By S. N. VASS, D. D.
Statistical Secretary Negro Young People's Christian
and Educational Congress.
PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR BY ORDER OF THE
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
PRICE, 25 CENTS A COPY.
ADDRESS THE PUBLISHER AT BOX 142, RALEIGH, N. C.
ERRATA.
Especial attention is hereby directed to some mistakes in the
tables found on pages 24 and 2 5 of my report, as follows:
1. On page 24:
(a) In column five of the table on this page the summary of
the per cent should be "nearly 10 per cent" instead of 14 per
cent, i. e., Negroes in these four States paid taxes amounting to
nearly J 0 per cent of the whole school fund of those States.
(b) In column seven on the same page the summary of the
per cent should read 12.3 per cent, i. e., Negroes received 12.3 per
cent of the total school fund in those States. It will be noticed
that no summary at all is given at the foot of this column, by
some oversight.
(c) In the last column on this page it will be noticed also that
no summary of the per cent is given at the foot of the column.
It should read 3 6.5 per cent, i. e., Negro children of school age
constitute 36.5 per cent of the entire school population of these
four States.
2. On page 25:
(a) In next to the last column on this page it is to be noted
that no summary is placed at the foot of the column. It should
read at the bottom of this column: $29,905,688, i. e., the whole
amount devoted to common school educaiion in these twelve States
was $29,905,68S.
(h) In the last column of this table the summary should read
1,042,707. In the second column the whole number of Negroes of
school age is given, and in the fourth column the number actually
enrolled in school is given, and it can be readily seen that to find
the number of children not in school we might just substract the
summary of column four from that of column two, and that will
give us 1,042,707. The last column of this table on page 25 is not
according to my MS., but the figures are greatly confused. Bj-
some means I failed to correct that part of the proof at all. If it
is desired to know how many children are not in school in any one
State, substract the figures for that State found in column four
from those in column two, and the result will be the number of
children not in school in that State, i. e., of the legal school age of
that State. If we should take all the children between the ages of
six and twenty-one, we should find the number out of school in
each State to be more than here given.
These mistakes I have discovered myself since the pamphlet has
been issued, and the cause of the mistakes is my constant absence
from home and the pressure of my work for the American Baptist
Publication Society.
Yours faithfully, S. N. VASS.
THE
PROGRESS OF THE NEGRO RACE,
By S. N. VASS, D. D.,
Statistical Secretary Negro Young People's Christian
and Educational Congress.
PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR BY ORDER OF THE
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
PRICE, 25 CENTS A COPY.
ADDRESS THE PUBLISHER AT BOX 142, RALEIGH, N. C.
KALBIGH
SENTINEL PUBLISHING COMPANY
2.0O6
REV. S. N. VASS, D. D.,
Southern Secretary of the American Baptist Publication Society and First
Statistical! of the Negro Young People's Educational Congress.
PREFACE.
I am of the opinion that this report should have been printed
for distribution at this Congress, but I have had no encourage¬
ment to do so, and did not care to undertake so much except
by order of the Executive Committee. Should it still appear ad¬
visable to print it, I have other facts and figures in my office that
might make it interesting and helpful in the study of the race
problem. Since my election to this position four years ago, by
a full Board while the last Congress was in session, I have kept
this work on my mind and gathered material of all kind as I
have traveled over the country, but I have not made a supreme
effort for statistics until within the past few months, because I
was advised by the Corresponding Secretary not to start m>
work until so ordered by the^ Executive Committee. A few
months ago the Corresponding Secretary then reported to the
Executive Committee that it was too late to get up any statisics,
but the Committee felt otherwise, and hence I come before you
to-day with a report that is not what I could have made it if ade¬
quate clerical help had been furnished me. As it is, I have had
next to no help at all, and all of the hard calculations I have hau
to make myself, for I felt I might make better calculations than
a clerk who would be paid only a pittance.
If this work has not had the proper encouragement from the
executive officer of the Congress', I cannot say the same for any
other parties with whom I have had dealings, for our entire race
seem to be deeply interested in securing facts upon the progress
and hindrances of our people. I especially desire to express my
thanks to the Hon. S. N. D. North, Director of the Census, who
hurried off to me as often as necessary registered pouches of his
publications; to the Hon. Lovick Pierce, Acting Commissioner of
Education for the United States; to the various State Superintend¬
ents of Public Instruction in the South who were uniformly con¬
siderate, and to State Auditors, most of whom were very obliging,
and to State Insurance Commissioners; to statistical secretaries
or responsible parties of all the denominations; to all the agencies
at work in elevating our race (except one or two), and to the
American Baptist Publication Society of Philadelphia by whose
kindness I have been enabled to devote so much of my time to
this work. I have reserved to mention last the one person that
has been of the greatest encouragement and assistance to me in
this work—Dr. W. E. B. DuBois—without doubt the best quali-
4
fied man. in our race to render such help. Dr. DuBois presented
me free of charge all the publications of the Atlanta Conference
issued under his own direction, and never tired of replying by re¬
turn mail to all my queries. I know of no person in the race
that is rendering us greater help in overcoming misrepresenta¬
tions and setting us right in the eyes of the American people, and
no person can make a thorough study of the race problem with¬
out perusing his able publications.
The part about my work that has interested me most has
been the educational situation in the South. For four years I
have been studying such conditions, especially in States where
our people have been disfranchised, and have been pained to note
the relation between depriving Negroes of their votes and de¬
frauding us of money for education that State Constitutions guar¬
antee us. In North Carolina no attempt to hide the facts is
made, and the work of defrauding Negroes goes steadily on be¬
cause Negroes have not tested the unconstitutional law by which
this injustice is worked. The State Superintendent of Public
Instruction of North Carolina, the Hon. J. Y. Joyner, fully de¬
serves that 1 shall bring him to your attention, for in each of his
reports he has publicly rebuked his own race for this injustice,
and has made himself a champion of our people. Negroes in
North Carolina are entitled to one-third of the money, and regu¬
larly received it until after our disfranchisement. Now we get
about one-eighth of school funds. I have not been satisfied with
reports of the United States as to how much money Negroes re¬
ceive in the South, and hence secured State reports and investi¬
gated for myself. Some of these reports have been the hardest pub¬
lications I have ever perused, for apparently effort is made to pre¬
vent any one's ever knowing how much money Negroes receive.
