Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-01-10
THE NEGRO PROBLEM
Frederick Douglass Address on the
Issues of the Hour.
SOUTHERN LYNCHERS SCORED
The Negro Defended from the Ac.
cusations Against Him.
SOCIAL DIS RIMIN ALTON
SOUTHERN LYNCHERS SCORED
SOCIAL DIS RIMIN ALTON

1.-The men who stab Christianity deepest
are the men who wrong their colored
brothers"
Thus spoke Frederick Douglass last night,
with uplifted eyes and arms. as if to in
woke heaven to bear witness. and the echoes
of his words were drowned in tumultuous
storm of applause from an audience that
could appreciate the application of his
sta ten ent. 1t was an impressive scene.
Standing on the rostrum, his hair silvered
by the touch of time and trouble, his form
slightly bent with the weight of three
score years and ten, yet with voice I'M
shaken, that voice which for half a GEN.
fury has cried out for the emancipation of
his people from physical and social bond
age; with brain still teeming with practical
IDEAS for the advancement of the colored
race; with the same old fire and fervor
proceeding from his great big heart he
launched bitter invective against his foes,
scathed lukewaem friends with keenest
sarcasm and gave good advice to his
friends. AS he looked out from the ros-
trum his gaze fell upon a of upturned
faces of his own color earnest, intelligent
countenances of men and women. who fol-
lowed his words with deepest attention and
frequently evidenced their understanding
and appreciation of his remarks
The Issues of the Hour.
1t was the occasion Of an address upon
the issues of the hour, delivered at the
Metropolitan A. NJ. E. Church. The prin-
cipal portion of 1t was a studied effort to
refute the charge made against the negroes
of the south, in defense of frequent lynch
ings. that they are guilty of outrage upon
white women and that lynchings are but
in punishment Of this fearful crime and as
80 Isn
defense was mainly confined to the state
ment that the guilt of the victims is not
proven and to his belief that they are not
guilty of that crime, but that the charge is
made against them but to furnish excuse
for bounding them and taking their lives
1t was when Mr.. Douglass left this branch
of the subject and touched upon other fea-
lures of the negro problem that he rose to
logic, and thrilled his audience with some
| thing of his own fervor. He began with
the statement that he would give a colored
mans view of the unhappy relations at
present existing between the white and COL
ored races in the south. I'VE have had the
views of the southern man. qualified by his
own surroundings" he said I'VE have also
had the northern mans views, tempered by
time, distance and higher civilization.
You must not be surprised If my testimony
| shall differ from both.
The Most Serious Problem.
'"There is one thing in the start upon
| which We must all agree. and that is that
| this negro problem is one of the most ser
| ious which confronts the American people.
| 1t involves questions that are great obvious
and increasing. The fact that S,UUO,UUO peo-
pie are regarded as outside of society law and
humanity, victims of mob rule and murder,
is disgrace to the whole nation. He said
that the contagion has invaded the north
is spreading. and if allowed to go on will
| inv. boil.
comes to US now from late rebellion states
that is not tainted and freighted with negro
| blood. The mob has superseded courts and
| juries. laughs at legal processes, and red
handed murderers stalk through the land.
We claim to be Christian people, yet moth
| ing in the history of savagery equals the
horrors of mob vengeance in the south. 1t
| is popularity believed that only buzzards and
hyenas despoil dead bodies, yet the mobs of
| the south commit the most fiendish mutila-
| tons upon the bodies of their victims. He
drew horrible picture Of the lynching of q
| ravsher. and deepened it's horror by the
subtle intimation that the victim may have
been innocent.
All PresumptiOns Against the Negro.
The great trouble with the negro I'm the
| south is that all presumptions of law and
| fact are against him. An abandoned wom-
| an has only to say a negro has insulted
her and he is mobbed. A white man has
| but to blacken his face and commit crime
| in order to have a negro hung. The in
dictment drawn up against the southern
| negro paints him as a ferocious monster
| He is charged with the most revolving
crime which human being can commit.
| This charge is made against the colored
race as such. 1t must be refuted, and he
| announced his readiness to meet all COM
ers, not because of his ability, but because
he believes in the goodness of his cause.
He stated that he believes the colored man
IA. llx- Of ha
| crime imputed to him than any other
| species of the human race. He described
| the mob, the ease with which ii is created
| and the motives by which it is inspired.
therefore he challenged the credibility of
| the mob as witness against the negro.
| His Accusers' Veracity 1mpeached.
81 further impeach the veracity of men
| who openly violate the Constitution of the
| United States and boast of it. Men who
lie against the negro in one thing will lie
| against him in another. Men who will
cheat the negro of his vote L Will not ac-
cent as witnesses against the negro"
Another point which he brought forward
as proof in favor of the negro was that dur
ing the war while the men of the south
were absent in the war. the negroes were
Iaft in charge of the women and children,
and there was never case of assault
Those who bring this charge and hurl 1t
into our faces do not dare to confront the
negro in a court of law. He Is not allow
4
Is easier perhaps. to criminate the character
of his accuser. 1t does not serve their pur
nose to have their own characters shown
up.
In the little town in which l live. good
as the people are, l believe that a man
standing on the Anacostia bridge could
raise a mob to come up to my place and
attack me if the cry were raised that L
had assaulted a woman" Why was it that
during the war and during reconstruction
times no cry was raised against the negro
charging him with the crime now imputed?
They went on killing negroes, however, and
they based their murders upon the ground
that it was necessary to maintain Anglo
saxon supremacy. Why was not the pres
emit charge brought then? The only rational
answer is that the charge either was not
thought of or was not deemed necessary
to support the lawlesS actions. He an
Enounced his belief that the present charge
against the negro is brought to blast his
reputation and work his destruction The
perpetual reiteration of the charge has
finally caused people to come to believe it,
1T is deceiving our friends who look at us
with averted eyes. The charge comes as
part of a well-defined and simultaneous
movement toward the oStracism and ex-
clusion of the colored race. which is indi-
Gated by concerted effort to cripple the
nesro's right to exercise the elective fran
chise."
Against Southern Lynchers.
He made some very bitter statements