Deseret Weekly | 1895-11-02 | Page 2 | Hoke Smith on the Negro

written for this paper HOKE SMITH ON THE NEGRO copyrighted by frank Q G carpenter aw HE hon hoke smith secretary of the interior has made a number a of visits to georgia during the past few weeks his eyes have been opened by the atlanta exposition and he overflows with enthusiasm about the south and its wonderful development he thinks that georgia is the he coming el ei dorado ot the united states and he paints its pro prospects aspects in in such glowing terms that they make you think of the indian chief of that name who smeared his body with oil and then sprinkled it with gold dust so that he became an animated golden statue this chiet chief took his baths in a sacred lake which was bedded in gold and emeralds keral ds and by his extravagances made his country a synonym fur for the golden goal of all fortune hunters well hoke smith thinks this goal is now located in georgia I 1 called upon him at the interior department yesterday and was straightway admitted to his sanctum sanctorum I 1 waited there a few moments while he disposed of such dignitaries as a congressman or two an indian chief buffalo bill bit and department chiefs and then with a single question formed the siphon which brought out enthusiastic information about the south from the Secre mouth in a steady stream my question was as to whether the exposition showed that the south was advancing and whether there was any chance there I 1 or a poor man to make a fortune tor iune the secretary replied the south is full ot of possibilities from now on it will grow like jonass gourd it will become an agricultural and industrial empire and it is only on the edge of its development I 1 believe the lands upon the southern appalachian chain form some of the best fields lor for investment today there is no place where a man can make money buic er or surer there is no land more healthy take the upper part ol of georgia the lauds lands there are nearer heaven and the sky than most other agricultural parts of the union the air which blows over them is loaded with ozone and the average height is about 1000 feet higher than washington and it has a better climate than you have here it is war mer in the winter and cooler in the summer and I 1 have never suffered there irom the heat as I 1 have here at I 1 the capital the climate may be all tight right mr secretary secretary said sa id I 1 but I 1 have heard the ian land is not they rhey say the soil is worn out and I 1 have heard beard wicked people say that the only things that could be raised upon it were and christ mas trees that is not true replied secretary smith indin indignantly antly we have millions of acres of ot good lands and the worn out lands need only a little cultivation and care to bring them up it is out of those very lands that poor men can make fortunes all that they bey need is subsoil ipg and cultivating and with the addition of a little manure they can be made to blossom like the rose these lands you can now buy at from five to ten dollars an acre after they have been cultivated a few years they become worth from twenty five to thirty dollars anacle an acre take the theman man who has 1500 to invest he can buy loo acres for 1000 and have to stuck stock his place and to help him along for a year or so he will put a pat pait t of his land in wheat and oats and another part in grass for his stock the third portion tie he can put down in cotton which will bring him in all the cash he needs from year to year the profits of his farming will pay all his expenses and give him a surplus at the e d of five years his loo acres if he uses it rightly will be worth instead of 1000 and he be ought to rie oe at least richer than when he bought the laim there are men who are doing this in georgia today agitate many are making money off ot of fruit there is no such land in in the world for peaches apples ples and grapes we sent hundreds af i t T carloads ot of our peaches to new york this year the high altitude maket makes them sweeter and add juicier than the average peach and when they come inthav drive the others out ot of the market we are producing grapes which make good goad wine and ana the state is changing in that the people are now diversifying their crops you used to raise nothing batt cotton yes but we are now raising allo all of our own corn and we make our ort pork instead of buying it ot of the big packing companies ot of the north I 1 have lust gotten a case of hams from georgia which I 1 expect to use on my washington taule they are I 1 think equal to the smithfield hams and they were made on ane highlands of north georgia and cured with smoke irum from hickory and oak ak how about south georgia it is equally fertile but as you get down nearer florida you have different derent di kinds of crops in the northern portion of the state wheat oats barley and corn can be cultivated with good results the cotton belt bell begins a little down and as you get near the florida line you find that oranges can be grown at a profit other kinds of bruit cabbe can b cultivated almost anywhere and there is scare scarcely ely a crop of any kind which cannot he raised in some portion of the state stated you speak only of georgia HOW aim is the rest of the south y 1 I believe the south is growing generally I 1 do not know the other states so well as georgia I 1 think georgia is the best state of the south I 1 know every inch of it and I 1 can speak better about it than I 1 can about the other states it if what you say sav is true why dont the south encourage immigration why is it that the west gets all the emi grants the tide of emigration has been toward the west on account of the public lands and the railroads the big western roads have had large tracts ot of land to sell and they have discriminated in favor of that section this is now somewhat changed the public lands of the west have been largely taken up and our southern rail railroads are helping us As to our not wanting immigrants immigrant that is not true we are now doing all we can to get them ex governor northern is now at the head of an immigration bureau for georgia and he is pushing the interests of the state in all parts of the wa w rid nd colonies are being formed all over georgia and we are bringing braingin people there from germany and sg switzerland witz erland one scheme is to organize a colony oi of union soldiers in the southern part of the state hundreds of thousands of acres have been set apart for it and I 1 am told about old soldiers from indiana and illinois are going to settle upon these lands 11 ho how about the condition of these immigrants when they get there how do you treat them will they be your equals socially and politically call can they t vote as they please t yes replied secretary smith we will be glad to welcome them and to s i fraternize with them they can vote as they like and no one will disturb them KA As to social equality any respectable man will vall be treated well in georgia and y vie the hospitality of the south will be thrown to him of course we draw the pae on the negro if a mati man asks negroes to his house and to his dinner table and 2 makes his bis friendships entirely among ahn if he visits the houses of negroes ami with them as his bis s cial equals Ws you cant expect this to be over f T kel ii how about the negro problem mr secretary 1 dant t think there is is any negro pro aleba 9 r replied the the secretary of the ailor Ji W lor such a problem as there if teemed to be has settle sett leJ 1 itself and it would never have existed had ihnot it not kieen een n lor the sectional utterances utterance ot