reatly wronged, and accounts
of his pitiable condition and of the many individual cases of ill
treatment fanned the flames of wrath. The reports of travelers, however,
had little influence compared with the religious sentiments which felt
outraged by the existence of bond servitude in the land. Through all the
years there was little attempt to scientifically study the character of
the problem or the nature of the subject. A mistaken economic sentiment
in the South and a strong moral sentiment at the North rendered such
studies unnecessary, if not impossible. The South, perceiving the
benefits of slavery, was blind to its fundamental weaknesses, and the
North, unacquainted with Negro character, held to the natural equality
of all men. Thus slavery itself became a barrier to the getting of an
adequate knowledge of the needs of the slave. The feeling grew that if
the shackles of slavery were broken, the Negro would at once be as other
men. The economic differences finally led to the war. It is not to be
forgotten that slavery itself was not the cause of the war, nor was
there any thought on the part of the Union leaders to make the blacks
citizens. That this was done later was a glowing tribute to their
ignorance of the real demands of the situation. The Republican party of
to-day shows no indication of repeating this mistake in the newly
acquired islands. I would not be understood as opposing suffrage of the
blacks, but any thoughtful observer must agree that as a race they were
not prepared for popular government at the time of their liberation. The
folly of the measures adopted none can fail to see who will read the
history of South Carolina or Mississippi during what is called
"Reconstruction."

Immediately after the war, new sources of information regarding the
Negro were afforded the North. The leaders of the carpet-bag regime,
playing political games, circulated glowing reports of the progress of
the ex-slaves. A second class of persons, the teachers, went South, and
back came rose-colored accounts. It might seem that the teacher could
best judge of the capacity of a people. The trouble is that in the
schools they saw the best specimens of the race, at the impressionable
period of their lives, and under abnormal conditions. There is in the
school an atmosphere about the child which stimulates his desire to
advance, but a relapse often comes when ordinary home conditions are
renewed. Moreover, it is well known that t