Our People. 233 
they alienate those who have a real desire to befriend the race and thus make 
the real progress of the negro a task of incalculable difficulty. 
There is a want of confidence in each other also which hampers the efforts of 
men who, like Booker Washington in the United States, aim at the uplifting of 
the negro. Should by any chance a similar character appear in British Guiana 
and found a Tuskagee I am quite sure that there would be available the same 
sort of material which has conduced so much to the success of that institution. 
But not on the coast-lands, at any rate for several years to come. Want of 
capital is the greatest drawback, for however desirous a man, born leader though 
he may be, is, he cannot make a beginning in the hinterland without something 
to snstain his students until they become self-supporting. There is plenty of 
land suitable for such an undertaking and sites abound on which farms might be 
established, but they must be under a central head and be subject to reqular rules. 
T see no reason whatever why a similar institution such as that of Tuskagee 
should not be established in the hinterland of British Guiana, provided there 
is forthcoming a man of the calibre of Booker Washington, that is, one whom his 
fellows not only respect but in whom they place confidence, as having one 
object, namely, the real elevation of his own people and not his personal aggran- 
disement alone. In order to make such a settlement as I indicate successful 
amongst our blacks there must be amusements of sorts, such as dramatic enter- 
tainments, lectures, and concerts all of which would come within the curriculum. 
Whenever a student showed capacity in science he should be given an oppor- 
tunity of pursuing it till he become an expert. It is the half-hearted teaching 
which does so much harm. The recent attempt at proper apprenticeship is a 
move in the right direction, for who has not suffered from the ignorance and 
self-assertiveness of a young man posing as acarpenter boss, after a year’s hap- 
hazard work carrying the tools of his boss and seeing that no doubt efficient 
workman make a sash window or paint a house. A properly trained workman 
possessing a certificate of capacity would always get work; while the colony was 
spreading there ought to be plenty to do in and about the settlement—all the 
students would not be carpenters, but those engaged in farming or cattle-raising 
or whatever other pursuits they were fitted for would require work to be done. 
At first, no doubt, there must be a common fund under the capable control of 
a committee to dispose of the produce, supply the wants and divide the proceeds 
—a community in fact all working for the commonweal. 
It will naturally be urged that there are no means of communication with the 
interor to enable the transport of produce. This is true, but were the produce 
available steady means for transport would not be long in following. Up 
the Berbice River there are high lands close to the river and below the rapids, 
within easy reach also of the Demerara River across the Savannah. The 
White Cliff is an ideal spot for a settlement, such as I have roughly indicated 
and, if a beginning were made there, I am quite sure it would spread until it 
tookin a large tract of that at present absolutly unoccupied land. 
There are many who will look upon the suggestions made here as Utopian and 
smile broadly at the ideas enunciated. From past experiences there is perhaps 
good ground for hesitation in at once recognizing the feasibility of the scheme. 
But let the man be forthcoming and let the start once be made under the 
