YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS NEWS-BULLETIN
VOL. XIV LAWRENCE, KANSAS, DECEMBER 6, 1913 NO. &.-

HATTIE ELIZABETH LEWIS MEMORIAL
ESSAYS IN APPLIED CHRISTIANITY

THE APPLICATION OF THE TEACHINGS AND
EXAMPLE OF CHRIST TO THE RELATION
SHIP OF THE NATIVE CITIZEN TO
THE IMMIGRANT

BY
NATHANA L. CLYDE

A PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF CHRISTIANITY
TO THE AMERICAN RACE PROBLEM

BY
WILLIAM BURKHOLDER

Entered October 17, 1904, at Lawrence, Kansas, as second class matter, under act
of Congress, of July 16, 1894.

HATTIE ELIZABETH LEWIS MEMORIAL
ESSAYS IN APPLIED CHRISTIANITY

THE APPLICATION OF THE TEACHINGS AND
EXAMPLE OF CHRIST T6 THE RELATION
SHIP OF THE NATIVE CITIZEN TO
THE IMMIGRANT
By NATHANA L. CLYDE, of Kansas City, Missouri
First Prize, 1913
A PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF CHRISTIANITY
TO THE AMERICAN RACE PROBLEM
By WILLIAM BURKHOLDER, of Marion, Kansas
Second Prize, 1913

PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS

PEEBB OF THE
DEPARTMENT OF JOURNALISM
UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
LAWRENCE 1913

PREFATORY NOTE
THE HATTIE ELIZABETH LEWIS MEMORIAL
This Memorial was established in the University of Kansas in
1911, in memory of Hattie Elizabeth Lewis, a former student of
the University. It takes the form of an annual competition in
essay writing, open to all students of the University of Kansas.
The general theme of the essays submitted in this competition is
"The Application of the Teachings of Jesus to the Practical
Affairs and Relations of Life, Individual, Social, Industrial, Com
mercial, or Political"; but each essay must deal with a single
definite subject, or a single phase of Ufe. Each essay is required
to be not less than 5,000 nor more than 10,000 words in length.

THE APPLICATION OF THE TEACHINGS AND
EXAMPLE OF CHRIST TO THE RELATION
SHIP OF THE NATIVE CITIZEN TO THE IMMI
GRANT. BY
Nathana L. Clyde.

PREFACE
The writer of this essay, in keeping with the suggestion in the
bulletin of instructions, had in mind a single definite purpose,
namely, the securing of a right attitude toward the immigrant
population in the light of the example and teachings of Jesus.
Some people blindly argue against restriction and feel that the
Scriptures support their views. Others are very much prejudiced
against immigration, and, in ignorance, bring all kinds of false
accusations against our foreign citizens. As the economic phase
of the immigration problem is not the immediate concern of the
average Kansas citizen, no attempt has been made to discuss
immigration from that point of view. The only hope of the author
is that this paper will set immigration problems in their true
light, correct false impressions, and awaken Christian sympathy
and interest in behalf of the immigrants who have found homes in
Kansas.

CONTENTS Page
Introduction: Social problems in the New Testament.
(1). Attitude of Jesus toward social and political questions 8
(2). Attitude of Jesus toward the Gentiles  10
AMERICAN IMMIGRATION AND RACE PREJUDICE.
I. Regulation of American immigration.
1. History of immigration restriction  11
2. The teachings of Jesus and immigration restriction. ... 15
II. Unchristian attitude of Americans to immigrants.
1. Immigrants as dependents.
(1). Number of dependents overestimated  18
(2). Just cause of dependence of many immigrants 19
2. Immigrants as criminals.
(1). Immigrant crime overestimated  21
(2). Immigrants not wholly to blame for their
crimes  22
Conclusion : The sin of American Race Prejudice in view of
(1). What might be done for the immigrant  24
(2). The gratitude of the immigrant for Christian treat
ment  25

APPLICATION OF THE TEACHINGS AND EX
AMPLE OF CHRIST TO THE RELATIONSHIP
OF THE NATIVE CITIZEN TO THE IMMIGRANT
The Gospel writers record several instances of persons applying
to Jesus, ostensibly for information on social and political ques
tions, and upon each occasion his answer was ambiguous or evasive.
Does this indicate that Jesus was indifferent to civil affairs?
Are we not to look to Him for enlightenment in solving modern
social problems? An examination of the motives which prompted
the questions referred to in the New Testament will explain the
attitude of Jesus to these inquirers.
When one of the multitude appealed to Him for assistance in
the equitable division of an estate He replied, "Man, who made
me a judge or a divider over you?"1 This He said not because
of any lack of interest in the oppressed; he saw an immoderate
desire for property and this incident evoked from Him a lesson
against covetousness. Again, there was a legitimate doubt in
the loyal Jewish mind with regard to the question of paying tribute
to the Roman government. The Pharisees brought the question
to Jesus but they received an ambiguous reply: "Render unto
Caesar the things that are Caesar's; and unto God the things that
are God's."2 We are informed that they had taken counsel how
they might ensnare Him. Jesus knew this and foiled their purpose
by giving them an indefinite answer. Those assembled to witness
the ascension inquired, "Lord, dost thou at this time restore the
kingdom of Israel?"3 His reply was, "It is not for you to know
times or seasons, which the Father hath set within His own
authority." This was an appropriate answer for the occasion.
When He, the Lord of glory, was about to ascend to the Father
their thoughts should have been centered elsewhere than upon
temporal things. "My kingdom is not of this world,"4 He had
told His disciples.
The spiritual interests are first in all His teaching, and yet the
1. Luke XII, 13-14. 3. Acts I, 6, 7.
2. Matt. XXII, 15-21. 4. John XVIII, 36.

The Native Citizen and the Immigrant 9
relationship of man to man is the test of the relationship of man to
God. "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples if ye
have love one to another. "5 No man ever came to Jesus with a sin
cere desire to know his duty to his fellow-man and went away with
out a definite answer. "If any man willeth to do his will, he shall
know of the teaching. "6 We are justified in going to the Scripture
accounts of the life and doctrines of Jesus for information upon
modern social problems. But we need not look for a code of civil
laws. We shall find only certain general principles which each
must interpret for himself and apply to his own situation. Jesus
Himself dealt pre-eminently with th*» individual, and his teachings
are individual in their application; therefore, to the extent that
each member of society feels a personal responsibility and allows
his own life to be actuated by the Christian spirit, to just that
extent and no more, will society be reformed. Let us, then, try
to discover what the example and teachings of Jesus have to offer
with regard to the relationship of the native citizen to the immi
grant. There was no literal immigration problem in Christ's time;
consequently we find no definite information as to the treatment of
immigrants; but there was a tremendous race problem. It had
been the policy of the Jews for ages to have no dealings with the
Gentiles. This was wholly in accordance with God's purpose, for
He wished the Jews to be a peculiar people. It was His plan to
prohibit their intercourse with heathen nations in order to develop
a strong, pure race through whom He might bless the world in
Jesus Christ. Upon the advent of this promised Messiah His
purpose was fulfilled and Jewish separatism was no longer called
for. It was, therefore, a part of the task of Jesus to dispel this
race prejudice and to teach the Jews that God is the Father of all
humanity, and all we are brethren. This lesson he seized every
opportunity to impress upon his followers, both by precept and
by example.
Early in His ministry He found it convenient, yes, even urgent,
to make a journey through Samaria, a province unusually des
picable to the Jews, yet He conversed as freely with the woman of
Samaria7 as He would have conversed with a woman of His own
5. John XIII, 35 7. John IV.
6. John VII, 17.

10 Essays in Applied Christianity
nation. He as generously offered her spiritual blessings as He
ever offered them to any one else. He had no hesitancy in dealing
with a Samaritan.
Later, in answer to the lawyer's question, "Who is my neigh
bor?"8 He used a Samaritan as an example of the ideal brotherly
spirit which should exist in every man's heart toward all who are
in need. .Again, the Samaritan leper,9 the Syro-Phoenician wo
man's daughter,10 and the centurion's servant11 received equal
attention with the Jew, and in each case were praised for unusual
faith or gratitude.
When the Greeks were announced as seeking for Him,12 He
glorified God because this incident was a prophecy of the future
when He would draw all men unto Him. He had said, "God so
loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son that whoso
ever believeth on Him should not perish, but have eternal life. "13
Before His ascension He gave unmistakable directions to the
eleven: "Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all nations."14
There was not the slightest distinction in His mind between Jew
and Gentile. The comprehension of this truth, nevertheless, was
to His Jewish followers, a difficult matter. It required a thrice
given vision to convince Peter that " God is no respecter of persons
but in every nation he that feareth Him, and worketh righteous
ness, is acceptable to Him."16 A conference at Jerusalem with
abundant testimony of those experienced upon the mission field
was necessary to prove to the conservative Christian that God
made no distinction between Jew and Gentile in the distribution
of His blessings.16
In the succeeding Christian centuries the conviction has become
almost universal that, theoretically at least, "All men are created
equal." This is the foundation of our boasted American demo
cracy. By no means the least of the problems involved in the
apphcation of this principle is that concerned with the restriction
of immigration. Our Puritan forefathers would have been horri
fied at the idea of closing the gates of America against any one.
In truth, in the Declaration of Independence one of the grievances
8. Luke X, 25-37. 13. John III, 16.
9. Luke XVII, 36. 14. Matt. XXIX, 19.
10. Marfc|VIJ, 24. 15. Acts X, 34-35.
11. Luke VII, 2. 16. Acts XV.
12. John XII. 20.

The Native Citizen and the Immigrant 11
against the King of Great Britain was his endeavor "to prevent
the population of these states." The framers of the United
Stakes Constitution, fearful lest some restriction should be placed
upon immigration, introduced a provision that "The importation
of such persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper
to admit shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the year
one thousand eight hundred and eight. "" People were invited to
come here to find a refuge from oppression and persecution, and the
first laws passed affecting immigration were for the protection of
the immigrant.18 During the first half century of our national
existence the gates of our country were open to all who sought
admission. But circumstances soon* arose which led our generous
ancestors to question the equal rights of all men to our American
liberty. It is interesting to trace the various steps by which our
present regulation of immigration was brought about.
In the early thirties the large influx of Catholic immigrants
from Ireland aroused a feeling of hostility to immigration in
general. Restriction societies were organized. As early as July,
1836, the Senate directed the Secretary of the Treasury to collect
certain information regarding the immigration of foreign paupers
and criminals, and in 1838 the House agreed to a resolution
instructing the Committee on the Judiciary "To consider the
propriety and expediency of providing by law against the intro
duction into the United States of vagabonds and paupers deported
from foreign countries, for whom no place of residence and means
of employment and certain support for a reasonable time after
arrival have been previously prepared, and requiring that the
owners and masters of vessels by whom such persons shall be
brought into the country shall be held liable for their relief if left
in distress after being landed."19 Inquiries revealed interesting
facts; several bills were presented on the recommendation of
the Committee, but nothing was done. During the next ten years
there was no attempt made to legislate against the foreigner.
The general sentiment of the country, for a time, favored immi
gration. But during the years 1848 to 1850, political and economical
disturbances in Europe again increased immigration to the United
17. Federal Immigration Legisla- 18. Ibid., p. 6.
lion, p. 5. 19. Ibid., p. 10.

