The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-04-10
WATTERSON ON
NEGRO PROBLEM
Kentucky Editor Gives His Hear
ers a Few Pointers.
BANQUET OF HAMILTON CLUB
A NUMBER OF DISTINGUISHED
GUESTS PRESENT.

Chicago. April 9-The annual ban
Quet of the Hamilton club. which Is held
each year on the anniversary Of the
surrender at AppOmattOX, took place
tonight in the Auditorium hotel "A
large number Of local guests was pres
ent and others came from distant
states. Congressman Francis W. Cush-
man of Tacoma, Wash, was 10 have
delivered an address. but was unable
20 be present because of the death of
his father. The other addresses were
by Henry Watterson of Louisville, KY;
Rev. Thomas p. Greene, Cedar Rapids,
Ia. and Edward L. Hamilton of Mich
igan.
Watterson's Address.
Henry Watterson. in responding to
che toast Peace Between the Sections, "
referred to the dual responsibility OF
the north and south for African slavery
and the war secession and to the me
gro question. which. he said, Is "a
racial problem 10 be solved by the
process Of evolution, not by political
agitation.
I appeal to you as Republicans" he
said. and through you, I appeal TO the
Republicans of the United States 10
have done with the conceit that, unless
you stand bysJhe black man, that un-
less you continue him as an issue An
partisan politics. injustice viii be done
him. In the lettering Of his condition.
and in the acquisition Of property he
has made w0ndrOus progress the last
five and thirty years; and relatively
greater progress at the south than in
the north. He could not have done this
without the sympathy and cooperation
OF the southern whites. He has made
little progress in the arts OF self-gOv-
eminent either north or south because
of the agitation which has Kept him
in a state OF perpetual excitement, with
no helpful public opinion 10 moderate
it, and has been made the sport and
prey of political exigency. always
selfish and with respect to him more or
less visionary and needless.
Theories at Fault.
The negro can never become in any
beneficent or genuine sense an inte-
gral and recognized part of the body
polite except through the forces Of evo-
luton. which are undoubtedly at work
but which in the nature of the case
must needs 90 exceedingly slow. Where
there is one negro fit for citizenship,
there are millions of negroes wholly
unfit The dollhouse process has been
tried and it has failed. If, invested
with every right enjoyed by the whites,
the blacks. gaining in all things else,
have brought corruption into the suf-
frage and discredit upon themselves, is
il not kind Of madness further 10 press
artificial methods which, however justi-
fed theoretically from educational look
outs In Michigan. Iowa and Wisconsin.
fail helpless TO the ground in their
practical application to the semi bar
barOus atOilers in the cotton fields and
corn lands of Alabama, Georgia and
South Carolina?
Battle Of the Future.
Il appeal to you equally in what I
conceive the true interest Of the black
people along with the white people Of
the south; nay. and Of the north as
well-for all our interests are indisso-
lutte, interchangeable and that can
never be good or bad for one section
which is not good or bad for the other
section. Modern invention which has
already annihilated time and space is
surely erasing sectional lines. 1t ought
not to leave so much as a Renaissance
OF sectional strife. II that dread spirit
should come again, its evil winds will
not blow between the north and the
south. but between the east and west;
the horns of the dilemma presented by
exUemism involving a new irrepressi-
bic conflict between capital and labor.
May that day never come, but in case il
does. the conservatism OF the north win
need the conservatism of the south.
The laW-lOVing forces Of the north will
need the law breeding instincts of the
south The Americanism of the north
viii need the AmeriCanism Of the
south"
A reception in the parlors preceded
the banquet.