The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-06-10
THEY SAT UP
 AND LISTENED Dr. Stagg'S Address Caused
 a Sensation. HIS FRANK EXPRESSIONS Booker I. Washington Given
 Hard Rap. Mem North of Mason and Dixon's Line Declared to Be Worst Enemies Negroes Have Had since
 slave Days.
BY WILL T. STEPHAN.

the Race Problem boldly ana Irahkls.
 The address set all tongues in Au- burn to wagging. It was the feature, inc sensation of the commencement exercises of 1904. In interest in be- Ing discussed it overshadowed all else even the scholarly address of Ira Rem sen. the chemist of worldwide fame, and President of Johns Hopkins uni ycrsity. This address of Dr. Remsen was a production of lofty thought clothed In simple language that the poorest of his hearers could grasp and assimilate. There was but one ver- dict upon the address of Dr. Rcmsen. Tt was splendid. It was magnificent"
 But the speech of Dr. Stagg put dis putants to talking and set tongues a-wagging. There were as many views expressed upon 1t as there are convic- tions, held on the race question. The speech stands for itself. It Is It's own plea, it's own defense.
 Not only did the Birmingham minis fer say The conception of Booker washington's school at Tuskegee Is the worst piece of humbuggery that ever presented itself to the mind Of the American public; he is the great est exaggerator that speaks from the American platform and he is Prince of Beggars," but he said, The worst enemy the negro has had since the slave ships touched these shores has been the men north of Mason's and Dixon's line"
 These and similar assertions are what made the people sit up and listen wlde-eyed and then go away and dis cuss pro and con the unusual utter ances.
 Democratic Forum.
 Of course the faculty of Auburn is not called upon to either endorse or repudiate the remarks of Dr. Stagg. The platform at Langdon Hall is a democratic forum, where diverse views and convictions have in time been pro- mulgated. There is no censorship of any sort exercised over the orators who speak from the platform. An ef- fort IS made to get able men, men who think, men who lead In thought.
 What Dr. Stagg was going to say was not known to the Auburn faculty, not that 1t Is meant to imply that 1t would have made any difference If the faculty had known what was con- tained in Dr. Stagg's address. In fact the subject on which he was going to speak was not known, not that 1t would have made any difference If it had been known. In fact Rev. Gard ner Murphy who Is believed to enter tain dissimilar views had been invited to deliver the address before the lit erary societies, but had been forced to cancel his engagement to deliver the address because of illness. So much for the position of the Auburn faculty
 The hopeless inferiority of the negro. an inferiority so hopeless that he had no future in America was the theme of Dr. Stagg's remarks. More in sorrow for the black unfortunate than in ha- tired of him the theme was outlined. He was pictured as the helpless vic tim of force that was more powerful ,E t..A. viduals. He was ruthlessly and re- morselesSly being removed from his temporary home in America.
 The end was to be the return of the American negroes to their permanent home in Africa where they were to es- tablish and maintain the principles and policies of the free institutions of the American Government and the Ameri can people. It was the older idea of deportation to Africa presented in a new way and in a new light.
 No Voluntary Action.
 The negroes would not be returned vol 'ntariiy. The negro never did any thing voluntarily. Without initiative and without perseverance he had never of his own efforts accomplished any thing. Nor were the free institutions of America t. be established by the black negro. It was the mulatto who would remember them and carry them over. It was the mulatto who would carry light into Africa where century after century the negro had lived in darkness no less savage than his an- cestors.
 The negro had no memory For ages he had learned rotbing and forgotten nothing. He had used the same war club to kill his enemies that Tubal Cain had taught his ancestors to make. He had to have a memory before he {, Il. His stay in America. in which the mu- latto came into being was Destiny's way of furnishing him with a memory
 Dr. Stagg's basic proposition was the old historic position of the Southern man: There is more difference between the white man and the negro than the color of his skin. It was the destiny of the American negro to return to Africa and introduce the American Govern ment, the best on earth, for 1t was the one task the white man could not do because of the climate. Dr. StaEg said that E. IT. Shepperd, the mulatto who Is at the head of the movement to carry the negroes over to Africa. had told him: have had the African fever fifty-six times and survived every at tack. Mir. Lapsley, the white man who went over with me had it once. He sleeps in a lonely grave on African soil"
 Preceding his conclusions as to the effect of the forces which are now working upon the American negro, pr. Stagg reviewed the different forms of government which were brought into Europe by the immigrants who came over from Asia in the earliest times. He outlined the four different forms. the Grecian, influenced by the State and by art; the Roman, which so re- spected the rights of the individual and the rights of State; the Teutonic, with Its representative forms, and the Gel tic, with its clans and priestly chief tains
 The people of Russia. the Slavonic people, were of such varied interest and character. that of them a worlds exposition of races could have been made and the problem of human gov ernment could have been solved. In- stead an autocracy grew up. the most damnabIe government known in his tory" In the language of Dr. Stagg.
 Influenced by different forms here outlined, the English government came into being. Then followed the Ameri- can government, "the greatest the world has ever known"
 The thoroughly representative fea- ture of the Teutonic form had been sought to be engrafted into the Eng fish government. first by John Bright, and later by Gladstone.
 Charles Sumner. in America, sought to take the abstract and emoody, It into