this period, the position of free Negroes was likewise unenviable. Louisiana did not permit them to enter the State. Vir ginia (1850) stipulated that they must leave the State within twelve months after their emancipation or forfeit their freedom. In Maryland any free Negro leaving the State for more than thirty days became a non-resident and subject to the laws excluding Negroes. In Missouri, Negro schools and religious meetings were declared to be unlawful assemblies. 1 ]ohn Daniels, In Freedom's Birthplace, 27. 2 Ibid., 28. 8 Wm. Yates, Rights of Coloured Men, pp. yi, vii; B. T. Washington, Story of the Negro, I, 199; G. T. Stephenson, Race Distinctions in American Law, 36-39; Trimble, Slavery in the United States of America (London, 1863). 4 Wm. Yates, Rights of Coloured Men, 54. 5 New York Herald, May 25, 1855, and December 20, 1856. 56 MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION The problem of the free Negro, with which the Northern States especially had wrestled before 1865, became likewise a Southern problem after the emancipation of the slaves, but it was a problem magnified a hundredfold. As a result, a crop of "Black Laws" sprang up in the South between 1865 and 1868 which would have placed the former slaves in a position like that occupied by free Negroes in both the Northern and Southern States before the war. These laws were made the occasion for the Federal intervention which made the Negro, for the time being, an object of special Government protection. Civic STATUS OF THE NEGRO, 1865-1883 The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, proclaimed a part of the organic law on December 18, 1865, destroyed the last vestiges of chattel slavery in this country and secured for every Negro the status of a free man but not the status of a citizen. The dictum of the Supreme Court, enunciated eight years previously in the Dred Scott case, had been to the effect that slaves were not citizens and could not become citizens, even when emancipated or descended from free Negroes. To secure to the freed- men full rights of citizenship, the Federal Congress, broadly interpreting its power to enforce the Thirteenth Amendment by proper legislation, on April 9, 1866, passed the so-called first Civil Rights bill over the veto of President Johnson. This measure aimed directly at the Dred Scott decision by declaring that "all persons born in the United States and not subject to any foreign power, excluding Indians not taxed," were citizens of the United States, and, as such, regardless of race, color, or previous conditions of servitude, they were entitled "to full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings for the security of person and property, as is enjoyed by white citizens." In the next few months a number of cases involving the constitutionality of this measure reached the lower courts, but the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment, proclaimed in effect on July 28, 1868, rendered a decision by the higher courts unnecessary. This amendment incorporated the gist of the law of 1866 into the Federal Constitution by declaring : "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law, or deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." The main purpose of this amendment was undoubtedly to remove all question as to the constitutionality of the Civil Rights Act, and in 1870 this last measure was again placed upon the statute books in almost its original form. In 1875 a second Civil Rights law was enacted which prescribed full and equal accommodations for all citizens, regardless of color, in hotels, public con veyances, and places of amusement, and prescribed heavy penalties for violations of the act. This measure marked the culmination of Federal legislation in behalf of the civil rights of the black man. And now, four decades thereafter, we may well inquire what benefits have been obtained from it by the Negro race. The Fourteenth Amendment, which was designed solely for the Negro's protection, has been employed in a manner far removed from the intentions of its authors. The litigation that has arisen under it has been con cerned with the State control of corporate wealth rather than with racial relations. Accord ing to Mr. Charles W. Collins, by 1912 604 cases involving the interpretation of this amendment had been passed upon by the Supreme Court, and of these only twenty-eight MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION 57 had any connection with the status of the Negro. 1 Even before a case directly involving the rights of colored men had reached the Court that body had handed down a decision in the Slaughter House Cases which indicated that the Negroes' gains from the adoption of the Amendment were a negligible quantity. These cases had no direct bearing on the race question, but the Court, in interpreting that part of the Amendment which declared that "no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States," held that Federal citizenship was distinct from state citizenship, and that the Amendment did not empower the Federal Government to interfere with the privileges and immunities inherent in State citizenship. 2 In other words, the Amendment was intended only to prevent a state from abridging the privileges and immuni ties appertaining to Federal citizenship, and, in case of alleged curtailment of his rights by private acts of individuals, the citizen should appeal to the police power of his State and not to the United States. In 1875 the first case in which the rights of Negroes under the Amendment were directly involved came before the Court. 3 A number of white men in Louisiana had forcibly broken up a Negro political meeting and had been tried and convicted in the United States Circuit Court for violation of the Act of 1870. The Supreme Court set aside the conviction on the ground that the law was unauthorized by the Fourteenth Amend ment, and that when a person's rights were invaded by another he must not appeal to the Federal Government for protection. This decision, it will be observed, was strictly in accord with the principles enumerated in the Slaughter House Cases. Finally, in 1883 the Civil Rights Act of 1875, which, as has been said before, marked the culmination of the special favors bestowed upon the Negro by a Radical Congress, was declared unconstitutional on grounds similar to those enunciated in the two preceding cases. This decision was based on hearings in five separate cases involving the Negro's civil rights, which the Court considered as a unit, inasmuch as they all hinged upon the constitu tionality of the first two sections of the Act of 1875. The facts upon which the issues had been made up in these cases were: the exclusion of Negroes from hotels in Kansas and in Missouri, from the dress circle of a theater in San Francisco, from full enjoyment of accommodations in the Grand Opera House of New York City, and from a 'ladies' car" of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad Company. The Court held that these were acts of private persons, and that the sections of the Civil Rights Act extending Federal protec tion to citizens of the United States against such acts were not authorized by the Four teenth Amendment, which did not empower Congress to invade and destroy the police power of the States. By thus setting aside the Act of 1875 the Supreme Court virtually served notice upon the Negro that he was no longer "the ward of the nation," and that he must plunge into the stream of our common civic life and sink or swim. Indeed, the Court expressly declared : "When a man has emerged from slavery and, by the aid of beneficent legislation, has shaken off the inseparable concomitants of that State, there must be some stage in the progress of his elevation when he takes the rank of a mere citizen, and ceases to be the special favorite of the laws, and when his rights as a citizen or a man are to be protected in the ordinary modes by which other men's rights are protected." 1 Collins, The Fourteenth Amendment and the States, 46-47. 2 Collins, op. cit, 48. 8 U. S. vs. Cruikshank, 92 U. S., 542. 