With portraits of J. L. M. Curry, Robert C. Ogden, William A. Blair, Charles B. Aycock, C. W. Dabney, Charles D. McIver, P. B. Barringer, Henry St. G. Tucker, Booker T. Washington, John L. McLaurin, William McKinley, Mrs. William McKinley, P. M. Rixey, Señor Llorente, General Portuondo, Señor Capote, General Betancourt, Dr. Tamayo, Señor Enteuza, James J. Hill, Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, the Emperor and Empress of Germany with their eldest sons, Lord Kelvin, Charles Tennant, James Bell, ex-Bailie Crawford, and Franklin Carter, cartoons, and other illustrations. The Modern Maori.. Chinese Magic... Education in the Dependencies... 731 How to Guard Against Infection.. 732 Effects of Mechanical Laws upon Organic 734 The Incubation of Alligator Eggs. 734 735 736 736 740 With reproductions from American and foreign journals. The New Books.... 759 764 TERMS: $2.50 a year in advance; 25 cents a number. Foreign postage $1.00 a year additional. Subscribers may remit to us by post-office or express money orders, or by bank checks, drafts, or registered letters. Money in letters is at senders' risk. Renew as early as possible in order to avoid a break in the receipt of the numbers. Bookdealers, Postmasters, and Newsdealers receive subscriptions. (Subscriptions to the English REVIEW OF REVIEWS, which is edited and published by Mr. W. T. Stead in London, may be sent to this office, and orders for single copies can also be filled, at the price of $2.50 for the yearly subscription, including postage, or 25 cents for single copies.) THE REVIEW OF REVIEWS CO., 13 Astor Place, New York City. THE AMERICAN MONTHLY VOL. XXIII. Review of Reviews. NEW YORK, JUNE, 1901. No. 6. Convention. THE PROGRESS OF THE WORLD. The best leaders of the negro race Alabama's have no desire to turn colored people into imitation white people; and the best leaders of the white race in the South, far from wishing to prevent the negro from rising, earnestly desire that he should have all that he is truly and honestly capable of acquiring in the way of manhood, property, and influence. In a notable speech to the Tuskegee students in April, the Hon. Mr. Abercrombie, the brilliant and excellent superintendent of education of the State of Alabama, declared that the Caucasian race could not afford to ask any odds of the negro race in a matter of intelligence. His position, in other words, was that it would be ridiculous to ask the white and black voters of Alabama to change the suffrage system in such a way as to allow white illiterates to vote, while excluding black illiterates from the rights which are theirs at present, in theory if not in practice. Alabama on that very day was holding an election to decide whether or not a convention should be called to revise the State constitution. The object of this proposed convention was well known to be the adoption of a constitutional amendment restricting the suffrage, in general pursuance of the plan that had been adopted by Mississippi, South Carolina, Louisiana, and North Carolina, and that had long been agitated in Alabama, as also in Georgia and Virginia. Many of the best political leaders of Alabama have been of the opinion that conditions do not call for a restriction of the franchise, and that a better plan would be to encourage education by all possible means, and to put up with existing ills in the hope that the next generation will be better qualified for universal suffrage. It was fully expected, however, that those in favor of the convention would carry the State, and this was done by a majority of perhaps 30,000. It has been predicted in Alabama, however, that if the convention adopts a scheme of stringent disfranchisement, its work may be defeated at the polls when submitted to the people for ratification. All this, of course, remains to be seen. At this April election in Alabama the voters cast their ballots for delegates to the convention, in case a majority should vote that a convention ought to be held-a rather curious arrangement. If the main proposal had been rejected, the election of delegates would, of course, have been void. As it turned out, the choice of delegates was valid, and the convention was called to meet at Montgomery on May 21, and is, therefore, now in session. ment in Several Disfranchise- Virginia is another State that has decided to hold a like convention, which will begin its sessions at Richmond on the 12th day of the present month of June. Georgia, as our readers may remember, while not having as yet adopted a sweeping constitu. tional limitation upon the suffrage, has by an ingenious poll-tax arrangement practically disfranchised the bulk of the negro voters; and Arkansas has accomplished a like result in a similar fashion. In Maryland there was recently held a special session of the legislature in which the Democratic majority, against Republican opposi. tion, adopted an election law so arranged as to result in the virtual disfranchisement of illiter. ates. An election was held in the city of Balti more under this new law on May 7, and the Republicans carried eighteen out of the twenty-four wards. Circumstances were such, however, that the new election law was not conclusively tested. Perhaps in a strict and close party struggle it might prove of advantage to the Democrats. The disfranchisement amendment that was adopted in North Carolina will not go into effect until July of next year. By one means or another the negro vote in almost every one of the Southern States has been practically eliminated. The best friends of the negro are not giving them. selves much present concern about this particular matter. They are well aware that in the long run the laws, of this country will have to work equally, and that a negro citizen who possesses positive qualifications for taking a part in the government of his community and his State will in due time come into his opportunity. They consider that the negro race should now learn to work, save money, make homes, and grow in moral character and intelligence. The Time There are some Southern men of ex. is Ripe for ceptional knowledge of facts and conLarge Efforts. ditions who-while admiring the work of Mr. Washington at Tuskegee, the work of Dr. Frissell and his associates at Hampton, and that of some other institutions for the wise education of the negroes-declare that the race problem is so vast by reason of the number of negroes and the ignorance and degradation of the majority of them, that the work of these institutions is lost in the mass, so to speak, and does not materially alter the difficulties of the general situation. This view, however, is shortsighted. It is important when any great popular transformation has to be wrought to find the right methods, and to train competent leaders. This preliminary process requires time and ex. periment. As respects Southern education, methods have now been tested and competent leaders have now been trained. Several modern countries have been completely made over again in their educational, social, and industrial life in the course of the last half-century by the widespread adoption of new methods of education. The new census shows that the negro race is not increasing nearly as fast in the South as the white race, owing to the much higher rate of negro mortality. The South is destined to remain predominantly a white man's country; but the negroes are go ing to stay, and it is just as necessary to make each individual a good and useful negro accord ing to his capacities, as it is necessary to make each white individual as good and as useful as his natural endowments will permit. The Southern Educational ConferThe Conference on Southern ence, which in several previous years Education. has met at Capon Springs, in the West Virginia mountains in midsummer, accepted for this year an invitation to meet in North Carolina under the venerable roof of the Salem Academy. This institution for young women was founded a hundred years ago by the Moravians, who have given to the town of Salem a quaintness which it has retained to this day, and also a rare distinction and charm. This year's conference was held at an earlier date than usual, and opened on April 18. The foremost figure in all these conferences from the beginning has been Dr. J. L. M. Curry, one of the most distinguished public men of the South, and one of the most useful and honored men of the entire nation. Our readers need no introduction to Dr. Curry, whose address at Capon Springs two years ago was published in the number of this magazine for August, 1899, and whose knowledge of Spanish affairs, derived from his years of residence at Madrid as United States Minister, has been drawn upon for these pages. Dr. Curry has for a number of years been the chief administrator of the Peabody and Slater Funds, these being important endow ments for the promotion of Southern education. His long experience as a professional educator in the South, together with his exceptional oppor tunities for knowledge gained in the distribution of the income of the Slater and Peabody funds, THE OLD MORAVIAN CHURCH AT SALEM, WITH A CORNER OF THE ACADEMY. |