[236] Geo. William Curtis, Letter to Author, Jan. 21st, 1891. [237] Statutes South Carolina, Vol. 20,—p. 1084. [238] Ibid. Vol. 21, p. 429. [239] _News and Courier_, September 17th, 1890. [240] Theo. D. Jervey, Migration of the Negroes, pp. 1-2. [241] Journal of S. C. Constitutional Convention 1895, p. 476. [242] S. H. Rogers, Letter to Author, December 9th, 1910. [243] _News and Courier_, October 3rd, 1895. [244] Ibid. October 26, 1895. [245] Supreme Court Reporter, Williams vs. Fears Vol. 21, pp. 128-130. [246] _News and Courier_, October 4th, 1895. [247] Ibid. October 17th, 1895. CHAPTER XI But if, in the personalities of Wigg and others, illustrations had been afforded of the advancement of the Negro in refinement, culture and morals, in the mass, the race was by no means fit to discharge the full duties of citizenship in the South. Even as the most active and progressive moved out and into other regions, they seemed to bring to bear upon the question, in propria persona, an argument which was inclining the inhabitants of the North and West more and more to the vociferous expression, that the Southern white man best understood the Negro; that the Negro was better off in the South than elsewhere; and that the South was the natural home of the Negro. However else the whites of the North might differ, as Republicans or Democrats, philanthropists or politicians, there was almost unanimity of opinion, that the Negro was not wanted in the North. But he was pushing in. Despite all his other claims to greatness, therefore, the fact, that he and his policy furnished the most effective means and instrument for retaining the Negroes in the South, contributed immensely to the late Dr. Booker T. Washington’s remarkable hold on Northern sentiment, for with his rise to fame and financial power, the Negro question took on a new phase. He had a mission and it is generally considered to have been to lead the Negroes to manual and industrial training, which it was in the main, but also its aim in part was to keep the Negroes in the South; for that is the meaning of: “Cast down your bucket where you are.”