The Topeka state journal., 1903-04-15
THE NEGRO'S FRIEND.
In That Role Mr.. Cleveland Ad-
dresses a New York Audience.

New York. April 15.-Former Rresi-
dent Grover Cleveland was the princi-
pal speaker last night at a meeting
held in the concert han of Madison
Square Garden in the interests of the
Tuskogee Normal and Industrial in
stitute.
Among those on the platform with
Mr. Cleveland were Mayor Low. who
presided: Booker Washington, Ed
gar G. Murphy. DR.. Lyman Abbott,
President Nicholas Murray Butler and
Dean J. Van Amringe, of Columbia, w
II. Baldwin, Chancellor N4cCracken, of
New York university. John Dewitt War
nel' and George F. Peabody. Mrs. Cleve-
land 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 as he was introduc-
ed by Mayor Low. said:
4 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
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 to be friends
of the negro, I desire to declare myself
as belonging to the Booker Washington
Tuskegee section Of the organization.
believe that the days of Uncle Tom $
Cabin are past. 1 believe that neither
/ the decree that made slaves free, nor
the enactment that suddenly invested
them with the rights of citizenship
any more purged them of their racial
and slavery-bred imperfections and de-
1 Hciencies 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 citizen
ship, there is still a prievous amount of
/ ignorance. sad amount of viciousness
and a tremendous amount of Iaziness
and thriftlessness. I believe that these
conditions inexorably present to the
! white people of the United States, to
each in his environment and under the
mandate of good citizenship, a problem
which neither Enlightened self-interest
nor the higher motive of human sym
pathy win permit them to put aside. 1
believe our fellow counTymen in the
southern and late slave-holding states,
surrounded by about nine-tenths. or
nearly eight millions of this entire negro
population, and who regard their ma
terial prosperity, their peace and even
the safety of their civilization, inter-
woven with the negro problem, are enti-
tied to our utmost consideration and
sympathetic fellowship. I am thorough
! ly. convinced that the efforts of Booker
Washington and the methods Of Tusl1e-
gee institute point the way to a safe
and beneficent solution of the vexa-
tious negro problem at the south; and
know that the good people at the north
who have aided these efforts and meth
DDS have illustrated the highest and
best citizenship and the more Christian
and Enlightened philanthropy.
Il cannot, however. keep out of my
mind tonight the thought, that, with
all we Of the north may do, the realiza :
! p IF mr. homes for the
after all. mainly depend-except 50 far
as it rests with the negroes themselves
upon the sentiment and conduct of the
leading and responsible White men of
I the south and upon the maintenance
of a 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 encoura ge-
ment has thus far been generously
forthcoming. Schools for the education
of negro children and institutions for
all over the south and are literally as
sisted by the southern public and pri-
vate funds. So far as / am informed,
! the sentiment in favor of the largest
extension and broadcast influence of
Tuskegee institute and kindred agencies
is universal and / believe that without
exception the negroes who fit them
4 selves for useful Occupat tons and SER
vice find willing and cheerful patrona ge
and employment among their white
4 neighbOrs. The man who is beyond
doubt the best authority in the world on
the prospects of the negro race, he who
founded and is now at the head Of Tus-
kegee institute. and is the most notable
representative of negro advancement
said at the Atlanta exposition in 1895:
And in this connection it 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
it is in the south that the negro was
given a mans chance in the CONNER
cial world. and in nothing is this ex-
position more eloquent than in empha-
sizing this chance. Our greatest danger
is that in the great leap from slavery tc