456 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



Not that I would disparage the beneficent ministries of education for any 

 of these. It is an occasion of joy. I only speak of what we are doing for them 

 to emphasize what we ought to do for those of our own blood. It was the 

 apostle to the gentiles engaged with all his might in efforts for the people of 

 other races, who wrote : " If any provideth not for his own, and especially his 

 own household, he hath denied the faith and is worse than infidel." And so, 

 to-day, our interest in other people should deepen our sense of responsibility 

 for those who are nearest of kin. 



Who are these 10,000,000 whites of the south? They are the children of 

 the colonial pioneers, of the soldiers who made the continental army, of the 

 fathers who established the republic. They are many of them descendants from 

 a New England ancestor as well as from settlers of Virginia and the Carolinas. 

 A cursory study of the subject leads me to believe that in some counties of 

 Georgia a larger proportion of the people can trace back through some line to 

 a New England sire than in the city of Boston. The cracker is of the same 

 blood as the merchant prince. This is to be seen in their very names. The 

 people of the north and south are one, in feature and in native force, cherishing 

 common religious beliefs and conserving the immemorial traditions of freedom 

 and independence. 



In Alaska the expenditure upon the children of the nation, although 

 sixty per cent, of them are Eskimo, is annually $17.78 per capita of 

 enrolment. Similar provisions are being made for the children of the 

 Filipino, while $4.41 is annually spent 6 upon the student of Alabama, 

 and this too when the people of Alabama are taxed to pay for the 

 education of the Eskimo and Filipino. 



We make no criticism regarding the money spent upon the children 

 of our territories. Attention, however, should be called to the fact 

 that our government has already spent more money on the Philippine 

 Islands than would be required to educate our entire negro population 

 for the next fifty years, as is shown by the figures given below. And 

 the United States now considers itself under moral obligation to the 

 civilized world to educate the Filipinos and make them responsible 

 citizens. 



The most elementary mathematics applied to the principles of 

 sociology will show that millions of dollars will be required to make 

 of this people a nation comparable to others of the civilized world. 

 Suppose that this result may be achieved, what guaranty is there that 

 the Filipinoes will be our friends and allies in time of trouble, say in 

 the case of a foreign war; or what recompense do we gain from the 

 civilized world for " moral obligations " rendered ? Charity begins at 

 home and a nation must consider carefully its own ultimate safety and 

 welfare. 



We do not claim that the education of the negro is a charity due 

 him by the nation, nor do we wish to consider it a part of friendship 

 of the people of the north to the white people of the south, nor do we 

 hold it a part of philanthropy or a moral obligation to the outside 



6 These figures, of course, vary slightly from year to year. 



