The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-08-23
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Judge Gray's Speech.
Editor The Advertiser:


 beg to call your attention to the fol- lowing extract from the remarks of Judge George Gray of Delaware to the parties to the arbitration of terms for coal mining in Alabama last week at Birmingham. He said:
 "Gentlemen. we are about to adjourn without day. and take occasion before adJourning to say on behalf of the arbi- trators that we desire to express to you on both sides. our thanks and appr tAa- ton Of the ability. thoroughness and cour
 presented your several sides of this con troversy. A controversy that is conduct- Cd in such manner. candidly. openly and for myself. a stEanger to your communi. ", coming from a somewhat distant State. that have been very much impress ed ,, Sy the & &inteliigence and the goo1 .seling the business with which we are all con cerned here fin this State and in this part or the State. etc"
 The same arbitor had previous experI- ence in the recent past in the anthr2c'te regions of Pennsylvania and it is a prime question In sociology to determine the in- the one region of country his .congratu- lations to the parties. to the issue sub- mltted. upon the temper and morals of congratulations could have arisen in his mind as timely or appropriate in the oth-
 It is a fad. and nothing but a fad. ab- surd and costly as 1t may be. to accept in Alabama the judgment so universally rem dered from foreign societies and .,ommu- mites of inferiority of our people, our and physical. in comparison with the for eeign or outside communities who set themselves up, on the judgment. seat numbers: Our sin is there. Some os us are humbled: the majority is to this kind Of or man. Allah. Poo bah and the rest. own because they are unable to ne the mind of the majority No cross. no cruel nxion, no theory of redemption. through eat and drink from the hand of the party Tn power and cry out to better men than tnemtsseyeiS sectsen.i, rTesctionist" Tsst bourbon" society distinctly American until Thomas Jefferson entered public life with his laws against an established religion and pri- mTSogenhature TSeg thsur; and in favor of demo ,racy; a logical abiding place except in the South. There Is no society in the United States today that is predominatsd solely South. 0p' LII 'he
 The coal miners of Alabama, to whom Judge Gray addressed himself as arty to the controversy before him, are of three classes of men. namely. white Europeans white Alabamlans and negroes. The no. groes are. perhaps. all Alabamians and two classes of whites combined. The two classes of whites are not equally di- V1ded between European immigrants and native Alabamians or native Americans, but the minority class. the native Amer leans are sufficient in numbers and lntel- ligenec to give character to the congiom- crate.
 We have not. weak society in Ala baIna because of the presence of the pegro here. more than humanity at large is weak because of division of popu alton among the races. God knows what He Is about.
 The. negro question Is not a political question! in its normal relations to gov ernment to be settled and controlled by political parties. If so. when one party triumphed over the other the question would be settled and new questions would arise upon which new parties would be formed from the original clements of constituency.
 The negro question Is not political be- cause It is religious in its essential char acteristics. do not admit that t Is a moral question. because abstract pr prac- tical. morality Is not higher in pro-negro than anti-negrO circles. It is religious War of the Holy Sepulchre. as the ques- ton of war between Luther and the Pope. between Cromwell and Charles or any other question whose primal authority upon which men resort to physical com bat. Like all religious questions.(it will live its time out. It cannot be Teasoned with because reason is not the motive of checkered with trade and railroads All Africans await the destiny of the dark continent.
 Judge Grays remarks are highly val the whites and negroes in Alabama which are undisturbed by the mouthngs of pol iticians IL is difficult to inject party pol itics into those relations because the la one part and the operators union on the other. John Withers.