The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-02-15

AS to the question what may be his ultimate de-
velopment know nothing; care nothing He
is either able to rise to be the peer of the white
man. or he is not If he is, he is entitled to the
right to try. If he is not, he has right to be
something better and nober, and the Anglo Saxon
race has no right not to give ham chance. 1
thank God he does not stand before us any more
as pauper. He stands as man appealing to
sense of duty and right. There is much talk
about the survival of the fttest. The survival
of the fittest may mean the survival uss the
toughest Slavery was terrible hard master,
but it taught the slave to suffer and to wait 1t
taught him to endure what higher form of life
could not endure.
[TIe speaker here gave interesting series of
figures showing the rapid increase of the colored race
in the Southern States and that the white there
was falling behind in numbers. he also showed that
these States of the South favorable to only two
kinds of northern emigrants, capitalists and consump
tives
There has been an increase of 35 per cent in
the colored population of these States in ten
years. The simple fact is that slavery toughened
the slave.
You don't know what this freed man started
upon The whole six millions that were freed
were not worth six millions of dollars outside the
poor clothes they stood in They had literally
nothing. They were as bad off as Cain when he
started to farming-when he had only sharp
ened stick, perhaps. It was the greatest mass
of absolute poverty ever known on earth. In
for nine millions of doliars-a progress, Iven-
ture to say, that no race in history has shown;
and under such diffculties-250 years of slavery
during the last twenty years their advancement
has been marvellous. They are making better
progress to-day under their opportunities than
any like number of Northern men. The census
tells us that IL per cent OF them can read and
write. do not believe it. l think per cent.
would be nearer the truth If there is anything
the coored man is inclined to lie about it is his
into = ~ Cad pnl
Ored boz who assumed to know his alphabet was
show the letter h. SWELL ma'am, said he. 81
know it but done gone foreit its name" If 5
per cent can write, it is miracle that Chris
tianity may well congratulate itself upon.
Two years ago / rode through the States OF
North and South Carolina and in that whole dis
lance found only FIVE white blacksmiths. The
colored man had taken up the hammer and
the sedge because he could work longer and
cheaper and trust longer than the white man. He
is learning the tricks of the white man, Buck.
said / to a negro smith, whose shop had burned
down-he kept his account with customers in
chalk upon the door in system Of heroglyphics
that would have done honor to Egvpt-"buck,
how about your accountsa' 'Oh," was the re-
ply, they all right, and on heap better
men than afore"
1865 there was not a colored man in the county
Of Guilford, North Carolina, that held paint
brush. Now there is not a white painter there
who can make a living out of it. The colored
ING his way up the ladder by his own hand and
his own power. Out of these eight States the
white man is moving away with rapidity
that would startle you. The negro
Is gaining ! per cent. year py his
faculty of staying at home and mindiug his
own business. 1t has only been recently that
he has had a name-two names. He was born
and lived, was tried ard hanged under his Chris
tian name of Jim or John. There were no mar
riages. He had no wife, no child. No father
dor ole tic Inch md his
There was not tie that went to make manhood
worthy and womanhood beautiful. Under every
possible disadvantage they have formed congre.
gatlons built churches, paid ministers, supported
bishops. paid for publications and, besides that,
showed power and vigor that no other Chris
tian organization ever showed. They have even
sent missionaries to India, to China and to Afri-
Ca. With civilization hanging like a milestone
round his neck instead of lifting him he is going
to rise.
But, unfortunately. slavery could npt die in
instant. 1t could no more die III the masters
heart than in the slaves | do not desire - say
anything offensive to the stakeholder. 70 was
our national evil. The man who says, with the
master, nothing get into the slaves heart
never saw into the slaves heart | suppose
Pharoah would have said the Hebrews were
worthless, Stacking creatures But that people
who met them afterwards and were wiped ont of
existence between sunrise and sunset thought
differently. The master knows him only
niger. He does not know him as man with
soul and with human aspirations He knows
more of him than if he had been reared
in an inaccessible island in the Atlantic.
The two peoples of the South are separated,
in this way and by the gulf of color. The
struggle that must come between those who are
going up the ladder and those who don't believe
in going down-no man can tell what it will be-
Five billions of days of the negros work
went into national existence. 1t went into
our treasury. 1t was part of every bridesmaids
capital, of every manufacturers profit. And We
have to pay it dollar for dollar, with interest
We may pay it in blood-God only knows, In
giving him liberty we only returned to him what
God had given him before. We cannot come
here with the tniefs plea of restored property.
If there is one miracle on earth it is the col
ored mans religion. What did we give him that
should sanctify the white mans religion to hint
If the slave got anything of Christianity from
teaching and not our practice. The ques-
ton stands against us. the question Of RICH
ness an6 justice; shall we pay IT'D The time
may come when the race that is going up
and the one that is going down will come in col
lislon 1t is an American negro, not an African.
The only hope for the peaceful solution of this
danger is to give in charity. in kindness Let US
give them light in place Of darkness, knowledge
in place of ignorance, right in place of wrong
justice in place of oppression. Sometime ago |
spoke to him who was then President on this
subject ] said if the government of the United
States would put into the education of the whites
ana blacks at the South ten millions year for
few years, it would all be paid back within fifty
years. We would get it ali back in postage stamps
alone. We can help these people TO make men
and women of themselves Out of record of
300 colored girls who were educated, and whom
have known, looking upon their lives, but FIVE
of those were not good--and that of race we de-
clare has no inclination tendency to virtue.
This question of educating the blacks of the
South should appeal to every American heart
We are considering where to find market for
our manufactures. Right here are 5000. 900 peo-
pie at our doors-a home market. With every
ounce of knowledge going into their minds
would go million dollars worth of our manu-
features for their consumption.
collection was then taken up, the members
of the congregation contributing as they chose
to the Freedman's Aid Society~br to the educa-
tional fund of DePanw University. The COL
lection was a generous one.
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