58 MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION This decision put an end to direct legislation by Congress in behalf of the Negro race. It marks the close of the regime of special protection and the beginning of a regime of natural selection. Of the twenty-eight appeals for Federal intervention in support of the Negto's civil rights, as alleged to be guaranteed under the Fourteenth Amendment, only six were decided in favor of the complaining party. All six of these cases dealt with the right of Negroes to sit on juries, a topic that will be considered elsewhere in this report. On the other hand, the Supreme Court, in interpreting the Amendment, has held that a State may inflict a heavier penalty for the crimes of adultery and fornication when com mitted by persons of different races than when committed by persons of the same race; that it may separate the races on passenger trains; and that in general the Negro must seek his protection in the police power of his State, like any other citizen. The Court has also decided, indirectly, that a State may separate the races in the schools within its jurisdiction. 1 As a result of the overthrow of the Civil Rights legislation of the Federal Government, the burden of securing these rights for the Negro has devolved upon the several States. So long as the Federal Government appeared to be actively intervening in behalf of the colored man the States of the North did very little in the matter. On the other hand, in the Southern States, which were then under the control of carpet-bag governments, there was a bumper crop of Civil Rights legislation. After 1883, however, the situation had become reversed. Southern legislatures were rapidly repealing the distasteful legislation of the Reconstruction period, and Northern legislatures, seeing that Federal intervention had proven a broken reed, began to enact measures designed to secure equal accommodations for both races in all public places. Many of the State laws practically duplicate the Federal statute of 1875. Nineteen states have enacted such measures, and twelve of these did so within two years after the Federal law was declared unconstitutional. 2 MUNICIPAL SEGREGATION In all communities where diverse elements of population are found in considerable numbers there is a noticeable tendency toward their differentiation and segregation. Our American cities have their Italian quarters, their Yiddish districts, and their China towns. The same phenomenon is observed wherever there is a large number of Negroes. In both Northern and Southern communities there are considerable areas inhabited almost exclu sively by members of the colored race. This voluntary segregation is generally accepted as a matter of course by members of both races, because it accords with their wishes. "All flesh consorteth according to kind, and a man will cleave unto his like." Inasmuch as the color line runs nearly parallel with the poverty line, living conditions in the Negro quarters of our cities closely resemble those of the slums. North and South the urban Negro population is to be found living in poorly built, insanitary dwellings, on filthy and neglected streets, and frequently in an atmosphere permeated with vice. It is quite natural that certain more prosperous members of the race should seek to escape from such untoward conditions and secure homes in more desirable sections. In doing this they are not necessarily seeking to force themselves upon their white neighbors, but may be attracted by the clean and well-paved streets, the well-kept homes, and the more generally wholesome environment. The Negroes as a race are not any more inclined than are the 1 Collins, op. cit., 48-80. 2 Stephenson, Race Distinctions in American Law, 111-124. MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION 59 whites to force themselves into places where they are not wanted, and even where individual colored citizens show any such tendency to intrude it will frequently be found that white sympathizers are egging them on. But it matters not for what reason a Negro may enter a white residence district, he is likely soon to discover that his arrival is most unwelcome to his new neighbors. In all parts of the country many and varied expedients have been employed to exclude the colored population from certain portions of our cities. In Kansas City, in 1909, the Tenth Ward Citizens' Association was formed for the purpose of forcing the removal of Negroes from a section of the tenth ward. 1 In the same city, in 1910 and 1911, a number of Negro homes in a white residential section were dynamited. 2 In North Berkeley, Cal., the citizens organized to exclude Chinese, Japanese, and Negroes -from the best residence districts. 3 In St. Louis a Civic Realty Company was formed for the purpose of creating public sentiment against the selling of property to Negroes. 4 In Atlanta, in 1910, fifty real estate dealers agreed to lease or sell no property to Negroes within the limits of a district designated as white by a so-called Fourth Ward Progressive Club. 5 During the year 1911 trouble resulting from the purchase by Negroes of property in white residential sections was reported in Scranton, Pa., Kalamazoo, Mich., Logansport, Ind., and Seattle, Wash. 9 The invasion of exclusively white blocks by ambitious, well-to-do Negroes is most likely to occur in cities which have a relatively small colored population and in which the Negroes have become accustomed to assert themselves more frequently than they do where the color line is drawn less loosely. This fact will explain why such a large proportion of the incidents just enumerated occurred in Northern rather than Southern cities. It is inter esting to note, however, that in many Southern communities the segregation of the races is by no means complete. It is not a very rare sight in some of the older towns of the lower South to find one or two unobtrusive Negro families living in the same block with the better class of whites. Such cases are no indication of the lack of racial antipathy; the whites merely tolerate the presence of the Negroes because the latter "know their place" and make no attempt to force themselves upon the attention of their neighbors. Instances of this kind are seldom observed in the newer towns, and are growing continually less common elsewhere, as both races seem to prefer to live apart. In addition to this general segregation, there are a number of instances of the com plete exclusion of Negroes from white communities and of whites from Negro communities. Among the towns which do not tolerate the presence of the colored man may be mentioned Comanche, Big Spring, Childress, Dalhart, Plainview, and Snyder, in the State of Texas ; Blackwell, Hominy, Miami, Norman, and Elk City, Oklahoma; Cullman (a German settle ment), and Fairhope (a colony of Northern single-taxers), in the State of Alabama; and Syracuse, in Ohio. Winston County, Alabama, with a total population, in 1910, of 12,885, contained only 54 Negroes. On the other hand, there are some thirty towns inhabited exclusively by Negroes, and also a large number of unincorporated Negro settlements. The most important of these 1 The Crisis, 2:98. 2 Ibid., 3:161-162. 8 Ibid., 2 :98. 4 Ibid., 1 :6-7. 5 The city of Atlanta later passed an ordinance providing for the segregation of the races. Vide infra. 6 The Crisis, February, May, and July, 1911. 60 MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION Negro communities is Boley, Okla., with a population, in 1910, of 1,334. This town owns and operates its own waterworks system, and has an electric light plant which is also owned and operated by Negroes. All these instances of racial segregation have been secured without formal legislative action. In recent years, however, a tendency has developed on the part of a number of Southern municipalities to enforce the separation of the races into different residence dis tricts by law. This movement is receiving increasing attention, and has already made some headway. If the experience of the cities which are testing this plan seems to justify it, and no constitutional obstacles are encountered, a very large number of other municipalities may be expected to employ some similar expedient. The legal segregation of the races in municipalities had its beginning in 1910. In that year the purchase of property by a Negro lawyer on McCulloch Street, a fashionable resi dence section of Baltimore, brought the matter to an issue in that city and resulted in the enactment, on December 19, of the so-called West segregation ordinance. 