The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1894-01-04
TWO THOUSAND BALES MAR
KETED HERE THIS SEASON.


In 1891. when ! first became a citi.
zen of this grand and great territory,
thought that really had found the
mecca Here every body seemed to
be filled with brotheriy love and no
one had precedence over the other 10y
reason Of race, color or previous con.
dition. ! thought for once that had
found sixty thousand people who had
accepted the results of the late war:
That nowhere under our national flag
should live a single slave.
But what a change soon came over
our peaceful atmosphere Unfortun-
ately for the race to which | belong,
we do not read enough, and when the
country first opened that race did not
know much of the country, but as soon
thereafter as they learned something
of the advantages of the country, one
could hear nothing but Oklahoma, and
the tide of immigrationset in and then
it was that this change came about.
Men who had expressed themselves
as being possessed of no prejudice
could be heard on every street corner,
in public and private places, throwing
out such epithets as would not settle
well in the minds of the more ignor-
ant of Darkest Africa. saying that the
country would soon be negroized and
the progress of the territory would be
destroyed, and to speak of electing one
to an Office of honor and trust caused
such a ripple upon the sea of prosper
ity and peace that meeting after meet
ing was held to decide what to do with
the Coon, rs he was most frequently
called. One American deciding what
to do with another! Unauthorized by
statute or custom Not a few seemed
TO be in favor of an attempt to drive
them from the territory, drive them
from government land, the title to
which was vested in no one but the
government of the United States at
that time
But the cool-headed and sober
minded, without regard to political af-
| filiations or section they hailed from,
could be heard to say: They are
/ Americans, made so after millions of
gallons of precious human blood had
been split"
The pres. seems to be against him.
Public sentiment was against him.
Many things that were never said
about any other people were said
about him O-e paper went SO far as
TO advise the people to resort to lynch
and mob law TO get rid of him So
much 50 could it be heard on the
streets that the writer had made up
his mind that he would have to fall
lifeless in the lap of her who had
promised to support and protect so
long as God would let them live. The
negro prayed t. God to spare him (and
prayed for the men who oppressed
HIM to give him a chance to redeem
himself
So, in the same condition as when he
was called to the gate in 1865 by the
one he had been taught to call master
for 250 years and told by that master
that he the negro, was a free Ameri
can citizen, he went away without the
experience of knowing how to pro-
vide for himself and family, without
money or friends without lands or
houses. lie had nothing he could call
his own but God and his country.
lie went into the bowels of the earth
and dug therefrom hundreds of thous-
ands of dollars for himself and others
lie was brought to America in 1920
without his consent lie walked from
jamestown along the line of civiliza-
tion in all of the original thirteen
states and many others. lie felled the
forest, drove back the panther and the
bear killed the serpent and helped to
knit together the railroad ties from
the lakes on the north to the gulf on
the south, from Sandy Hook to the
Golden Gate lie has been found not
wanting in his efforts to improve and
enhance the valuation of property,
and not to depreciate its value.
lie has come TO oklahoma for that
and no other purpose, and he who ad-
/ Judges him otherwise does so because
/ he does not know him; and he does
not know him because he does not
study him; and he does not study him
because he is opposed TO the progress
of this much hated race. Here we
own our farms. Here we are trying
to improve them; and here, too, our
good and able governor says we make
good servants.
We have demonstrated this year
what is possible for Oklahoma if given
a chan to do SO We have brought
TO this city this year an almost entire
new staple in this market, and there
is not a merchant a banker or a busi-
ness man Of any kind who has not felt
the favorable effect of this staple.
We have brought to the city of
Guthrie this season 1000 bales of cot
ton tc pay our debls and to exchange