12 Essays in Applied Christianity
States and the opposition to the foreigners was renewed. The
so-called "Know-Nothing movement," marked by a secret organi
zation of those opposing immigration, quickened attention to this
subject. As a result, various attempts were made to introduce
bills into Congress, but they were too radical and accomplished
nothing tangible. It was considered contrary to the principles of
the Declaration of Independence to exclude any one from the
advantages of our government.
The reduction of the industrial population during the Civil War
made immigrants welcome. In 1864 a law was passed providing
for the appointment by the President of a Commissioner of Im
migration. Provisions were made whereby immigrants could
make contracts pledging their wages for a term not exceeding
twelve months to repay the expenses of immigration. An im
migration office was established in New York City in charge of the
superintendent of immigration who should arrange for "trans
portation for immigrants to their final destination and protect
them from imposition and fraud." Defects were discovered in
the existing system. It was learned that the authorities of a
Canton of Switzerland undertook to pardon a person convicted of
murder on condition that he emigrate to the United States.
The Senate, therefore, resolved, "That the Congress of the United
States protests against such acts as unfriendly and inconsistent
with the comity of nations."20
National encouragement to immigration was withdrawn in
1868 by a repeal of the law of 1864. The question of State control
of immigration was brought up, and such control was declared
unconstitutional. Here begins the period of national legislation.
Trouble arose in California over Chinese women brought over
for immoral purposes and in 1875 a bill passed both houses pro
viding that all those implicated in such practices be excluded.
Legislation between 1882 and 1888 pertained chiefly to the
question of Contract Labor. During these years there was a
growing sentiment in various centers against immigration or, at
least, in favor of restriction. Complaints were made that the
laws prohibiting the importation of contract laborers, convicts,
and paupers were being extensively evaded, owing to the lack of
20. Federal Immigration Legisla
tion, p. 22.

The Native Citizen and the Immigrant 13
machinery to enforce them. A committee known as the "Ford
Committee" was appointed in the House to investigate.
The report submitted at the following session of Congress alleged
that " there were thousands of alien paupers, insane persons, and
idiots annually landed in this country *****. that
many of these were assisted to emigrate by the officials of the
country from whence they came."21 Attention was called to a
number of persons who came overland by way of the Canadian
frontier, who were said to have become applicants for shelter in
the almshouses of New York State within forty-eight hours of
their arrival in Quebec. Furthermore, the Contract Labor Law
was being violated.
The Ford Committee recommended that the enforcement of
the acts regulating immigration be placed wholly in the hands of
the Federal Government instead of the State authorities as pro
vided by the law of 1882. In addition to idiots, paupers, lunatics,
and convicts, the bill proposed by this committee excluded poly-
gamists, anarchists, and persons afflicted with a loathsome or
dangerous contagious disease. Any person found in the United
States having come contrary to law, could be deported within two
years at the expense of the transportation company bringing
him. Such was the substance of their recommendation. It
shows the trend of affairs, but no law was enacted. In 1889
standing committees were appointed in both Houses.
As a result of their efforts laws were passed in 1891 similar to
those recommended by the Ford Committee. There were ex
cluded "Persons suffering from loathsome or contagious diseases,
polygamists, and persons assisted by others to come unless under
special inquiry they were found not to belong to any one of the
excluded classes."22 Commanding officers of vessels were to
furnish complete reports of immigrants. Medical examinations
of immigrants were to be made by surgeons of the United States
Marine Hospital Service, and immigrants on the borders of Mexico
and Canada were to be inspected. Any alien becoming a public
charge within one year after arrival could be deported at the ex
pense of those who brought him here. The office of Superin
tendent of Immigration was established.
21. Federal Immigration Legisla- 22. Federal Immigration Legisla
tion, p. 3,7. tion, p. 40.

14 Essays in Applied Christianity
A number of advantages were gained through this bill: (1)
"This law attempted to codify the existing laws; (2) Federal
control was completely and definitely established; (3) the clauses
relating to exclusion were extended and strengthened; (4) more
complete provisions were made for inspection and deportation;
(5) and an attempt was made to regulate overland immigration. "2S
During the succeeding years immigration problems were con
stantly before Congress. More thorough inspection and better
enforcement of existing laws were the principal phases of the sub
ject discussed. It is interesting to note that the "literacy test"
was considered at this early date. It excluded "Persons physi
cally capable and over sixteen years of age who could not read and
write the English language or some other language; parents,
grandparents, wives, and minor children of admissible immi
grants being excepted. "24 After passing both Houses it was vetoed
by President Cleveland. It passed the House again, but was not
acted on in the Senate.
In 1903 a new act was passed which extended the excluded
classes considerably; but even this was found to be inadequate
for the protection of the American citizenship, and in 1907 the
following law was passed, which is still in force: "Be it enacted by
the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of
America in Congress assembled, That the following classes of
aliens shall be excluded from admission to the United States:
All idiots, imbeciles, feeble-minded persons, epileptics, insane
persons, and persons who have been insane within five years
previous; persons who have had two or more attacks of insanity
at any time previously; paupers; persons likely to become a
public charge; professional beggars; persons afflicted with tuber
culosis or with a loathsome or dangerous contagious disease;
persons not comprehended within any of the foregoing classes who
are found to be and are certified by the examining surgeon as being
mentally or physically defective, such mental or physical defect
being of a nature which may affect the ability of such alien to
earn a living; persons who have been convicted of or admit having
committed a felony or other crime or misdemeanor involving moral
turpitude; polygamists, or persons who admit their belief in the
practice of polygamy, anarchists, or persons who believe in or
23. Ibid. 24. Ibid., p. 47.

The Native Citizen and the Immigrant 15
advocate the overthrow by force or violence of the Government of
the United States, or of all government, or of all forms of law, or
the assassination of public officials; prostitutes, or women or
girls coming into the United States for the purpose of prostitution
or for any other immoral purpose ; persons who procure or attempt
to bring in prostitutes or women or girls for the purpose of pros
titution or for any other immoral purpose; persons hereinafter
called contract laborers, who have been induced or solicited to
migrate to this country by offers or promises of employment or in
consequence of agreements, oral, written or printed, express or
implied, to perform labor in this cotintry of any kind, skilled or
unskilled. "25 With further legislation in 1910 for the suppression
of the "white slave traffic," we have now a comprehensive and
explicit body of laws excluding defective classes.
The Chinese Immigration problem first came up in the House
in 1856. 26 The first attempt to secure national legislation with
regard to it occurred in 1869, and from that date on there was
constant discussion of the subject and repeated efforts to secure an
amicable adjustment of relationships between America and China.
In 1894 a treaty was proclaimed excluding Chinese laborers for
a period of ten years. Upon the expiration of this period China
refused to continue the treaty and Congress "re-enacted, extended,
and continued, without modification, limitation, or condition, all
laws then in force 'in so far as not inconsistent with treaty obli
gations.'" At the present time the question of admitting the Japanese is
provoking a wide discussion. Many people in the middle West
who do not come into direct contact with either the European or
the Asiatic immigrant and who are not directly affected by im
migration, feel that exclusion is unjust. Discrimination against
races or even against some defective classes appears to be un
christian. "Freely ye have received, freely give," they would
say. We have fallen heir to a rich country; we are enjoying
liberty; what right have we to put up the bars before other men
and say to them "You are not worthy to enter"?
"Judge not that ye be not judged,"27 some one quotes against
25. V. S. Statutes Al Large, Hon, pp. 68, 69.
pp. 898-899. 27. Matt. VII, 1.
26. Federal Immigration Legisla-

16 Essays in Applied Christianity
restriction, but he forgets the moderating verse that follows:
"Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast your
pearls before the swine, lest haply they trample them under their
feet, and turn and rend you. "2S It is impossible to recognize the
"dogs" and the "swine" without exercising some measure of
judgment. By balancing one passage against another we find
that Jesus did not mean to forbid entirely the use of our divinely
given mental faculties. He merely meant to warn against un
kindly and hasty conclusion, against petty animosities. Then
we are to avoid extremes. The gospel of Jesus is a gospel of
common sense and we are, after all, permitted to inquire who is
worthy. It is easy to see that the gift of American liberty to the
immoral is casting pearls before swine; that the granting of
American citizenship to the anarchist is giving that which is holy
unto the dogs; but it is harder to justify the exclusion of the miser
able and the unfortunate. Would not Christian compassion
welcome them to our shores? How long, however, could the
United States maintain her present existence as a nation if America
were converted into a hospital or a poor farm for even the civilized
world? Evidently the non-restriction policy would be as dan
gerous to the nation as voluntary exposure to fatal disease germs
would be to the individual. But it is not consistent with the
teachings of Jesus to consider self. "For whosoever would save
his life shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake
shall find it."29 This verse and similar passages from the New
Testament led hundreds of people in the early centuries to court
martyrdom. Modern life, however, has put a new interpretation
upon such words. The day has passed when piety is measured by
pallor in the cheeks. Laying down one's life for the cause of
Christianity no longer means martyrdom; it means, as far as
possible, a strong wholesome life spent in self-forgetful service in
the kingdom of God among men. Just so, the United States, as
a nation, is not best serving humanity by a suicidal non-restriction
policy, but she is doing an honorable and praiseworthy deed in
maintaining a strong, wholesome national life that will be an
example to the world. She can best uplift mankind by exercising
such wisdom in public affairs and in her methods of relieving the
distressed, yes, rather, of preventing distress within her gates,
28. Matt. VII, 6. 29. Matt. XVI, 25.