1 This measure provided that no white family should move into a block where a majority of the residents were Negroes, and that no Negro should occupy a residence in a block where a majority of the residents were white. The ordinace was at once tested in the courts, and, on February 4, 1911, was declared invalid. A second ordinance was then passed to meet the objections of the courts. This applied only to all-white and all-Negro blocks, and allowed blocks in which members of both races were residing to remain mixed until the residents came to belong wholly to one race. Some question as to the regularity of the passage of this measure was raised, and it was reenacted without change of phraseology. This measure, like the first, also encountered judicial obstacles and was held invalid by the Court of Appeals on the ground that it did not protect vested rights. Nothing daunted, the city council passed a fourth segregation ordinance on December 25, 1913. The example of Baltimore was quickly followed by the cities of Richmond, Norfolk, and Ashland, Virginia. The Richmond ordinance, enacted April 19, 1911, declares a block white when a majority of its residents are white, and colored when a majority of residents are colored. On March 12, 1912, the Virginia legislature passed a general State law per mitting municipalities so desiring to designate certain sections of their area for white and other sections for colored residents. In accordance with this statute, legal segregation was effected in Roanoke, Va., on March 15, 1913. Other cities which have adopted segregation ordinances are Greenville and Anderson, South Carolina; Greensboro and Winston-Salem, North Carolina; and Atlanta, Ga. The matter has been discussed in a number of other municipalities. The Atlanta ordinance, like that of Baltimore, does not apply to mixed districts, but only to blocks occupied wholly by members of one race. In Greenville, however, the ordinance applies when two-thirds of the residents are of the same race. In Norfolk the designation of the color of a block depends upon ownership, as well as occupancy. The block is black or white according as a majority of the frontage is owned or occupied by blacks or whites, respectively. To avoid constitutional difficulties, the law of Virginia and the ordinances of Richmond, Balti more, Norfolk, and Atlanta provide that no person shall be required to remove from the place where he was residing when the measure was passed. By several of these ordinances schools, churches, and other buildings are segregated, as well as residences. J The measure was named after Councilman George W. West, who fathered it. MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION 61 The constitutionality of these various ordinances has not yet been definitely passed upon. The first and third Baltimore ordinances were declared invalid because they inter fered with vested rights, but the courts upheld the constitutionality of the principle of segre gation. The ordinance of Winston-Salem was deemed invalid by the Supreme Court of North Carolina on the ground that a municipality could not enact such a measure without first obtaining legislative sanction therefor, but the real question at issue was not passed upon. It is needless to discuss the constitutional aspects of this measure; for, as Mr. Gilbert T. Stephenson has well said, some constitutional method may always be found for the adoption of any policy that is wise and sound. Segregation, therefore, should be considered from the viewpoint of social justice. Advocates of municipal segregation by law defend it on racial, social, and economic grounds. The elimination of mixed blocks is desirable, it is said, because in them is found only the lowest element of the white population, and it is from such a grouping that miscegenation is most likely to arise. In the second place, racial antipathies are greatest between Negroes and the poorer whites, and the separation of these elements will promote law and order and reduce social friction to a minimum. Again, segregation is held to be desirable for economic reasons ; whenever Negroes move into a community real estate values tend to depreciate. Finally, it is argued, segregation has been developing by informal social action during a period of many years, and formal action by statute or ordinance only completes the process. The opponents of segregation do not deny that the presence of a Negro family in a city block tends to depress property values in their neighborhood, but they urge that the upward progress of a race should not be made to "depend on the price of land." It is claimed, also, that the segregated Negro quarters will be neglected by the municipal authorities so far as lighting, paving, drainage, sewerage, street cleaning, garbage collection, and policing are concerned, and that the Negroes will be restricted by law to living in the most undesirable parts of the city. The results of segregation in several cities are cited as already proving this contention. It is worthy of note, too, that when segregation was being discussed in Richmond a number of prominent white women appeared before the city council and urged that if the measure were enacted the needs of the Negroes should no longer be neglected. RACIAL SEGREGATION IN RURAL DISTRICTS Until 1913, efforts to create separate residence districts for the races by law were confined to cities. In August of that year Mr. Clarence Poe, editor of the Progressive Farmer, formally advocated a plan for racial segregation in rural districts. He secured for it the unanimous endorsement of the North Carolina State Farmers' Union, and urged upon the North Carolina legislature the enactment of his plan into law. The author of the scheme summarizes it as follows: "Wherever the greater part of the land acreage in any given district that may be laid off is owned by one race, a majority of the voters in such a district shall have the right to say, if they wish, that in the future no land shall be sold to a person of a different race, provided such action is approved or allowed (as being justified by con siderations of peace, protection, and social life of the community) by a reviewing judge or board of county commissioners." An examination of this proposed measure will show that whatever may have been the intention of its framer, it will not in actual practice secure the complete segregation of the races in rural communities. Negroes owning land at the time the measure went into 62 MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION effect would not be affected, and colored laborers and tenants might still remain in the districts adopting the plan. Mr. Poe's plan is simply a scheme to enable the voters in any district to put an end to the sale of lands to Negroes. As very few Negroes vote, it would be impossible for them to exclude whites from any community, even if they out numbered the whites ten to one and owned the greater portion of the land. The author of this plan advances eight reasons for its adoption: (1) Rural segrega tion is necessary to give white farmers and their families a satisfying social life; (2) it will insure them greater safety and protection; (3) it will secure better schools, churches, and other agencies of community welfare for both races ; (4) it will make possible a greater degree of cooperation in rural communities, as racial divisions have proven a great barrier to cooperative enterprises; (5) it will improve the moral side of racial relationships; (6) by checking the crowding out of whites by blacks and providing all-white communities it will attract to the South a larger proportion of immigrants from other sections and countries than this region now receives; (7) segregation will make it possible for young men, who will not at present compete with negro labor, to go into the white districts as tenants, save and become independent landholders ; (8) it will protect certain rural districts from absentee landlords, who sell lands to Negroes regardless of the feelings of the white residents. Every one familiar with conditions in the rural South will admit the existence of most of the evils of which Mr. Poe complains, but it does not follow therefrom that his plan offers a remedy. That there is an unmistakable tendency for the black counties to grow blacker is fully attested by the Federal census. This crowding of the whites by the blacks may not be attributed to the greater efficiency of the latter, as it has been clearly shown that the progress of the Negroes in the South varies almost inversely with their numerical ratio to the whole population. 