The Portland daily press., 1894-10-26
THE RACE PROBLEM.
Important Mass Meeting Held Last
Night.

Night.
speeches by William Lloyd Garrison, Dr..
1r' Rev. John j. smallwood and Rev
Matt S. Hughes-Mayor Baxter Presid
ed.
Inc race mass meeting at Chestnut
stree6 church last night was largely at
Iehueo. there was plentiful sprlnk-
ing OF colored people in the audience.
On the Platoon, besides the speakers of
OF the evening, William Lloyd Garrison,
Jr.. and Rev. John G. Smallwood, were
Mayor Baxter, Rev Matt S. Hughes, the
pastor OF the church and Rev. I.G. Ross.
After selection by Merriman's Band
OF knlghtyille, the exercises were OPP
ened by prayer by Rev. I.G. Ross. May
or Baxter, in his Introductory address,
said that If he did not believe that there
were conditions in the South disgraceful
to our civilization he should not be
| there to Introduce speakers who were
to tell OF the oppression of the negro
still going ON. Forty years ago, William
Lloyd Garrison was battling for the
slave. Ills mantle had fallen upon
worthy shoulders. He was glad to intro
duce his son. who bore his honored
| name.
| William Lloyd Garrison, Jr., was very
cordially received. He reviewed in
calm and conservative, but telling, man
ner, the only too we'll known facts of
negro oppression in the South. He said
this meeting was called to add its in
fuence to the uprising revolt against it.
So strong has this been of late that sew
eral southern governors of states have
felt called upon to say that one cannot
understand the situation until one has
| lived in the South. 1t is never to be lost
| sight OF, however, that the South has
| gradually improved ever since the war.
The situation is natural result Of the
war, and now the social problem is one
OF caste not of color. The incongruity
OF different cars for blacks and whites,
and the close companionship of white
master and colored servant shows that
| it is caste and not color. It is the day
| of the "poor whitesn in the South. Lib
Grated as they were with the slaves, they
can only assert themselves by displaying
! toward the blacks the same caste pre-
/ JUDGE thst they have always suffered
from. The speaker ould encourage in.
dependence OF voting among the ne
groes When the present solidity of
their votes gives place to separation in
| different parties, their votes will be
sought. while now they are cast out. Me-
groes. because similar in color, need not
be similar in belief on the tariff or any
| other national question. One thing is
sure, that while this evil exists in the
South it is onr duty TO expose it to the
light of public knowledge
He spoke, in closing, of the need of ed
ucation and of his friend, the Rev. Mr..
Smallwood, as one of the educators of
| the South. who are transforming the
rude slave material into the finished
product of self-supporting, law-abiding
American citizens.
Mayor Baxter introduced Rev. Matt
S. Hughes as native of Virginia, and
one too we'll known to need further in
production. Mr.. Hughes srtuck the key
note of the occasion in his usual force
and precision. He declared that the
negro oppression is national calamity:
that it appeals to true patriotism as
such, and that the meeting of that eve-
ming was for the purpose Of aiding in
arousing that uniyersolspu bic sentiment
that alone can cause reform.
The Rev. John J. Smallwood was en-
Enthusiastically received. He had come
to this city for the second time because
of the recent burning Of his college
property in Claremont, Va. and the
great need Of raising funds to carry on
his great work in defiance of lawless
interruption. He spoke with his re-
markable eloquence and fire, and logic,
that is as fascinating as it is inspiring,
of the wrongs that he and his race have
suffered AID are suffering. He dwell
with splendid power of word, and fact.
and thought, upon the absolute necessi-
ty of the negro's solving his own prob.
lem, OF resenting oppression, of fighting
for his rights He had come North to
ask help to be able to stay in CIaremonr.
He proposed to stay there. If he was
to be martyr to oppression, be would
die in the land of his fathers.
81 am not foreigner am an Amer
lean citizen. My ancestors felIed the
trees and built the first cabins in the
place where was horn. II is my coun-
try, and propose to stay, not as cow
ard. but as teacher of my fellow ne
groes
II need $4,000. ask my white friends
of the North for $4,000, and promise to
erect upon the very spot where the first
negro was sold in this country, living
monument to the intelligence the man
hood and the dignity Of American negro
citizenship
ence responded literally.
.Rey.l. G. Ross presented, and the au-
dlence adopted, resolutions appropriate
60 the purpose of the evening.