The Marlboro democrat. [volume] (Bennettsville, S.C.) 1882-1908, 1903-04-24
THE RACE ISSUE
President Grover Cleveland Seems
to Grasp the Case.
SOLUTION OF NEGRO PROBLEM
Rests on Southern Shoulders. Those
Who Lift the Weight Must
stand Next TO 1t

StunU Next 10 IL
Says He.
Former President Grover Cleveland
was- the principal speaker Tuesday
night at q meeting held In the concert
hall Of Madison Square Garden New
York, in the interest Of the Tuskegcc
Normal and Industrial Institute.
Among those on the platform with Mr.
Cleveland we're Mayor Low, who pre-
sided; Booker T. Washington, Ed
gar G. Murphy, DR.. Lyman Abbott,
President Nicholas Murray Butler and
Dean j. Van Amringe OF Colum-
bia, w. II. Boldwin, Chancellor
McCrackcn Of New York univer-
sity,J Ohm Dewitt Warner and George
f. Peabody. Mrs. Cleveland, sat in
the gallery with Mr.. and Mrs. Andrew
Carnegie, who arc Mr.. Clevcland's
hosts while lie is in the city. Mr..
Cleveland, who WAS greeted with pro-
lOnged applause as he was introduced
by Mayor Low, said:
II have como here tonight rs IL sin
ccre friend Of the negro and l should
be very sorry to suppose that my good
and regular standing need support at
this late day either from certificate or
confession Of faith. lnasmuch, how
ever as there may be differences OF
thought and sentiment among those
who profess to be friends OF the negro,
desire to declare myself as belong
ing to the Booker Washington-'ruslse
gee section Of the organization
believe that the days uf Uncle
Toms Cabin are past. believe that
neither the decree that made the
slaves free+lor the enactment that sud
denly invested them with the rights
Of citizenship any more purgcd them
Of their racial and slavery bred imper-
fections and deficiencies than it
changed the color or their skins.
believe that among the nearly nine
millions Of negroes who have been in
tcrlnixed with our citizenship, there
is still grievous amount Of Ignorance,
Il sad amount Of yiciousneSs and tre-
mendous amount Of lazincss and thrift
lessneSS. l beliye that these condi-
tlons inexorably present to the white
people Of the United States, to each In
his environment and under the man
date of good citizenship, problem
which neither enlightened self interest
nor the higher motive Of human sym
pathy will permit them to put aside.
l believe our fellow countrymen In the
southern and in the late slave holding
States, surrounded by about nine
tcnths, or nearly eight millions of this
entire negro population, and who re-
gard their material prosperity, their
peace and even the safety Of their civi-
lization, interwoyen with the negro
problem, are entitled to our utmost
consideration and sympathy and fell
loWship. I am thoroughly convinced
that the efforts Of Booker Washington
and the methods of Tuskegee institute
point the way to a safe and beneficent
solution of the vexatlons negro prob
lem at the south and know that the
good people at the north, who have
aided these efforts and methods, have
illustrated the highest and best citi-
zenship and the most Christian and
enlightened philanthropism.
cannot, however, keep out OF my
mind tonight the Thought that 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, and upon the maintenance
Of a kindly and helpful feeling on their
part towards 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 encour-
agcment has thus far been generously
Forthcoming. Schools for the educa-
tlon Of negro children and institutions
for their industrial training are scat
tered all over the south and are lib
orally assisted by the southern public
and private funds. So far as am In
formed the sentiment In favor Of the
largest extension and broadest inilu-
cncc or TuSkegee institute and kin
drcd agencies is universal, and / be-
licvc that without exception the ne
grOcS who tit themselves for useful oc-
equations and service find willing and
cheerful patronage and employment
among their white ncighbors.
do not know how it may be with
otEcr northern friends Of the negro
but have faith in the honor and sin
cerlty OF the respectable white people
OF the south in their relations with the
negro and his improvement and we'll
being. They do not believe in the SO
cial equality OF the race and they make
no false pretense In regard to it. That
this does not grow out OF hatred OF the
negro Is plain. 1t seems to me that
there Is abundant sentiment and abun-
dant behavior among the sou thern
whites towards the negro to make us
doubt the Justice OF charging this de-
nial Of social equality to prejudice, as
we usually understand the word. Per.
laps 1t is born out Of something so
much deeper and more imperious than
as to amount to a racial in
stinct. Whatever 1t Is, let us remeln-
Der that it has condoned the negro's
share In the humiliation and spolatiol
Of the white men OF the south during
the saturnalla Of the reconstruction
days and has allowed q kindly feeling
for the negro TO survive tho time when
the south was deluged by perillous
flood Of indiscrimnatc, intelligent
and brighting suffrage. Whatever 1t
is, let us try to bo tolerant and con-