The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1899-05-27

imperative broad liberation among US of
wide difference of opinion as to the best ways
localities, which. must determine the final
result for veal or woe.
So much Of general character may be &C.
cepted without; sacrificing one principle Of
manhood or citizen right, for that would be
repugnant to our sense of absolute justice,
to which we adhere without deviation or
bubble.
AS a fair statement Of cur convictions we
affirm it that there is no manhood or citizen
right guaranteed to us by the federal consti-
t:tion which we do not: claim and denial OF
which by state constitutions against which we
do not protest.
Passing from abstract statement Of senti-
ment to concrete statement Of fact, we have
to congratulate ourselves that the race has
ely Of and
thrift and of Intelligence. There is no con
tentIon herr Egsnds and foes aike admit
in a condition OF freedom have lived to see
US produce. more and consume more than
in condition Of Slavery; those who prophe-
sled that we were incapable Of mastering the
common rudiments Of education have lived
to see us fill 200 colleges in the South with
anxious students and to supply $4,000 compe-
tent teachers IN the public schools of the
intendents of education passed Judgment;
while our ignorant ministry has been trans
formed into one of the strongest and most
Intelligent forces for good in the, republic.
and the high professions of law and medicine
and journalism have competent representa-
tlves IN every considerable community in the
republic, which command the respect and
confidence of their fellows.
We, affirm it as a matter Of fact, which
cannot be refuted, that the Afro-Amer;can
race is stronger and better today than ever
more moral, more religious, more Intelligent !;
that it has larger bank deposits, owns more
real and personal property, and lives in bet
ter homes As ex-Gov: R. B. Bullock; of
York Sun, no people have ever made greater
progress in a given length of time. Where
it was confidently expected and predicted that
we would become a dependent pauper race
ourselves a selff-sustaining race, producing
more cotton and corn and other wealth as
freemen to the enrichment of the commerce
Or ane t at [nt the Sonh than
master: We appeal to the statistics of cot
ton and cereal and mineral production before
and since the wa- to sustain our contention
We have not produced all the wealth of the
honest share. produced vastly more as a free
man than we produced as a slave-and, in
stead of becoming public charges have be-
come self-sustain:ng and reliant citizens, who
share in the wealth we have produced and
rejoice in it and in the strength the expansion
and the glory of the republic, OF which We
are are, as Or. David Gregg, of Brooklyn, re-
in whose past achievement and present glory
IN war and in peace, we claim by right Of
honest labor and sacrifice and devotion, CO.
equal share and participation.
It seems to us strange and unnatural that
we should have to turn from the magnificent
record we have made as slaves and freemen
IN peace and In war, to specific grievances
which go at the very roots OF our citizenship
manity of a portion OF our fellow citizens to
the Justice and fairness and Christian char
ity Inherent IN the heart and the soul Of the