The Native Citizen and the Immigrant 17
that her light shall shine before other nations; and they shall see
her good works and glorify our Father who is in heaven.30
Yet the United States and all other nations combined cannot
eliminate distress entirely in the present era. Jesus clearly recog
nized that there is a limit to the attention to be given to the poor.
"For ye have the poor always with you,"31 and this remark, too,
it is interesting to notice, was made in defense of an act of love
performed even for himself.
Taking all into consideration, it is safe to say that national
restriction of immigration may easily be supported by Scripture
when it is viewed as protection for the children and for the weaker
ones in 'our population. Some communities, notably those on
the eastern and western coasts of America, suffer more heavily
from the encroachment of the alien than do the interior States.
We who are more favorably situated ought to have a more intel
ligent sympathy for the States that bear the heavier burdens
incident to immigration.
However, not many people are advocating non-restriction. By
far the greater number are in favor of still further regulations.
Unfortunately, it must be confessed that American democracy
is to a considerable extent theoretical. A large number of in
telligent American citizens are charging the bulk of poverty and
crime in our commonwealth to the presence of the alien races.
They are continually bearing false witness against their foreign
neighbors; and Christ has not released us from the obligation
to keep the ten commandments.32 It is just as sinful as ever to
accuse any one wrongfully. It behooves us to find out the truth
before we pass judgment against these strangers.
In his book on "The New Immigration" Mr. Roberts, quoting
J. D. Whelpley on the evils which foreigners bring, expresses a
common opinion when he says that they "strain charitable re
sources to the utmost."33 First, then, let us investigate this
charge. We can ask no better authority than the reports of the
Immigration Commission, and since these reports have been freely
consulted in the preparation of this paper, it is not out of place to
give a brief statement as to their nature and purpose.
30. Malt. V, 16. 33. Roberts, p. 294.
31. Matt. XXVI, 11.
32. Mark X, 19 and Matt. V, 17-20.

18 Essays in Applied Christianity
The Immigration Commission,34 created in 1907, consists of
three Senators appointed by the President of the Senate, three
members of the House of Representatives appointed by the
Speaker of the House of Representatives, and three persons ap
pointed by the President of the United States. The work of
the Commission included "a study of the sources of recent im
migration in Europe, the general character of incoming immi
grants, the methods employed here and abroad to prevent the
immigration of persons classed as undesirable in the United States
immigration law, and finally, a thorough investigation into the
general status of the more recent immigrants as residents of the
United States, and the effect of such immigration upon the insti
tutions, industries, and the people of this country."35
The extent of the investigation may be known from the fact
that original information was secured for more than three million
two hundred thousand individuals.36 Data secured from existing
records is not included in this number. Agents were employed
to collect the material directly, under the immediate supervision
of committees or members of the Commission from the central
office in Washington. Forty-two volumes of varying size com
prise the reports of the Commission.
With regard to immigrants as charity seekers the conclusion
of the Commission was this:37 "At the present time pauperism
among newly admited immigrants is relatively at a minimum,
owing to the fact that the present immigration law provided for
the admission of the able-bodied, or of dependents whose support
by relatives is assured. The number of those admitted who re
ceive assistance from organized charity in cities is relatively small. "
The records of associated charities in forty-three cities, including
all the larger immigration centers except New York, show that a
small percentage of the cases were those of immigrants who had
been in the United States three years or under. Nearly half of
all the foreign born cases were of persons who had been in the
United States twenty or more years. Perfect fairness to those
arguing for or against the immigrant calls for a presentation of
statistics. The records of the forty-three cities mentioned show that
34. Abstract, vol. I, p. 9. 36. Abstract, vol. I, p. 20.
36. Ibid., p. 13. 37. Abstract, vol. I. pp. 35-36.

The Native Citizen and the Immigrant 19
38.3% of the charity seekers are aliens.38 The average percentage
of foreigners in the general population of these cities based upon
the census of 1900 was 34. Allowing for some increase in the alien
population of these cities in the intervening years, we find that
the number of immigrants asking aid is not noticeably dispropor
tionate to their representation in the population. Considering
the hardships incident to immigration and adjustment to a new
environment, this is a good record.
A study of the alleged principal causes of poverty in these cities
reveals some interesting facts:39 the two columns of percentages
for the native and for the alien arewclosely parallel except in two
instances. The number of foreign born persons whose principal
cause of dependence is "neglect or bad habits of the breadwinner"
is four per cent, less than the number of natives for the same cause;
while, on the other hand, the number of native Americans whose
principal cause of poverty is owing to the "death or disability of
the breadwinner " is four per cent, less than the number of foreign
born for this cause.
According to these figures, foreign born persons, therefore, do
not arrive at a state of dependence for blamable habits in as large
numbers as do the native Americans. What is the explanation
for the high rate of death or disability of the alien breadwinner?
Consider where he works; study the vital statistics of the land
and then form your own conclusions. Professor Irving Fisher in
his report on National Vitality gives this quotation : " Of 29,000,-
000 workers in the United States over 500,000 are yearly killed or
crippled as a direct result of the occupations in which they are
engaged — more than were slain and wounded throughout the
whole Russo-Japanese War. "40 Again, John Mitchell, in a speech
before the Governors' Conference on Conservation, estimates
that for every 100,000 tons of coal mined in the United States
one mine worker is killed and several are injured. In 1907 the
figures were 2,500 coal miners killed and 6,000 seriously wounded.
These statistics, of course, are for the general working class with
out regard to race. Only a little observation of current events,
38. Immigrants as Charity Seekers, 40. Report on National Vitality,
Vol. I, p. 22. p. 37.
39. Immigrants as Charity Seekers, 41. Ibid.
Vol. I, p. 40.

20 Essays in Applied Christianity
however, is necessary to verify the belief that the percentage of
foreigners who lose their lives in accidents is relatively higher
than the proportion of foreign born persons in the general popula
tion. For example, read of the recent mine explosion in Pennsyl
vania. "One hundred miners, possibly one hundred and twenty, were
killed shortly after noon today when a disastrous explosion oc
curred in the Cincinnati mine of the Monongehela River Consoli
dated Coal and Coke Company at Finleyville,  Up
to eleven o'clock tonight seventy bodies of victims had been
recovered  Two-thirds of the dead are foreigners,"42
Is it any reflection upon the immigrant class if the wives and
children of these unfortunate men swell the number of immigrant
charity seekers?
Go into the manufacturing establishments and see who has the
most disagreeable and the most dangerous work to perform. For
example, in the slaughtering and meat packing industries in the
principal centers of the middle West and Southwest, 60.7% of
the total number of wage earners engaged are foreign born.43
They work in the foul-smelling hide cellars, in the slaughter pens,
in the undesirable places where the self-respecting American
refuses to work. The Americans connected with this industry
are the skilled laborers and the overseers. It must be so. Foreign
born persons, in most instances, are not capable of filling better
positions. It is not to be expected that they be given the best
places. Jesus recognized differences in ability among men when
he spoke the parable of the talents.44 The point is this: when
the foreigners have ruined their health or suffered accidents in
enriching American industry, they ought not to be slandered and
misrepresented by the American people. Some, at least, of the
immigrants are the most deserving charity seekers found anywhere.
Again, the charge of insanity is a common one against the alien
population. With regard to this, unfortunately, the testimony
of the Immigration Commission is less favorable. "It appears
that insanity is relatively more prevalent among the foreign born
than among the American born."46 The explanation for this is
42. Kansas City Times, April 23, 44. Matt. XXV, 14-30.
P. 1. 45. Abstract, Vol. II, p. 25.
43. Abstract, Vol. I, p. 298.

The Native Citizen and the Immigrant 21
to be sought in the racial traits or tendencies and in "the total
change in climate, occupation and habits of life which the majority
of immigrants experience after arrival in the United States."46
Mr. Roberts tells the story47 of an educated Magyar who came to
America with his wife and three little children. His wages
amounted to only $1.30 a day, but he supported his family suc
cessfully. After a while he lost his job, and could not find another.
Then his wife became insane through worry and spent some
months in a hospital for the insane. The authorities took steps
for her deportation, and of course the husband and children
accompanied her on her sad homeward journey. This is only one
instance. May it not furnish a hint as to the possible cause of
insanity in numerous cases? A little sympathetic touch and
brotherly assistance would often prevent a world of trouble.
Another very common error is the supposition that the immi
grant is responsible for a large amount of the crime committed at
the present time. The average citizen is very hasty in his con
clusions that the alien is directly or indirectly the cause of most
of the civil disturbances in our cities. Again let the testimony
of the Immigration Commission reveal the truth : "No satisfactory
evidence has yet been produced to show that Immigration has
resulted in an increase in crime disproportionate to the increase
in adult population. Such comparable statistics of crime and pop
ulation as it has been possible to obtain, indicate that immigrants
are less prone to commit crime than are native Americans. "48
Yet immigration has had a marked effect upon the nature of
crimes committed in the United States. All data analyzed by
the Immigration Commission agree upon the following points:
(1) "The class of offences designated as 'gainful,' forms a larger
proportion of native than of immigrant criminality; (2) The
aggregate 'offences of personal violence' and the aggregate 'offences
against public policy' form larger percentages of immigrant than
of native crime. (3) The aggregate 'offences against chastity'
compose very slightly different proportions of the total criminality
of immigrants and of natives."49
An explanation for this state of affairs is not hard to find. A
glance at the environment of the alien, especially during the first
46. Ibid., p. 25. 48. Immigration and Crime, p. 1.
47. The New Immigration, p. 166. 49. Ibid., p. 13.

22 Essays in Applied Christianity
years of his residence, ought to convince the most dubious that
the amount of immigrant criminality is to be wondered at, not
because it is large but because it is not larger.
Mr. Roberts makes an interesting comment in this connection :
"If men who say that we get the dregs of Europe in the new im
migration were to consider how we consign them to the dregs of
our population in large cities they would revise their judgment. "60
The new immigrants, in most cases, first settle in the slums of
our cities. They are attracted there by the presence of relatives
or friends, or they are forced there by the necessity of securing
living quarters at the lowest possible price. The more thrifty,
as they become financially able, move out into better residence
districts, but not until their lives have been contaminated by their
contact with the real "scum o' the earth" the worthless and
immoral dregs of native society. This statement can be verified
in Kansas City, the metropolis of our own State. In the immi
grant districts of Kansas City may be found a few American
people, but the normal family is the exception among them.
Many of them are people who would not be tolerated in a respec
table neighborhood or who, if tolerated, would be, to say the least,
uncomfortable and unhappy. The immigrant comes to America
with the praises of this "land of the free, and the home of the
brave" ringing in his ears. He expects to find justice and purity.
How great must be his disappointment! He is innocent and con
fiding when he comes, but after a few sorrowful experiences with
those shrewd people who prey upon the ignorant newcomer, he
learns from the American example that he must do likewise if he
would maintain his footing in this country.
Mr. Roberts, again, has strong convictions on this point:61
"The pushcart man, the licensed saloon-keeper, the peddler, the
violators of the custom laws, have learnt that it is possible to evade
the law with impunity. They know that a dollar covers a multi
tude of trangressions and that every wave of reform is ephemeral.
Many of them have been trained by sinister politicians not to
observe the laws; and the profits of illegality are divided with
their advisers and conniving officers. All this is drifting to
anarchy and has a bad effect upon the incoming millions of south
western Europe. The cure for all this is not more legislation,
50. The New Immigration, p. 128. 51. The New Immigration, p. 247.