1 The Negroes are most backward where they greatly out number the whites, and they crowd out the whites in these communities just as unskilled laborers with low standards of living tend to crowd out the more highly skilled workmen in industrial centers, and as Mongolian laborers have tended to crowd out Caucasians in our Pacific States. The principle of Gresham's law seems operative in the case of labor, as well as in that of money. But to admit these facts as stated by Mr. Poe is to cut the ground from under his argument for segregation. If the whites suffer from the presence of masses of unskilled, low-standard colored labor the obvious remedy is to take measures for increasing its skill and raising its standards. Segregation, instead of achieving this result, will work in the opposite direction, as experience fully proves that black districts tend to retrograde. The Negroes do best in those communities where they are outnumbered by the whites. If segre gation were in effect in any Southern community the most thrifty and industrious Negroes, desiring to acquire land, would be compelled to move elsewhere, leaving behind them the shiftless and inefficient of their race; and the last state of that community would be worse than the first. Mr. Stephenson has pointed out that the removal of the incentive on the part of a Negro tenant to acquire land of his own would tend to aggravate the already acute tenant problem; that efforts to bring about segregation in any rural district would intensify race friction ; and that after separation was achieved only the worst elements of both races would 1 On this point consult the article by Dr. R. P. Brooks entitled, "A Local Study of the Race Problem," in the Political Science Quarterly, 26:201 f. MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION 63 be brought into contact with each other. 1 To these objections we might add the statement that if segregation in municipalities is likely to result in the neglect of the colored residence sections the same results would appear, and probably in much more aggravated form, in rural districts. Solidly black rural communities would hardly secure roads, bridges, schools, policing, and sanitary supervision of the same character as found in white communities in the same county. Morever, as the Negroes must take the least desirable sections of cities for their quarters, they would probably have to do likewise if they were segregated in the country; and each colored district might show a tendency to become a little bit of "darkest Africa," with deleterious results to both races. The principle of segregation in municipalities and in rural districts rests on an entirely different basis from that of racial segregation on railway trains and public places. In the latter case only personal rights are involved; in the former both rights of person and property. Moreover, where the races are separated in conveyances and public places, it is possible to give absolutely equal accommodations. In the case of municipal and rural segregation physical limitations make this obviously impossible. REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON ECONOMICS (Presented at the Fifth Meeting, Tuskegee Institute, May 6, 1915, by R. J. H. DeLoach, Chairman of the Committee) The chairman of this committee wishes to express regrets that he could not have had more constant contact with the members of the Commission, and especially of the Com mittee on Economics. It seems that a meeting together of the members of the committee would have brought out many ideas of practical value to its work. Correspondence is not satisfactory in matters of this kind. However, since we have had no meeting, we shall render separate reports as best we can, in the hope that something we have done may prove of value to the future workers and of interest to those thinking along these lines. The one theme that has been running through my mind is "The Basis of Efficiency," or the effect on the Negro race of some kind of definite training. I have wondered how much justice there is in the statement, "Education spoils the Negro," or "The Negro will not stand education." After all, the basis of progress is a question of education and its relation to our industrial life. There is more in knowing how to do a thing and then doing it than there is in knowing per se. If we can put this kind of a test to the Negro race, it seems that justice to ourselves as a race, as well as to the Negro himself, would cause us to issue an impartial statement of our investigations along this line. To make an investigation valuable, the investigator must set aside in the beginning any preconceived idea or sentiment that would tend to qualify his conclusions. Let the truth stand for itself. That certain kinds of training have seemed to prove ineffective in certain specific instances when applied to the Negro does not argue that all will fail under even any set of conditions. Perhaps the safety of the South, the conservation of her great natural resources, will depend on the training of her citizens for service. If so, it will hardly prove economical to restrict the training to any class or race. If better service can be rendered by training in any case, it ought to be so in every case, and it is to this phase of the race question that I have been devoting time and study. 1 South Atlantic Quarterly, 13:107-117. 64 MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION What are the ordinary tests of fitness for service? Perhaps the most effective one is the fruits of trained servants. If these measure up to a high standard, the training has not been in vain. If efficiency proves to be in proportion to training, then it seems to me that we should be much concerned about the training itself. The three kinds of measurements that I have used among Negroes are as follows : Actual increase in yields of farm crops as a result of definite kinds of instruction, the results of club work among Negroes, and the relation of savings to citizenship. There may be other phases of the subject more important than these, but I have the facts to prove beyond a doubt that these are important. There are so many phases of any important question that the nature of an investigation of it must depend largely on the individual who undertakes it. It is a matter of taste and judgment as to just how one tackles the problem. Granting, then, that my own study of this question has been guided very largely by the problem as I see it, I turn now to a report on the facts that have come under my observation. THE EFFECTS OF DEFINITE INSTRUCTION ON THE INCREASED YIELD IN FARM CROPS I have brought to the attention of this Commission before now my connection with a Farmers' Conference in Athens, Ga., composed entirely of Negro farmers, landowners, tenants, and day hands. There seemed to be no difference, when it came to interest, whether a man was a tenant or a landowner. At this conference, which was organized several years ago, the same farmers have been coming back every year and reporting on the progress they have made from year to year whether the instruction they have received has made them better farmers. They found it rather hard to get accurate measurements for quite a while. They overcame this, however, eventually, and learned to give rather accurate figures on all produce raised. We will take the two reports for the years 1912 and 1913 and see the difference, after very careful instruction in the winter, between the two crops grown, on proper diversification of crops, on deep cultivation, the proper application of