However, by hard work and intricate calculations, I am able to
tell the largest amount they could possibly get, but do not know
that they receive as much as that. The effort to get the religi¬
ous statistics of Negroes was another hard task, and I think I have
gathered the fullest statistics extant of the membership and prop¬
erty. 1 am not responsible for the figures of each denomination,
for I have had to accept what the statistical secretaries have
given. However, I think it far better that our membership should
be given at less than more in number than facts warrant.
Raleigh, N. C., July 31, 1906.
5
STATISTICAL REPORT OF S. N. VASS, D. D. TO THE NEGRO
YOUNG PEOPLE'S CHRISTIAN AND EDUCATIONAL CON¬
GRESS AT WASHINGTON, D. C., JULY 31 TO AUGUST 5,
1906.
I shall not undertake to present to you all the statistics I have
gathered, but shall aim to give such as will throw light upon the
race as a whole, our homes, our youth, our women, our schools,
our churches, and our friends. I have been gathering information
as to our societies and society progress and in business. I have
not had time to cover every department of our race life.
6
I.—OUR RACE AS A WHOLE.
On the Continent there are 8,833,994 Negroes, and between
one-sixth and one-ninth of these are of mixed blood, and the
census seems to show that the mixing increases. The center of
the Negro population is now in Northeastern Alabama, whereas
in 1790 it was near Petersburg, Va. The masses of our people
are going Southwest, and the Southern whites toward the North¬
west. The center of the Southern whites is now ninety-four
miles from Negro center, whereas in 1890 it was only seventy-nine
miles. Thus it appears that separation is going on upon a very
large scale in the South. Nearly nine-tenths of our people live in
the South and 82 per cent of us live in the country districts,
but 81 per cent of Southern whites live there also. There is very
little need of using any method of reaching our people that ought
not to be used for reaching the whites also.
The whites increase much more rapidly than our people in
the South, but white persons of native parentage there only in¬
creased 18.9 per cent the last decade and the colored people in¬
creased 18.1 per cent. A much larger proportion of our children
under one year of age die than among the whites. We have
in the South 1,768,848 men of voting age, one-half of whom can
read and write. It is generally thought that our people never
move about trying to better their condition. Since 1850 a mil¬
lion and a half of our people have been migrating from one State
to another, but almost altogether in the South, the largest por¬
tion going further South.
Negroes operate 13 per cent of all the farms of the country,
and 2 8 per cent of those in the South, and they own one-fourth
of all the farms they operate. Dr. DuBois, in Volume VIII. of
the census, thinks we own $230,000,000 worth of farm property.
I think we own more, because the census simply took account of
farms actually operated by Negroes. Negroes own many farms
operated by whites. In Mississippi we operate more than one
half of the farms. The farms are worth $300 each, and yield
crops of that amount. In the South Central States the land is
higher, but the farmers are more prosperous, only two dollars
going for fertilizers as against sixteen in the South Atlantic
States. They all paid out nearly nine million dollars for labor.
Negro farmers are not quite a third of all farmers South, but they
raised 38.9 per cent of the cotton, i. e., of bales reported.
We hear much about the Negro being lazy, but a little over a
third of the whites in the entire country work, and more than one-
7
half of the Negroes, are engaged in some occupation for a living. In
the South 44 per cent Negroes and 3 4 per cent whites work, and
84 per cent of those Negroes above ten years of age. Our people
follow more than a hundred and twenty-seven occupations, but.
most all of us get our living from not more than twenty-seven
different kinds of work. Of these twenty-seven occupations, we
are holding our own and gaining ground in most, but losing in
nine. Our people are launching out into new fields and are mak¬
ing success. About a half of those who work are farm laborers,
but 13 per cent do any kind of work and 11 per cent are ser¬
vants.
WEALTH OF THE NEGRO RACE.
It is quite a difficult matter to ascertain the exact wealth of
our race. There is abroad an impression that the nearly half
billion dollars of farm property operated by our people repre¬
sents what we are worth, but Dr. DuBois has shown us that we
own only $2 30,000,000 in all kinds of farm property. We cannot
depend altogether upon the census to find out our real financial
standing, but the census throws some light. I have resorted to
State records, and I find four States with data that will greatly
help us in arriving at a fairly correct estimate. Virginia, North
Carolina and Georgia keep a separate account of the property val¬
uation and assessment of white and Negro people, and of taxes
paid, and Arkansas also keeps a separate account of taxes paid.
While the property valuation of Arkansas Negroes is not given,
still I can find out what they are assessed at from amount of
taxes they pay, for they pay taxes on a rate of five and three-
quarter mills to the dollar. To make sure as to the sum upon
which they actually do pay taxes, I have twice written the State
Auditor, who has been very kind and considerate, and I append
to this report two letters from' him which give me full authority
to announce that Negroes in Arkansas pay taxes on $4 5,517,813.
"Little Rock, Ark., April 27, 1906.
"S. N. Vass, Raleigh, N. C.
"Dear Sir:—In reply to your last, I desire to say that the polls
are not included in the taxes on assessed values.
"The tax levy in Arkansas for State purposes is five and three-
fourths mills on the dollar; to raise $261,728 on this levy, re¬
quires assessed values amounting to, in round numbers, $45,517,-
913. This amount approximately represents the assessed values
upon which the Negroes pay taxes, assuming that your figures of
taxes paid to be correct.
"Very respectfully, A. E. MOORE, Auditor."
8
"Little Rock, Ark., July 24, 1906.
"S. N. Vass, Esq., Raleigh, N. C.
"Dear Sir:—Referring to yours of 20th instant, will state that
Table No. 15, page 332, Auditor's Report, 1903-1904, exhibits
the amount of taxes, with the number of polls at one dollar each
issued to the colored people for the year 1903. The $53,364 paid
for poll tax is in addition to and makes no part of the $2 61,72 8
ad valorem tax. We have some Negroes pretty well fixed; many
of them own their farms, which are well stocked; there are sev¬
eral in this city worth from $20,000 to $30,000. One died a few
years since in the city of Pine Bluff, leaving an estate worth
more than $100,000.
"Hoping the above is satisfactory,
"Very respectfully, A. E. MOORE, Auditor.
"Per C.
"P. S.—We are engaged at this time in compiling figures from
our records, showing the amount of taxes and polls paid by Ne¬
groes, 1904-1905, but these figures are not yet in shape to give
out. C."
