“When, therefore, the Negro race acquires in the broadest and best sense an industrial education, there will come a radical regeneration of Southern social economy, and Negro education will stand then for home life, domestic industry, public integrity and national welfare.”[263] To some extent, therefore, the difference between Washington and Thomas was temperamental. Washington’s optimism led him to declare: “Despite superficial and temporary signs, which might lead one to entertain a contrary opinion, there never was a time, when I felt more hopeful for the race than I do at the present time.”[264] What these superficial and temporary signs leading to the contrary opinion were, Washington did not disclose; but Thomas did: “I am firmly rooted in the conviction, that Negroism, as exemplified in the American type, is an attitude of mental density, a kind of spiritual sensuousness; but that each of these characteristics, though endowed with great persistency and potency, is nevertheless amendable to radical treatment.”[265] According to Max Nordau, spiritual sensuousness is by no means a characteristic or state interfering with great achievement; for he credits Ignatius Loyola with it. But now to consider the view of this Northern Negro. With the possible exception of Alfred H. Stone, it is doubtful if, up to this date, any individual has proven himself better equipped for the discussion of the Negro question than William Hannibal Thomas. A comparison might warrant the statement, that if Mr. Stone has enjoyed the wider range, Thomas has been able to make the more exact study. If Stone has the stronger mind, and it is still further strengthened with a fuller culture, Thomas has the more judicially balanced temperament. Thomas’ work is done. Stone’s has not yet reached its fullest development. We can, therefore, get a clearer idea of Thomas’ view in its entirety than we can obtain of Stone’s. No man has drawn more from his experience than Thomas, and few have possessed such varied experiences to draw from. Simply and modestly as he sketches his life and pedigree, the brief recital indicates opportunities for observation which were most unusual, and, had he kept a diary, it would have been simply invaluable. Should he ever publish his impression of the men he has met and the events he has been connected with, it could not fail to be a most interesting and instructive book; for to powers of observation, which are unusual, he unites judgment which is distinctly admirable. Some brief extracts may put the man and some of his views before the reader. His book opens with an explanation, indicative of that which he thinks distinguishes the Negro from the white, characteristic traits rather than color, after which he briefly states his own pedigree and life history, as follows: