Evening star., 1899-04-17
DAY OF REJOICING
Commemoration of Issuance of Eman-
cipation Proclamation.
RECORDER CHEATHAM'S ADDRESS
Plea for Undivided Loyalty to the
Old Flag.
R RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED

u =
There was a large gathering of repre-
sentative colored people at the Second
Baptist Church, colored. yesterday after
noon. Rev. W. Bishop Johnson, DID, pas
tor. to commemorate the issuance of the
emancipation proclamation by President
Lincoln.
The orator of the occasion was Mr.. H.
P. Cheatham, recorder OF deeds of the Dis
trict of Columbia, who said in part:
This is a day of rejoicing. We rejoice
over the emancipation of the colOred race
in the District of Columbia. The same
chord vibrates through the hearts of the
race over the entire land. AS We look
down the line, from 1865 to the present, and
behold the marvellous development and
progress along all lines of human activity
made by people so recently liberated
from the thralldom OF $50 years of slavery
We made to rejoice all the more.
The day upon which Columbus discov-
cred America Is commemorated by all
Americans The day of American emanct-
patton from the CALLING shackles of British
slavery will always be recalled with spe-
cial joy and delight. The student of art
and language goes wild in praise of the
day upon which the great Rosetta stone
mystery and from which the French scholar
patiently deciphered the Demotic and hier-
Oglyphic characters which portray in the
Egyptian the highest knowledge in the arts
and science. Recollection of the great
Magma Charta' day, which gave the En-
glishman new life, by virtue of King Johns
famous bill of rights, always sets aglow
and fills the hearts of the English people
with pride and joy. But none of these
could possibly be as important to you,
to our nation as the great and grand occa-
sion which you have assembled today to
celebrate.
Thanksgiving and Praise.
There is every reason why we should
observe this day OF our deliverance from
thraIldom with thanksgiving and praise. The
noble men from the north. who wore the
blue and fought for the flag of freedom for
all men. deserve our grateful remembrance,
and the black heroes who barred their bos-
oms to shot and shell and saber stroke
ought never to cease receiving our homage
and admiration, and they who faced them
ought also to rejoice with us, because
slavery was no less terrible to the op-
pressor than 1t was TO the poor victim. 1t
hampered the development of manhood and
womanhood; IL repressed the noblest aspira-
ticns of humanity; it stif1ed the sweet
voices of sympathy and conscience, and
fostered fear and violence and cruelty and
robbery.
II can lift up my voice and invite all nv
fellow citizens, of all races of all parties,
OF all cOlors, of all creeds, TO come with
us to this our festival of joy and of thanks
giving. in the belief that country is now
land of liberty, a land of knowledge, a
land of progress; and that republic has
at last become, in fact, what the revo.u-
tionary fathers intended 1t sn 1uld be
Yet, fellow citizens. our situation is
grave. Some print dark pictures of the
present and of the future. We are often
discouraged, cast down. and feel that our
last condition of restricted opportunities
and disappointed ambitions is. perhaps,
worse than the former state of actual Servi-
tude. but We must remember that other
races have passed through .ike ordeaIs. \
retrospect of history will show that every
great nation has passed through this fiery
furnace in its development from barbarism
to civilization
Fellow citizens. prefer to call your at
tention to the creditable Di mag nificent
suits achieved by our people since their
freedom rather than 20 the horrors of the
dark days of slavery, which axe gone to re-
turn no more, for ] sure we shall find
something there to animate and encourage
US in our onward march. Though our path
way may seem thickly beset with mal.y
embarrasSments and our horizon darkened
with the nercest opposition, We must re-
member that no great evil was ever ended
in day-no great reform was ever perfect
ed in an hour; and mass We are but
infants in history.
Coiored Man as Factor
1.-The colored man is an agricultural fac
tor in the United States. The south, large
ly through mis- skill and industry, raises and
sells IL 100000 bales of cotton on the
worlds market, which Is used as an ex-
change for about $3.50. 900 0UJ per annum
and is paid in gold. The same IS true as
TO his skill and industry in connection with
the great tobacco product, from which has
added to our wealth S24 100000 per annum
20 say nothing of the immense cereal crops
produced and exported from the southern
states, yielding and swelling with vast
amounts the wealth of the land. The ne
gro Is easily the superior of any similar
laborfng population in tropical or semi
tropical countries. where the largest agri-
cultural yields are had and upon which the
world depends for its food.
There Is no race on earth which can sue
cessfully take the place of the coIored peo-
pie on the rice and cotton plantations of
the south This Is true from a climatic
standpoint They are the most peaceful
and harmonious and orderly class of citi-
zens in the United States. They are loyal
and true TO their landlords and employers
and create less friction. Their LOYALTY and
hdelity 10 the white race was thoroughly
tested through the dark days of the civil
war IN this country. They are not anarch-
lists or strikers, nor do they plot against
organized society; on the contrary they
are observers Of law and order divisions
being for the most part among themselves
Ihey own many attractive homes and large
ana hne farms in every state in the south
4And. many which are paid for and entirely
unincumbered
They are an educational factor also
Where, in the annals of modern or ancient
history. is it shown that any other race of
the same numbers, under the same disad-
yantages, and In the same short period of
freedom have undertaken life's dark
thorny pathway without a penny in their
pockets. without food or raiment. and ha, .
built 2,o colleges; educated 1900 teachers:
who are disseminating knowledge to the
youth over the entire land-who passed ex-
aminatiOns at the hands of those supuosed
to be Jealous of and antagonistic TO their
advancement in life; who have educated
5000 ministers of the gospel, ~ 900 Sunday
school teachers, and have in their Sunday
schools 5OO.Oo0 pupils in the short period
of twenty five years?
Property Accumulation
Should not the assertion fall tn the