The Negroes of these four States pay taxes on a valuation of
$99,928,517. Dividing this amount by the whole number of
Negroes in these four States, we find that the Negro per capita
wealth for them is $37.00. Now these four States contain 30 per
cent of the entire Negro population of the country, and other con¬
ditions warrant us in supposing that the per capita wealth of
these States would be a good average for the entire race. Multi¬
plying the 8,840,789 Negroes of the country by thirty-seven, we
have $327,109,193. But the census of 1890, giving the latest
data, informs us that the assessed value of property was only 40
per cent of the real value on an average over the country. There¬
fore the real value of Negro property assessed as above would
be $817,772,982. Now the last census informs us that there were
1,335,324 Negro families that were renters, and nine-tenths of
these may not have listed their property. If we allow only $100 to
each of these families, they are worth in all property $12 0,179,200.
Our churches are worth $40,000,000 more. If we allow one-fourth
of church property value for all sorts of fraternal organizqtoins
among us and benefit societies, and add $10,000,000 for school
property which the census assigns us, we shall find that the total
of the real wealth of our people is the handsome sum of $997,-
952,182. I think upon investigation all will admit this as a con¬
servative calculation, but unless carefully investigated we may hes¬
itate to believe it. Thus we have about reached the billion
dollar mark, and that means that we could buy out the entire
9
State of Georgia at its 1890 real and not assessed valuation, and
have more than a hundred and fifty million dollars left us to use
in starting off house-keeping. The Bible teaches that "Unto him
that hath shall be given and he shall have abundance," and
having this little start which we have made in the past forty
years, if our Southern white people do not get their eyes wide
open and cease to use race prejudice even in business, I do not
doubt that our wealth will be doubled in one-third of the time it
has taken us to amass our billion. We have behind us sufficient
money to use to great advantage in overcoming the humiliation
of race prejudice, but we must remember that this money be¬
comes available only by the closest kind of race organization.
The following letter is from the complier of the National Negro
Business League of which Dr. Booker T. Washington is president,
and gives some idea of our business progress. Mr. Williams was
unable to furnish me actual statistics:
"Chicago, 111., May 21, 1906.
"Mr. S. N. Vass, Raleigh, N. C.
"Dear Sir':—* * * * (1) Under the stimulating influence of
The Business League, hundreds of our men and women have
launched into all kinds of business enterprises.
"(2) That the number and variety of these business enter¬
prises have more than doubled during the past five years.
"(3) That the most marked advancement and increase are to
be found in the higher grades of business that require exact and
special knowledge, character and confidence such as Banking,
Building and Loan Associations, Co-operative Companies and cor¬
porations for the larger scope of business success.
"(4) At the last National Convention there were reported not
less than fifty different kinds of business enterprises that required
special intelligence to carry on and develop.
"(5) The reports show that the colored people everywhere are
showing an increase of confidence in their men and women in
business.
"(6) This increase in business is constantly, opening up new
occupations for educated young men and women as clerks, book¬
keepers, cashiers, stenographers and managers.
"(7) The percentage of business failures among our business
people is remarkably small. Conservatism, business integrity,
diligence, foresight and promptness are prominently character¬
istic of our present day colored business men and women.
"The successful business men and women of the race are not
complaining, and they are doing more to lessen prejudice than
is generaly known.
"Very respectfully, "S. LAING WILLIAMS,
"Compiler of National Negro Business League."
10
II.—OUR HOMES.
There are more than a million and three-quarters of Negro
homes, and a fourth of those in the country and about a fifth ot
those in towns and cities are owned by our people. These homes
ought to be carefully studied, for our race will rise just in propor¬
tion as we elevate the home. Negroes seem to be very healthy by
nature, for we are more prolific, but we contract disease in our in¬
fancy and more than twice as many Negro infants die as among
the native white people. We have so many children that the na¬
tive whites in our section increased only eight-tenths per cent fas¬
ter than Negroes anyway. The fact that these children die before
they are one year of age shows the unsanitary conditions prevail¬
ing around most of our homes, due more to our poverty than our
ignorance, of course. The class of diseases from which our
people generally die argues the same. Consumption is a disease
that accompanies unsanitary conditons, and more than twice as
many Negroes die with that disease as whites in any given com¬
munity. The hopefulness of the situation lies in the fact that a
great majority of our homes are in the rural districts, and if our
people are properly instructed their poverty will not be such a
barrier to improvement as in the cities where a good location is
impossible for us. Our large death rate, however, is due to the
cities, and we must look after them especially. It would appear
that we average more than two church members to each Negro
family, but I have been unable to get an accurate idea as to how
many of our children attend Sunday-school. From the statistics I
have been able to get together, it appears that there is one such
school for every seventy-two families only, and that one-third of
these children are reached. Our churches and Sunday-schools and
other schools ought to aim more to improve the home.
A very sad feature of this problem is that there are so manj
mothers and fathers among us either divorced or widowed that
one-third of our.homes are thus troubled. This divorce evil is
threatening to ruin our home-life, and has doubled within the past
decade to such extent that Negroes get far more divorces than
any other element of our population. The census shows that we
are marrying less, having less children, and getting more di¬
vorces now than ten years ago. Twice as many divorces are se¬
cured in the South Central as in the South Atlantic States. Is it
any wonder under such conditons that the eleventh census in¬
forms us that our people,.representing less than one-eighth of the
11
population then, furnished nearly one-third of the criminals?
We make the church undertake what only the home can accom¬
plish. However, the increased wealth of our people and our re¬
ligious tendencies should encourage us to look for great im¬
provement if only proper effort is exerted by the better class.
12
III.—OUR YOUTH.
Truly the Negro race is a young race. One-half of all our
people are not yet twenty years old. while the medium age of
the 'whites is over twenty-three years. Work among our vouth
is the most needed and the most hopeful work. Half of the Negro
prisoners are under thirty years, and a fifth under twenty, which
is a lower criminal age than among whites, according to Dr. Du-
Bois. Of course this does not make our youth more criminal
than the older people, but it is an index as to where we should be¬
gin work of reform. I do not know whetner a majority of our
church members are under twenty years, and we may never know,
but observation would lead me to suppose not. In every denomi¬
nation the effort is made to reach young people, and few succeed.
