The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-15
Former President Speaks Wise Words at Meeting Held in
 Madison Square Garden
SAYS BOOKER WASHINGTON'S
 PLAN IS THE CORRECT ONE
Sentiment and Behavior of the South ern People Is Sufficient to Show That Denial of Social Equality
 Is Not Due to Prejudice.

New York April 14-Former President Grover Cleveland was the principal
 speaker tonight at meeting held in the
 concert hall of Madison Square Garden.
 in the interests of the Tuskegee Normal 1 and Industrial institute.
 l Among those on the platform with Mir. l Cleveland were Mayor Low who presided, Booker T. Washington. Edgar c. Murphy, 1 pr. Lyman Abbott and George F. Pea body. Mrs. Cleveland sat in the gallery l with Mir. and Mrs Andrew Carnegie, who are MT. Clevelands hosts. while he l Is In the city.
 MT Cleveland who was greeted with prolonged applause as he was introduced by Mayor Low, said:
 "I have come here tonight as sin cere friend of the negro and I should be very sorry to suppose that my good and regular standing in such company need | ed support at this late day, either from certificate or confession of faith. Inas- 1 much, however, as there may be diff 1 ferences of thought and sentiment among l those who profess to be friends of the negro l desire to declare myself as be- 1 longing to the Booker Washlngton-Tuske- | gee section of the organization. ''I believe that the days of Uncle Toms cabin are past. I do not believe that either the decree that made the slaves free or the enactment that suddenly in- vested them with the rights of citizenship.
 any more purged them of their racial and
 slavery-bred imperfections and deficit
 encies, than that 1t changed the color of | their skin.
 Sad Amount of Vieiousness. | q believe that among the nearly nine | millions of negroes who have been inter- | mixed with our citizenship there is still | a grievous amount of ignorance a sad l amount of viciousness and a tremendous | amount of laziness and thriftlessness I | believe that these conditions inexorably l present to the white people of the United | States, to each in his environment and under the mandate of good citizenship, l problem which neither enlightened self
 interest nor the higher motive of human | sympathy will permit them to put aside. T believe our fellow-countrymen in the southern and lately slave-holdlng states. | surrounded by about nine-tenths, or near | ly eight millions, of this entire negro l population. and who regard their material 1 prosperity their peace and even the l safety of their civilization, interwoven | with the negro pTODleIIlg arc tulilicd lO
 cur utmost consideration and sympathetic l fellowship. I am thoroughly convinced 1 that the efforts of Booker T. Washington i and the methods of Tuskegee institute l point the way to a safo and benencient | solution of the vexatious negro problem | at the south and I know that the good
 people at the north who have aided these
 efforts and methods have Illustrated the
 highest and best citizenship and the most
 Christian and enlightened philanthropy.
 After All.
 | q cannot however, keep out of my l mind tonight the thought that, with all
 we of the north may do, the realization
 of our hopes for the negro must. after l all mainly depend--except so far as it | rests with the negroes themselves-upon
 the sentiment and conduct of leading and
 responsible white men of the south and | upon the maintenance of a kindly and l helpful feeling on their part towards those in their midst who so much need
 their aid and encouragement.
 q need waste no time in detailing the l evidence that this aid and encouragement
 has thus far been generously forthcom- | ing Schools for the education of negro
 children and institutions for their indus 1 trial training are scattered all over the
 south and are literally assisted by the
 southern public and private funds. So
 far as I am informed the sentiment in 1 favor of the largest extension and broad l est influence of Tuskegee institute and
 kindred agencies is universal, and be- | lieve that without exception. the negroes l who fit themselves for useful occupations l and service find willing and cheerful pat I ronage and employment among their
 white neighbors. The man who Is beyond ] doubt the best authority in the world l on the prospects of the negro race, he
 who founded and Is now at the head of | the Tuskegee institute, and Is the most | notable representative of negro advance l ment said at the Atlanta exposition in l 1895:
 Quotes an Authority.
 "'And in this connection 1t is well to | bear in mind that whatever other sins
 the south may be called to bear, when
 it comes to business pure and simple, 1 it is in the south that the negro Is given l a mars chance in the commercial worlf:, l and in nothing is this exposition more slo- | quent than in emphasizing this chance.
 |" Our --eatest danger is that in the | great leap from slavery to freedom, wa | may overlook the fact that the masses
 of us are to live by the production of our
 hands and fail to keep in mind that VIC i shall prosper in proportion as we learn ! to dignify and glorify common labor and l put brains and skill into the common oc- ! equations of lfe-shall prosper in propor- l tion as we learn to draw the line between I the superficial and the substantial-the
 ornamental gew-gaws of life and the use l ful.
 Faith in the South. q do not know how 1t may be with l other northern friends of the negro. but I l have faith in the honor and sincerity of | the respectable white people of the south hn their relations with the negro and his Bimprovement and well-being. They do not believe In the social equality of the Il race and they make no false pretense in I regard to 1t. That this does not grow out of hatred of the negro is very plain. It seems to me that there is abundant sem timent and abundant behavior among Il the southern whites towards the negroes N ! (contlnued on Second Paas)