274 HILARY A. HERBERT 



can be discussed on its merits, and whites do not divide them- 

 selves between the two national parties. What we need in 

 the southern states to-day, above all things, is two political 

 parties, strong enough and able to deal with each other at 

 arms' length. 



The negro's prospects for improvement, his development 

 since emancipation, his industrial conditions, his relation to 

 crime, the scanty results of the system of education that has 

 been pursued, how that system can be bettered — all these 

 questions as they exist to-day are before us. Here and there, 

 among southern people, are some who in despair are advocat- 

 ing that no more money be spent by the whites for the educa- 

 tion of the blacks. This, I am glad to say, is not the prevailing 

 sentiment. The southern people, as a rule, believe that we 

 should continue to strive for the development of the negro and 

 the lifting of him up to a higher plane, where he may be more 

 useful to himself and to the state. 



