The Progress., 1898-12-17
BILL ARP'S WEEKLY LETTER.
ADMINISTRATIONS POLICY DEP.
RECATED BY PREACHERS.
PRAISES THE REV. D|X0N'S SERMON
The COlOred Man In the South Is Happy
and Should Be Let Alone by
the Politicians

an awful tangle. They are torn all to
pieces on the Philippine question.
The press and the pulpit are fulmi-
mating their various theories and are
giving advice in no uncertain sounds.
DIR. Parkhurst preached a thanksgiv.
ing sermon to an immense congrega-
ton and left the thanks out. He made
bold to denounce the war as an IN
holy one, conceived in sin and waged
with iniquity, and declared that this
country had gained neither glory nor
respect by reason of it. He said that
not even the president could tell
whether he declared war because the
Maine was exploded or because the
Cubans were being starved, or be.
cause lot of congressman threatened
to play Judas to the admin istration if
he dident declare war.
He says the president is continually
putting his ear to the ground like an
Indian to hear what the people Of the
great west have got to say about it.
1t was terrible arraignment of the
war party.
DR.. Van Dyke, another notable
preacher, took for his text "The Amer
lean Birthright and the Philippine
Pottage," and forcibly denounced ter
ritorial expansion. Then again DR..
Morgan Dix, another strong and pop.
ular preacher, refused to give thanks
'for having made war upon q feeble
nation, war that was entered into for
humanity sake only and not to acquire
territory"
And there were other preachers on
the other side and between the preach
ers and the press the people are be-
wildered and don't know what to
think. But it is TO be observed that
all the preachers have some filings to
cast at the south about the negro ex-
cept DIR. Thomas Dixon. "Ihe Mig
ger is in the woodpile" up there and
everybody is crazy about him. But
DR.. Dixon held forth at the Grand
opera house to an immense audience
and dared to tell them the truth. He
declared that Mrs. Grannis as simply
insane and he hoped the Lord would
save the negro from such friends. He
said:
81 knowthe southern people and the
northern people, and I know the ne
gro. He is better off today than the
northern working man. He never
starves or suffers for bread. The sun
does not rise or set on this city but
what some white man or woman or
children starve to death. For every
negro in the south found sleeping on
bed of straw, I will show you five
white persons in the north who have
got no straw, and would be glad to
have it. The northern white man
thinks less of the negro than the south
ern white man does. You don't want
him in your house nor close about you.
No trades are open to him here. He
is nothing here but servant; whereas,
at the south, he completes with the
white man in every trade and walk in
the economic world.
''There are $4,000 negro voters in
New York now, but who ever saw a
negro office holder among them? There
is not one, and never will be. The Anglo
Saxon will rule, and the southern negro
need expect no more artificial sup
port from the north. The experiment
is ended. The war gave this nation
new era Of its life. The bloody shirt
was buried on San Juan hill. The
negro must now stand alone, and
there can never be bloody shirt issue
again in this nation. The negro alone
can solve his problem, and he must do
it, not by politics, but by work"
Well, that sounds fine, but a good |
deal of it is fancy. The fact remains
that before the war there was not a
negro in the changing in Georgia,
and now there are 1000, and the
number is increasing daily, and the
northern Republican press and Repub-
ican pulpits are still denouncing us
for it. In the language of Governor
Oates, I am continually tempted to
exclaim, "Well, what are you'uns
going to do about it,"
But we are going to have a peace
Jubilee down here, and as John Tenn
ole Graves said Of Henry Grady, "We |
ire going to love nation into peace"
See if we don't. We are going to
sreat our northern visitors so gener-
ously and love them so hard that when
hey get back home they won't say
bigger for two weeks, maybe month. |
I wish it were possible to get those |
anatics to stay down here year or so
md see for themselves how the negro
~ i - Ak1o,k, -.