The Native Citizen and the Immigrant 23
for many legislators in municipality and State are the gravest
offenders. The remedy must come by a quickened social con
science. The sense of justice and right in the heart of foreigners
must be strengthened by the native, so that they will help the
forces of right to put out of business, the sinister politician, the
ignorant notary public, the inefficient justice of the peace and the
notorious constable. Locks and bolts have their use in curbing
the savage beast in the human breast, but these repressive agencies
will not suffice; the locks and bolts in the soul of civilized men
must be appealed to, and each one individually taught to suppress
those criminal tendencies which hav« cost man so much in his
march from savagery to civilization. America's only hope of
seeing the foreigners doing this is by the native taking the lead —
then the new immigration will follow. "
Again, with regard to juvenile delinquency it is startling to
learn that "Juvenile delinquency is more common among immi
grants than among Americans;"62 also that "American born
children of immigrants exceed the children of natives in the
relative amount of crime." The argument for the juvenile im
migrant is practically the same as that for the adult. It has
been shown that the crimes of the second generation of immi
grants differ from those of the immigrants themselves. "The
movement of second generation crime is away from the crimes
peculiar to immigrants and toward those of the American of native
parentage. Sometimes this movement has carried second gen
eration criminality even beyond that of the native child of native
parentage. "63
The secret of this situation is a tendency on the part of the young
alien to copy American ways. If rightly directed, this tendency
is the most hopeful because it leads to complete and rapid assim
ilation of the new races ; when wrongly directed or when neglected,
it may challenge wholesale prejudice against the entire alien
population. When the young foreigner lives in the slums during
his most impressionable years, plays in the alleys around pool
halls, saloons, and worse dives, and associates with delinquent
and criminals, who delight in polluting his mind, what kind of
ideals can he be expected to form? It is a miracle that many of
these boys become good citizens in spite of their environment.
52. Immigration and Crime, p. 1. 53. Ibid., p. 14.

24 Essays in Applied Christianity
With regard to the immigrants, both young and adult, it may be
said, "It is impossible but that occasions of stumbling should
come; but woe unto him, through whom they come! It were
well for him if a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he
were thrown into the sea, rather than that he should cause one of
these little ones to stumble. "54
In the light, then, of the testimony of all those who have made
a careful investigation of the actual conditions existing in immi
grant centers, it is evident that there are many erroneous opinions
in the minds of well-meaning and intelligent American citizens.
Unjust prejudice and unintentional misrepresentation of facts
result from lack of knowledge. The revelation of the truth ought
to bring a flood of brotherly sympathy for the stranger that
would instantly dispel any race aversion and minister to his evident
needs in the name of Him who said, " Inasmuch as ye did it unto
one of these my brethern, even these least, ye did it unto me. "M
Countrymen, bend and invoke
Mercy for us blasphemers,
For that we spat on these marvelous folk,
Nations of darers and dreamers,
Scions of singers and seers,
Our peers, and more than our peers.
"Rabble and refuse," we name them
And 'scum o' the earth,' to shame them.
Mercy for us of the few, young years,
Of the culture so callow and crude,
Of the hands so grasping and rude,
The lips so ready for sneers
At the sons of our ancient more-than-peers.
Mercy for us who dare despise
Men in whose loins our Homer lies;
Mothers of men who shall bring to us
The glory of Titian, the grandeur of Huss;
Children in whose frail arms shall rest
Prophets and singers and saints of the West.
Newcomers all from the eastern seas,
Help us incarnate dreams like these.
Forget, and forgive, that we did you wrong.
54. Luke XVII, 1, 2. 55. Matt. XXV, 40.

The Native Citizen and the Immigrant 25
Help us to father a nation, strong
In the comradeship of an equal birth,
In the wealth of the richest bloods of earth.66
Following the teachings of Christ, if we should do unto the
aliens as we would that they should do unto us, we should find
them much more easily assimilated into our population. If we
should use our influence at the polls, in the existing philanthropic
agencies, and in the churches in behalf of securing for the immi
grant, blessings similar to those which we enjoy, he would soon
be transformed into a more desirable fellow-citizen and neighbor.
Shortened hours of labor would afford to the adult immigrant an
opportunity and a greater inclination to attend a night school.
Since we have compulsory education for the children, why not
have compulsory education for the new residents of our country?
A little stimulus in this direction would lessen the patronage of
the pool halls and saloons in our cities. Young men in_ Kansas
City, Kansas, have confessed their intentions to pursue a course
of study in a night school, but the allurement of the saloons at the
"State line" dissipated any such ambitions. There is great need
for playgrounds for the children. Most Americans even in the
cities have a little space for their children's enjoyment. Why
should the foreign child be deprived of Nature's gifts, just because
his parents live in crowded quarters? Playgrounds are less costly
and far more effective than juvenile courts. Pleasant places for
social gatherings of young and old, and agencies for the cultivation
of the moral and religious nature, are lawful rights of which many
an immigrant has been deprived.
Do these foreign people know what gratitude is? Will they
appreciate the kindnesses shown toward them, or will they, as
many people think, "take all they can get and look for more"?
Settlement work within the boundaries of Kansas has been laughed
at by professing Christian people. Social workers have been told
by prominent church men that they were wasting their lives on an
ungrateful stratum of society. These same workers, however,
carry visions of beaming faces and assurances of gratitude with
difficulty expressed in broken English; yes, they have in their
possession humble gifts representing sacrifice on the part of the
56. B. H. Schauffler, in Atlantic
Monthly. Nov., 1911.

26 Essays in Applied Christianity
donor. As the Samaritan, alone, of the ten lepers cleansed,
returned in gratitude to give glory to God,67 so the alien in America
is often the most appreciative of the sympathy and brotherly love
extended to him by those who wish to follow the example and
teachings of Jesus Christ. g§
57. Luke XVII, 11-19.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
The Bible, American Standard Revision. Thomas Nelson and
Sons, N. Y., 1901.
Roberts, Peter: The New Immigration. The Macmillan Co.,
N. Y., 1912.
Reports of the United States Immigration Commission: Abstracts
of Reports, vols. 1 and 2:
Immigrants as Charity Seekers;
Immigration and Crime;
Federal Immigration Legislation.
Government Printing Office, Washington, 1911.
United States Statutes at Large: 59th Congress, 1905-1907.
Government Printing Office, Washington, 1907.
Fisher, Irving: Report on National Vitality. Government
Printing Office, Washington, 1909.
The Kansas City Times. Kansas City, Mo., April 23, 1913.
The Atlantic Monthly: "The Scum o' the Earth," by R. H.
Schauffler, November, 1911.

A PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF CHRISTIAN
ITY TO THE AMERICAN RACE PROBLEM.

BY
William Bubkholder.

PREFACE
The race question, or the problem of the American .negro, pre
sents so many different phases, there is so much available material,
and the problem is so generally interesting, that it is hard to keep
withia limits. This may excuse, in a sense, the length of this
essay. So much space has been devoted to a discussion of the question
of the superiority of any race and the progress of the negro race in
America, in order to refute the popular fallacy regarding the
inferiority of the negro.
This essay has attempted to show the possibilities of the Ameri
can negro if he is given opportunity to develop and receives a
square deal at the hands of the white xace. The thesis is that we,
as a Christian nation, have a duty to perform toward the negro.
We are responsible for his presence here and should make the best
of a bad matter by applying Christianity, the only practical
solution for the problem.

CONTENTS
A — The superiority of races.
Unreliability of science — influence of heredity and environ
ment — all races from one stock — no race superiority — the
lesson of Japan — findings of the Universal Race Congress.
Page  35
B — The negro in the United States.
Traits of character — causes of* these traits — influence of
slavery — the advancement of the negro — population, edu
cation, accumulation of property, rise in the scale of occu-
pationsi — the negro church — distinguished negroes.
Page  38
C — Race prejudice.
In the North — in the South — absurdity of — problem stated.
Page  43
D — Suggested solutions for the race problem.
Deportation — segregation — natural extinction — artificial ex
tinction — race amalgamation — negro education — the Golden
Rule the only solution.
Page  47
E — The application of Christianity.
The purpose of Christianity — its apphcation to the negro
problem — judge negro fairly — remedy negro crime and pau
perism — opportunity — example of white race — considerate
treatment — the lesson of Jamaica — justice necessary.
Page  49

A PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF CHRISTIAN
ITY TO THE AMERICAN RACE PROBLEM
The Golden Rule is becoming recognized as the most practical
and really the only solution for many of the social, economic, and
political questions of the day. Many an unpleasant and per
plexing situation might be easily relieved if all parties concerned
would practice the fundamental proposition of Christianity,
"Love thy neighbor as thyself." And of all difficulties to which
this principle is applicable, none is of more immediate and wide
spread importance than the problem of the American negro.
This is a problem to which Christ's teaching can be most readily
applied, and, furthermore, one for which it is the only possible
solution. But before discussing the apphcation of the Golden Rule to
the negro problem, it is necessary to review the conditions, fac
tors, and causes that contribute to bringing about our race diffi
culties, and to discuss in some detail the present status of the
negro in the United States.
There is a great deal being said at present about the superiority
of the Caucasian to all other races, and of the inferiority of the
negro. The negro is commonly supposed to be not only the pre
sent inferior of the Caucasian, but to be incapable of ever rising
to a status of equality with the white race. It is quite natural
that unthinking people, viewing the negro only in his present
position of apparent inferiority, should think him an inferior
being. But upon a more careful consideration, we are not so sure about
the racial superiority of the white man. It would seem that any
theory of a superiority of races is a mere assumption, based neither
upon facts nor plausible theory. The first step should naturally
be to consult science.
Unfortunately, however, upon this question science is unre
liable. As yet there are no fixed and generally accepted views re
garding the superiority of races. Ethnologists not only fail to
agree, but are constantly changing their minds. Hence, their

