THE EDUCATION OF THE COLORED RACE 453 



traffic in America. Slavery existed at the north, as long as it was 

 found profitable, and throughout the nation slaves were regarded as 

 " property." This was a heritage handed down to us from. England, in 

 which country a law was enacted in 1713, the venerable Holt presiding, 

 that held slaves to be " merchandise." 



Thus the presence of the negro slaves in America was legally 

 established by the courts of England and was for the most part effected 

 through vessels of New England. Being more profitable in the south, 

 they were soon gathered together there in great numbers. 



It is not the purpose of the writer to go into the causes of the 

 civil war, to consider which side was right, which wrong, or whether 

 either side was either right or wrong. He believes that historians 

 of the future will agree with Mr. Lunt when he says : " Self-seeking 

 and ambitious demagogues, the pest of republics, disturbed the 

 equilibrium, and were able at length to plunge this country into the 

 worst of all calamities — civil war. The question of morals had as 

 little as possible to do with the result." 



The advocates of emancipation always declared that the fate of the 

 colored man was a responsibility of the whole nation. This doctrine 

 was accepted as a fact by the United States government and the colored 

 man was eventually freed. But having accepted the responsibility of 

 this race, it is and always has been the duty of the whole nation to 

 care for the improvement and education of the colored man. His 

 up-building, however, has been left entirely to the charge of the south, 

 which consequently has had to assume the task of " educating two 

 races out of the poverty of one." 



It may be noted here that the national census shows that from 

 1860 to 1870 the assessed value of southern property diminished by 

 practically one half, while the increase in northern property was ap- 

 proximately multiplied by two. And upon this basis the northern 

 states by means of the protective tariff and other legislations have in- 

 creased in wealth far more rapidly than those parts of the country 

 which are primarily agricultural. 



The disparity that is thereby produced in the funds for the educa- 

 tion of the children in the different sections at the present time is 

 seen from the following statement: The average amount spent in the 

 United States at large is — per capita of the pupils in average attend- 

 ance — $21.38; in the western states the average expenditure is $31.59, 

 while for such states as Alabama and the Carolinas this expenditure is 

 approximately $4.50. These figures are given by Mr. Murphy in an 

 address delivered before the General Session of the National Educa- 

 tion Association, Boston, July 10, 1903. In this address Mr. 

 Murphy says : 2 " A democracy which imposes an equal distribution of 



2 Cf. also Murphy, " The Present South," p. 42. 



