The colored American., 1903-05-09

when he uttered his holy Jeremiad
against the 'perilOus flood of indis-
criminate intelligent blighting Negro
suffrage that his picture was over
drawn and that if every Negro in the
South possessed common school ed
ucation, prejudice against that race
would be increased thousand fold
the South doesn't want intelligent Ne
groes. its representatives in Congress
have already told the country in their
brazenest, boldest and most defiant
tones, that no matter how well you
educate the Niger" or how many
schools or colleges he graduates from,
he will still be regarded by the white
South as inferior to the white race,
and that his education will open no
doors to him then, that are closed to
him now. No newspapers in the South
has repudiated or condemned this ut
terance.
So that Mr.. Cleveland's speech
while breathing a spirit of friendship
and exhibiting an interest in the fu-
ture of the Negro, highly commend
able, if really sincere. seems also to
have little of the flavor of the speech
of an artful, coy, and receptive candi-
date for an office, to which Mr.. Bryan
says he is exempt. His 1atttry of
Booker Washington and his avowal
| of friendship for his race and Booker
Washington's effusive laudation of the
Stuffed Prophet" are two very edify-
Ing and significant features Of the
Madison Square Garden meeting. at
which Mr.. Cleveland made his debut.
and performed like the trained poll
tician he is. DR.. Lyman Abbott. also
spoke. He had not read Guizot before
making the utterance: Suffrage must
wait upon education: education is pri-
mary nn1itInal oh
ary-' The American colonists do not
appear to have believed in this phil
osophy when they were struggling for
American Independence The South
doesn't believe in it Every white man
down there, except those in the ceme-
| teries, believes that political rights are
primary. These are what they are
nShtlng for. The slogan is: White
supremacy This is a white mans
country No Negro domination Then
Or. Lyman entered the realm of statis
tics. He said this is a problem of the
Nation; think of it, Is 200, 900 ignorant
dishonest, Incorporate and vicious
people; what a mill stone to hang
on the neck of the nation Whether
| they shall be ShackleS for our feet or
wings for our flying, depends on the
wisdom of the nation. Whew! DR..
Abbott must have gotten his figures
C"i0t0u. he tWelFJn census gives
the Negro population of the Z. S as
100000 or 100000. 1 have forgot
ten which now; certainly not 15 .OOO.
OOO. And DR.. Abbott, just like a self
righteous white man, indicts the whole
15,OOO,OOO," (using his figures). a
thlng which Burke, the great Irish
statesman said could not be success
fuIly done. But all things are possi
bic TO an American white man. and
Or. Abbott is no exception. Are the
lO'OOO.OOO Negroes all ignorant. dis
honest, Incorporate and yicious9
Have they made no progress since the
Dawn OF freedom in education. cul-
ture and refinement? l am not sur-
prlSed tnat even SO good a man as DR.
AoOotI, seems to be- should be. led in
10 making statement about lis that
wiz not square with the truth as il
actually is If DR.. Abbott would take
Lne trouble TO inform himself about
the Negro he will discover some tbinps
from reading that he does not seem to
KNOW now. There is abundant evi-
uence 10 prove that the Negro. even
Sixty or seventy years ago does not an
SWer 10 DR.. Abbott's description of
hlm In the SOS, there was published
In New York City. a magazine h.
Robert Hamilton. in the interest of his
race called the Anglo African Maoa0
zine. which discovered q dooroo Pc