Pamphlet by W.H. Hand, State High School Inspector, Columbia, South Carolina. Reprint from the Child Labor Bulletin, 1/1, June 1912. Includes data from the 1910 U.S. Census.
Excerpts:
p. 6 "...in a democracy where manhood suffrage practically prevails, institutional life is exposed to tremendous dangers when twelve per cent. of the voting population are unable to read the names printed on the ballots they are supposed to cast intelligently for the government of the State. Ignorance stands for narrowness, bigotry, selfishness and stagnation ; intelligence stands for liberty, liberality, tolerance, sympathy and growth. We must choose between the two."
p. 8 "The material prosperity of the present South is one of the marvels of modern times. The faith and courage with which our people rebuilt their ruined homes, reclaimed their neglected fields, bridged the rivers, tunneled the mountains, built factories and constructed railroads challenge the admiration of the civilized world. In that struggle to rise from the ashes the greatest hindrance has been our load of illiteracy, and to-day it is our heaviest burden."
p. 8 "Who are these illiterate white children of the South, and why are they not in school?"
p. 9 "Argument against the right of the State to send a chld to school is specious and superficial. Those who make such argument would not for one moment deny the right of the State to compel the parent to vaccinate his child, to compel the parent to feed and clothe his child, or to compel him to fight for his country, and to shoot him if he deserted. The State has the right to carry the law-breaking child to the reformatory or to jail to protect society. Has not the State as much right to carry the child to the schoolhouse to save him from the reformatory or the jail and to train him to benefit society?"
p. 12 "Temporizing patriots, with one ear listening to the call of duty and the other listening to the hostile rabble, declare for compulsory education when pressed to take a stand, but they usually add that the people are not quite ready for it."
p. 12 "The argument against compulsory education on account of the negro has been worn threadbare ; surely the time has come to let it drop....Is it wise or expedient to permit thousands of white boys and girls to grow up in ignorance, lest in forcing them to school we should awaken the aspirations of the negro child? Shall we remain ignorant in order to encourage the negro to remain ignorant? Is it better for white and black to remain ignorant than to have both intelligent? The only logical conclusion to such argument is that the ignorant white man can compete successfully with the ignorant negro, but that the educated white man cannot compete with the educated negro. Then what becomes of the boasted superiority of the white man? Has the white man so nearly reached the zenith of his possibilities that he cannot keep well in advance of the ambitious negro?"
(For similar arguments with regard to woman suffrage, see The Negro Vote in the South.)
From front cover: "Excerpts from pronouncements of different Woman's State Committees on Race Relations"
Statements from Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia; followed by Resolutions from the Woman's General Committee, Commission on Interracial Co-operation.
From back cover: "Organizations of Women Co-operating with The Commission on Interracial Co-operation
Presbyterian Church (South)
Episcopal Church (National)
Methodist Episcopal Church
Methodist Episcopal Church (South)
Baptist Church (South)
Disciples Church (National)
Congregational Church (National)
Y. W. C. A. (National)
Woman's Clubs (By States)
National Federation Colored Woman's Clubs"
From pp. 3 - 4 (Georgia)
"We have a deep sense of appreciation for the chivalry of men who would give their lives for the purity and safety of the women of their own race, yet we feel constrained to declare our convictions concerning the methods sometimes employed in this supposed protection...we believe that 'no falser appeal can be made to Southern manhood than that mob-violence is necessary for the protection of womanhood,' or that the brutal practice of lyching and burning of human beings is an expression of chivalry. We believe that these methods are 'no protection to anything or anybody but that they jeopardize every right and every security that we possess."
p.5 (Oklahoma)
"We believe that the government should protect all citizens, regardless of class or color, and that life and property should be held sacred.
We hold, therefore, that no circumstances can every justify such disregard of law and humand rights as in involved in the crime of lynching and other forms of mob violence, and that in no instance can this be regarded as an exhibition of chivalry.
We pledge ourselves to efforts for creating in our citizenship a demand for full justice for the Negro; more consideration for his achievements; and less glaring publicity on crimes attributed to the race."
p. 7
"RESOLVED, (1) That we deplore the failure of State Governments to handle this, the most conspicuous enemy to justice and righteousness, and the most flagrant violation of the Constitution of our great nation.
(2) That we definitely set ourselves to the task of creating such sentiment as is possible to us in each State of our territory to the end that not only sufficient laws shall be enacted to enable the trusted officers of the law to discharge their full duty, but to secure the enforcement of the laws now in existance.
(3)That this resolution be presented to all our co-operating organizations and State Committees in an effort to put into effect such plans as are necessary to secure a sustained effort on the part of our women to accomplishment of these ends."
Founded in Atlanta in 1919, the CIC functioned as the major race reform organization in the South during the period between the world wars. While it never openly challenged segregation or advocated racial equality, it did strive for an end to racial violence and for better treatment for all classes of black men and women (Bridging the Gap: The Commission on Interracial Cooperation, 2009).