lity rule. And what
was accomplished in this line in the nineteenth century? From owning
comparatively few homes forty years ago, the Negro advanced before the
close of the century to the position of occupying one million five
hundred thousand farms and homes; and of owning two hundred and
seventy-five thousand of these; many of them, as shown by views,
forming a part of the exhibit at the Paris Exposition and elsewhere,
compare favorably with the homes of any people.

As to the intelligence and morality that constitute the environment of
the great mass of these homes owned by Negroes, the statistics of
education and of crime show that Negro criminals do not, as a rule,
come from the refined and educated classes, but from the most
illiterate, the stupid, and the besotted element; from the class that
has not been reached by the moral side of education, if at all. Says
the compiler of the eleventh census: "Of juvenile criminals the
smallest ratio is found among Negroes." This speaks well for the
general atmosphere of the home life of our youth; while the bravery
displayed by the colored man in every war of American independence has
demonstrated his ability to risk life fearlessly "in defense of a
country in which too many states permit his exclusion from the rights
of citizenship." Such sacrifice presupposes a moral ideal of the
highest type.

The position of the women of the race, always an index to the real
progress of a people, in spite of slanderous attacks from unscrupulous
members of her own and other races, is gradually improving, and was
materially aided and abetted by the liberal ideas that especially
obtained in the latter half of the century with reference to the
development of women--irrespective of race or color--along the line of
education, the professions, the industrial arts, etc.

As to the advancement of the Negro from a financial standpoint, it is
possible that his achievements during the period in question might
have been greater; yet both from within and without there have been
many hindrances to overcome in the matter of accumulating wealth.

One of the greatest crimes of the slave system was that in practically
denying to the slave the right to the product of his labor or any part
thereof; it, to all intents and purposes destroyed his acquisitive
faculty; thus he had small incentive to labor when free; and as the
years went by, accumulated little in the shape of capital; showed
little interest