in which the race was emancipated,
and will include, as the fathers, such as were the heads of families
at that time and those who were born about that time, constituting
largely the heads of families now, as the respective parties to the
comparison.

What is here said in comparison of father and son is not intended as
unfavorable criticism even where the language may appear
uncomplimentary, but rather to make a truthful statement of the
virtues found in both. I wish also to be understood as placing myself
with those who have faith in the race, to the extent that I believe a
large majority of the freedmen and their descendants are moral, and
should be counted with the good and upright in heart. Such a decision
cannot be reached, however, from a surface examination or outward
appearances. For it is a notorious fact that in all the years of the
Negro's life in this country, he has been subjected to the most menial
occupations such as would, in a large measure, prejudice the
disinterested observer against any high opinion of his morals. The
subject is by no means a new one, but has been investigated and
discussed for a long time by great writers and thinkers. Opinions have
been expressed which are by no means favorable to the race--by no
means favorable because of the ignorance of the party expressing the
opinion. Many of these opinions have been formed and influenced by
what is seen of the Negro in the crowded streets of great cities, at
railroad depots, or at steamboat landings; or upon the great cotton,
rice and sugar plantations, where thousands of Negroes who are
employed only as day laborers, meet. But these do not represent the
majority of the Negroes. Nor should opinions be formed, of the moral
status of this people, out of what may be seen of them at such places
as above referred to, any more than the morals of a great city like
New York or Chicago should be judged by what is seen of the motley
crowds that gather about the wharfs and in the congested streets and
other places where the lowest element of society is to be seen in the
majority. The Negro fathers of forty years ago were as good as the
circumstances and conditions of that day required, and many of them
showed themselves to be superior to the requirement. It is to be
admitted that environment and teaching have much to do with moral
development, and that neither of these were, as a rule, favorable to
the fathers. The contraband life of the Negroes durin