Teach-econers:
I was reading an etext (available from Project Gutenberg as 1MLKD11.ZIP)
tonight and came across the following passage that I thought might be of
interest to you for use in class. There is much material in these two
paragraphs, including a nod to comparative advantage at the end, and
I'll wager that it could provoke some fruitful class discussion.
(For example, should Washington's readers have been concerned that
"Alabama will buy most of her corn from Iowa"? This is really the same
as the contemporary fear that America will buy most of her cars from
Japan, isn't it?)
- Rob
P.S. - See http://promo.net/pg/ for more info on Project Gutenberg if
you don't already know about it. It's one of the oldest and most
worthwhile efforts on the net and deserves (and could really use!)
your support!
***
An extract from:
THE FRUITS OF INDUSTRIAL TRAINING
by Booker T. Washington
Atlantic Monthly 92 (1903): 453-462.
Taken from the Project Gutenberg Etext of Project Gutenberg Anthology #1,
The Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, 1994, Memorial Issue.
THE FRUITS OF INDUSTRIAL TRAINING
by Booker T. Washington
[...]
Again, a large element of people at the South favored manual
training for the Negro because they were wise enough to see that
the South was largely free from the restrictive influences of the
Northern trades unions, and that such organizations would secure
little hold in the South so long as the Negro kept abreast in
intelligence and skill with the same class of people elsewhere.
Many realized that the South would be tying itself to a body of
death if it did not help the Negro up. In this connection I want
to call attention to the fact that the official records show that
within one year about one million foreigners came into the United
States. Notwithstanding this number, practically none went into
the Southern states; to be more exact, the records show that in
1892 only 2278 all told went into the states of Alabama, Arkansas,
Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina,
Tennessee, and Virginia. One ship sometimes brings as many to New
York. Various reasons are given to explain why these foreigners
systematically avoid the South. One is that the climate is so
hot; and another is that they do not like the restrictions thrown
about the ballot; and still another is the presence of the Negro
is so large numbers. Whatever the true reason is, the fact
remains that foreigners avoid the South, and the South is more and
more realizing that it cannot keep pace with the progress being
made in other parts of the country if a third of its population is
ignorant and without skill.
The South must frankly face this truth, that for a long period it
must depend upon the black man to do for it what the foreigner is
now doing for the great West. If, by reason of his skill and
knowledge, one man in Iowa learns to produce as much corn in a
season as four men can produce in Alabama, it requires little
reasoning to see that Alabama will buy most of her corn from Iowa.
[...]
... Wisdom is knowing what to do with what you know.
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