36 Essays in Applied Christianity
opinions can not be regarded as authoritative or accurate. And
it is a lamentable fact that not only many scientists, but other
students as well, use their science and knowledge not to find the
truth, but to support preconceived prejudices and theories.
Regarding this specific question of race superiority, the logical
conclusion is that there is no such thing. All races are descended
from a common stock — of that there can be no doubt. All were
equal in the beginning. Each race started with the same amount
of strength and intelligence. Hence no race can reasonably
assert superiority, however much it may seem to have advanced
beyond other races.
While heredity has been thus impartial, environment has not
been so kind and just to every race. Climate, geography, and
location have been the determining factors in the development
of civilization. The negro of the African jungles or Australian
deserts, the Indian of the American plains, and the Esquimau of
the frozen North found insurmountable barriers between them
and advancement. In the fierce struggle for existence, they found
neither time nor opportunity for the development of a high degree
of civilization. The peoples of the Mediterranean basin, on the
other hand, were blessed by Nature with a climate and surround
ings calculated to secure for them the fewest difficulties in the
struggle for existence and the best possible conditions for develop
ment and culture. "It is easy to show that an Australian is just
now far below our mental level. But how far is his degradation
due to the inherited and unchangeable characters of his race, and
how far to his long struggle with the dreary desert?"1
We forget, in the pride of our present Anglo-Saxon civilization
and domination, that our own stone-age ancestors were in an even
lower state of savagery than any Ethiopian tribe of to-day. We
forget that it was not until a comparatively recent date in recorded
history that our Teutonic ancestors received their civilization
from the Greeks and Romans. We forget the barbarous perse
cutions and orgies common in medieval, even modern, times;
perpetrated often in the name of the Church and Christianity.
We do not stop to admit that the Salem witchcraft episode, for
instance, was on a parity with the practices of the cannibal
1. Boyce: Race Questions and
Other Problems, p. 33.

Christianity and the American Race Problem 37
medicine-man; or that every year there occur lynchings and crimes
unsurpassed for cruelty and savagery in the African forests.
No race can support a claim to being the originators of civili
zation. To the Greeks and Romans belongs the honor of its
highest development. They gave it to the German barbarians,
who, receiving it under favorable conditions, were able to assimi
late it. Have we given the negro a fair test of his receptivity?
Nor can the Caucasian claim the distinction of being the only
race capable of developing a civilization, since the isolated Chi
nese and Japanese have shown that they can rise above savagery
without the aid of the Caucasian. In the advancement of any
race, objective conditions must control.
"I do not doubt that some races are more teachable than others,
but I do very much doubt our power to estimate how teachable
a race is, or what can be made of them, or what hereditary mental
powers they have until we have given them centuries of oppor
tunity to be taught. Fortune and the defects of the Roman
Empire gave to the Germanic peoples an extraordinary oppor
tunity to learn. So the world found out how teachable they
were. Let their descendants not boast unduly until they, too,
have given to other races, not indeed the opportunities of con
querors, but some equal opportunity to show of what sort of
manhood they are capable."2
The sudden rise of Japan from a position of isolation and sup
posed barbarism has taught the Teutonic sense of superiority
several lessons. The true lesson to be learned from Japan, Royce
says,3 is "that it is somewhat hard to find out by looking at the
features of a man's face, or at the color of his skin, or even from
the reports of travelers who visit his land, what it is of which his
race is really capable."
The first Universal Race Congress, meeting in London recently,
declared race prejudice absurd. The Congress went on record
"urging the vital importance at this juncture of history of dis
countenancing race-prejudice, as tending to inflict on humanity
incalculable harm, and as based on generalizations unworthy of
an enhghtened and progressive age. "4 Not only does theory and
2. Boyce: Race Questions, pp. 43- 4. Independent Magazine, vol.
44. 71, pp. 401-403.
3. Ibid., p. 14.

38 Essays in Applied Christianity
speculation discourage any theory of a superiority of races, but
facts show that the American negro has made unprecedented
progress since his emancipation in 1863. The story of his advance
ment as a f reedman is not a brilliant chapter, but it is an honorable
record; the more so when we consider the difficulties under which
it has been made.
The negro, like every other race, has his good qualities and his
bad. He is charged with being lazy, shiftless, irresponsible,
and sensual. He is unambitious, as a rule contented with his
condition, and refuses to sacrifice present comforts for future
benefits. He is unwilling to take advantage of opportunities for
his social and economic betterment. These charges are probably
applicable, in some degree, to the mass of negroes; for it must be
admitted that while a small percentage of negroes have advanced,
the mass are still in the state of contented poverty and ignorance.
Yet he is not without his redeeming qualities. In spite of
centuries of servitude and a present most unenviable position,
the negro has preserved his remarkable degree of good-nature and
optimism. He is less given to useless worry than the white man.
Possibly no other race could have retained this agreeable trait in
the face of such difficulties. The faithfulness of many old slaves
to their masters, even after freedom, shows a love and fidelity that
could not have been present in a vicious, inferior race.
Before condemning the negro for his failings, it is fitting and
just to consider a few factors that have contributed to give him
his undesirable qualities. The negro is essentially tropical in his
nature. His dark skin is the result of the torrid sun. Tropical
heat is not favorable for heavy manual labor or bodily activity,
and the negro is not as yet disposed to work fast or to do heavy
manual labor. In the tropics, food, clothing, and shelter — the
necessities of life — are to be had with little or no labor. He has
consequently developed an easy, careless manner of living. The
struggle for existence in the jungles is very fierce, causing a high
death rate and necessitating a correspondingly high birth rate;
hence the strong sexual propensities of the negro. His character
istic faults, then, seem to be the result of environment. The
negro was thoroughly adapted to the tropics, however unsuited
he may be to our cooler climate.
Slavery influenced the negro for both good and bad. He was

Christianity and the American Race Problem 39
taught to work. He was given the rudiments of our civilization
and taught something of the Christian religion. A better type
physically was secured. But these good results are more than
counterbalanced by the evil effects of slavery. While learning
to work, he was taught no sense of responsibility. Being property
himself, he was taught no conception of property rights or value.
The loose family ties of slavery days resulted in a low state of
family morality. In no way did slavery fit him for a life of free
dom, industrial competition, and responsibility.
As a race, the negro cannot be said to have fully adapted him
self, at present, to our civilization. In the Black Belt of the South,
in the negro quarters of our large cities, — wherever there are con
siderable numbers of negroes, his condition is little improved
upon that of slavery days. But he cannot be blamed; rather
should the white race be blamed for their neglect and indifference
to the welfare of the negro. Evolution has adapted him to another
entirely different climate, the tropical, and he must readapt him
self to temperate conditions. He cannot reasonably be expected
to do this within a few generations.
The assumption that the negro race is an inferior race is not
only unjust to the negro, but is unsupported by theory or fact.
There is ample, unanswerable proof that the negro can rise and,
in view of the advancement that has been made by members of
his race, there is no reason to doubt but the whole negro race will
eventually adapt itself to our climate, civilization, and life.
The American negro may well point with pride to the achieve
ments of his race during the first half-century of freedom. When
we consider that Emancipation Day, July 1, 1863, saw him turned
into the world with no economic goods, no training, no open door
of opportunity, no resource but his own untrained hands — standing
dazzled in the first bright light of liberty — we should admire and
applaud his efforts and achievements. If, as some maintain, the
negro is an inferior race, it is rather for us, the superior people, to
extend to him the helping hand, than to push him back into the
mire. Or if, as facts and reason tend to show, the negro is not an
inferior race, why should he not be honored for what he has ac
complished? The present negro population of the United States is about

40 Essays in Applied Christianity
ten million, or exactly, (census of 1900),5 8,840,789. In 1880 it
was 6,580,793, showing an increase of 2,259,996, or 34%, in twenty
years. "This is almost double the rate of increase of the United
Kingdom, and within 3% of the increase of America, white and
black combined. " This is the natural increase, unaugmented by
any immigration, of a race living under unfamiliar and hostile
circumstances and conditions. Such an increase shows the mark
of a virile race, one able to survive in the freeman's struggle for
existence; that he can live in civilization and increase. He has
not, like the American Indian and the Maori of New Zealand,
degenerated under the influence of civilization. He has shown
that he can survive the struggle for existence.
But can he improve in intelligence and education? In 1870,
out of 1,032,475 male negroes of voting age, 862,243 (83.5%)
were illiterate. In 1900, thirty years later, the percentage was
reduced to 47.4%— 976,610 out of 2,060,302 males of voting age
being illiterates. In thirty years, illiteracy among adult males
has fallen 43%. There has also been a marked decrease of illi
teracy in the entire colored population. Out of a total 4,061,207
in 1880, 3,220, 878, or 70%, were illiterate. In 1900 it was reduced
to 44.5%. Here is seen a decrease in illiteracy among the entire
negro race of 36% in twenty years.
"In 1860, negro schools were almost unknown, it being unlawful
to teach the slave. In the year 1900, 1,096, 734 colored youths
attended public schools and 17,138 attended schools of higher
learning. "
Since 1880 there has been spent by the States $105,807,730 in
support of negro schools. The negroes themselves show their
interest in education by extending the school year beyond the
limit fixed by the State; paying the additional cost themselves.
In 'seven States — Delaware, Arkansas, South Carolina, Georgia,
Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi — the negroes contributed,
in 1900, $1,496,036, while the cost of public schools was $1,345,859.
"Excepting a few city systems, it can be said that apparently the
negroes in the South contributed to their schools in 1899, $3,762,-
617 out of a total cost of $4,675,504, leaving but $912,887 to be
5. The statistics used are taken
from the U. S. Census Eeports.