The church and the Sunday-school can greatly help them if only
they can be reached. About 60 per cent only of our children at¬
tend day school, while the per cent among the whites is more
than 76 per cent, in the States where the masses of us live. ^
regard this a very serious situation. It is unfortunate that the
per cent of our children between the ages of ten and fifteen, at
work is double that of the whites, and in the case of our girls
three times the white girls. Thus these young people are kept
out of school at the best time to impress them. In the case of
the white people they work in larger numbers after they reach
twenty-five up to forty-four. They seem first to get ready for
work in school, and then go out well equipped. But our people
start to wck early and increase the number as they grow older
to fifty-four. Our people should be taught to make the necessary
sacrifice to start their children in school young. One reason why
we are losing ground in some vocations and trades is that our
children are at work doing what their parents did instead of
learning something in the industrial schools growing up over the
country. And when they go to school we ought to interest our¬
selves in the kind of teachers they have. The great majority of
public school teachers know next to nothing and teach for next to
nothing. The white people have cut the salaries so low that most
of our young people that once taught are leaving the profession
where they can get a better support. These small salaries mean
poor teachers, and poor teachers mean a lack of proper prepara¬
tion and inspiration of our young people. Few States in the
South maintain reformatories for Negro children. Our own peo¬
ple are starting these and asking the States to help. They are
13
very necessary because prejudice would put a Negro child in
prison for a light offense, while a white child is kept out for a
greater, and the Negro child Is made criminal by his prison experi¬
ence. However, in our desire to show that we are worthy and
willing to help ourselves, we must not undertake to do with our
little money what the States ought to do for their citizens, for I
have noted that in the South the more we do the more we
will have to do. I have reason to believe that the effort of our
people to improve the common schools by voluntary taxation
has really caused the authorities to give us less than they would
otherwise. We must put our money into our own enterprises and
let the States do the part that belongs to them. Let us make ap¬
peals and arouse sentiment in our favor. In many cases we are
already paying for all the education we get in the South, and
we ought not to have to pay more than that. The fact is, that
we are paying for all we get in all of the States of the South by
either direct or indirect taxes, but our people do not know
this.
14
IV.—OUR WOMEN.
Unlike any other race in this country, we have a larger number
of women than men, while the white race has a larger number 01
men than women. It is to the credit of our men that they are
more and more keeping their wives and daughters at home to care
for the family, but we are still behind the white people in this
respect. Eight times as many Negro wives have to work out to¬
day as among white people who work. If we trained ourselves to
more different kinds of work we would be better able to keep our
wives home, and in order to make home what it ought to be, our
wives must work at home. However, we have done so well along
this line that the Southern white people complain of not being
able to get cooks and house servants. They charge it to the
laziness of our people, but most of it is due to our more manly
men and the poor wages paid. With Negro women, as with
whites, more are ignorant than among men, but more of our fe¬
males are attending school than men also, and it is well-known
that the churches and Sunday-schools are chiefly supported by
our women and girls.
By a careful study of the census compared with the eleventh
census, I have learned that the Negro race is blessed with noble
women, but the study has led me to think less of our men. Our
men are not marrying as rapidly as ten years ago, and more of
them are marrying women who are either very young or very
old. There were less marriages and less births, and less staying
together after marriage. When a white woman marries it ap¬
pears that she is cared for by her husband, but marriage makes
but little difference with Negro women, for the percent of labor¬
ers remain high among them. It may be that it is on this account
that our women secure more divorces than our men, and more of
them are widowed. It may be that these divorces grow out of im¬
morality, but one is inclined to believe they rather grow out of
our women growing tired of supporting the family, because the
criminal record of our women is highly creditable to them. One
thing that speaks against our women is the,tendency to leave the
home of their youth and flock to the large cities. There are more
Negro men in the country than women. In the cities the female
Negro increase is greater than that for the males. Whether they
go to cities to make money to acquire property, or whether on
account of domestic troubles, is not evident fully, but the pre¬
sumption strongly favors a purpose to make money, for they do
make money, and the wealth of the race increases and there
15
are many more women than men, and the women are working
more and more. At present a third of the farm laborers are wo¬
men among us, and they are not to be blamed for not wishing to
work on the farm. If our men managed more wisely they could
let their women stay in the house and not go on the farm to
work.
But the crowning glory of our women is their criminal record
The Census Director, Hon. S. N. D. North, wrote me just last week
that it would be impossible to furnish me with criminal statistics,
or even advanced sheets, for the report will not be ready for sev¬
eral months yet. But from the census of 1890 I find that Negro
women are as law-abiding as any other element of the entire popu¬
lation, considering their circumstances. It is true that our men
make a bad record, but the per cent of Negro women criminals is
the same as that for white women. I mean to say that white wo¬
men constitute about 7 per cent of the white criminal class and
Negro women constitute 7 per cent of the Negro criminal class.
I am comparing whites of whole country with Negroes of whole
country, and not white women of the South with Negro women of
the South. Remembering that we have so many more women
than the whites in proportion, 'we can see that there is much
credit to our women, especially as compared with our men. The
record shows that more women were imprisoned for immorality
than for any other offense, but that is true of white women also.
The Negro woman is certainly tempted to violate the law, for
she is put into Jim Crow car with sorry Negroes and often bad
white men, and she has no protection when she is not in that;
car. Her lot is a hard one, and she deserves the sympathy of the
civilized world, and the fact that only 7 per cent of Negro crimi¬
nals are women is very creditable, for women have more reason '
to violate the law than men among us. Negro women must resort
to violence to protect their chastity, or suffer insult, and when
carried to court have little show.
16
V.—OUR SCHOOLS.
Thus far my report has been largely an original study of the
census to bring out facts that could not be secured elsewhere,
but I have not relied upon the United States reports for educa¬
tional data. The Commissioner of Education is of the opinion
that our people receive about one-fifth of the educational funds
of the South and that we have received that proporiton as an av¬
erage for years. But his calculations are made for all of the South
Atlantic and South Central States, a few of which make little
discrimination. Therefore, I started out to make a special study
of the educational situation in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana and all
the States east of the Mississippi and South of the Potomac and
the Ohio, except the State of West Virginia—twelve States in all
—where the great body of the Negroes live, and where the dis¬
crimination is more pronounced. At the close of this portion of
my report, I submit the tabulated results of my investigation of
the Negro common schools of these twelve States. Forty per
cent of our children of school age are not in school as against 2 4
per cent of whites. Our children are 37 per cent of the school
population, but we have only 2 5 per cent of the schools and about
a third of the teachers. We receive less than 14 per of the
school funds in these States and our school-houses and equip¬
ments are worth only a small fraction of the cost of white schools.
