The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-08-16

constitutionality of the minority report,
 as I understand it, seems to be decis-
 i've against 1t, but i. Is question that
 may well be considered from the stard-
 point of expediency, policy and 5ucs.ce.
 Ore of the chief instrumentaiites
 which civilization affords for the up-
 lifting and broadening of citizenship is education, and after a good many years of reading and thought and discussion, I have come to the conclusion that the solution of the so-called negro problem depends very largely upon the practical utilization of that instrumen:ality. refer not of course to the higher learn. ing, to the university of education,
 which of course, is by no means to be disregarded, qr underrated, but speak of common school education which comes near to the people. has a direct and immediate effect upon them, and which will elevate our people of both
 races if applied justly. properly and wisely with reference to the special and
 peculiar conditions that confront us.
 Lord Brougham gave the world very striking estimate of the importance and influence of a common school educa- tion in his speech against the appoint
 inert of the Duke of Wellington as Prime Minister of England. The great Iron Duke was then in the full tide of n,s popularity, justly his, as the re- suit Of his great military successes. In that speech Lord Brougham in @ burst of defiance said: "FieId Marshal the Duke of Wellington may take the army. he may take the navy, he may take the Great Seal, he may take the mitre, WI make him a present of them all;
 let him come on with his whole force, sword !n hand, against the Constitu- tion and the English people will not only beat him back, but will laugh st his attempts. There was a time that ths country ray have heard with dis
 may tliat the soldier was abroad. It i3 not So now. Let the soldier be abroad if he VII. he can do nothing In this age. There is another person. age abrosd. parsonage less important n ths eyes of some. perhaps tnsign,f- cant but the scf oo' master Is ahrox.l and trust him and his primer against the soldier in full military array.1f Sos MT. President, ir Alabama today -tte scrooi master, and the school mistress, IT you please. are abroad, in and am ,,1e | the people. tringing the blessings of | education, the elementary reform en- aohng them to gain knowledge and ehink and elevate themselves in the scale of h. ms Ltty and become self sustaining and self-respecting and val uIp'e ctiZens. Now then, sir, If | t10se things are the outcome of tae | comrlon school education properly an- | piled with reference to our conditions. | 1t seems to me that they ought to an. | ply equally to tetf races, and 1t doss seem 10 me that We are making a great iustake, ana we are endeavoring to lhaugurate very unwise policy when We propose by cons titutional ordina nee to imbed In 1t the principle that ed- ucat'on shall be dependent upon t'Ias line of cleavage in tax paying which Is more fancied rhsn .aI as l snaH srow. The whole thing oaseo upon fallacy the fallacy be- ing tnat the negro is little or nothing l or a taxpayer. but if you apply thai principle and discriminate in favor of a white man. and against the negro along that line, why isn't 1t just as proper to discriminate against a white man whose name Is not on the tax books. and yet we would not think of doing that. MT. President. there are thousands of men in the State of Ala Dama whose names are not found on tne assessors books. who own no property. and who support themselves ana tneir families comfortably and re- spectaniy from their daily labor, rent Ing a little cottage over which the good house wife presides. taking care or her children and educating them as Tar as she can, experimenting the State Tn us work. and in my observation and experience l have seen the children oi those people grow up and become in- nuential and prominent men in the communities in which they lived. The negro is a producer, he may not pay any taxes. his name may not appear on the tax books, but the man who employs him. who enjoys and pos sesses the product of his labor. pays the tax and enjoys the fruit of it. The negro Is consumer and a consumer of the first water. He spends all bis earnings in his desire to consume. hap- py-go-lucky. he has no idea thereafter what becomes of it. It goes into the tills of the merchant and finds its way into the tax book. You have a. daily illustration in the city of Montgomery
 Go on the thoroughfare any time and see the negroes who have sold theil little truck or cotton. see them how lavishly they spend what little they have. What becomes of the profit made upon their labor what becomes of the money which is paid out, for the articles they need, why it goes into the drawer of the merchant, enables him to enlarge his stock, to employ more labor. to put up a new ware house. to take stock in the new Mont gomery Hotel proposed. or to engage in other enterprises of pith and mo- ment indicative of his prosperity That is the fruit ofsthe negro, so. practical ly speaking, he is taxpayer, and s large taxpayer. and it is not only un- just to him. but MT. President, it mill tates against the negro race as d component part of olr civilization and must react upon our own selves and initiate against ourselves. l can noj go into a discussion of the negro sub. tect, but I will say very briefly that we can not expect that in the thirty five years since they have emerged from thousand years of savagery and several hundred years of slavery and then placed in position of unnatura
 antasonism to the white people. We cannot expect that within the short time of thirty-fve years for them tC show any good results of education
 but if education can influence anybody in the world the time must come wher 1t will have it's influence upon thc negro race. We must recollect that he is here and we can not get rid of him
 to use familiar expression, he is here
 to stay. Now DeQuincy's thrilling prose poem immortalized the fight of 6 tartar tribe. but the graphic pen of $ future DeQuincy will never be reouiret to record the exodus of the negro rac' from this land of ours: this is his lant
 of milk and honey and he is here tC stay. and our civilization, ouP well be ing depends upon taking him by tho