Christianity and the American Race Problem 41
paid by the whites. There are 136 colleges and industrial schools
exclusively for negroes in the country."
After a consideration of these statistics, it cannot be denied
that the negro is capable of and eager for education.
Applying another important test, the question arises; has he
ability to save, accumulate property, and advance economically?
In 1900, 746, 717 farms, 38,233,933 acres, or 59,741 square miles
were owned or tenanted by negroes who at emancipation had
nothing. Andrew Carnegie says that this is just the area of
England and Wales, or double that of Scotland  These
embraced, in the South central States, 27.2% of all the farms;
in the South Atlantic States, 30%; in the Southern States — Flor
ida, 33%; Georgia, 39.9%; Alabama, 42%; Louisiana, 50.2%;
and Mississippi, 55%. The negro has more farms than the whites
in the last two States, but it must be remembered that the average
size of negro farms is very much less than those of the whites.
The farms owned by negroes in the Southern States aggregated,
in 1900, 173,352 farms. The total wealth of negroes was esti
mated at $300,000,000.
In 1898 the negroes owned in Virginia, 978,118 acres; in 1903,
1,304,471 acres, — a gain by negro landlords in five years of 326,353
acres. In Georgia, the negroes increased their holdings of land
70,000 acres in the year 1900-1901. The assessed valuation of all
negro property in this State during the same year was one million
and a half dollars, or an increase of 11%
The negro of the South is essentially rural. But there are
many negroes in Southern cities, and here too we find that they
have ambition and ability to acquire property and to conduct
successful business enterprises. For instance, one-seventh of the
city of Jackson, Mississippi (a city of over 20,000 population)
is owned by negroes, who have $2,500,000 of taxable property.
The resources of the First Colored Peoples' Bank of Richmond,
Virginia, are reported at $555,288. There are thirty-three negro
banks in the country, also several negro loan associations and
insurance companies.
Without question, the negro has proven his ability to advance
economically. These humble negro farmers and laborers deserve
the respect of all fair-minded men. The desire to honestly accum
ulate property is a most laudable one. It is the first step toward

42 Essays in Applied Christianity
integrity, stability, conservatism, and good citizenship. Let us
not mock or despise the efforts of these worthy black men to attain
a useful and respected place in society.
Can the negro rise in the scale of occupations? In answer to
the charge of indolence and shiftlessness so often laid at the door
of the Southern negro, the census shows 84.1 of the male negroes
and 40.7 of the female engaged in gainful occupations, while of the
white population of the country the percentage is 79.5 of the males
and 16% of the females. Most negroes in the South follow agri
cultural pursuits, the census showing 1,344,125 rural laborers and
757,822 farmers, planters, and overseers. This is natural, as the
rural population of the South is largely negro.
In the cities the negroes are taking their places with white
professional and business men. Richmond, Virginia, has negroes
engaged in every trade and profession — ten lawyers, thirty minis
ters, three dentists, ten physicians, two photographers, school
masters, real-estate dealers, merchants, tailors, jewelers, thirty-
five dress-makers, four restaurant-keepers, sixteen stenographers;
and negroes have four savings banks, and four weekly newspapers.
There are in the United States 1734 negro physicians and surg
eons, and 125 drug stores owned by negroes. The Patent Office at
Washington shows some four hundred inventions patented by
them. And thus the negro has shown his ability to advance along
another important line.
The religious sense of the negro is shown by his interest in and
liberal support of his churches. The 23,770 negro churches are
mostly Methodist and Baptist. Andrew Carnegie calculates that
these churches have a seating capacity of 6,800,000. Out of
10,000,000 population, there are 2,673,977 communicants, few
adult negroes being outside the churches. Their church property
is valued at $26,626,448. Can the white race make a proportion
ate showing?
These churches exert a good influence on the race. There is a
popular tendency to regard the negro churches and religion as
emotional, superstitious, — in general, as a joke. But some day
we shall all see these humble churches receive a degree of divine
approbation that will not be accorded many a proud, wealthy
congregation.

Christianity and the American Race Problem 43
The negro has furnished his quota of distinguished men. Booker
T. Washington's name is a household word throughout this and
other countries. The gifted, scholarly Du Bois is universally
respected by learned men. Frederick Douglass will always be
remembered as one of the great leaders of his race. H. O. Tanner
has achieved international fame as an artist. Charles W. Ches-
nutt and William Stanley Braithwaite are distinguished mulatto
novelists. Alexander Dumas and Poushkin, two immortal names
in world literature, were mulattoes. Coleridge Taylor, the late
composer, lived a useful, respected life in England.
From an artistic viewpoint, the negro is the hope of our nation.
Negro melodies are our only distinctive national music. The
musical possibilities of the old plantation melodies are strikingly
shown by Dvorak, who has used them in his "New World"
Symphony. We may well expect the American Shakespeare or
Mozart to spring from this strange, sensitive race.
Is this progress in all phases of civilized life consistent with the
popular theory of negro inferiority? It certainly shows that
even under adverse and discouraging conditions, the negro race
can improve by its own efforts. Differences in capacity are indi
vidual, not racial. Comparing races, it is true, for obvious reasons,
that the Caucasian race has produced greater men than any other
race; but given the same opportunities and advantages, it is
probable that other races, and especially the negro, could have
made the same showing. Professor Helleberg has cleverly re
marked: "No one questions the superiority of the white race — ¦
except the members of every other race."
While, in the last analysis, this idea of superiority is probably
not the fundamental cause of our race-prejudices, it is unquestion
ably an injustice to the negro, unfounded, and detrimental to
the best interests of both races. Certainly, Christ never taught
such a theory; it is clearly at variance with His teachings of
humility, charity, love, and the Golden Rule.
We may safely conclude from the preceding somewhat exhaus
tive discussion of the advancement of the negro during the past
half-century, that he is capable of progressing and taking a res
pectable, honorable place in our American life. It is true that the
masses of the negro race yet remain, largely because of objective
conditions, in poverty and ignorance. Yet the race has produced

44 Essays in Applied Christianity
men of ambition and ability and there is no reason to doubt that,
in time, the entire race will have made the same advancement,
especially if the white race, which holds the ruling hand, will do
its share in the uplifting of the negro.
Especially should this progress be praised since it has been
made against a barrier which, north, south, east, and west —
wherever there are negroes — has closed to them the door of pro
gress, opportunity, and justice — race prejudice. This racial
feehng exists in greater or less intensity throughout the entire
country. It varies with the number, importance, and position
of the negro; but it is everywhere present. A Northern village,
with only a few negroes, would see a very mild prejudice; a Sou
thern community, largely made up of negroes, would see little
else. It is seen in the South in laws, of which the "Jim Crow" laws,
those which have worked the virtual disfranchisement of the
negro by ingenious "grandfather" and other clauses, and those
requiring the separation of the races in public places are notorious
examples. The frequent lynchings and race riots show how deeply
this feeling is ingrained in the public mind. In the North, where
legally, at least, the negro is the equal of the white, the feeling is
just as bitter. The negro is relegated to menial labor, positions
of responsibility being closed to the ablest negro. There is un
fair competition, discrimination on the part of employers; while
the hostility of the labor unions makes even the right to earn an
honest living uncertain to the negro. Du Bois remarks: "The
negro artisan must not only learn to be a craftsman, but must
overcome white contempt for the negro, hence he is not liable to
be more than a poor workman, being but half-hearted in either
cause." In social contact, the vacant seat beside a negro in a
crowded street-car, the shrug of the shoulder, the angry glances,
the cold stare in answer to a civil question or remark — all these
tell of the existence of an unchristian feeling that no human laws
can suppress.
A generation ago the negro in the North found conditions almost
ideal. Then the colored population of the North, which was not
large, was composed largely of ex-slaves, industrious and law-
abiding, who enjoyed the respect of their white neighbors. During
the Civil War, the few negroes of Boston enjoyed even special

Christianity and the American Race Problem 45
privileges, and were shown marks of respect and sympathy.
But today all is changed. Within the last two decades there has
been a heavy emigration of negroes northward and race prejudice,
especially among the working classes, has resulted. The factor
of industrial competition between black and white is rapidly
intensifying race hatred. Antipathies under such conditions are
inevitable. The rural negro of the South dreams of the Northern city as a
sort of haven where he is to be forever free from Jim Crow laws,
constant reminders of his inferior position, lynchings, poor schools,
and injustice in the courts. But he»is soon disillusioned. He
finds himself out of place in the busy Northern city. There is
race discrimination in employment. He must meet a higher
standard of living. But his industrial failure is as much due to
his inefficiency as to race discrimination. He cannot compete
with the white laborer. The easy-going ways of slavery and
Southern rural life have unfitted him for keen commercial life.
He finds no encouragement, nor patience with his faults. And
he is never free from the evils of race prejudice.
Psychologically, race prejudice is nothing more than a simple,
child-like instinct, wholly out of place in intelligent minds. It
is in the same category with the child's fear of the dark, a super
stitious person's dread of a corpse, and the distrust of country
people for strangers — a distrust based upon unfamiliarity. It is
an application of the universal tendency to distrust unfamiliar
things. In reality, the negro is still strange to us; he is still an
object of curiosity and mistrust.
Racial hatred, based upon distrust for the unfamiliar, existed
very early in the history of the human race. Men early grouped
themselves into families and tribes, later into nations and races.
The advantage of union for protection and co-operation were
early perceived and adopted. Common interests led to the
association of individuals who were mutually agreeable. Within
his own group the primitive man placed all confidence in his
fellow-man. He was to treat members of his own group with
justice and fair deahng. But instinct told him that outside the
group, every individual was to be regarded with distrust, and was
to be treated with hostility. Our present race prejudice is a
survival of this primitive instinct. By conquest and otherwise,

46 Essays in Applied Christianity
the many small groups were reduced to fewer larger groups, the
beginnings of nations and races.
But through all these stages, there existed this same distrust
of the unfamiliar. It exists today, and in no case, as has been
mentioned, so noticeably as in our present race feelings. The
negro is as yet unfamiliar to the Caucasian. However, the dif
ferent experiences of the North and the South have developed
different attitudes toward the negro. In the South, the long,
intimate relations between master and slave developed a caste
feeling, which gradually took the place of race prejudice. In
the North, where the negro is a comparative stranger, there is no
caste feeling — it is race prejudice pure and simple. It is merely
a "skin prejudice;" the same feeling would exist toward a white
man masquerading as a negro.
This feeling is reciprocated by the negro, and thus we find
within our nation two races, imbued with a spirit of racial anti
pathy. This gives rise to the problem which this paper endeavors
to discuss — the Race Problem, or more specifically, the Negro
Problem. There seems to be little ground for racial antipathy. The negro
is not dangerous. He has done nothing to deserve the prejudice
against him. He is not here in our country of his own free will:
the white man forcibly carried him from his native land and forced
him to centuries of unrequited toil. We brought him here and
profited at his expense. Now when we can no longer exploit him
and he is thrown upon his own resources, why must he continually
suffer from unjust prejudice?
The negro problem is essentially this: about three centuries
ago, the negro was brought here for selfish ends. It is beyond
imagination to believe that he was brought here for any Christian
izing or civilizing purposes. The slave-traders were patronized
solely because the negro was- of great economic value. But now
we have at least advanced beyond the institution of slavery, and
profit can no longer be wrung from the toil and sorrow of the black
man. We boast of our democracy and Christianity. Is the
negro to be treated in accordance with these two great principles,
or is he to be harassed and oppressed by a groundless, cruel race
prejudice? What are we going to do with him? This is the
problem.

