The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1903-04-21
NEvBR-B ENDING NEGRO PROBLEM.
Bx President Cleveland Says til Southern
Whites are Best Friends of
, Negroes.

At a meeting held at Madison
Square Garden, New York, in the
: interest of tho Tuskegee Industrial
Institute, the principal speaker was
Grover Cleveland, who was greeted
. with. prolonged applause when intro
duced, and said:
I have come here tonight as sin
oere friend of the negro, and should
be very sorry to suppose that my
good and regular standing in such
company ,Ieeded support at this late
day. either from certificate or confes.
sion of faith. Inasmuch, however,
as there may be differences of thought
and sentiment among those who pro
fess to be friends of the negro, l de.
sire to declare myself as belonging
TO the Booker Washington Tuskegee
section of the organization. l be-
lieve 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 of their racial
and slavery bred imperfections and
DEFICIENCIES than it changed the color
of their skin. I believe that among
the nearly niue millions of negroes
who have been intermlxed with our
citizenship there is still grevlous
amount of ignorance, sad amount
of viciousness and tremendous
amount Of laziness and thriftlossness
believe that these conditions mex
orably 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 sYmpa-
thy will permit them to put aside.
I believe our fellow countrymen in
the Southern and late slaveholding
States, surrounded by about nine
tenths, or nearly eight millions, Of
this entire negro population, and who
regard their material prosperity, their
peace and even the safety of their
civilization, interviewer with the ne
gro problem, are entitled to our ut,
most consideration and sympathy and
fellowship. 1 am thoroughly con
vinced that the efforts of Booker
Washington and the methods of
Tuskegee Institute point the way Ito
a safe and beneficent solution of the
vexations 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
most Christian and enlightened
philanthropy.
cannot, however, keep out Of my
mind to night the thought that all we
of the North may do, the realization
of our hopes for the negro must, af,
ter 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 the South, and upon the main
gtenance of kindly and helpful feel
ing on their part towards those in
their midst, who 90 much need their
aid and encouragement.
I need waste no time in detailing
the evidence that this aid and encour.
ageInent has thus far been generously
forthcoming. Schools for the educa
tion of negro children and institutions
for their industrial training are scat
tered ALI over the South and are lib
orally assisted by the Southern public
and private funds. So far as | am
lulOEtHStt Viz SSllllultip i'll ltfol VI
the largest extension and proadest
influence Of Tuskegee Institute and
kindred agencies is universal, and
believe that without exception the
negroes who fit themselves for useful
occupations and service find willing
and cheerful patronage aud employ
menb among their white nelghbors.
l do not know how it may be with
other Northern friends Of the negro,
but I have faith in the honor and
sincerity 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 social equality Of the race,