When  I  find  this  forecast  cited  with  approval
by   Dr.   E.   A.    Alderman   of   the   University    of
Virginia,  it  acquires  some  authority  in  my  eyes ;
but  still  it  seems  far  from  convincing.     It  leaves
out  of  account  one  probability  and  one  certainty.
The  probability  is  that  what  may  be  called  the
Hampton-Tuskegee  movement — industrial  educa-
tion and  moral  discipline — will  in  time  so  leaven
the  mass  of  the  negro  race  as  to  make  it  fitter  to
compete  with  white  labour,  and  abler  to  resist  the
destructive  influences  on  which  Mr.  Bruce  dwells
with  such  gusto.     I  call  this  a  probability,  not  a
certainty,  for  it  is  hard   to   tell  as  yet  whether
the  Hampton-Tuskegee  spirit  is  really  leavening
the  mass,  or  only  playing  upon  the  surface.     The
industrial  college  at  Hampton  is  barely  forty  years
old;  Mr.  Booker  Washington's  great  institute  at
Tiiskegee  came  into  being  less  than  thirty  years
ago;  and  the  minor  offshoots  of  the   movement
are,  of  course,  still  younger.     They  have  not  had
time  to  give  any  just  measure  of  their  influence
in  promoting  the  self-respect  and  the  efficiency
of  the  negro  race.     But  there  is  no  doubt  what-
ever   that    they    are    doing    a    remarkable    and
(from    the    negro    point    of    view)   a   beneficent
work;   the  only  doubt   being   as  to  whether  the
work    is    or    is    not   proceeding    fast   enough   to,


THE    PROBLEM    FACED  193

overtake  and  counteract  the  forces  that  make  for
degradation.*

This,  I  say,  is  doubtful ;  but  what  is  scarcely
doubtful  is  that  the  South,  for  its  own  sake,
cannot  suffer  Mr.  Bruce's  prophecy  to  fulfil  itself.