Christianity and the American Race Problem 47
Several solutions of this problem have from time to time been
suggested. Some represent a sincere effort to relieve the situation
for the benefit of both races: some are solely concerned for the
advantage and comfort of the white race.
The remedy most often urged and the one that is apparently
the most practicable is deportation of the negroes. To say the
least, such a policy would be impossible and unwise. It would
be a physical impossibility to remove the ten million negroes and
their natural increase; all the ships flying the American flag would
be unequal to the task. Were it possible, it would be unwise
from every point of view. Not only#would such a measure be
taken over the protest of every negro, but against the desperate
resistance of the Southern States. AVhatever may be the planter's
feelings toward the negro, he can not disregard the negro's im
portance economically. So essential is colored labor that the
planter will often maintain an armed guard over his cotton
pickers lest other employers induce them to leave him. Econo
mically, he is all-important in the South, and his removal would
mean the ruin of the Southern States.
The oft suggested policy of segregation is also impractical and
impossible. Some advocate the segregation of negroes in a State
of their own. Which State will he be given? Under the Consti
tution, all States are equal. With our present race prejudice,
would a negro State be admitted on an equality with the other
States? If we would not admit such a State, we should virtually
. have deportation. Segregation would be as ruinous to the South
as deportation. The negro population must be distributed over
the Southern States; it can not be segregated in a separate State.
Such a State most certainly could not be admitted on an equality
with other States. To admit it as an inferior State would be a
legal assumption of the absurd theory of race inferiority.
Segregation in quarters or districts is equally impossible. Fur
thermore, any segregation would only widen the breach between
the races.
And both deportation and segregation would be a reflection on
our Christianity. It would amount to a virtual admission that we
were not great enough to cope with the situation that we have
brought about. In his present condition, any abandonment of
the negro would be in reality condemning him to a return to a

48 Essays in Applied Christianity
status of barbarism, as he needs Caucasian influence and help to
fully civilize him. But that either of these policies will ever be
tried is so extremely unlikely that it is unnecessary to speak further
of them. The negro is here, and here to stay.
The theory that the negro is a degenerate race and will be ex
tinguished by natural selection has been refuted by statistics.
We have seen that the negro population is constantly increasing.
The death rate among negroes is very high, owing largely to
unsanitary conditions of living and the comparative newness of
the temperate climate. But with the betterment of conditions
the death rate will decrease and the tendency will be ever toward
a stronger, healthier race. The high death rate is counteracted
by the high birth rate. The negro race will never be extinguished
by natural selection.
Several methods of artificial extinction have been suggested.
One is by preventing breeding among negroes, thus causing the
race to disappear with the present generation. Another even
more cruel policy that — it must be admitted — has been widely
considered by our more blood-thirsty citizens, is best expressed
in the words of a distinguished American statesman: "We'll
have to send a few more niggers to hell." Such methods can
scarcely be defended as Christian.
Professor Thomas, from a psychological viewpoint, is optim
istic. He thinks that race prejudice may be modified by associ
ation and familiarizing; that in time the mutual distrust of un
familiar races will disappear. But such a change could not
take place for several generations, if at all. The prospect of such
ideal relations in the dim future is poor consolation for the present •
generation, and does nothing to relieve the unhappy condition of
the negro today. Nor would such an outcome excuse the present
white generation for their unchristian treatment of the negro.
This problem is one that demands some immediate relief; it
cannot rightfully be passed on to future generations for their
solution. Justice and Christianity demand that the present
generation apply the only practical and possible solution — the
Golden Rule.
A complete amalgamation of races may also take place in the
course of ages. Then, of course, as there will be but one race,
there can hardly be any race hatred. But like the eventual

Christianity and the American Race Problem 49
psychological solution that will result from a policy of laissez-faire,
the prospect of race amalgamation does nothing for the present
negro. He has a right to expect to be permitted to enjoy life.
The prospect of eventual amalgamation can help him very little.
None of these proposed remedies is practical or in harmony
with Christian ethics. They would all solve the problem with the
least effort and responsibility on the part of the white race. Their
sum and substance is : let us abandon the negro to his own resour
ces. Let us get rid of him. Then we can go about our business
with no more concern or worry over race relationships.
But we have a duty to perform toward the negro. It is not
enough to merely cease discrimination or get him out of the road.
If the white race would substantiate their claim to superiority,
they can do so only by being superior, not by merely claiming to
be. And we can best show our superiority by treating the race
which Fate has, in a sense, intrusted to our keeping, with justice
and charity.
Among the positive influences for good on the negro, none have
been more successful than education. But the negro is largely
self-educated; the aid given by whites to negro education has not
been very notable. Proper education, industrial education, will
do more than anything else to elevate the negro economically.
Such an education is vastly more beneficial to the negro than a
purely literary and cultural course.
As has been mentioned, the apparent discrimination against
negro labor is not so much the result of race prejudice as of in
efficiency on the part of the negro. The negro must do something
to deserve respect. He must show the white man that he can rise
above the " worthless nigger " class. "The trouble with the negro,"
says Booker T. Washington, "is that he is all the time trying to
get recognition, whereas what he should do is to get something to
recognize. " The man with some property, even though small, is
universally recognized. And industrial training best fits the negro
to get a little property. This is the valuable advice of Wash
ington; and this the negro must do. He cannot expect, nor
should he, that the solution of the problem will give him a life of
ease. He must be reasonable and willing to do his part.
A purely cultural training would in reality be detrimental to
the negro. It would not fit him to occupy the place in society

50 Essays in Applied Christianity
which he must, for the present at least, hold. To educate the
negro so as to instil into him high ideals and aims, and then to
force him to assume an inferior position, is a most unwise policy.
It could not fail to make him miserable and unhappy.
The intellectual negroes are the most dissatisfied class. Under
the leadership of Dr. Du Bois, they maintain a spirit of hopeless
resentment. "Agitate, fight, and object," is their doctrine.
They would force the white race to an immediate recognition of
their rights. But this is an unwise attitude. To talk of forcing
anything is generally easier than the actual forcing. Nothing is
to be gained by ill-temper and radicalism on the part of either
race. Washington's remedy of work and patience is by far the
wisest policy for the negro. His first thought must be of his
material welfare. Once that is assured, then there is time for
culture. Education of the negro is necessary for the welfare of both
races. Ignorant negroes are as dangerous as ignorant whites or
foreigners. It is encouraging to note the increase of education
among the negroes. Of all the suggested solutions of the negro
problem so far discussed, the gradual uplift of the race by means
of education seems the only adequate one. In the desire to educate
the negro is seen a practical application of the Golden Rule. It
has been the only policy applied that has been in accordance with
this great principle. Since this limited application of Christianity
has been so successful, why not thoroughly apply the Golden Rule
to the question? It is certain that violence, force, and legislation
can never relieve the situation. Why not make the best of a bad
bargain instead of the worst?
Many good, well-meaning persons advocate the immediate
admission of the negro to full social and political equality with
the whites. Presumably this is to be done by legislative enact
ment. But the negro problem cannot be settled in legislative
halls. Such a solution would be comparable to the conversion of
an entire heathen tribe by a decree of its chief. It would be a
step of such extreme, unreasoning radicalism as would produce
far more evil than good. A sweep of the pen freed the negro
from slavery; but no such instantaneous act can free him from
the bonds of race prejudice. That is ingrained deep in the soul
and can only be removed by a change of spirit. Such a policy

Christianity and the American Race Problem 51
would be in accordance with the Golden Rule, but obviously very
unwise and ineffective.
A practical apphcation of Christianity is the only remedy for
this perplexing problem. If we expel the negro from the country,
if we segregate him, or extinguish him, we have not solved the
problem. We have merely avoided the responsibility which it is
our Christian duty to assume.
The race problem is difficult to discuss. Prejudices and opin
ions are strong, fixed, and of many varieties; and in considering
the application of Christianity to this delicate question, one
finds the complexity further increased by the widely different
constructions placed by sects and individuals upon the teachings
of Christ.
But whatsoever his opinions and beliefs, every fair-minded
person must concede three points. First, that the American
negro is not receiving the proper treatment at the hands of the
white race. It has already been shown that the negro suffers from
unfair discrimination, injustice, and neglect. Second, that the
essence of Christ's teaching with reference to social relations is
embodied in the Golden Rule. And third, that our attitude
toward the negro is inconsistent with this principle. The policy
of the American people toward the negro has been neither just nor
charitable. Some definite change of policy is needed; and this
change must be brought about by a practical application of
Christianity; by following the Golden Rule.
We are specifically told that this is the thesis toward which all
Biblical laws and teachings center. In Matthew XXII, 35-40,
we read: "Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked Him a
question, tempting Him and saying, 'Master, which is the great
commandment in the law?' Jesus said unto him, 'Thou shalt love
the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with
all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And
the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets'. "
This commandment is similarly expressed in several other pas
sages. (Matthew, XIX, 19; Mark XII, 29-31; Luke X, 27;
Romans, XIX, 9; James, II, 8; and Galatians V, 14.) A practical
application of this principle is shown in the parable of the Good
Samaritan. The priest and the Levite made no effort to aid

52 Essays in Applied Christianity
their distressed countryman. It remained for a member of the
despised Samaritan race to take practical steps to relieve the un
fortunate Jew, his racial enemy. Christ used this parable to
answer the question, "Who is my neighbor?" And it would
appear from this parable that all humanity is our neighbor.
There is a similarity between this incident and our own race
problem. Race hatred existed between Jew and Samaritan.
Yet the Samaritan was great enough to overcome his prejudices
and help the Jew in trouble. And then there is Christ's approval
of the charitable act : " Go thou and do likewise. " It is shown by
this parable that men of all races are our neighbors and to be
treated with charity. We are commanded to follow the example
of the Samaritan. And well may we "go and do likewise" in our
treatment of the negro. Clearly ,he is in trouble and needs our
aid. If we are following the teachings of Christ we cannot deny
him that. Will we play the part of the priest or Levite, or of the
Good Samaritan? Consistency would demand that we assume
the latter role. It is only by the universal application of the wisest
rule ever laid down for the guidance of society: "Whatsoever ye
would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them," that
the world can hope to enjoy the fullest measure of peace, happi
ness, and good- will.
How may we apply this doctrine to the present American negro
problem? In the first place, let us judge the negro fairly. Negroes are
misjudged more, probably, than any other class of people, owing
in large part to the powerful race prejudice. The negro is
charged with being vicious and dangerous, and negro criminals
and crime are cited to prove the charge. This is all
wrong. While statistics show a greater percentage of negro
criminals than white, yet the proportion in either race
is far too small to be characteristic. Why not say that
the negro is an energetic, progressive, law-abiding race,
and cite as proof the best of his race? This would be more
just to the negro, and yet it would not be a fair estimate.
Any race should be judged not alone by its best qualities or its
worst traits; not only by its best or its worst members; but by a
fair average. The exception should not be made the rule. The
negro race should be judged with consideration for its virtues and