the tort foilb hii and for a small party of a certain s of whites and the most respectable class cl assin in the south the negroes roes and the whites are perfectly f harmonious in the south the white vople people are willing and anxious todo all they can to better the moral and in condition ot of the negro a and nd they are dome it the negro is rapidly rp ialy advancing he is is acquiring property aud he makes a good ciman 1 does he be show any inclination toward emigration does he want to go back to ito alrica africa no he is doing well and he is perfectly satisfied how about his political rights he votes with the best class of the whites VW hites they are his bis friends and he knows it if Clev elands first election j showed him that his rights were as a safe under a democratic as under a republic ak w van can jad administration ministration the result is the bif 1 negro vote is divided between the parties and be now votes as he pleases how about the solid south mr secretary will it always be solid Is it always to be an empire belonging to the democratic party As long as the differences between the democratic and republican parties continue and these two parties remain the leading ones of the united states I 1 do not see how it can be otherwise the interests of the south are against the policy and principles of the republican party they lie in the direction of a low tariff As long as the republican party represents protection the south will be solid speaking again about the negra mr secretary what is to be his social future I 1 it will be along the lines of his own race replied mr smith neither he nor the man wants to mix their blood they do not desire to come to gether ither on the lines of social equality there here is a large class ol of negro esin fact who want no social or marital alliances with the whites they pride themselves upon their pure african blood and the keeping it pure they do not want the whites whiles in their churches nor their schools and some of their churches will not allow white preachers in their pulpits this is the case with the african methodist church As to white teachers in the negro schools school when I 1 was on the school board ot of atlanta I 1 advocated that none but negro teachers be employed in negro schools I 1 did not think it right that a bright white girl should compete with the educated negro tor for such places I 1 thought the chances were in favor of the whites and that it would be better for the development of the negroes to have teachers ot of their own color the result is that we now have none but negroes teaching in the negro schools but mr secretary can you keep the races apart As the colored people browin grow in wealth and education will they not come together will there not be a union of the races in the future a grand mahogany of the white and the black A debased mahogany I 1 should say replied the secretary no I 1 do not think that will ever come to pass the races will keep apart it is better for both that they should do so will there ever be a social F equality bality ta lity no I 1 think nt not I 1 dont thil think it best for either race yuu say they arenow are now kept apart in the churches add in the schools of the south yes it is their desire as well as ours oura how about the railroad cars there are separate cars for the negroes on some of the southern railroads but the whites are not permitted to enter the negro cars and can be ordered out just as the negroes can be ordered out of the white cars how about the manufactures of the south are they increasing yes indeed replied secretary smith the coubry is growing very rapidly in a manufacturing way cottun cotton lac factories tories are springing g up everywhere and I 1 understand thain that so tso ne of them are making as high as twenty per cent a year there is no reason why the south should not manufacture all its own cotton instead of exporting it to new england and aad europe there is a difference of seven per percent cem on the value of the cotton as baled and sold in the georgia markets and its value in liver pool and this seven per cent alone would make enough of a margin to pa pay for its manufacture in georgia the dir difference ot of a halt hall a cent a pound of pro fit in the value of cotton would make five per cent and in these days when capital is going begging that is a lair fair profit to say nothing of the fifteen and twenty per cent which some of the factories say they are making the south mr secretary seems to be giving us a large amount of our american literature today many of the authors and authoresses autho are from the louth and compared with the north it furnishes a larger number why is it 1 I 1 suppose it it is because the south has devo devoted teci itself more to educational and professional lines than to buin esones I 1 dont believe there is any difference in the intellectual caliber ot of the people but the north has thrown its force into business it has been dealing with material things and the south not so thickly sett ed and scattered over plantations tat ions has run more to literature A larger number of our southern men go into the professions than do the men ot of the north and a great number are practicing these professions in the northern cities have you ever thou thought git of the number of southern physicians in in new york city their name is legion and proportionately proportionate they surpass the number rom from the north how about the unemployed in the south mr secretary are there many men who cannot get work Is there much suffering ir from m poverty no I 1 think thore there is is none such as you have in the northern cities there is no suffering and no pauperism to speak ol of we all have enough to eat and drink how about the silver question you have been making speeches throughout the south upon it yes I 1 have made some replied secretary smith the silver sentiment ot of the south has been exaggerated the better sentiment of hey he people eople is in favor of sound money it is is the easier for them to see the dangers of an inflated currency through their experience with con federated confederated money when the war began all of our notes were good for fice face value as we thought the confederate states government govern nent would be able to pay them in gold but as the war went on and it became impossible for the treasury tea sury to give eive something of the actual value fur for them they depreciated and tell at first the reduction was small smally but it steadily increased until men paid tor for a saucer of ice cream or paid for c or a ligar I 1 had bad in my audiences men who pos possessed essed large amounts of this money it represented to many of them actual it is of course worth nothings nothing now and it was not hard to draw tile the comparison between it and tree free silver another example I 1 used was that ofa german who lived in my tate and who coined on his own account gold when this confederate worthless money was circulating I 1 showed them that his bis stamp upon the gold gave it circulation bebau e it it was gold and that though he is dead his hii coins are still worth world their face value how about the augua canal that would be of great value to the south would it not 4 yes to replied lied the secretary but 1 dont don t th anink in ref k 1 ought to give any expression upon it until we get the report ol 01 thia the commission that was sent down down there to investigate its practicability this is the only question if it is me chani cally possible without too great art an expense it should by all means be built it would be of immense value not only to the south but to the whole country S v caa