he Negro in the South by his
removal from this country have so far failed, and I think that they are
likely to fail. The next census will probably show that we have nearly
ten million black people in the United States, about eight millions of
whom are in the Southern states. In fact, we have almost a nation
within a nation. The Negro population in the United States lacks but
two millions of being as large as the whole population of Mexico, and
is nearly twice as large as that of Canada. Our black people equal
in number the combined populations of Switzerland, Greece, Honduras,
Nicaragua, Cuba, Uraguay [sic], Santo Domingo, Paraguay, and Costa Rica.
When we consider, in connection with these facts, that the race has
doubled itself since its freedom, and is still increasing, it hardly
seems possible for any one to take seriously any scheme of emigration
from America as a method of solution. At most, even if the government
were to provide the means, but a few hundred thousand could be
transported each year. The yearly increase in population would more than
likely overbalance the number transported. Even if it did not, the time
required to get rid of the Negro by this method would perhaps be fifty
or seventy-five years.

Some have advised that the Negro leave the South, and take up his
residence in the Northern states. I question whether this would make him
any better off than he is in the South, when all things are considered.
It has been my privilege to study the condition of our people in nearly
every part of America; and I say without hesitation that, with some
exceptional cases, the Negro is at his best in the Southern states.
While he enjoys certain privileges in the North that he does not have
in the South, when it comes to the matter of securing property, enjoying
business advantages and employment, the South presents a far better
opportunity than the North. Few colored men from the South are as yet
able to stand up against the severe and increasing competition that
exists in the North, to say nothing of the unfriendly influence of labor
organizations, which in some way prevents black men in the North, as a
rule, from securing occupation in the line of skilled labor.

Another point of great danger for the colored man who goes North is the
matter of morals, owing to the numerous temptations by which he finds
himself surrounded. More ways offer in which he can spend money than in
the South, but fewer avenues of emplo