The Savannah morning news., 1903-01-28

chfstic i'm Its Trend-Death aud
Destruction the Cry of Negro
Lawyer-Wild Threats of What the
Negro should and Would Do Were
Madc-The Speakers Words Gre
ated Enthusiasm Among Black An
archists.
Washington. Jan. 27.-Because a
meeting over which he presided was
| characterized by some as incendiary
Cyrus Field Adams, negro who is
| assistant register of the treasury, is
having his part in the affair scruti-
niZed by the officials above him. The
meeting was under the auspices of
the Afro American Council of which
Pledger of Georgia is president, and
which has recently resolved itself into
an office trust to relieve the President
of awarding federal offices to the ne
groes.
The reports furnished the press last
| night made no mention of the most
sensational feature of this gathering.
1t was a mass meeting at one of the
leading colored churches with a long
list of speakers. among them Lincoln
johnson of Atlanta. The star of the
occasion was however, a negro, Hays,
an attorney at Richmond, who has
| figured in the efforts to test the dis
| franchisement laws of that state. His
speech was full of fight and fire. In
cidentally he quoted the Atlanta Con-
| stitution as having threatened the
negroes with kuklux IL the growth of
federal appointments in the South
continues"
Il make the prediction" he declared,
that when thenSouthern people start
to kukluxing this time they will not
have the objects of their oppression
the same timid people they kukluxed
in the sixties"
For the CwOrd md Torch.
In the course of his speech Hayes is
reported to have declared that the ne
gro has now reached the limit of his
endurance, and advocated the sword
and torch as a means for the negro to
| maintain his manhood His remarks
were received with great enthusiasm.
He referred to the fact that during
the, years which have elapsed since the
war sectional feeling between the North
and South has died out to such an ex-
| tent that Virginia now proposes to
| place a monument of Lee in Statuary
Hall in the National Capitol, but that
| all this period has not been sufficient
for the negro to advance one inch be-
yond the place he held when liberated
| from slavery.
There is nothing in Virginia for the
negro" he said, but degradation, I'M
| less the negroes make d firm stand and
| contend for their rights, and, If neces-
| sary. die for them. / am not an an
| archist," he added. land / don't mean
| to go out and kill anybody, but to let
| somebody else kill you" This yelled
sally produced loud applause and laugh
| ter.
You opened this meeting tonight by
| singing, My Country, 'Tis of Thee,
but 1 wonder how negroes can sing that
song. For myself. / am a man with
out a country. The time has come when
the negro must fight, not theoretically.
not Intellectually, but fight with his
hands. The Acknowledgement of the
Children of Israel in Egypt has been
followed, letter for letter, by the dis
| franchisement in the South.
They VIII Not stand 1t.
Negroes are leaving the state of
Virginia because of the treatment they
are receiving. What we want to do is
to start something, and keep it up
until the white people stop some
thing We don't intend to be oppressed
any longer; we don't intend to be
crushed. I am afraid we are anar-
chistic, that we are ANARCHISTS, and |
give the warning that If this oppres-
sion in the South continues the negro
must resort to the sword and the
torch, and that the Southland will be-
come land of blood and desolation.
Il want to make the assertion right
here that we are not going to be dis
franchised in Virginia. 1t is written
in the heavens and engraved upon the
statues that the Virginia negro does
not intend to submit to disfranchise-
ment. We are told: Let the negro
obtain education and wealth If he
would gain the political equality which
he desires / say there never was a
bigger lie uttered. The more the negro
advances the more will political rights
be denied him. 1t is not the common
negro in the South who is cut off the
registration lists-it is not the ditch
digger. it is the educated negro, the
doctor, lawyer, and preacher, who are
deprived unlawfully of political rights |
and manhood by the Ubiquitous con-
stitution of Virginia, which cost
100000 to frame. And want |
to say that by the time we get through |
punching holes in the constitution, 1t |
will cost the state of Virginia $500, 900 |
more"
Education No Good for Them.
Hayes then turned his attention to |
movements kindicd by Booker Wash |
ington. 1T is claimed that the negro |
industrial schools are the proper lines |
of effort for the race. Talk about edu- |
cation and wealth and say that they
make votes for the negro. It's a lie"
He is reputed to have declared in |
conclusion: And just one word about |
the question of the absorption of the |
races. No two people, having the same |
religion, and speaking the same ton
que, living together, have ever been |
kept apart. This is we'll known, and /
it is one of the reasons why the domi- |
nant race is crushing out the strength |
of the negro in the South"
The fact that there should have been |
this outbreak. right in the midst of the |
agitation Of the Southern queition, |
because Of President Roosevelt's action |
in the Indionola case and in making |
certain appointments. has led to its |
being pointed to as the natural out |
come Of this agitation. Administration |
politicians are confessedly greatly wor-
ried over the different developments |
In the recent discussion of the South |
arn question TaoIfno