fertilizers, and top-dressing of winter grain with nitrate of soda. The following table shows the result: Crops 1912 1913 Bushels corn raised 10,221 12,636 Bushels oats raised 2,830 4,923 Bushels wheat raised 743 1,065 Bushels rye raised 42 64^2 Bales cotton raised 1,072 1,136 Bales hay raised 5,342 6,972 Landed possessions 2,850.7 acres 3,066.7 acres Land cultivated 2,762 acres 2,706 acres Greatest yield per acre of corn 50 bushels 75 bushels Greatest yield per acre of cotton 1^ bales 2 bales Live Stock Owned Mules, head 126 127 Horses, head 40 37 Cows, head , 125 130 Hogs, head 185 225 MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION 65 It will be observed that the members of this conference owned more acres but culti vated less acres in 1913 than in 1912. It will also be observed that they raised far bigger crops in 1913 than in 1912. In fact, they actually produced $8,867 more farm produce in 1913 than in 1912, and they did it on 56 acres less land. The conference cost them prac tically nothing; it lasts two days annually, and many of the members return home at night to look after the farm. They increased their earning capacity about $88 per capita in one year by getting definite instruction in the elementary principles of agriculture. The tenants learned the lessons and used them. The hired hands did the same. They made more for the landowners and for themselves. These are facts, not theories. There are other con ferences in different places doing just as good work. I would like to have time to tell many interesting things about this one conference, but time does not permit. I must go on to the next division of the work. CLUB WORK AMONG NEGROES I wish that I might have had the time and what little funds I needed to get together this information. My own State, Georgia, has practically no Negro club work at all. The three States that are active along this line, and from which I get my information, are Vir ginia, North Carolina, and Oklahoma. Prof. N. C. Newbold, State Agent Rural Schools for North Carolina, has given me much assistance in getting together the information from that State, and a colored teacher, Miss Annie Peters, has helped me to get information about Oklahoma. In North Carolina there are fourteen counties organized in this work, and the General Education Board gives $884 with which to pay the salaries of the instructors. Each county has a definite program of work and an instructor for a definite period of time. In some counties as much as fourteen weeks are given to club work, while in others four weeks are given. To do the work in all these counties requires more than one instructor doing work at any one time. The entire time devoted to the work equals 132 weeks of service. The first question that arises in the mind of a Southern-born person is, "Will the Negro take to this kind of work with any degree of seriousness?" The following figures will answer this query. There were organized in the State 73 boys' and girls' clubs and 25 men's and women's clubs. Enrolled in these clubs were 580 boys and girls and 316 men and women. Three hundred and seven gardens were cultivated under the direction of the supervisor, and there was a total of 793 people cultivating gardens. In this short report we have time to deal only with totals for the entire fourteen counties. There were canned in 1914 : 7,466 cans tomatoes. 6,790 cans corn and other vegetables. 17,197 cans fruits apples, peaches, pears. 7,857 cans berries. 4,367 cans fruits, preserves, etc. 4,575 glasses jelly. 256 jars pickles and catsup. 66 MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION This makes a total of 49,301 cans of vegetables, fruits, preserves, jellies, and pickles, which, valued at the low average of 15 cents per can, would be worth $7,395. The instruction for this cost only $844, as we stated above, which leaves $6,551 to the credit of the venture, or an average of $7.35 per person enrolled. Presuming that the training received even more than paid for the time and work of the students, every dollar invested returned $7.35, to say nothing of the lift it gave to the people. The following summarizes the reports of agents from some of the counties; quota tions from reports of agents: "At least $150 for three locations." "Aside from practical knowledge of gardening given, work has meant a saving of at least $700 to the families in the county." "About $95.00 to $100.00" (meaning value of canned goods). "A higher standard was set in com munities where this work was carried on." "It was very gratifying to see the interest manifested by the mothers and even the fathers." "A start in good gardens." "Work done worth thousands of dollars in the future." "The work has aroused much interest in home gardening." "In many cases the women were more eager to learn than the girls." "The work has meant much." "The work has been a decided success." "The women and girls were highly pleased in learning to can the new way." "The people have thanked me over and over for the help I have given thm." "Worth about $200.00." In many places it is thought that this kind of work among Negroes would find very little or no support from State and county officials along educational lines. On the con trary, we find just the opposite, as will be shown from the following comments on the work made by the county superintendents of education: "It is hard to estimate the value . . . They tell me many families have saved supplies for the winter, whereas before they did not save anything." "I hope the work will be continued." "I am favorably impressed, and think the work well worth the money." "I heartily endorse the work. It is encouraging to see with what enthusiasm the people are taking hold of it." "We hope to continue the work." "The people are interested, and the work has been a success." From Oklahoma we get good reports, but the information is not so well wrought out. In that State 584 boys and girls have joined the clubs, and some of them have won prizes at county fairs, and many have canned food for winter supplies. One girl put up 75 cans of vegetables for home use. The third phase of the subject to which I have devoted attention is the Relation of Savings to Citizenship, or whether the Negro who saves is more desirable as a neighbor than the one who fails to save. I have also planned to investigate if the habit of saving goes hand in hand with training and efficiency, and how the Negro who saves is regarded by his white neighbors. This is a big question, and will require time to work out. For collecting this data I have had the cooperation of the Phelps-Stokes Fellow in the University of Georgia and of Dr. H. W. Odum, Professor of Rural Education. Blanks have been printed and circulated by an Athens banker to other bankers throughout the State of Georgia, asking for amounts deposited in the banks by Negroes, and for the names of Negroes, so the question can be taken up directly with the depositors. Many difficulties are in the way of this piece of work, but the following shows the general drift of the investigation: MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION 67 Certain elementary conclusions are evident from the study of results. First: It is very difficult to obtain information concerning Negro thrift. Second : The amount of Negro deposits in banks is small. Third: The banks, as a rule, make no effort to obtain Negro deposits. Fourth : In some cases such deposits are discouraged. Fifth : The atti tude of the average bank reporting shows little interest in the subject and the usual dogmatism. Sixth : There are exceptions showing interest in this question. Seventh : There are numerous exceptions showing thrift among the Negroes. Further conclusions concerning the details of thrift may be gained from an examina tion of the following facts: (1) Some 40 per cent of the banks to whom questionnaires were sent replied. (2) Of these replies, about 16 per cent gave us little or no information. (3) Of the Negro depositors, the following occupations were represented: merchants, farmers, laborers, servants, laundresses, teachers, ministers, housekeepers, draymen, mail carriers, hotel keepers, and a few skilled workers. (4) Of these, fully 60 per cent were farmers, the