The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1903-05-07
THE NEGRO'S FRIENDS.
His Worst Affiic;ioa Has Been the
Political Use Made OF Him by the
Republican Party.

Philadelphia Record.
1t has been affirmed that the purpose
of the Republican Legislature OF NiscOn- |
sin, in its resolution calling conference
of the States to consider the condition of
the negro in the South. was to bring
Senator Spooner to the front as q presi-
Dental candidate, with the champion
ship of the political rights Of the negro
as his particular policy. That the Re-
publicans hope the negro issue whatever
it may be- may Overshadow issues which
are less pleasing to their party is appar
ent from the comments OF the Republican
newspapers on Mr.. Cleveland friendli-
ness to the black race. Thus the Press,
of this city, declares that Mr.. Cleveland
has cut loose from the Democracy and
sacrificed the friendship OfSOuthern DEM
ocrats by proclaiming himself the friend
Of the negro.
1t is true, as Mr. Cleveland AYERS, that
the best friends OF the black man are the
Southern white people. They endeayor
to deal Justly with him while Northern
men, including most Republicans, will
have nothing to do with him except to
use him for political ends. The amity in
which individual whites and blacks live
in the South; the kindly feeling with
| which the whites minister to the negroes
when they are III trouble; the respect
| which the negroes express to the whites
| in the South and deny to the people OF
| the North, all go to show that outside OF
politics the dependence of the Southern
negroes is on the traditional affection OF
the Southern white people The policy
which undertook to make the best OF the
negro by his literary education has been
| failure, and it was Booker L. Washing
| ton who discovered that the sane method
was the industrial training of the blacks.
In his efforts to achieve this he has the
sincere sympathy of the South. The ex-
tension of this method promises to solve
the only problem which the negroes pre-
sent outside of politics. Hence the fear
of the intelligent negroes, including
Washington and of all the true friends
of the blacks, is that the Republican pol
iticians who, like Senator SpOoner pro-
pose to discuss the condition of the ne
groes, will try to arouse sectional bitter
ness and race animOsity for party adj
| vantage.
Every intelligent and conscientious per-
son who does not subordinate right and
the national welfare to party benefits is
friend to the negro, and would aid and
delight in any means for his moral and
| l.
the negro are those who would misrepre-
sent the conditions of his life and attempt
to induce him to hate the Southern peo-
Pile. No one who shall read Booker I.
Washington's appeal for Northern mod
Grafton in the discussion of the negro and
who shall read the admirable address Of
Mr.. Cleveland in support of the Tuske-
gee Institute can approve the use which
the Republican politicians apparently in
tend to make of the negro. 1t is a crime
against the negro, against the nation
and against humanity for the politicians
to revive the animosities which have
been in course of burial for many years
The work already accomplished by the
Tuskegee Institute is ample warrant for
the belief that the future peace OF the
South and the greatest possible advance
| of the negro are in course Of achievement.
and that the chief menace to the prosper
ity and happiness of the black race in the
South is the unscrupulous abuse of South
ern people for hatred of the negro which
| they do not entertain