Something like four million dollars were spent for colored
schools in 1904, but if we had received our pro rata we should
have received more tban ten millions. So much has been said
of the great sacrifices Southern white people have made for our
common schools that since this recent wave of race hatred has
spread over the country our people of the white race South are
demanding that no further sacrifice be made; but Constitution or
no Constitution, we Negroes must not receive our Constitutional
pro rata. This is the popular clamor because the masses of the
white people have no idea of how much money we ourselves are
paying for our own common school education. They are now try
ing to find out, and fortunately for us, four States, Virginia,
North Carolina, Georgia and Arkansas are keeping a separate ac¬
count of taxes we pay, and three of these keep separate account
of our property valuation. North Carolina and Florida and
Louisiana make bold to publish just how much money is appor¬
tioned Negro schools in order to quell the fury of the white masses
that are tired of educating us, as they think. These definite re¬
ports will greatly help us to make safer calculations for all of the
17
twelve States, and my calculations are made with this new in¬
formation. In these four States Negroes paid taxes amounting to
84 per cent of the cost of Negro schools, and of course the whites
claim for themselves the taxes of large corporations, whose taxes
should go as much to our credit as to theirs, pro rata, for we
help give them the iponey to pay their taxes. Nor does this 84
per cent include licenses for liquor, sales to Negroes by dispen¬
saries, and hire of convicts, but we paid 84 per cent direct taxes.
In these four States we paid direct taxes amounting to the sum of
$913,488. If each of the other eight States in the group I am
studying paid the same on an average, the taxes we pay each
year would be $3,653,952. These four States averaged $228,372
Negro taxes, and if we make the average very much less, we
would still pay something like three million dollars in taxes, and
we receive something like four million altogether for our schools.
There remains one million dollars that it would appear we do not
pay, but we more than make that up in indirect taxes. It is no
vain boast to maintain that Negroes are supporting their own
common schools by taxation, and it is highly desirable that thi^
should be made known to the people at large, for the conviction
that we are paupers, and stand for little material wealth, makes
it very much harder for us. Dr. DuBois has made a special study
of this subject, and he calculates that Negroes have paid fifteen
million dollars for their own education in private schools in addi¬
tion to taxes for common schools, basing his calculations upon
the known fact that students at Atlanta University have paid for
tuition since our emancipation $250,000. Out of the 528 non-
sectarian and denominational private instituitons I am able to re¬
port, it would certainly seem that at least sixty would average a
like amount, or certainly all of them together sixty times as much.
If so, then our people are now paying three and three-quarter mil¬
lion dollars for their education in such schools in addition to at
$3,000,000 in taxes for common schools, and there is not a pe-
ple in the world making a like sacrifice for emancipation from
ignorance. In addition to this great sacrifice, our people are giv¬
ing liberally for school buildings and land each year, but I am
not able now to say how much. It must be a large sum. In
many States they are giving to regular State schools, and will
never get due credit. A large per cent of Negro schQols are taught
in Negro churches. The Baptists, the A. M. E. and the A. M. E.
Z. denominations report schools supported by them costing alto¬
gether more than $325,000 a year, and it is safe to say that $500,-
18
000 is raised annually by our church people for educational work.
Adding this to the three and three-quarter millions, we have foui
and a quarter millions, and adding this to what we pay in taxes, wo
have seven and a quarter millions at least we are paying alto¬
gether for the education of our people.
The South makes next to no provision for the higher educa¬
tion of our people, most of the extra money given us being applied
to the agricultural and mechanical schools that have been estab¬
lished in nearly every State to meet the conditons of the Morrell
Fund. From advanced sheets kindly sent me by Acting Commis¬
sioner of Education, the Hon. Lovick Pierce, only $143,118 came
to us from all of the States for such training. Maryland, Virginia,
South Carolina and Arkansas made no appropriation even to these
schools for expenses in 1 994, but two of them gave together seven
thousand dollars for buildings. Strange to say, the State of Ten¬
nessee makes no provision for the Negroes to get any of the Mor¬
rell Fund, but the entire amount apportioned that State is ap¬
plied to a white institution. However, city high schools in
twenty-two States received altogether $218,732 from said States.
Thus the South is giving us a very poor common school system,
and not nearly as good as funds in hand would allow, while
next to nothing is given for higher education; the small amount
they give these higher schools going for industrial and agricul¬
tural and mechanical work. In the twelve States first referred
to in this report, these schools for the white race were given
$801,483, while Negroes got $101,625. But it is to the credit
of these States that most of them have not followed the example
of Virginia, which turns this money over to Hampton, but the>
have erected independent plants, and thus more of the people are
benefited. Not enough of our young people are taking advantage
of these schools, for altogether they enrolled only 6,72 6 pupils,
and more women than men, when it ought to be just the reverse.
The whole influence of this Congress ought to be directed to fill¬
ing these schools, for our young people are not taking to the
trades as they ought, and also because these schools will not re¬
ceive what they now get unless better appreciated. With the
great majority of our people depending upon agriculture for a
support, and another large per cent from the trades, this repre¬
sentation is discreditable both to the Southern whites and to
Negroes, and I would not be surprised if we are not largely to
blame on account of our indifference. The higher education of
our people is provided by private schools that are either fostered
19
by the various denominations among us or by our friends in the
North.
Industrial training can be no substitute for a college training,
and our colleges ought not to be turned into industrial schools,
but we need the colleges and the industrial schools, and both ought
to be liberally supported.
The Denominational Schools are as follows:
Denomination.
No. Schools.
Teachers.
Pupils.
Baptists
105
640
15,776
A. M. E
24
160
6,685
A. M. E. Zion .....
10
70
2,500
C. M. E
3
*30
*1,000
M. E
45
614
12,000
Presbyterian
113
314
13,852
Congregationalu . . .
95
787
17,272
Episcopal
97
328
*2,000
Christian
2
25
300
Friends
1
*5
*100
Universalist
1
2
64
Roman Cathoic ....
2
16
128
Total
498
2,991
71,777
To these add Undenominational Schools as follows:
Schools. Teachers. Pupils.
30 450 10,439
Grand total of private school reported:
Schools. Teachers. Pupils.
528 3,441 82,216
All of the above schools are not secondary and higher schools
for our people, but 128 of them belong to that class. All of the
above schools make the Bible prominent and seek to impart moral
and religious instruction. This list is made up by comparing thy
Government Reports with reports that have been sent to my office
from the different denominations and institutions, and it is as
near correct as possible. If there is any mistake it comes from
the schools of the American Baptist Home Mission Society and the
American Missionary Association, the former being a Baptist body,
* Estimated.