next in order being laborers, servants, teachers, merchants, ministers. (5) The deposits ranged from $1,000, the largest, to 4 cents, the smallest, while the average deposit was $88.36. (6) The length of time in which the deposit has been carried varied from twelve years to a few months, the average being about \ l /2 years. (7) Of the depositors, the most common amounts reported were between $20.00 and $30.00 and between $100.00 and $200.00. (8) Some of the banks wrote that the Negroes' accounts meant nothing, and were more trouble than they were worth. One wrote: "We have no accounts, and want none." Another wrote: "Negroes can not stand prosperity, so what's the use of wasting time with them? All that a Negro needs is something to eat and wear. A big per cent of the criminals are Negroes that can read and write, and most of the murderers are Negroes that are educated Negroes. If a Negro gets money he is sure to invest it in a place where you would rather he would not be. A city might need increase in thrift, and raise the Negroes to a higher standing, but the country needs more work done." (9) Some 15 banks reported no Negro deposits at all. THE POSSIBLE SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS LINE OF INVESTIGATION In Alabama alone the Negroes own and control 5,100,000 acres of land, or 350,000 acres more than they controlled in 1900. They actually farm 3,563,000 acres, or 500,000 more than they farmed in 1900. In ten years the number of Negro farmers increased over 17 per cent. The soil will forever remain the basis of our source of supplies, and we should be interested in any movement to improve the soil, and especially if, by so doing, we shall be able to improve, at the same time, the citizens who till the soil. Laying aside all feeling in the matter, it should be our desire to help foster justice and happiness among any people that contribute largely to our own happiness. If by making the Negro a better producer we can as easily make him a better citizen and a happier individual, how shall we justify ourselves in a failure to do this? Booker Washington said: "In nine cases out of ten, where a Negro in the South is found owning property, he has had an individual white man or a group of Southern white men to help guide and encourage him in this respect." (Atlanta Journal, January 13, 1910.) 68 MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION In "A Social Study of the Race Problem/' by Dr. R. P. Brooks, we find from his investigations that the Negro is a better citizen and is thought better of among his white neighbors in communities where there are few of them in proportion to the whites. This study indicates a need of increasing the whites in proportion to the blacks, which he sug gests might be done in two ways, viz.: by the emigration of Negroes to other sections of the country, and by encouraging the immigration of white people to the South. Dr. Brooks also concluded from his investigation that (page 210) a system of land tenure, known as the "Standing Rent System," is the cause of much thriftlessness among Negroes, while the Negro prefers this to the other prevailing system called "Cropping System," by which the renter pays a certain per cent of the crops, and the landlord super vises in a measure the operations of the farm. It was found that the Negro preferred freedom even at the expense of a better livelihood. In the counties where the whites largely outnumbered the blacks the Cropping System prevailed and the Negroes became more thrifty and eventually became landowners. The first published report of the Phelps-Stokes Fellowship at the University of Georgia, by T. J. Woofter, Jr., shows clearly the necessity for better training among the Negro servants. There is a great financial loss to the white homes of the South on account of the inefficiency of Negro servants. Besides, their ignorance of the laws of health makes us question the safety of employing such help at all. When they are a little better trained they desert the homes and do other things. Adjustment is much needed here. In the second published report of the Phelps-Stokes Fellowship of the University of Georgia, by W. B. Hill, it was discovered that there were 912 Negro farmers in the County of Clarke, while there were only 470 white farmers. Fourteen per cent of the Negroes owned their farms, while 37 per cent of the farmers owned the farms they were working. While there was a much larger per cent of white farmers owning their land, yet almost as many Negroes own farms in Clarke County as white. In fact, 127 Negroes and 163 whites own farms in the county. It was learned in this investigation that a lack of training on the part of Negroes proves very costly. The Phelps-Stokes Fellow at the University of Georgia this year is Mr. W. H. Johnston, who is working on the present status of Negro education in Georgia. From his findings up to the present time it would seem that the efforts along this line are so meager that they could almost be considered wasted. The work is inadequate and spread out so thin that it makes very little impression on the race. Governor O'Neal, a few days ago, while on a visit to Tuskegee, said of Alabama : "If we take our proper position as a State in agricultural development, the scientific knowledge and skill which we furnish from our schools and institutions must be furnished to every man that tills the soil in this State if we are to reach the highest agricultural development. "Again, can any State afford to leave any portion of its population in ignorance? Elementary education should be the birthright of every son and every daughter of the State, because ignorance has ever been the deadly foe of free government." Reverting, then, to the idea with which we set out in this report, if we wish efficiency, and if the basis of efficiency is special training and instruction, and if the safety of the State and of the health of the people shall depend on efficiency which comes only by instruction, then I am prepared to believe that the South will awake and press forward to its completion this great work of racial adjustment by making a close study of the needs of her citizenship and then supplying this need. MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION 69 (E) THE ECONOMIC CONDITION OF THE NEGROES OF KNOXVILLE (By R. G. Sanford, Student in the University of Tennessee. Presented at the Fourth Meeting, Washington, D. C, December 15, 1914, by Prof. James D. Hoskins) A survey of the city shows that the Negro of Knoxville has made much progress during recent years. His present condition is not ideal, by any means, but is such as should cause satisfaction to the people of this city, since it shows progress. The Negro has made consistent gains in savings, and to-day we find a very good pro portion of the Negroes owning homes and carrying bank accounts. The cashiers and presidents of the banks have been called upon and asked to give estimates as to the number of depositors, both white and black, and an estimate as to the average size of each race's account. The estimates were made in a careful and conservative way. When we take into account the number of banks called upon, and the fact that they represent the savings of the city and county, we can see the value of such an investigation. The result of this investigation shows, first: that the relative size of the Negro account is small as compared with that of the white man; and, second: that the number of Negro bank accounts as compared with the white is small. The average bank account of the Negro is about $50.00 as compared with the average white account of about $300.00. There is a total of 1,300 Negro depositors out of a population for the county of 12,709. Then only 10 per cent are depositors at the bank. There are 35,000 white depositors out of a population of 81,476, which means that 43 per cent carry bank accounts. The county was taken for the basis of comparison, since the banks more nearly represent the savings of the county. Although the number and average size of the colored bank account is small, it shows progress. We must not forget that the Negro started fifty years ago without anything. When he was released from the bonds of slavery