National Baptist world., 1894-10-19
AMERICA
AND THE NEGRO AMERI-
CAN.
An Eloquent And Logical Speech Deliv-
cred At The Fair Grounds, Parsons,
Kansas Before 5000 People Sep
tember 22nd., 1894, BY Rev.
w. L. Grant.
Well May The Great Bend Daily Republicans Style Him
The Roscoe Conklin OF The Negro bace.
The Following Is Full Text OF Rev. Grants Speech.


The Following Is A Full Text OF Rev. Grants Speech.
Mr.. Chairman, Ladies and Gentle
men:-I thank you for the invitation
you have extended me to be present
to address you upon this momentus
occasion. Your committee was ur-
gent upon me, and charged me not
to fail to be present. I have always
regarded Parsons, since my first visit,
as the metropolis Of Southeastern
Kansas. It is she gateway to the
Territory, your mercantile and volu-
minous traffic; your splendid rail
road transportation, which has short
ened the distance between the Mo
River and the South; your magnifi-
cent schools and churches, and your
men and women, all combined,
makes it one Of the most habitable
cities in America. But we are not
here for iubilation alone, for we are
making history. The nation is wait
ing to see how soon, if it must come,
we will lift ourselves in the scale OF
the latest and greatest civilization
known to the history of man. we
are here to commemorate with our
wives and children, friends and rela-
tives, the rich and the poor, great
and small, in common with all other
American citizens, on this august Oc-
casion, the most eventful and unique
document, both to black and white
Americans, that has ever dropped
from the east end of the Portico of
the National Capitol-the Emanci-
patton PROCLAMATION. 1t is said out OF
weakness comes strength, out OF de-
cav comes life. The motto of the
United States, E Pluribus Unum,
many units combined, or, many
States combined, was a prophetic
vision of the real, and in the Cont
mental Congress in 1889, more thar
one hundred years ago, the mighties1
Empire Of earth was contemplated
1t was an infinite design of which
the founders of the republic were ig
norant. Liberty was then in the era
die. The Declaration of Independ
ence was the outgrowth Of nOmina
slavery It had fired the hearts o
the colonists aud lent an impulse t'
freedom of speech, and the press tha
fairly dazed the brave warriors an(
Statesmen whose fathers and SON
had perished in the struggle. GeOrg'
Washington was the uncrowne(
king. The passions and resentment
of government were alike the prob
lens of craftsmanship, present anC
future. With the yoke of British ty
ranny Ioosened; the fire and patriot
ism still burning in the bosom Of the
colonist; the vast machinery OF gov
ernment to engender and promote
the hostile children of the forest t.
molest and despoil; the counties
stretching in one unbrOken chall
from ocean to ocean, IN whose arm
Law the substance and life Of gener
ations unborn; the most stupendou
task Of framing uniOn-a compac
for a federal government was un
dertaken. The implements Of tol
are one thing and how to use then
is another. 1t is singular that i
1920 two great events took place, tn
one representing the germ of civil
zation, and the other, slavery; tn
one righteousness, and the otht
unrighteousness-tw gods whlc
strove for supremacy and greed ov'
the human soul and body,-and tt
battle which must soon follow,
night the day, will test the ve1
foundation stone of the governmen
The Puritan comes with civilizatit
In one hand and the sword in Il
other: the African, subdued al
chained, slave. Unconscious
the magnitude suggested by the p
rade of this comely drama, no lie
unglorious than inhuman, the teac
er of the gospel of the new dispens
ton. waxed fat and kicked. 90
men are not always wise men. L
nature Of man is neither compensf
ed nor satisfied unless he is the &C
queror of conquerors and the vie
of victims. Nations like individu
are rapacious and gaudy; their in
sions and conquests are marked
the same distinctive traits that ch
acterize their school and time. !
impress of the Worlds histf