The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1890-01-16


man, affecting but one section, is
clothed with every privilege of govern
ment and pinned to the soil, and my
people commanded to make good at
any hazard, and at any cost, his full
and equal heirship of American privi-
lege and prosperity. 1t matters not
that every other race has been routed
or excluded without rhyme or reason.
1t matters not that wherever the whites
and blacks have touched, in any era
| or in any cline, there has been an ir-
reconcilable violence. 1t matters not
that no two races, however similar,
have lived anywhere, at any time, on
the same soil with equal rights in peace !!
In spite OF these things we are COM
manded to make good this change of
American policy which has not per-
haps changed American prejudice-to
make certain here what has elsewhere
been impossible between whites and
blacks-and to reverse, under the very
worst conditions, the universal verdict
of racial history. And driven, sir, to
this superhuman task with an impa-
tience that brooks 10 delay-a rigor
that accepts no excuse-and suspc
ion that discourages frankness and sin
cerity. We do not shrink from this
trial. 1t is so interviewer with our in
dustrial fabric that we cannot disen-
tangle it if we would-so bound up in
our honorable obligation to the world,
that we would not if we could. Can
we solve it? The God who gave it
into our hands, He alone can know.
But this the weakest and wisest OF us
know; we cannot solve it with less
than your tolerant and patient sympa-
thy-with less than the knowledge
that the blood that runs in your veins
is our blood and that, when we have
done our best, whether the issue be
lost or won, we shall feel your strong
arms about us and hear the beating of
your approving hearts! The resolute,
clear headed, broad minded men of
the South-the men whose genius
made glorious every page of the first
seventy years of American history
whose courage and fortitude you tested
in five years Of the fiercest war-whose
energy has made bricks without straw
and spread splendor amid the ashes of
their war-wasted homes these men
wear this problem in their hearts aud
brains. by day and by night. They
realize, as you cannot, what this prob
lem means-what they owe to this
kindly and dependent race-the meas
ure of their debt to the world in whose
despite they defended and maintained
| slavery. And though their feet are
hindered in its underground, and their
march numbered with its burdens, they
have lost neither the patience from
which comes clearness, nor the, faith
from which comes courage. Nor, sir,
when in passionate moments is dis
closed to them that vague and awful
shadow, with its lurid abysscs and its
crimson stains, into which 1 pray God
they may never go, are they struck
with more of apprehension than is
needed to complete their conservation!
Such is the temper of my people.
But what of the problem itself1 Mr.
President, we need not 60 one step
further unless you concede right here
that the people speak for are as hon
! est, as sensible and as just as your peo-
pie, seeking as earnestly as you would
in their place to rightly solve the prob
lem that touches them at every vital
point. If you insist that they are ruff
fans, blindly striving with bludgeon
and shotgun to plunder and oppress a
race, then l shall sacrifice my self-re-
spect and tax your patience in vain
But admit that they are men of com
mon sense'and common honesty, wisely
modifying an environment they can
not wholly disregard-guiding and
controlling as best they can the viciou:
and irresponsible of either race--com
pensating error with frankness, and re
trieving in patience what they lose .ir
passion---and conscious all the time
that wrong means ruin--admit this
and we may reach an understanding
tonight.
The President Of the United States
in his late message to congress, dis
cussing the plea that the South shoufc
be left to solve this problem, asks
Are they at work upon it? Wha
solution do they offer? When viii
the black man cast free ballot
When will he have the civil rights tina
are his?" / shall not here protes
against a partisanry that, for the frs
time in Our history, in time Of peace
has stamped with the great seal of ouI
government stigma upon the people
of great and loyal section; though
gratefully remember that the grea
dead soldier, who held the helm o
state for the eight stormiest years o
) reconstruction, never found need 70
such a step; and though there is NJ
personal sacrifice l would not make t.
remove this cruel and unjust imputa
ton on my people from the archise
of my country But, sir, backed b.
record, on every page of which
progress, venture to make earnes
and respectful answer to the question
that are asked. l bespeak your pa
tience, while with rigorous plainness c
speech, seeking your judgment rathe
than your applause, l proceed step b
step. We give to the world this yea
a crop of 100000 bales of cotton
worth S45o, ,ooo, 900, and its cash eqi,
alent in grain, grasses and fruit. TIL
enormous crop could not have com
7 from the hands Of sullen and discor
tented labor. 1t comes from peacefl
EA1Ac ~ x,,h.@l t.,-L&or a-1