he knew nothing of saving or thrift as compared with the white man. He had only been civilized then for about half a century. He was young in the civilized world to work beside the older and stronger man of many centuries of civilization. The complexity of modern civilization was too great for a people of so simple life. We should feel gratified at his gains, although his present holdings appear small as compared with the white man. The colored man has learned some valuable lessons from the white. It seems that the white people of Knoxville have shown a friendlier disposition to help the Negro than the average Southern city. We can see the value of this cooperation when we see that the domestic servant is the best class of savers among the Negro race, for in this service the Negro is brought in close contact with the white race and in a friendlier spirit than in any other work the Negro performs. The family in whose home the Negro is working takes an interest in the cook or maid and insists that she begin a savings account. Some banks have found it necessary to make some discrimination in opening accounts with Negroes because they tend to run very short-time accounts, with expense unproportionate to the value of the account. By far the greater number of the colored accounts are found in the savings department. Among other interesting points of information, there are quite a number of one-dollar accounts among the Negroes; on the other hand, there are Negroes carrying sufficient deposits to write checks running up into the thousands of dollars. 70 MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION The Negroes have saved sufficient amounts to buy homes. During the last fifteen or twenty years there has been a remarkable increase in home owning among the Negroes. This statement is based upon estimates given by a number of real estate managers, cashiers of banks, and leaders among the colored race. The estimates of the percentage of increased home owning have varied considerably, but considering as my best source of authority the companies that have been in business over the longest period of time and have undoubtedly made the greatest number of real estate sales, since they have the largest part of the busi ness, I state that there has been an increase in home owning during the period just men tioned of 100 per cent. I give this as a very conservative estimate. One man in a position to know estimated the increase as high as 400 per cent. While there has been this great increase in home owning, there is as yet a relatively small number of Negroes who now own their homes. I would say that 30 per cent would be a fair estimate, averaging all the Negro sections of the city. The condition of the Negro homes will not favorably compare with the homes of the white people of Knoxville as a whole; a fair percentage of the Negro homes are in moderately gpod condition. This leads to the discussion of segregation. The Negroes have segregated themselves in three or four sections of the city, the two principal segregated districts being Mechanics- ville, in North Knoxville, and a section of East Knoxville, with Vine Street as a central street running east and west. This segregation is the result of natural conditions working to the best interest of all, as was suggested by a prominent Negro leader and emphasized by some white leaders. The Negroes bought out the property of the whites in each section gradually. People who live in the Negro section say that the property has not decreased in value as a result of the increased number of Negro homes ; rather the property has increased in value in the same proportion as the other property in the city. Next, and closely allied to the savings, is the credit of the Negro. The Negro abuses the credit system ; that is, a proportionately greater number of Negroes ask for credit than do the whites. Twice as many whites trade with installment credit stores as do the Negroes, but, considering the population of one Negro to six whites, we find that the Negro frequents these stores three times as often as do the whites. The result of a visit with a pawnshop proprietor showed that, according to the population, the Negro fre quents this place of business six times as often as does the white man. As a debtor the Negro account is held more valuable than the white man on the same economic plane. All men consulted on this point the installment house, the collection agency, and the real estate firms' representatives were agreed on this question. The prin cipal reasons advanced as to why the Negro account was more valuable than the white are : First, that while heads of the families of the two races are working for the same amount, the Negro family has an additional source of income because the Mother and children find employment of various kinds. Second, the living expense of the Negro family is less than that of the white. Third, the Negro is less intelligent and, therefore, more easily forced to pay his obligations. Fourth, the Negro is more honest. This may have some value when we think of the Negro as a young and innocent race as compared with the white race of much maturity in the scale of civilization. As a social problem we are interested in finding out the tendency of the Negro toward poverty. Under this head we are interested in the results of the investigation of the Associated Charities, of the County Alms House, and the Free Clinic. The annual report of the Associated Charities for the year ending November 1, 1914, shows that 792 white MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION 71 families applied for help as compared with 71 Negro families. This means that the white man calls for charity twice as often as does the Negro. The usual relief given the Negro was employment, while that given the white man was more often material aid. When we turn our attention to the County Alms House we find nearly the same results as estab lished by the Associated Charities. There are sixty whites to six Negroes. The third institution to be treated under poverty brings out the exception to the rule established in the two institutions first considered. At the Free Clinic there are two Negroes to receive free treatment to one white man. It has been suggested that the condition of the Negro in Knoxville is probably better than in most other cities of the South. The factors determining his well-being are: First, fewness in numbers means greater opportunities. Second, good advice from the leaders of his own race who have made a success. Third, the friendly disposition of the two races and the good advice of the whites. In the conclusion of this paper I want to sum up, as briefly as possible, the results of the survey. First, as to the savings in comparison with the whites, the number of Negro bank depositors is small, and so is the relative size of their accounts. The Negro has increased in home owning during the last fifteen years at a rapid rate; the condition of his home is from poor to fair ; still a relatively small per cent own their homes. Second, segregation has been brought about by a natural law. Third, the Negro abuses the credit system, but is considered a better debtor than the white man on the same economic plane. Fourth, as to poverty, out of the three relief institutions, two show that he does not call for help in proportion to his numbers. Fifth, the factors that have meant most to his well- being in Knoxville are good leaders among his own race who have made a success, good advice from the whites, and, last, fewness in numbers has meant greater opportunity. THE ECONOMIC CONDITION OF THE NEGROES OF TENNESSEE Of the total population of 2,184,789 for the State of Tennessee, 473,088, or 21.7 per cent, are Negroes. That is, there is an average for the State of four whites to one Negro. There has been a decrease in the population of the State, 1900-1910, of 1 per cent of Negroes as compared with an increase of 8.1 per cent for the entire population of the State. Of the total 473,088 Negroes, there are 114,544 in the four principal cities. About one- fourth of the Negroes live in these cities, and nearly half of this number live in Memphis. There we find 52,441, or 40 per cent, of the total population of the city are Negroes. Nash ville has a total Negro population of 36,523, which represents 23.1 per cent of her total population. There is then a total of 358,544 Negroes living outside of these four principal cities. They are living in the small towns and rural sections. Of the total number (246,375) of Negroes engaged in gainful occupations, 107,933 are engaged in the three principal agricultural groups, or nearly 50 per cent of the Negroes do farm labor. The next largest group is that of domestic and personal service of 62,598 Negroes, or about 25 per cent. The next in order is the unskilled trades group of 30,000, or about 8 per cent. The remaining 17 per cent are scattered among the skilled trades and professions. The rural conditions were studied by means of a questionnaire conducted in our State University. The questions were given to the upper-classmen. The papers received were from forty-one pupils, representing 29 counties, distributed over the State" in the following proportion : East Tennessee 7, Middle Tennessee 12, and West Tennessee 10. The answers given to the questions are based on estimates. They are valuable, since they show, in the main, what seems to be the conditions prevailing in Tennessee. 