Some negroes are almost immune from any venereal afflictions. Some of the doctors were of opinion that these diseases, by weakening the constitution, reduced the system so that it is an easy victim to tuberculosis and scrofula. In slavery times the doctors attested that the race suffered but little from excessive venery. The doctors now tell me it is not on the increase, for the reason that the limit of excess has been reached, and some think this is the cause of increasing infertility of the race. I am decidedly of opinion that it is the chief cause.

My remarks must be understood in this work to refer, when not otherwise stated, to the true negro and not to the mulatto. The mulatto is more subject to the diseases mentioned than the negro is, and he has less hope of recovery.

It is to be hoped that the great war at present being waged against tuberculosis will prove beneficial to the colored race; but nothing can be done to check excessive venery of the race.

CHAPTER VII

WANT OF INVENTIVE POWERS AND MECHANICAL SKILL THE CROWDING-OUT PROCESS

THE Southern landlord is slow to introduce improved methods and useful machinery on account of the character of the labor he uses. He knows the difficulty of changing the habits of the negro in farming, and his want of skill in handling machinery. The negro is a creature of habit and imitation. When his habits are changed he has to learn all over again. I will narrate one instance which well illustrates why men farming with negro labor are slow to introduce machinery. Some years ago I was on Farmer Capell's large plantation during harvest gathering. "Mr. Capell," I said, " reapers are a great invention for saving wheat, are they not?" "I don't know," replied he. "I think I used to do as well with the cradles as I now do with the reapers. A negro can handle a cradle better than he can a reaper.

Some days later I met Mr. Johnston, of Ripley, Tennessee, a neighbor to Mr. Capell, and asked

him the same question. Mr. Johnston replied: Why, a reaper is a wonderful improvement on the cradle." I said, "Mr. Capell thinks the reaper no better than the cradle." "Oh, I know what is the matter with Capell," said he; " Capell puts a negro to drive his reaper, and about every other round he runs it against a stump or manages in some way to break something, and then takes hours or a day to go to the blacksmith and return, and so the loss of time balances the advantage of the reaper. No one ever drives mine but myself. I have had it three years and it has not yet formed the acquaintance of the blacksmith." I have given almost the exact words of the two men.

Some negroes, however, have good mechanical skill, but the harvester can not depend on getting them when needed.

The negro has no invention, but he can be trained to do good mechanical work, and after being trained he must ever afterwards work exactly according to his training. When he learns to make an axe handle, his process in making one never changes, and all his axe handles are just alike. He can be taught to manage a piece of machinery by showing and explaining the machine itself; but from drawings and explanations, without the machine, he learns nothing. In fact he is a grievous failure in understanding instruc

tions of any kind. With the best of intentions he often does what he was cautioned not to do.

He is a great imitator and a poor mimic, and when he sees some one else do a piece of work he is quick to catch on " and to perform a like job himself in the same way. Then, left to himself, he rarely makes any improvements, but soon becomes expert in that one way.

With proper instruction in doing, negroes make good journey workmen as carpenters, but never rise to the dignity of architects or even contractors on a large scale. They, perhaps, succeed better as brickmasons than in any other trade, and they make fine barbers and good blacksmiths. They work single pieces of machinery well, but when it comes to running complicated machinery on the ground, such as reapers, mowers, gang plows, and so on, where the machine has to be adjusted to varied and changing conditions, the height and quantity of grass, the character of the ground, and the strength of the machinery, few colored men can be found equal to the task. If the machine is running heavily or is out of order in some way, they never know it till something breaks. In hot weather they often drive a horse beyond his power of endurance before they are aware of it. They are slow to observe, as a rule, and slow to profit by their observations.

The same habits they have in managing machinery applies to their care of stock. Most negroes have poor stock, even when they have plenty of provender. The planter who employs colored labor has to look after his stock constantly, not risking a single feed without seeing it done. A good cow is about the cheapest and best method of securing table luxuries, but it is a costly way if trusted to a milk-maid; for she will not get cream enough to churn, and will soon milk the cow dry. With abundance of convenient food she will let the cow get poor. I have quit keeping cows in disgust at the impossibility of getting them well attended to without doing it myself.

There was a time before the sixties and for some time after, when a white barber could scarcely be found in our Southern cities and villages; now scarcely a colored one can be found. This, I judge, is more from bad management than from bad barbering. I found many colored barbers in Washington, but all I saw were mulattos or quadroons. Possibly race prejudice may also have had something to do in crowding out the barbers. I once asked a prominent lawyer in Memphis which he preferred before the war, a white barber or a colored one? He replied promptly, "A colored one." "Which do you prefer now?" I said. "A white one," he re