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Just here I rest my case; and I submit that I have disproved Dr. Tucker's gross indictment of my race. I have shown, by the evidence of incontrovertible fact, by figures and statistics which cannot be denied—
1st. That their numerical increase has been prodigious;[1]
2d. That their acquisition of property has been enormous;
3d. That they show almost a reduplicated capacity for production, the direct result of freedom;
4th. That their rise in education and religion has been almost like the resurrection of a people from life to death!
DR. TUCKER'S REMEDIAL SYSTEM.
I close this paper with a brief reference to Dr. Tucker's plans for the elevation of the Negro.
They are as follows:
1st. That the Northern people shall furnish supplies of money for work among Negroes;
2d. That Southern Missionaries shall use and disburse these moneys in church work among the black race;
3d. That Northern Missionaries shall be excluded from this work.
- ↑ It must be remembered, too, that this increase of the colored people is entirely by native birth. More colored people left these States during every one of these decades than came to them.
It will be noticed also that the rate of growth by birth in a state of freedom has been much more rapid than in a state of slavery; thirty-four per cent. being the rate since they were emancipated, while twenty-two per cent, was the average of increase during the last two decades in a state of slavery. These facts clearly indicate that the physical condition of the colored people has been greatly improved since they became free men, and no longer merchantable chattels to be bought and sold.—From "The Field," in paper of Presbyterian Board of Missions for Freedman.
