"One of the things which militates most against the Negro here is his
unreliability. * * * His mental processes are past finding out and he
can not be counted on to do or not to do a given thing under given
circumstances. There is scarcely a planter in all this territory who
would not make substantial concessions for an assured tenantry." A
Northern man, now resident in the South and employing Negro labor, says:
"I am convinced of one thing and that is that there is no dependence to
be placed in 90 per cent. of the Negro laborers if left to themselves
and out of the overseer's sight." These quotations from men who are
seeking to promote the success of the Negroes with whom they come in
contact might be multiplied indefinitely from every part of the South.
The statements are scarce open to discussion, so well recognized is the
fact. If I have rightly apprehended the nature of the training afforded
by Africa and slavery there was little in them to develop the habits of
forethought, thrift and industry, upon which this reliability must be
based.

I am not arguing the question as to whether this unreliability marks a
decadence of Negro standards or whether it is due to the present higher
standards of the white. For argument, at least, I am willing to admit
that in quality of workmanship, in steadfastness and self-control there
has really been great progress. My interest is in the present and future
rather than the past. I have tried to show that, judged by present
standards, the Negro is still decidedly lacking. Personally I am not
surprised at this. I should be astonished if it were otherwise. The
trouble is that we at the North are unable to disabuse ourselves of the
idea that the Negro is a dark skinned Yankee and we think, therefore,
that if all is not as it should be that something is wrong, that
somebody or some social condition is holding him back. We accuse
slavery, attribute it to the hostility of the Southern white. Something
_is holding him back_, but it is his inheritance of thousands of years
in Africa, not slavery nor the Southern whites. It is my observation
that the white of the black belt deal with the Negro more patiently and
endure far more of shiftless methods than the average Northerner would
tolerate for a day. It is interesting to note that Northern white women
who go South filled with the idea that the Negro is abused can scarce
keep a servant the first year or so of their stay. Of course there are