20
I have assigned its schools to that denomination. The difficulty
with the other body is caused by so many of the Congregational
schools being designated as non-sectarian. But I think the list as
finally arranged is quite reliable.
There are public high schools in the South to the number of
131, with 836 teachers and 42,931 pupils, so that the whole num¬
ber of our people not in the common schools of the South, to¬
gether with whole number of such schools, teachers and pupils is
as follows:
Schools. Teachers. Pupils.
650 4,277 125,147
These are about all of our young people that are pursuing any¬
thing like a higher education, or high moral teaching, or that are
being taught industries. In 1904 there were 1,799 graduates
from these schools, and about 9 per cent of them only finished
a college course.
A majority of our people die young,, and a large number of the
dead were young men an.d women striving to get an education and
whose death resulted from inadequate accommodations in board¬
ing schools. But these schools have not increased crime among
us as Vardaman of Mississippi claims, and the statistics do not
warrant his charge. Dr. DuBois has so completely refuted this
slander that I would only refer our people to his publication on
Negro Crime. He also shows that the common schools of the South
owe their existence to the United States' early work among
Negroes which was of a most excellent nature. We owe it to the
General Government that we get anything whatever from the com¬
mon school funds of the South, and if any improvement is made
in the present situation, it will have to come from the United
States. At present the United States are giving our people $117,-
607 of the Morrel Fund, $24,153 of the Land Grant of 1862, and
$5,778 from, other land grants, making a total of $147,538, and
this money helps to support some of the schools above-referred
to. If the South, like the North, had only one school for all the
races the money devoted to common school education would in
some way be adequate to the needs of all. But race animosity
precludes this, and since the American people have about agreed
to turn us over to the tender mercies of our Southern white
people, and advised the Negroes to make the most of the situation,
they ought to go a little further and supplement the small funds
we now get by a National appropriation. We Negroes have no
21
race feeling against the whites, and we ought not to suffer on ac¬
count of the large amount they possess, and the American people,
on a whole, ought to see to it that we do not suffer. After all this
feeling against us is more deterimental to the General Government
than to the South, and help ought to be given us. We deeply ap¬
preciate what has already been given. If the United States would
extend this help it would have the effect of interesting the North
anew in us, for when the Northern people were most interested
was during the life of the Freedmen's Bureau. Now nearly all
the money that comes to our people from the North goes to a very
few favored schools, and but for the denominational agencies at
work among us, our higher schools and colleges would go to the
wall. This Congress ought to institute a propaganda in favor
of United States aid to Negro common schools at least.
DENOMINATIONAL AT WORK AMONG NEGROES.
Denomination.
American Baptist Home Mis¬
sion Society
American Baptist Pub. So¬
ciety
American Missionary Associa¬
tion
Presbyterian Board Mission¬
ary Freedmen
Protestant Episcopal Church
—Domestic and Foreign
Board
Presbyterian Board Pub. and
Sunday School Work
Freemen's Aid and Southern
Educational Society
Total 2,591 383 51,953 727,118
These are not all of the denominational agencies at work
among us, but I was unable to hear from others, and there are not
many others. These six Northern denominational agencies con¬
tribute about three-quarters of a million dollars to help Negroes
through denominational channels. Add this to the $338,-
829 contributed by only three of the large denominations among
us for self-help, and we have more than a million dollars con-
Appropna-
w.„ Schools. Pupils. tion for
ers- 1995.
305 33 8,829 $164,971
11 10,470
787 95 17,272 255,466
534 113 13,852 176,984
328 97 73,627
12 10,000
614 45 12,000 135,600
22
tributed by ourselves and our friends through denominations
alone for our education. It is a perfectly safe estimate to say that
our Northern denominational friends contribute a million dollars
annually through regular agencies. It is also safe to say that we
contribute a round half million dollars toward our own institu¬
tions of learning.
UNDENOMINATIONAL AGENCIES AT WORK AMONG US.
Name. Workers. ApS.ria"
Young Men's Christian Association 2 $4,252.00
American Bible Society 9 5,400.00
American Sunday School Union 3 1,200.00
International Sunday School Asso'n 6 4,500.00
Total 20 15,352.00
The above represents the undenominational agencies working
along special religious lines among us but there are a few oth¬
ers not included. Only $15,352 came to us in this way from
agencies reporting. It has been impossible for me to hear a word
from the John C. Martin Fund, but that appropriation would
hardly increase the above to more than $20,000 in all, if that
much. It will thus appear that the great work of helping the Ne¬
groes has been done through denominational channels in the
past.
OTHER AGENCIES AT WORK AMONG US.
General Education Fund contributed $50,000.00
Slater Fund contributed 71,000.00
Total 121,000.00
Our people get some appropriation from the Peabody Fund, but
is does not amount to any large sum. The agent would only send
me documents, and it was impossible to learn just the sum, but a
large part went for one school for the white people exclusively.
These large funds have contributed not as much toward our help
as is generally supposed. Our main help is along denominational
lines. As soon as our friends in the North change that method
of giving, the money does not help us as much, nor reach as
many.
This Northern help and our own small donations represent
about the only contribution toward the higher education of our
23
people, and the preparation of rounded out leaders for the fu¬
ture.
This Congress ought to teach our people to properly appreciate
our Northern friends for their most disinterested help extended us
through all these years. It is to be very very greatly regretted
that some of us in our effort to help ourselves lose sight of the
respect and gratitude we ought to exhibit to a people that have
rendered us so great assistance. We must learn to like the
Southern white man without ceasing to love the Northern white
people, for any improvement in the present status of the race will
most surely come from the country at large representing the best
sentiment of the North.
We need college-bred leaders for our people along all lines, and
these denominational agencies take a saner and more hopeful view
of our needs and future than the great mass of white people North
or South.
The following table shows for the four States of Virginia, North
Carolina, Georgia and Arkansas, what Negroes own in property,
property taxes paid, poll taxes paid, total taxes paid, the per cent
of these taxes paid to the total school fund, money appropriated
for Negroes, per cent appropriated, and the per cent of Negro
children to school population:
State
Value of
Negro
Property.
Property
Tax Paid.
Poll Tax
Paid.
Total Taxes
Paid.
Per Cent, of
Whole
School
Fund.
Money to
Negro
Schools.
Per Cent.
School
Fund.
Per Cent of
Total School
Census.
Virginia
121,983,268
8 71,782
8189,579
8261,361
13 per cent.
8337,400
12 per cent
38 per cent.
