er people ever had more disadvantages to contend with on their
issue into freedom. They were seduced, deceived, misled. Their habits
of industry were destroyed, and they were fooled into believing that
they could be legislated into immediate equality with a race that,
without mentioning superiority of ability and education, had a
thousand years' start of them. They were made to believe that their
only salvation lay in aligning themselves against the other race, and
following blindly the adventurers who came to lead them to a new
promised land. It is no wonder that they committed great blunders and
great excesses. For nearly a generation they have been pushed along
the wrong road. But now, in place of political leaders, who were
simply firebrands, is arising a new class of leaders, which, with a
wider horizon, a deeper sagacity and a truer patriotism, are
endeavoring to establish a foundation of morality, industry and
knowledge, and to build upon them a race that shall be capable of
availing itself of every opportunity that the future may present, and
worthy of whatever fortune it may bring."

Slavery did not teach him economy; on the contrary, it taught him
profligacy, and, where he learned to economize, it was in spite of the
system. His wastefulness is not yet a thing of the past, but he has
made commendable advance in learning how to save. What are the facts?
In the state of Georgia alone, the Negro has dug out of the hills more
than $30,000,000 of taxable property. This amount represents more
than five times the entire wealth of all the Negroes of the United
States, North and South, bond and free, taxable and personal, at the
birth of freedom. But when we collect together the wealth of the
entire race, the figures read like romance.

Some facts for reflection:

Four millions of slaves were valued at $3,500,000,000. Negroes own 87
per cent of their homes in fee simple; 89 per cent of their farms are
unencumbered.

They own, Banks 3
Magazines 5
Newspapers 400

Value of Libraries $ 500,000
Drug stores 500,000
School property 20,000,000
Church property 42,000,000
160,000 farms 400,000,000
150,000 homes 350,000,000