Christianity and the American Race Problem 53
patience with its faults. The good negro can in no way justly be
held responsible for the misdeeds of the worst of his race. All
negroes are not alike; there are good, bad, and indifferent negroes,
just as there are different types of white men, and justice would
demand that the negro be considered not merely as a member of a
different race, but as an individual. The average negro is indus- .
trious and law-abiding, and he, not the exceptional cases, should be
taken as a fair sample of the race. Let us always remember the
Divine warning: "Judge not lest ye be judged."
In the second place, we should take steps to remedy the con
ditions under which the negro population is living. The part
played by the white race in the spread of negro crime and pau
perism should not pass unnoticed. The dive, the resort, the saloon,
poverty, ingorance, and unsanitary conditions are the great
breeders of crime among all races. And yet these influences
exist in practically every community. Especially do they tend
to develop negro criminals. As a result of discrimination, com
petition, and of their own inefficiency, there is more idleness pro
portionately among the negro laborers than among white. Idle
ness, in itself a dangerous condition, always breeds evil. Under
existing conditions, the negro is driven for social life and amuse
ment to frequent resorts run by other negroes, often by whites.
Political interests and neglect on the part of the public allow such
proprietors to operate with impunity. Negro crime is inevitable
under these circumstances.
Were the Golden Rule applied, such evils might largely be
abolished and the condition of the negro bettered. Every negro
would be given a free man's right to work for his living and be
paid according to his talents and industry. Profitable and ele
vating amusements would be provided for his leisure hours; he
would not be driven to frequent dives and resorts. Or better
still, there would be no such places to frequent. By enforcement
of sanitary laws, intelligent charity, and justice in the matter of
employment, much poverty, disease, and crime could be avoided.
Education is essential for the proper solution of the problem,
but this alone will only increase the unpleasantness of the negro's
position. Unless he be allowed to make full use of his education
and training, it has been more than a waste of time and money.
Without opportunity, the best education is of no practical value.

54 Essays in Applied Christianity
We should be great enough to overlook such a superficial thing as
an uncertain and unfounded color line and regard the negro not
merely as a negro, but as a man. If he is a good, wise, and able
man, his talents and character should be given full opportunity
to develop and work.
If we are the superior race, our example must be of considerable
influence with those who must look to us as leaders. Our attitude
toward the negro will very largely determine his attitude toward
us. If we have consideration for his rights and feelings, we can
then reasonably expect to receive the same treatment in return.
Today we may well continue the practice of Jefferson Davis, who,
being asked why he was always so careful to return in kind the
respectful, friendly greetings of negroes whom he chanced to meet,
replied: "I can't allow any negro to outdo me in courtesy."6
And Jefferson Davis was at that time United States Senator from
Mississippi. This example, common in the old South, may account for the
proverbial respectfulness and politeness of the old Southern
negroes : the lack of such examples today may explain the reputed
disrespect and insolence of the present negro generation. Before a
member of the "superior" race treats any negro uncivilly, he may
well stop and recall the Divine command "Love thy neighbor as
thyself." And he should remember that most treatment is re
turned in kind; and that a gentleman is usually treated as such,
and vice versa.
Every human being has a right to the fullest enjoyment of life.
Any unkind act, word, or treatment that will in any way detract
from honest, healthful pleasure is a violation of a right as sacred
as the right to hold property. Yet the cases of unhappiness
caused unoffending negroes by insult, neglect, coldness, and race
hatred at the hands of whites, are of countless occurrence. The
most respectable negro can scarcely venture into a public place
without receiving some cowardly reminder of his color and status.
That this is of daily occurrence is undeniable; that it is wrong is
unquestionable. Such treatment is not in accordance with our
democracy or Christianity. It should never have to be said of
any Christian gentleman that he had voluntarily marred the
6. Baker: Following the Color
Line, p. 104.

Christianity and the American Race Problem 55
happiness of any of our dark-skinned fellow-citizens, simply because
of race feelings. Far be it from any honorable person to cast a
shadow over a happy soul by any inconsiderate action or remark.
In the foregoing discussion, the means suggested for applying
the principles of Christianity to the negro problem have been:
(1) by judging the negro fairly; (2) by bettering the conditions
under which he fives, thus doing away with pauperism and crime;
(3) by insuring him intelligent and useful education, which will
increase his industrial efficiency; (4) by giving him opportunity to
show his individual ability, judging him as a man, not as a mem
ber of a race; (5) by setting him a good example; (6) by consider
ate and courteous treatment; and (7) by overcoming instinctive
racial prejudice and treating the negro with justice and charity.
. Patience and the Golden Rule are the only solution of the problem.
Force, law, and agitation can do nothing but make a bad matter
worse. It is certainly unfortunate that such a problem exists, but
we should not forget who is responsible for the negro's presence
in the United States. We must solve the problem in some way;
and why not solve it to the advantage of both races? Time,
patience, and the Golden Rule — these alone can bring about a
happy solution of an unhappy problem. If we are a Christian
nation, making great efforts at the Christianization of heathen
dom, why do we not apply in our own land the doctrines which
we are so zealously spreading?
A great object lesson in the solution of race problems is to be
found in Jamaica. The population of this island is composed of
600,000 blacks, 40,000 to 50,000 mulattoes, and only 14,000 to
15,000 whites. Race friction and prejudice are nowhere apparent.
In the courts, there is absolute justice in dealing with black and
white; if anything, all things being equal, the white offender is
given a severer penalty on the ground that he should know better.
Mutual courtesy and consideration mark the relations between
the two races. There are black and white business men, the black
predominating. Negroes are seen in the majority in the Legis
lative Council. The Governor at his levees invites impartially all
officials; black, white, and brown. The efficient police-force is
exclusively negro. The courtesy and thoughtfulness of the black
street-car conductors and policemen might well be imitated by
similar American officials. There are negroes in all professions.

56 Essays in Applied Christianity
There is still much illiteracy, but with education' in the firm, im
partial hands of the imperial government, this evil is rapidly being
removed. The negroes are proud of their race and are quick to
suppress disorderly conduct on the part of any of their number.
Everywhere there is good government, justice, peace, and happi
ness. What a contrast with conditions in the Black Belt of our
own South!
Slavery once existed in Jamaica. But during the years 1833
and 1834 the British government abolished slavery in the colonies.
The failure of the whites to recognize the freedman, and the evils
of race prejudice led to the Eyre Rebellion of 1865 in Jamaica. A
dictator was sent from England to settle all difficulties. He
proceeded to rule impartially and with justice, and the political
power of the planters was broken forever. The whites chafed
under this treatment, but the blacks were satisfied and eagerly
co-operated with the new government to bring about the present
happy state of affairs.
The chief cause of the happy solution of race difficulties in
Jamaica was that the government was conciliatory rather than
arbitrary, as it is in our Southern States, where the negro is at
the mercy of the local administration. Royce says that the cause
was "English administration and English reticence." The
administration had no political interests to serve, having been
appointed by the Crown, hence ruled impartially and with a view
to the best interests of both races. Without boastings and re
minders, the English officials impressed upon black and white
alike the superiority of Enghsh law. Mr. Mather also assigns as
a reason, the good results of generations of intelligent missionary
work which prepared the negro for freedom.
This successful solution in Jamaica was reached through the
application of the Golden Rule. It has not exactly been called a
practical application of the principles of Christianity, but such
it is. On its face, it is hard-headed administration of English
justice; in reality, it is an application of the Golden Rule — a
synonym for justice. England has here shown what justice can
do toward solving race questions, and that it is the only solution.
Our own experience has vividly shown what race friction will not
do. It would seem from this contrast that we have at least one
thing to learn from British government.

Christianity and the American Race Problem 57
What does the American negro want? In a word, it is Justice.
Ray Stannard Baker, in his "Following the Color Line,"
reports the following conversation with a young mulatto business
man of a Southern city:
'All I want, ' he said, 'is to be protected and let alone, so that
I can build up this business.'
' 'What do you mean by protection?' I asked.
" 'Well, justice between the races. That doesn't mean social
equality. We have a society of our own and that is all we want.
If we can have justice in the courts, and fair protection, we can
learn to compete with the white stores and get along all right.'
And certainly his is a reasonable request.
Let us treat the negro with charity and consideration, in accord
ance with Christ's teaching. We have seen that he is not an
inferior race, but capable of attaining an honorable and useful
position in our national life. Let us throw off the groundless race
prejudice that is causing both races sorrow and trouble. Let us
treat him — our neighbor, a good and useful neighbor — in accord
ance with the Divine command: "Thou shalt love thy neighbor
as thyself. " Let us apply the Golden Rule, the foundation of all
proper social relations: "Whatsoever ye would that men should
do to you, do ye even so to them. "
Then and then only shall we have taken this first great step
toward the day when all tribes, all nations, and all races shall
recognize the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man —
the goal of Christianity.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Baker, Ray Stannard: Following the Color Line. New York.
1908. .
Stone, A. F. : Studies in the American Race Problem. (With
papers by Professor Willcox.)
Ell wood: Sociology and Modern Social Problems, (chapter 10).
New York, Cincinnati, and Chicago. 1910.
Keane: Ethnology. Cambridge. 1909.
Royce: Race Relations and other American Problems. New
York. 1908.
The Eleventh and Twelfth U. S. Census reports.
Carnegie, Andrew : The Negro in America. An address delivered
before the Philosophical Institution of Edinburgh, October 16,
1907.
Mather, F. J.: An Object-Lesson in the Solution of Race Prob
lems. Arena. October, 1906.
Hart, A. B.: Remedies for the Problem. Independent, vol. 58,
pp. 993-6.
Thomas, W. I.: Psychology of Race Prejudice. American
Journal of Sociology, vol. 9, pp. 593-611.

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