Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1890-01-01
adverse at every point, we are required to
carry these two races in peace and honor to

man was shut out of this republic because he
IS an alien and inferior The red man was
owner of the land; the yellog mau highly
civilized and assimilable; but they hiHdred
both sections and are gone. But the black
man, affecting but section, is clothed with
every privilege of government ard pinned
90 the soil and my people commanded to
| NJ Ike good at any hazard and az any cost
bis fnll and equal heirship of American
privilege and prosperity 1t matters not
that evory other race has been routed or ex-
cluded without rhyme or reason. It. mat
| ters not that wherever the whites and blacks
have touched. in any era or in any cline,
there has been ar irreconcilable 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 commanded tn
make good this change of American policy,
which has not, perhaps, changed American
| pref ddice, 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
superbuman task with an impatiencs that
brooks no delay, rigor that accepts no ex-
cuse and suspicion that discourages frank
| ness and sincerity.
We do not shrink from this trial. 1t is
so interviewer With our industrial fabric
| that we cannot disentaDgle it if we would
80 bound up in our honorable obligation
| to the world that we would not If we could.
| Can we solve il? The G ID VINO gave it into
| our hands-Hs alone can know. But this
the weakest and wisest of us do know-we
cannot solve it with less than your tolerant
| AID patient sympathy; with less than the
| knowledge that the blood that runs in your
! veins is cur blood. and that, when we have
done our best, whether the issue be losl or
wop, we shall feel your strong arms about
Us and hear the beating of your approving
hearts
The reeolute, clear headed, broad mind
ed men of the South-the men whose geuius
made glorious every page of the first sew
enty years of American histroy-whose
courage aud fortitude you tested in four
| years of the fercest war-whose energy has
made bricks without straw and spread
| splendor amid the ashes of their war-wast-
| ed homes-tnese men wear this profile min
| 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 raes-the measure of their
debt to the world in whose despite they de-
Tended and maintained slavery. And
thcngh their feet are Murdered in it's under
growth, and their march numbered with it's
burdens, they have lost neither the patience
from which comes cleaEness, nor the faith
from which comes courage. Nor, sir, when
in passionate moments is disclosed to them
that vague and awful shadow, with its lurid
abysses and its crimson stains. into which
I pray God they may never go, are they
ckr HF0 a,< 81, -
needed 10 complete their conservation.
Such is the temper of nay people. But
what of the problem itself? Mr.. President,
we need not 60 one step further unless you
concede right here that the people speak
for are as honest, as sensible, aud as just as
your people, seeking as earnestly as you
would in their place to rightly solve the
problem that tcnches them at every vital
point If you insist that they are ruffi ,rs,
biindiy striving With bludgeon and shotgun
to plundsr aud oppress race, then shall
sacrifice my self-respece and tax your pa
tience in vain. But admit that they are
men Of common sense and common honesty,
wisely modifying an environment which
they caunct wholly disregard, guiding ard
controlling az best they can the vicons and
irresponsible of their race-compensating
error with frankness, and retrieving in pa
tience what they lose in passion-and con-
seions all the tiE1e that wrong means ruia
admit this aud we may leach an under
standing tonight.
The President of the United States, in
his late rressaget Congress, discussing the
pls. that the South should bs left 90 solve
this problem, asks: "Are they at work up-
on il? What solution do they offslP When
will the black man cast a free ballot? When
will be have the civil rights that are his?'
l SHALL not here protest against a partisan
cry that for the first time in our history in
time of peace has stamped with the great
seal of Our government the stigma upon the
people of a great and loyal section. though
l gratefully remember that the great dead
soldier who held the helm of state for the
eight stOrmiest years of reconstruction nev-
er found need for such a step; and there is
no personal sacrifice l would not make to
remove this cruel and unjust imputation on
my people from the archives of my country !!
But, sir, backed by a record on every page
of which is progress, venture to make
earnest and respectful answer to the ques
tions that are asked. l bespeak your pa
thence, while with righteous plainness of
speech seeking your judgment rather than
your applause, proceed step by step.
We give to the world this year crop Of
r 500, coo bales of cotton, worth $3.50, 000,-
600. AID its cash equivalent in grain,
grasses and fruit. This enormous crop
could not have come from the hands of
sullen and discontented labor. 1t comes
from peaceful fields, In which laughter and
gossip rises above the hum OF industry and
contentment runs with the singing plough.
It is claimed that this ignorant labor is de-
frauded of it's just bire. l present the tax
books of Georgia, which show that the
negro, % years ago slave, has in Georgia
alone $10,000,000 of assessed property,
worth twice that uch. Does not that
record honor him and vindcate his neigh
bors? What people, penniless, iIiterate,
has done so well? For every free American
agiator, stirring the strife in which aiona
be 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
schoolhouse door. And the schoolhouae
itself bears testimony. The South since
1865 has spent $122 600, 900 in education
and this year is pledged to $37, 1000, COO
more for State and city schools, although
the blacks, paying one-thirtieth tho taxes,
get nearly ons-half of the fund Go into
our fields and see whites and blacks work
ing 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 their greater
need or simpler habits, and yet are per-
m tted because we want TO bar them from
10 avenue in which their feet are fitted to
tread.
"They could not there be elected orators
of white universities as they have been
here, but they do enter there hundred
useful trades that are closed against them
here. We hold it better and wiser to tend
the weeds in the garden than to water the
exotic in the window. In the South there
are negro lawyers, teachers, editors,
deptisTs. doctors, preachers, multiplying
with the increasing ability of their race to
support them. In villages and towns they
have their military companies eqaipped
| from the armnries of the State, their
churches and societies bnilt and supported
| largely - their neigbbors. What is the