San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1896-08-22
MAI. M'KINLEY TALKS
TO A DELEGATION OF C0L0RED
MEN.
They Call to Pay Their Respects and tie
Majors Address is Received
Enthusiastically.

200 Afro-Americans from Cleveland
headed by one of their race, State
Representative Smith. They came
with band and the Cleveland l.
Overtures Rifles.
Maj. Mckinley, in response to the
remarks of Mr.. Smith, said:
"Mr. Smith and My Fellow Citizens:
1t gives me extreme pleasure to meet
and greet this company of rifles and
nv colored fellow-citizens of the city
of Cleveland and of Northern Ohio, l
rejoice to learn from your eloquent
spokesman that your race this year,
as in all the years of the past, stands
faithfully to the Republican cause,
which / believe is the cause of our
country. (ApplauseD do not for
get-no man can forget-that whether
in war or in peace, the race which
you represent never turned its back
on the glorious Stars and Stripes.
Great applause and erys of "Hurrah
for Mckinley
when that great civil war com
menced no man could tell what It's
outcome would be in regard to its ef-
feet upon your race. There were
those who believed that it must result
in the abolition of human slavery.
There were those who believed other
wise. The result was the immortal
proclamation of emancipation by the
best friend you ever had, Abraham
Lincoln, whose name you will cherish
and reverse forever and forevermore.
Tremendous cheering)
James G. Blaine once said that the
first instinct of an American was
eauality-epuality of privilege, equal
ity in political power That senti-
ment long ago found expression in the
constitution 70 the United States; and
the people of this country placed in
that great instrument, where it had
never been before, and where, under
God. it shall ever remain, civil and po-
litical equality to every citizen, ev-
erywhere beneath the flag. applause,
Il congratulate you, gentlemen, up
on the splendid progress your race
has made since emancipation. You
have done better, you have advanced
more rapidly, than it was believed
possible at that time; you have great
ly improved the educational advant-
ages which you have had. Your peo-
pie everywhere, north and south, are
accommodating property, and today you
stand as among the most conservative
of the citizens of this great republic.
(Applause.) 1 congratulate you from
the bottom of my heart upon the ad-
vancement that you have already
made, and l sincerely wish for you
and your race, fellow-citizens of a
common country, the highest realiza-
ton of your hopes and prayers.
(Cheering)
1--WE are now engaged in a poltti-
cal contest, and your presence here
today is an evidence Of the interest
which you have in the public ques-
tons that are now engaging the at
tention of the American people. We
have a great country, and we must
keep it great. The post which the
United States must occupy, both in
wages and industries, and in the in
tegrity of it's finances and currency,
must be at the head of the nations OF
the earth. loud applauseD To that
place of honor the people Of the coun-
try must restore it this year. They
have the opportunity that they have
wished for since 1892. VIII they
meet it in this year, 1896? (Cries of
'They will.'0
1--WE want in the United States
neither cheap money nor cheap labor.
Great cheers) We will have neither
the one nor the other. (Applause.)
We must not forget that nothing is
cheap to the American people which
comes from abroad when it entails
idleness upon our own laborers. Tire
mendous applause.) We are opposed
to any policy which increases the
number of unemployed in the United
States, even if it does give US cheaper
foreign goods; and we are opposed to
any policy which degrades American