North Carolina
14,339,402
25,477
107,335
132.812
12 " "
246,172
15 " "
32 " "
Georgia . _
18,087,934
87,750
116,473
204,223
9 " "
391,020
16 " "
48 " "
Arkansas __
45,517,513
£61,728
53,364
315,092
12 " "
161,568
6%" "
28 •' "
Total-
899,928,517
8416,737
8466,751
8913,488
14 per cent.
81,135,498
The following table shows school census, enrollment, teachers
and schools, for white and colored. Also total educational fund
and appropriation to colored schools and number of colored chil¬
dren not in school for the twelve States indicated for 1904, but
some of the figures were for 1903.
In some cases the reports show how much money went to colored
schools, but in other cases I had to make calculations by finding
number of colored schools, teachers, average salaries and aver¬
age school term. But even salaries and terms in some cases are
not given, and I allowed the same as for the whites.
State3.
White
■ hil-
dren
Census.
Negro
Chil¬
dren
Census.
White
Enroll¬
ment.
Negro
Enroll¬
ment
White
Teach¬
ers.
Negro
Teach¬
ers.
White
Schools.
Negro
Schools.
Total
Money
to all
Negro
Schools.
Total
Fund for
Educa¬
tion.
Negro
Chil¬
dren
Not in
School
South Carolina
Georgia . .
Texas. _
Arkansas
Mississippi _ __
Alabama. _ ..
Tennessee
Ken lucky
Virginia _ _
Louisiana . . _ _
Florida
North ■ arolina
Total
224,621
365,570
599,383
370,553
227,326
372,564
5^2,099
515,587
364,517
241,906
102,190
462,639
275,379
337,666
165,583
146,880
327,128
306,487
190,795
80,000
213,803
217,690
72,210
221,649
141,391
298,865
581,099
249,105
199,293
276,300
405,135
438,501
251,713
138,797
37,909
295,205
161,262
200,238
141,805
90,437
224,438
166,083
102,288
62,981
110,059
72,612
45,630
134,620
2,602
6,951
13,677
6,123
5,774
4,296
7,862
9,021
6.892
3,336
2,175
6,528
2,457
3,409
3,205
1,636
3,559
1,498
1.922
1,428
2,182
958
656
2,848
2,661
4,877
16,874
5,511
4,188
4,220
5.907
7,349
6,680
2,835
1,789
5,433
2,251
2,859
4,588
1,500
2,892
1,751
1,512
1,110
2,233
1,107
650
2,358
1241,609
39i,020
864,952
161,568
480,986
399,319
349,020
200,000
337,400
159,620
160,405
246,172
11,304,628
2,3a6,750
5,560,561
2,704,234
2,921,784
1,041,560
4,161,234
2,373,264
2,743,123
2,055,090
1,078,089
1.-665,361
152,860
116,473
136,875
87,157
1.979.36
181,471
112,236
74,728
146,122
147,348
61,417
86,275
4,339,045
2,555,170
3,312,313
1,512.463
75,238
25,758
68,324
23,810
34,094,171
$
2,170,698
26
VI.—OUR CHURCHES.
I have left for the last my report on the churches of our race.
At the close of this section 1 submit a tabulated result of what I
have been able to gather touching the number of members and
churches of the various denominations. I think this is the most
reliable report extant on the extent to which the church is reach¬
ing our people, i. e., the numbers that are being brought under
the influence of the religion of Christ. As will be seen, we have*
at least twenty-three different denominations at work among us
to save our people, and if we can rely upon statistics that I have
gathered from various denominational statisticians and publi¬
cations and United States Reports, all of these churches have
gathered into the fold 4,074,523 members—48 per cent of our
entire race in the United States—the number being equal to 65
per cent of all our people above ten years of age, and 75 per cent
of all our people above fifteen years. This is a remarkable record,
and is due as much to the excess of women and girls in our race
perhaps as to the Negro preachers, for it is pretty safe to esti¬
mate that fully two-thirds of the 52 per cent of the entire race
not reached represent our male element. We have more than
31,000 ministers at work among us according to the denomination¬
al claims, though the census found only 15,000 clergymen. We
have about an equal number of teachers of all kinds, and these
teachers and preachers have accomplished great results for the
race. The church is the centre of the race life, and is now tak¬
ing the lead in establishing race enterprises. In fact, our
churches are now becoming so racial that we may be losing sight
of what is expected of us along high moral lines. Forty-four per
cent of all Negroes over ten years of age are unable to read and
write as against only 6 per cent among the white people. In the
South we stand 48 against 11 per cent among the whites unable
to read ,and our women are more illiterate than our men. In
1890 colored prisoners were three times as numerous in propor¬
tion to our population as white prisoners. Knowing conditions
that obtain in the South our first inclination is to regard our
large prison population as due to prejudice but the census shows
that colored people of the North are more criminal than those of
the South, and certainly our people in the North suffer from little
race prejudice in the courts. We have been grossly slandered along
this line, and efforts have been made to prove that the criminals
come as much from our educated as our ignorant classes and the fig¬
ures of the census may not be reliable; but at the same time we
27
ourselves have reason to believe that crime diminishes quite slow¬
ly if it is not increasing among us, and especially in the States
north of us that are filling with some of the bad element of the
South. Nearly one-half of the crimes that brought imprisonment
were offenses against property and nearly a fourth against the
person. This is just what we might expect where we have so
much ignorance. Forty per cent of all the rape the census shows
was committed by Negroes. The records show that Negroes get
twice as many divorces as whites to our population. To correct
this conditon, and reach the masses of the race, there is no power
that equals the church for the present generation. Our churches
are largely responsible for this condition to-day, if we only knew
it, and this Congress ought to devise some means of reaching the
church people to see our condition as it is.
The statistics sent me from the denominations and secured
from other sources do not furnish the information we need. They
tell us of the number of preachers, churches, members and col¬
lections. "We wish to know how many were converted, how many
dismissed and for what cause; how many restored, how many in
the Sunday-school and young people's meetings, how many at¬
tend prayer-meeting, what is being done for and by the fireside,
how many are engaged in active Christian service, and along what
line. These are some of the things we ought to know from de¬
nominational statisticians, and there ought to be no estimating
nor guessing, but we ought to report what we know and leave the
other unreported. Each local church and Sunday-school and
Young People's Society ought to have its own statistician, fo.
unless the facts are before us we cannot act wisely.
28
LIST OF CHURCHES, MEMBERS, AND VALUE OF CHURCH
PROPERTY OF NEGRO DENOMINATIONS.
