Perth Amboy evening news., 1903-04-15
THE NEGRO'S FRIEND
Mr.. Cleveland Speaks For
Tuskegee Institute.
BOOKER WASHINCTON'S WORKPRAISED
Future of Blacks Largely Rests In
the Hands of Southern Whftes--A
Plea For Tolerance Regarding
Southern Racial Instincts.


Southern Racial Instincts.
NEW YORK, April 15.-A mass meet
ing in the interest of Tuskegee insti-
tute was held in Madison Square Gar
den last evening. Many men of promi--
nence were present. Mayor Low called
the meeting to order.
Ex-President Clevelai presided. Ad-
dresses were made by .-,ovAer T. Wash
ington, president of the institute; Ed
gar G. Murphy, executive secretary of
the southern education board, and 9th
ers. In taking the chair, Mr.. CleNe-
land spoke as follows
IIhave come here tonight as a sincere
friend of the negro, and l should be very
sorry to suppose that my good and regu-
lar standing in such company needed
support at this late day either from GER
tificate or confession of faith. Inasmuch,
however, as there may be differences of
thought and sentiment among those who
profess to be friends of the negro, de-
sire to declare myself as belonging to
the Booker Washington Tuskegee section
Of the organization; l believe that the.
days of Uncle Toms cabin are past. 1
believe that neither the decree that made
the 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
deficiencies than it changed the color of
their skin.
/ believe that among the nearly 9,OO0-
900 negroes who have been intermixed
with our citizenship there is still griev-
GUS amount of ignorance, sad amount of
yiciousness and tremendous amount of
laziness and thriftlessness. l 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
fta hfartn ffrrn r,f
thy will permit them to put aside. l be-
lieve our fellow countrymen in the SOUTH
ern and late slave holding. states, sur
rounded by about nine-tenths, nearly
900, of this entire negro population
and who regard their material prosperity,
their peace and even the safety, of their
civilization, interviewer with the negro
problem are entitled to our utmost con-
sideration and sympathetic fellowship.
forts of Booker washington and the
methods of Tuskegee institute point the
way to safe and benefcient solution of
the vexatious negro problem 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 citizenship and the most Christian
and enlightened philanthropy
cannot. however, keep out of my mind
tonight the thought that with all we of
the north may do, the realization of our
hopes for the elnegro must after all mainly
depend-except so far as 1t rests with the
negroes themselves-upon the sentiment
BILE white men of the south and upon the
maintenance of a kindly and helpful feel
ing, on their part toward those in their
midst who so much need their aid and en-
couragement.
l need waste no time in detailing the
evidence that this aid and encourage
ment has thus far been generously forth
coming. Schools for the education of ne
gro children and institutions for their
the south and are literally assisted by
the southern public and private funds.
So far as am informed the sentiment in
favor OF the largest extension and broad,
est influence of Tuskegee institute and
kindred agencies is universal. and be-
lieve that without exception the negroes
who f1t themselves for useful occupations
and service find willing and cheerful
patronage and employment among their
/ do not know how it may be with 9TH
er northern friends of the negro, but l
have faith in the honor and sincerity of
the respectable white people of the south
improvement and we'll being They do
not believe in the social 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 very plain.
1t seems to me that there is abundant,
sentiment and abundant behavior among
the southern whites toward the negro to
make us doubt the justice of charging
this denial of social equality to preju-
Perhaps 1t Is born of something so much
deeper and more imperious than preju-
dice as to amount to racial instinct
Whatever ii ie let us remember that 1t
has condoned the negro's share in the
humiliation and spoliation of the white
men of the south during the saturnalis
of reconstruction days and has allowed
a kindly feeling for the negro to survive
the time when the south was deluged by
a perilous food of indiscriminate unin-
teliigent and biighting negro suffrage
Whatever 1t is, let us try to be tolerant
and considerate of the feelings and even
the prejudice or racial instinct of our
white fellow oDuntFVmen of the south
who in the solution of the negro problem
must, amid their own surroundings, bear
the weight of the white mans burden.
There are, however. other considera-
tions related to this feature of the ne
gro question which may be regarded as
more in keeping with the objects and
purposes of this occasion. AS friends of
the negro, fully believing in the posi-
ment and sincerely and confidently la
boring to that end, it is folly for US to
tgnore the importance Of the .ungrudging
pie of the south in this work. Labor as
we will, those who do the lifting of the
weight must be those who stand next
to it.
This cooperation cannot be forced nor
can it be gained by gratuitously running
held southern ideas or even prejudices.
We are not brought to the point Of doing
or overlooking evil that good may come
when we proceed upon the theory that be-
fore reaching the stage where we may be
directly and practically confronted with
the question of the negro's full enjoy
ment of civic advantages or even of all
his political privileges there are imme-
diately before US and around us queS-
tions demanding our immediate care and
that in dealing effectively with these we
can confidently rely upon the encourage
ment and assistance of every thoughtful
and patriotic citizen of the land wher-
ever he may live and whatever may be
his ideas or predictions concerning the
more remote phases of the negro problem.
These questions that are so Immediate
ly pressing have to do with the practical
education of the negro and especially
with fitting him to compete with his white
neighbors in gaining q, decent respecta-
Bile and remuneratiVe livelihood. Booker
Washington in speaking of the condi-
tions and needs of his race. has wisely
said
''It is at the bottom of life we must be-
gin and not at the top nor should we
permit our grievances to overshadow our
opportunities.
In summing up the whole matter there
Is one thing of which we can be absolute
ly and unreservedly certain. When we
aid Tuskegee institute and agencies like
1t, striving for the mental and manual
education of the negro at the south, we
are in every point of view rendering him
the best possible service. Whatever may
be his ultimate destiny, we are thus help