The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-04-15
GROVER CLEVELAND
SPEAKS FOR THE
NEGRO
At a Meeting in Interest of
Tuskegee Institution He
Says White People of South
May be Trusted to Solve
Black Problem.

NEW YORK, April 14-Former
President Grover Cleveland was the
principal speaker tonight at a meeting
held in the concert hall of Madison
Square Garden in the interests of the
Tuskegee Normal and Industrial insti-
tute. Among those on the platform
with Mr.. Cleveland were Mayor Low,
who presided, Booker T. Washington,
Edgar c. Murphy, DR.. Lyman Abbott,
President Nicholas Murray Butler and
Dean j. Van Amringe, of Columbia w.
H. Baldwin. Chancellor McCracken, of
New York university. and George F.
Peabody. Mrs. Cleveland sat in the
gallery with Mr.. and Mrs. Andrew
Carnegie, who are Mr.. Cleveland's
hosts While he is in the city.
Mr.. Cleveland, who was greeted with
prolonged applause when introduced
by Mayor Low, said:
81 have come here tonight as a sin
cere friend of the negro and l should be
very sorry to suppose that my good
and regular standing in such company
needed support at this late day, either
from certificate or confession of faith.
1naSmuch, however, as there may be
differences of thought and sentiment
among those who profess 10 be friends
of the negro, l desire to declare myself
as belonging to the Booker Washing
on-Tuskegee section of the organiZa-
ton. | believe that the days of Uncle
Toms Cabin are past. l believe that
neither the decree that made the slaves
free nor the enactment that suddenly
invested them with the rights of citi-
ZenShip any more purged them of their
racial and SlaVery-bred imperfections
and deficiencies than that it changed
the color of their skin. l believe that
among the nearly nine millions of
negroes who have been intermixed with
our citizenship there IS still a grievous
amount of ignorance, sad amount of
viciousness and a tremendous amount
of laZiness and thriftlessness.
Entitled to Consideration.
Il believe our fellow countrymen in
the Southern and late slave-holding
states, surrounded by about nine
tenths, or nearly eight millions, of this
entire negro population, and who re-
gard their material prosperity, their
peace and even the safety of their civ
ilization interviewer with the negro
problem, are entitled to our utmost
consideration and sympathetic fellow
ship. | am thoroughly convinced that
the efforts of Booker Washington and
the methods of Tuskegee Institute
point the way to a safe and beneficient
solution of the VeXatious negro prob
lem at the South, and L know that the
good people at the North who have aid
ed these efforts and methods, have il
Illustrated the highest and best citizen
ship and the most Christian and en-
lightened philanthropy.
Il cannot, however, keep out Of my
mind tonight the thought that with all
We of the North may do, the realization
of our hopes for the negro must, after
all. mainly depend-except so far as it
rests with the negroes themselves
upon the sentiment and conduct of the
leading and responsible white men of
the South andupon the maintenance of
d kindly and helpful feeling on their
part toward those in their midst who so
much need their aid and encourage
ment.
Il need waste no time in detailing the
evidence that this aid and encourage
ment has thus far been generously
forthcoming. Schools for the educa-
ton of negro children and institutions
for their industrial training are scat
tered all over the South and are liber-
ally assisted by the Southern public
and private funds. So far as | am in
formed, the sentiment in favor Of the
largest extension and broadcast in
fiuence Of Tuskegee Institute and kin
dred agencies is universal. and L believe
that, without exception, the negroes
who fit themselves for useful Occupa
tions and service find willing and
cheerful patronage and employment
among their white neighbors.
Faith in Southern Whites.
81 do not know how it may be with
other Northern friends of the negro
but have faith in the honor and sin
cerity of the respectable white people
of the South in their relations with
the negro and his improvement and
well being. They do not believe in the