72 . MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION These reports show that a small number of Negroes pay cash rent for their land, probably 15 per cent, and that about 75 per cent of the Negroes living on the farm pay rent by share; probably about 10 per cent of the Negroes in the rural districts own their homes. The papers were explicit and uniform in the conclusion as to the conditions of the homes of all the Negroes on the farm, namely, that they are in poor condition. On the question pertaining to the numbers who owned sufficient work stock to make a crop with, and the condition of the same, the papers showed that about one-fourth of the Negroes owned sufficient stock, that the stock was poorly cared for and is of a cheap grade. The greater portion of the Negroes about three-fourths buy their supplies on a credit. The last question was intended to find out the efficiency of the Negro as compared with foreigners. Since the number of foreigners in the State is so small only 18,459, or less than 1 per cent of the total population of the State the answer to this question can not be of so much general value. But in every case where there was an appreciable number of foreigners they were reported to be far more thrifty and efficient than the Negro. (F) AN OPEN LETTER ON LYNCHING TO THE STUTTGART (ARK.) COMMITTEE The press of the State has recently published a letter purporting to come from a committee of the mob which lynched the Negro at Stuttgart. Of course they seek to justify their action. In view of this and of other lynchings in this and other States, the following facts, as given in the address of the Race Commission last winter, (Jan. 5, 1916), ought to be of interest to the Stuttgart committee and to the people of the State: [Here follow the statistics.] The Stuttgart committee signed themselves, "Yours for the proper and unfailing enforcement of the law." "On the contrary, if the law were enforced now you would be on the way to the gallows," I would say to this committee. "You are undermining all respect for the law. One of the dearest rights to every American is the right of trial in open court, yet you have robbed the victim of this right. In doing this you have paved the way to- the violation of other rights. Where will it end? The above figures show that lynching is now used for trivial crimes, sometimes, no doubt, for personal spite or vengeance. Lynching is a serious social disease, and you are helping to spread it. Six Negroes were lynched last week, one in Texas and five in Florida. "You say that your victim was charged with a heinous crime. True, and if guilty he deserved the extreme penalty of the law. You say that he confessed to you. Granted. Then people who believe in the death penalty must admit that he deserved to die. "But in civilized countries only one authority is allowed to kill the State. You have lynched both the victim and the law. "Why have you done this? Perhaps you will say, 'Because of the law's delays. If left to the courts, there not only would have been delay, he might even have failed of conviction.' "You also claim to have hanged him in as humane a manner as possible. His death, you claim, was much more humane than that of Sir Roger Casement recently executed in England for treason. MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION 73 "But let us compare your action with that of the English people. Treason is a fear ful crime, yet they left it to the courts. So far as I have seen, there was no talk of lynching. Indeed, I think that lynching is practically unknown in England. There was little delay in the courts, and there was punishment. "Our courts sometimes are slow, and there are exasperating delays, but will lynching the accused improve the courts? Why not begin on our judges, lawyers, and juries? Can we not make our courts as good as those of the English people, whose descendants we are and whose courts we borrowed? Yet they never can equal the English courts until they are backed by equal respect for the law on the part of the people. Then we shall have no such outbreaks of lynchings as frequently occur in Georgia and occurred last week in Florida." As there are no "obvious reasons" for withholding my name, I sign: "Yours for the proper and unfailing enforcement of the law," including the sup pression of lynchings, DAVID Y. THOMAS. INDEX OF NAMES Abbott, Lyman, 50. Bain, Mrs. C. W., 25. Banks, Charles, 52. Battle, K. P., 37. Bell, J. C., 24, 27, 31. Blackwell, R. E., 13. Booker, J. A., 52. Boyd, W. K., 35. Brooks, E. C., 35. Bryant, R. H., 40. Caldwell, B. C., 39. Campbell, R. F., 40. Casement, Sir Roger, 72. Chase, H. W., 37. Clark, Willis, 40. Collins, C. W., 56. Cook, G. B., 51. Crandall, Miss Prudence, 55. Daniels, John, 55. Davis, Jackson, 13, 28. Dusenbury, C. B., 40. Feagin, W. F., 27. Few, W. P., 32, 33, 35, 36. Flowers, R. L., 35. Frissell, H. B., 16, 43. Frissell, Mrs. H. B., 43. Galloway, C. B., 53. Glasson, W. H., 35, 36. Glocker, T. W., 27. Graham, E. K., 36. Hamilton, J. G. DeR., 37. Hammond, Mrs. J. D., 6, 43, 54. Harris, W. T., 50. Haynes, G. E., 43. Henderson, Archibald, 37. Hill, W. B., 68. (Not including members of Commission) Hoffman, F. L., 51. Hope, John, 42. Jackson, B. J., 40. Jameson, J. F., 6, 7. Johnson, President Andrew, 56. Johnston, W. H., 68. Jones, T. J., 20, 41. Kincannon, A. A., 6, 8. Laprade, W. F, 35. Leavell, R. H., 41. Lee, W. S., 40. Leyburn, E. R., 33, 34. McKissick, Rion, 14. Merrick, John, 34. Michael, J. H., 40. Monroe, Charles, 20. Montgomery, Isaiah, 52. Moore, A. M, 33. Moton, R. R., 16, 41, 52. Munford, Mrs. B. B., 14. Murphy, E. G., 54. Newbold, N. C., 65. Noble, M. C. S., 36. Odum, H. W., 66. O'Neal, Emmet, 68. Page, W. H., 54. Peabody, G. F., 41. Pennington, J. W. C., 55. Peters, Miss Annie, 65. Poe, Clarence H., 36, 61, 62. Price, Joseph, 52. Quillian, C. F., 38. Ramsey, D. H., 40. Rankin, E. L., 36. INDEX 75 Raper, C. L., 36. Reynolds, C. V., 40. Riley, W. B., 31. Rosenwald, Julius, 41. Rushton, J. W., 26. Sanford, R. G., 22, 69. Sanford, W. H., 28. Scott, E. J., 31. Sibley, J. L, 25. Snaveley, T. R., 41. Spalding, C. C., 34. Spingarn, J. E., 6, 12, 13. Stacy, M. H., 36, 37. Stephenson, G. T., 55, 58, 61. Stockton, C. H., 20, 21. Stokes. A. P., 19, 23, 32. Stone, A. H., 54. Tyson, F. D., 41. Venegar, E. T., 52. Walker, J. W., 40. Washington, B. T., 28, 29, 30, 52, 55, 67. Weatherford, W. D., 5, 25, 38, 49, 54. West, G. W., 60. Williams, H. H., 37. Williams, W. T. B., 31, 41. Wilson, T. J., 36, 37. Wilson, President Woodrow, 18. Woofter, T. J., Jr., 6, 41, 68. Work, M. N., 42. Yates, William, 55. THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW BOOKS REQUESTED BY ANOTHER BORROWER ARE SUBJECT TO IMMEDIATE RECALL LIBRARY, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS Book Slip-Series 458 N9 537290 University Commission on Southern Race Questions. Minutes of the Univer sity commission on south ern race questions. 185.61 LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA DAVIS