64 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Sept.,. 



The negroes of the South, for example, have these two kinds 

 of leaders. They have their fiery, turbulent leaders of dis- 

 content who try to stir the people up to resentment over 

 their rights, their wrongs and their grievances. They also- 

 had Mr. Booker T. Washington, who, so far as we have any 

 record, never told them anything about their rights or their 

 wrongs or their grievances, but a great deal about their op- 

 portunities and their obligations. There is not much doubt 

 in the minds of any of us as to which kind of leader is likely 

 to do the most for the negroes of the South. It is almost 

 nauseating to observe how many blatherskites there are who 

 remind themselves of Lincoln ; but, so far as we have any 

 recorded utterances of that great, constructive leader, he 

 never on any occasion spoke to the people about their rights, 

 their wrongs or their grievances, but told them about their 

 opportunities and their obligations, especially their obliga- 

 tions. The spirit of resentment, of hatred or class feeling, 

 was never encouraged by anything that he ever said or did. 



This has a very direct bearing on the question of organi- 

 zation. If I am particularly careful about my own rights and 

 your obligations, and 3^ou are equally particular to safeguard 

 your rights and enforce my obligations, we two are likely to 

 have considerable difficulty in working together. A com- 

 munity made up of such people will be especially difficult to 

 organize for constructive work. But if I am very careful 

 about my own obligations and your rights and you are 

 equally careful of your obligations and my rights, we two 

 ought to get along easily together. We ought never to have 

 any difficulty in working together for any good constructive 

 purpose. A neighborhood which is characterized by this 

 spirit will have all the wisdom and all the morality necessary 

 to overcome the geometrical and temperamental difficulties 

 in the way of effective organization or co-operation. Unless 

 the neighborhood has moral or religious leaders who can de- 

 velop this spirit within the neighborhood, or unless the peo- 

 ple themselves without leadership can develop it among 

 themselves, it will be impossible to overcome those diffi- 

 culties and carry out an effective organization. 



W^hat we sometimes call sociability is also a very impor- 

 tant factor in any kind of neighborhood co-operation. So- 



