I pity from the bottom of my heart any individual who is so
unfortunate as to get into the habit of holding race prejudice.
The more I consider the subject, the more strongly I am convinced
that the most harmful effect of the practice to which the people
in certain sections of the South have felt themselves compelled
to resort, in order to get rid of the force of the Negroes'
ballot, is not wholly in the wrong done to the Negro, but in the
permanent injury to the morals of the white man. The wrong to the
Negro is temporary, but to the morals of the white man the injury
is permanent. I have noted time and time again that when an
individual perjures himself in order to break the force of the
black man's ballot, he soon learns to practise dishonesty in
other relations of life, not only where the Negro is concerned,
but equally so where a white man is concerned. The white man who
begins by cheating a Negro usually ends by cheating a white man.
The white man who begins to break the law by lynching a Negro
soon yields to the temptation to lynch a white man. All this, it
seems to me, makes it important that the whole Nation lend a hand
in trying to lift the burden of ignorance from the South.
Another thing that is becoming more apparent each year in the
development of education in the South is the influence of General
Armstrong's idea of education; and this not upon the blacks
alone, but upon the whites also.
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