ss. They believe that
under similar circumstances the Negro will act as other races do. They
contend that the Negro should have equal rights in every respect; they
believe that worthy Negroes like worthy white men, should vote, and that
ignorant and vicious Negroes like ignorant and vicious white men, should
not; that the school money should be divided equally among the children
of the state regardless of race, color or previous conditions; that the
Negro should be given justice in all of the courts; that the criminal
and lawless Negro, like the criminal and lawless white man, should be
punished to the full extent of the law. They believe that a strict
adherence to this view will result in the final solution of the problem.
There are, however, so few who feel in this way, and they are so widely
scattered, that they can hardly be called a class. The other classes of
white people consider them insane and accuse them of advocating social
equality. They are given no voice in the government and their wishes are
disregarded as readily as those of the Negro. They are sometimes
persecuted, ostracised, and harmed in every conceivable way. This class
is increasing and the two other classes decreasing.

_The Negro's Method of Solution._

There are three classes of Negroes in the South, but only one desires a
solution of the problem and that is class number two, of those I shall
mention. Class number one is composed chiefly of the illiterate and
superstitious Negroes. They usually work on the railroads, on the
steamboats, in the large saw-mills, and on the farms for wages. They
have no homes and do not want any; but float from place to place. This
class is contented to be let alone, but is quick to resent an insult,
and will shoot almost as readily as the white man, and make no attempt
to choose their victims. Among this class are to be found the whiskey
seller, the drunkard, the gambler, and the criminal of the lowest type.
It is the low, degraded and depraved criminals of this class who stir up
and incite race hatred, which always results in race riots. They do not
attend church or any other religious meeting. The better class of
Negroes are as anxious to get rid of these as the white man.

The second class is composed of the renters of farms, the owners of
farms, of homes, of preachers, teachers, students, professional and
business men. They believe that the Negro should be educated in the
trades as well as in the profession