Los Angeles daily herald., 1889-12-13
FEASTING AT THE HUB.
Boston Merchants Annual
Banquet.
THE DISTINGUISHED
GUESTS
Speeches by Ex-President Cleveland
H. w. Grady and Andrew
Carnegie.

inent business men OF Boston and New
England crowded the apartments of the
Hotel Vendome this evening on the &C.
casion of the annual banquet Of the Bcs-
ton Merchants Association. At round
table in the center sat Hon. Jonathan
A. Lane. President OF the association.
At his right were ex-President Cleveland
and H. W. Grady, W. L. Putnam, P. A.
Collins, John Lowell, William E. Rus
sell and Leopold Morse, while on his
left were seated Governor Oliver Ames,
Andrew Carnegie, General Clinton B
Fiske and Collector Saltenstall, all guests
Of the association. After the reading of
letter of regret from John Russell Low
ell, President Lane proceeded in q brief
speech to introduce Governor Ames, who
welcomed the guests Of the occasion.
President Lane then introduced ex-
President Cleveland, who was greeted
with long-continued applause, shouts and
cheers.
MIR, CLEvELAND's SPEECH.
Mr.. Cleveland, in his speech, dwelt
on the injustice of fostering certain
branches of trade at the expense of
others by means of protective tariff,
with the accompanying evil of the in-
timidation OF labor by aggregated capital.
From this he turned to the question OF
the dangers which threaten the nation
from the intimidation and corruption of
votes. On this subject he said: eve
need not stifie our scorn and contempt
for the wretch who basely sells his vote.
and who for bribs bstrays the trust Of
citizenship. and We. the thought will in.
trude itself that he is but following the
low and vulgar fashion and example Of
those who proceed upon the theory that
q political action may be turned to
private gain. But we know that
when political sel6shness is destroyed
our dangers will disappear, and though
the way to this stronghold may be long
and weary, we will follow it, fighting as
we 60. There will be no surrender, nor
will there be any assertions from our
ranks. This hope, risen like etsr in
the East, has fixed the gaze of our patri-
otto fellow-countrymen, and everywhere
in our busy marte OF trade and on our
farms; in our cities and in the homes OF
the poor; in our universities and in our
workshops; in our bankiDg-houses and
in the ranks Of inexorable toll. they
greet with enthusiastic acclaim the ad-
vent of ballot reform.
81 remember the Inauguration of an
other reform, and I have seen it grow
and extend until it has become firmly
established in our laws and practices. 1t
ID today our greatest safeguard against
the complete and disgraceful degradation
OF our public service. It had its enemies
a nd oil nf - -
But its victory came, wrought by the
force of enlightened public sentiment,
and upon it's trial every objection which
had been urged against it was com
lpletely discredited. AS it has been with
civil service reform, 70 will it be will
ballot reform, except that the coming
victory will be more speedily achieved
and more complete"
Following Mr.. Cleveland was Henry
W. Grady, of Georgia, who was warmly
received.
MR.. GRADY's REMARKS.
Mr.. Grady said he was invited to dis.
cuss the race problem. He said the
South, the fairest and richest domain on
earth, is so scsntily peopled that but
fifteen per cent. of its lands are cult
waited. The sons OF New England seek
with troubled eye some new Ell Dorado,
yet since 1860 the emigration OF north
erners to the South has been decreasing,
because of the race problem and the aus.
picion it breeds. The southerners are 80
beset with this problem that their very
existence depends on it's right solution.
Replying to the imputation that the
South treated the negroes unjustly, the
speaker said this year the South raised
l7,5O0,00 bales of cotton, which enor-
NOUS crop could not have come from the
hands of discontented labor. The negroes
of Georgia, who twenty-five years ago
were slaves. now possess twenty million
dollars worth of property. For every
Afro American agitator stirring strife, he
could show thousand negroes happy in
their homes, and with their children in
school. 1t is admitted there is disorder
and violence, but it is misjudged. Law
lessness in Iowa is accepted as an acct
dent, while that in the South is ascribed
to race causes. To black will cast
free ballot when iga ance anywhere is
not dominated by will of the intelli-
gent. The whits are banded, not in
prejudice, but Of necessity. The negro
vote remains al / , norant and credulous
faction, the prey Of the INSCRIPTIONS of
both parties, and plays part in cam.
paign in which every interest of society
is jeopardized and every approach to
the ballot-box debauched. Against such
campaigns as this the southern whites
are banded, as the Massachusetts, whites
would be in similar circumstances.
In reply to the challenge az to the al
legged smsllness of the southern vote,
MIR. Grady said the sixteen Southern
States in 1888 cast 81 per cent. of their
total vote; the New England States but
SO per cent. of theirs. The negro has
learned that the ballot-box, which prom
ised him most has yielded him least, and
ct last has realized that his best friends
are his neighbors, with whose prosperity
his own is bound up. 1t would be we'll
If the northern partisans would under
stand that the negro vote can never
again control the South. If there be any
human force which cannot be withstood.
1t is that OF the banded intelligence and
responsibility Of q free community.
Upon that the South relies, not upon the
cowardly menace of the mask or shot
gun. Force bills will not avail. The
North may surrender its liberties to a |
Federal election law, but never again
will single State, North or South, be
delivered to the csntrol of an ignorant
and inferior race. Time alone can tell |
how tn. problem presented will be
TIE r~~.I~o.