Denomination.
Baptists—
Churches.
Members.
Value of
Property.
Missionary
. .. 16,996
2,110,269
$14,376,372
Free Will
5
271
13,300
Primitive
323
18,162
135,427
Old Two Seed
15
265
930
Total
17,339
2,128,967
*14,526,029
Methodists—
A. M. E
5,321
769,590
$11,975,256
A. M. E. Zion
3,030
545,073
5,094,000
C. M. E
2,376
214,987
1,713,366
M. E
2,357
327,000
4,566,951
A. U. M. E
90
3,887
54,440
Congregational
9
319
525
U. Am. M. E
42
2,279
187,600
M. E. Protestant . . .
54
3,183
35,445
Total
13,279
1,866,318
**23,627,583
Presbyterians—
United States
353
21,341
$850,000
Cumberland
558
42,000
195,826
Afro-American
43
1,883
22,200
Total
954
65,224
1,068,026
Other Denominations—
Protestant Episcopal. . . .
200
15,000
$192,750
Congregationalists
230
12,155
246,125
Christians
150
16,000
135,825
Lutherans
10
305
15,150
Disciples of Christ
277
18,587
176,795
Evangelist Missionary . .
11
951
2,000
Reformed Episcopal ....
37
1,723
18,401
Catholics, Roman
31
14,517
237,400
Total
946
79,238
787,046
* Does not include parsonages, but church-houses only.
** Includes parsonages and all church property.
29
This table is made up of original data for the most part, but
the figures of some of the smaller denominations, and some part
of the figures of some others, are taken from the Census Report
for 1890, the last available Government Report.
General Summary—
Baptists 17,339 2,128,967 $14,526,029
Methodists 13,279 1,866,318 23,627,583
All Others 946 79,238 787,046
Grand total 31,564 4,074,523 38,843,658
SUNDAY SCHOOLS.
Sunday-schools reported by the four largest denominations
among us, representing 3,751,962 members, 28,213 ministers, and
2 7,704 churches, are as follows:
Schools. Teofflcersand Scholars
Baptists 12,569 51,310 739,959
A. M. E 5,775 45,958 320,485
A. M. E. Zion 2,034 14,404 122,467
M. E 3,682 22,885 184,923
Total 24,060 134,557 1,182,911
It has been very difficult to get accurate statistics of Sunday-
schools, but these four large denominations will give some idea
of what is being done for the young people through this depart¬
ment of the church. Altogether, these denominations above gath¬
er into their Sunday-schools 1,317,468 officers and scholars who
are studying the Bible and preparing themselves as workers.
From other reports in our possession we conclude that at least
two-fifths as many persons attend these schools as are members
of our churches. There are 3,500,194 young Negroes between five
and twenty years of age, but not half of them attend Sunday-
school. The fact is, that more attend the common schools daily
than are connected with the Sunday-schools. Parents should ex¬
act of their common school teachers that they teach in the Sun¬
day-school and seek to enroll their pupils in same. Here is offer¬
ed an opportunity to instruct the large number that are not in the
common schools also.
30
YOUNG PEOPLE'S SOCIETIES.
The Missionary Baptists and the African Methodist Episcopal
Zion denominations alone furnished me the number of these socie¬
ties and the young people enrolled. The societies of these two
churches numbered 5,59 6, and enrolled 13 9,280 members. These
denominations represent 2,655,342 members, and yet only one-
twentieth of the members attend the young people's meetings, as
a general thing the only prayer-meeting suitable to develop and
interest both the young and also other intelligent persons. Thus
both the Sunday-school and the young people's societies offer a
great opportunity for service to our young people of Christian
zeal.
DENOMINATIONAL COLLEGES.
Three of the large denominations report the following educa¬
tional statistics:
Denomination. Schools. g^g11" Pupils. Value Plants. Expenses
Baptist* 8S 440 8,947 $600,000 $157,324
A. M. E 24 160 6,685 750,000 125,000
A. M. E. Zion ... 10 70 2,500 200,000 50,000
Total 122 670 18,132 1,550,000 338,829
In another place I give a list of all the denominational schools,
but they do not all begin to represent what Negro denominations
are doing alone. They represent the combined help of Negroes
and their brethren of like denominations in the white race in the
North. In the above table we have what three of our own large
denominations are doing themselves.
*Does not include schools of American Baptist Home Mission
Society.
81
CONCLUSION.
I wish that I might have had ample time and encouragement
to make this report more extensive. The reader can see that what
I have gathered has cost me considerable labor, for I have had
to go over a great body of figures in the census to get what I
wished especially, and have had no little trouble to get statistics
from other sources. My real object has been to make the Negro
Young People's Christian and Educational Congress of some real
benefit to our people. If the Congress is only to meet for a ran¬
dom and general discussion there are many of us that do not think
the money spent in getting so many people together is justified.
But if the Congress is to meet to study the real condition of our
people, and to labor patiently to find a remedy for this condition,
then I am sure all will agree that it is capable of doing great
good for our race. The fact is that the statistical report ought to
be the center of all the activities of the Congress and the secre¬
tary in charge of this work ought to be given ample assistance in
the shape of clerical help to accomplish the best work. The last
Congress at Washington collected something like $3,000, and 01
this amount only $2 5 were actually paid for satisticai work,
though another $75 may be paid at some time in the future, and it
may not. The work was so laborious that I did not stand for re¬
election as Statistician, for my time belongs to the American
Baptist Publication Society, and I would not be justified in devot¬
ing so much time to this work. It is not wise to take all of the
money collected at the Congress for getting up the meeting.
Something ought to be devoted to giving back to the people some¬
thing of real benefit. It is to be hoped that in the future a differ¬
ent course will be followed. We now have a constitution, and i
used all my influence to have placed there a provision giving ample
help to the next Statistician. We also have a new set of officers
all around nearly,except on the Executive Committee. I commend
to our people Prof. Kelly Miller, who succeeds me in office, and
ask for him the hearty co-operation of our people in order that he
may give us an exhaustive report covering every line of race ac¬
tivity, for he is certainly suited to the work to which he has been
called. Meanwhile, I sincerely hope that from this report some
real help will come to those of us that have the real interests of
the people at heart and are unselfishly laboring to elevate the
masses.
This pamphlet is sold simply to make it possible for the people
to get hold of it, and if possible, to cover all the expenses of its
compilation and publication.
Yours faithfully, S. N. VASS,
Raleigh, N. C., August 9, 1906. Statistician.
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