become of such importance that it is an urgent necessity that the head of this office be given a higher rank and be afforded better means of carrying on the great work for which he is responsible. Practically all the great nations of the world have for the discharge of such duties Departments of Education, presided over by officers that in this country would correspond to the Secretary of Education. At no distant day, the necessity of such an officer must be realized by our government. This officer would have the general management of all such funds as those proposed for the education of the colored race.
It does not seem either wise or politic that an ample appropriation once made should ever be increased. As the colored race increases, its capability of earning money should likewise increase, and consequently the taxes on its property should enhance yearly. The corresponding fund available for schools from these taxes should offset the growth of the race. It would be thus effected that the negro race is not entirely dependent upon the federal government for its education, but only in part, this part being relatively less the greater the growth of the population and the corresponding capability of earning money. Thus by the help of the federal government, the negro is given a good chance of making for himself a place in the nation and at the same time he is made dependent upon himself. In the ultimate growth of the nation no people can be expected to assume a responsibility of the education of another people. At the same time the stronger should for a period, say fifty years, lend a helping hand towards the upbuilding of the weaker.
Just as the religion of the white man has been disseminated among the colored people through negro preachers, so must all principles of morality, culture, ethics, etc., be derived from the white race and transmitted to the lower race through the agents of that race. The negro race must be developed along its own line by its own agents as a distinct race and as a separate people. Just as they have their own preachers, they must have their own doctors, their own teachers, etc. These leaders of the people must of necessity gain most of their information from the white man. As all learning is handed down to those in the lower strata of society by those who have reached the higher levels of efficiency, so must the negro ever continue to learn from the white man. That it is the duty as well as the policy of the white man to lend a helping hand no one will deny.
With remarkable foresight, the framers of most of the recent constitutions of the southern states have seen that it was equally a part of justice and to the interest of both races that a representation in the government of political affairs be based not only upon a property qualification, but also upon an educational qualification; and so through legislation they have effected that the upper section of the colored race
