The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1890-01-09
means rain, admit this. and we may

SVlN0 lnlS pTODletns ASKS; Are bnoy az
work upon it? THAT solution do they
offer? When will the black man cast a
free balloti When will he have the civil
rights that are hisy' l shall not here
protest against the partisan7y that, for
the first time in cur history in time Of
peace has stamped with the great seal Of
our government stigma upon the people
ola great and loyal section, though Igrate-
fully remember that the great dead SOL
der who held the helm OF state for the
eight stormiest years Of reconstruction
never found need for such step; and
though there b no personal saoriHce /
would not make TO remove this cruel and
unjust imputation on my people from
tho archives of my country But, sir.
backed by g record On every page of
which is progress, l venture to make
earnest and respectful answer TO the
questions that are asked. / bespeak
your patience, while with rigorous plain
ness Of speech, seeking your Judgment
rather than your applause, l proceed
step by step. We give to the wsrld this
year crop OF 1900, 900 bales of cotton
worth $3.50, 10000 and its cash equiva-
lent IN grains, grasses and fruit. This
enormous crop could not have come from
the hands of sulien and DISCONTINUED
labor. 1t comes from peaceful fields, in
which laughter and gossip rise above the
hum OF industry, and contentment runs
with the singing pillow.
1t is claimed that this ignorant labor
IS defrauded of it's just hire / present
the tax books OF Georgia, which show
that the negro, twenty-five years ago a
slave, has in Georgia alone $40 900 900 Of
assessed property worth twice that much.
Does not that record honor him and vim
dictate his neighbors? What people, pen
nlless, niiterate, has done 50 welll For
every Afro-American agitator, stirring
the strife in which alone he prospers,
can show you a thousand negroes happy
In their cabin homes, tilling their own
land by day, and at night taking from
the lips Of their children the helpful
message their state sends them from the
school-house door. And the school-house
itself bears testimony. In Georgia, we
added last year $3.50, 900 to the school
fund, making total of more than ST.
600, OO0-and this in the face of prejudice
not yet Conquered-of the fact that the
whites are assessed for 1858 200, 900. the
blacks for S10,000,00o, and yet 40 per
cent of the beneficiarieS are black chill
dren-and, in the doubt of many wise
men, if education helps, or can help our
problem, Charleston, with her taxable
values cut half in two since 1860, PAYS
more in proportion for public schools
than Boston. Although it is easier to
give much out of much than little out of
little, the south with one-seventh of the
taxable property of the country, with
relatively larger debt, having received
only one-twelfth as much of public land,
and having back of it's tax books none of
the half billion of bonds that enrich the
north, and though it pays annually $685.
00O,O0 to your section as pensions, vet
gives nearly one-sixth of the public
school fund. The south since 1865 has
spent 9122, 900, 900 in education, and this
year is pledged to $37 900 900 for state
and city schools, although the blacks,
paying one-thirtieth Of the taxes, get
nearly one-half Of the fund
Go into our fields and see whites and
blacks working side by side. On our
buildings in the same squad. In our
shops at the same forge. Often the
blacks crowd the whites from work, or
lower wages by the greater need or sim
pier habits, and yet are permitted be-
cause we want to bar them from no ave-
nue. In which their feet are fitted to
tread. They could not there be elected
orators of the white universities, as they
have been here, but they do enter there
a hundred useful trades that are closed
against them here. We hold it better
and wiser to tend the weeds in the gar
den than to water the exotic in the
window. In the south there are negro
lawyers, teachers, editors, dentists, doc
tors, preachers, multiplying with the in
creasing ability Of their race to support
them. In villages and towns they have
their military companies equipped from
the armories of the state, their churches
and societies built and supported largely
by their neighbors. What is the test
mony OF the courts2 In penal legisla-
ton we have steadily reduced felonies to
misdemeanors, and have led the world
in mitigating punishment for crime, that
we might save, as far as possible, this de-
pendent race from its own weakness. In
our penltentiary record 90 per cent Of
the prosecutors are negroes, and in every
court the negro criminal strikes the col.
ored juror that white men may Judge his
case. In the north, one negro in every
1855 is in jail-in the south, ONLY one in
446. In the north the per centage of ne
gro prisoners is six times as great as ma
wv Wig SCuCnY only IOuT
+ ines as great. II prejudice wrongs him
III southern courts, the record shows it 10
DO deeper in northern courts
| assert here, and bar as intelligent
and upright as the bar of Massachusetts
will solemnly indorse nay assertion, that
in the southern courts, from highest to
lowest, pleading for life, liberty or prop
erty, the negro has distinct advantage
because he Is q negro, apt to be over
reached, oppressed AAd that this ad-
vantage reaches from the juror in making
his verdict to the judge in measuring his
sentence.
Now, Mr.. President, can it be seriouxly
maintained that we are terrorizing the
people from whose willing hands Cenao
every year 81 ,000, Cox, 900 Of farm CROPS?
Or have robbed a people, who, twenty
rive years from unrswaFded slavery, have
amassed in ono state SEQ, 0Oo, 900 Of prop
erty? Or that we intend to cypress the
people we are Srming every day? Or
deceive them when we are educating
them to the utmost limit ef eur ahilityf
Or outlaw them when we work side by
side with them? Or re-enslave them ua-
der legal forms when, fer their benefit,
we have evan imprudently narrowed the
limit al telonies and mitigated the severity
OF law My fellow-couAtrvmen, AZ YOU
yourself may sometimes have to appeal
to the bar of human judgment for JUS