The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-10-03

Future of the Negro Must Be Wrought
 Out Entirely By HimseIf-Pea
 for Conservative Judg.
 l ment.
 Selma, October 2-(Special)-At the formal opening of Payne University, one | of the negro institutions of the city to- night, Prof. W. II. Council, head of the normal school for negroes at Florence delivered the principal address, being in- | troduced to the large audience by Dr. l.. l.. Burwell of Selma, one of the most prominent negroes in this section.
 Professor Council said among other things:
 Complaints and wailings never yet raised a people. Stopping to quarrel with the stick which trips you does not help you on your journey. Races are lifted up like kites by the adverse current, and often the greatest blessings are brought to us by the heaviest storms This fact thoroughly settled in our minds will make our struggles for racial existence appear as Zephyrs of the evening compared to western tornadoes, or the rpples of summer evening bay to the mountain waves which roll and dash against bleak and rock shores.
 Elements of Freedom.
 "Three hundred years of training in the ante-room of freedom, nearly fifty years in the school room, should have us in a position now to understand pretty thor oughly the element of freedom. or course xtriu ha eOnhipnl In pXnppt race to understand thoroughly, fifty years from the birthday of it's freedom, the duties of freedom. The first great lesson which is to be taught by freedom is the lesson of hardship and endurance. The moment that a boy reaches his majority and steps beyond the parental threshold he forfets all claim to infantile protec- ton and apologies, and must endure the buffets and hardshps of adult life. Neith- CT can a people in freedom expect the same sympathy and friendship which they enjoyed in slavery. The failure to take this view of the advantages and disad- yantages of the minority and majority of slavery and freedom ages, makes us towards and makes adversities more stony. Our training and destinies were . the hands of others. Now all rests with ourselves. We must stand or fall. we must wipe away our own tears and com fort ourselves by the review of the lives of others In like condition.
 "So al the very foundation a broad ana deep thoughtfulness must lie. A people which sits down to eat and drink anu rises up to play can expect no more sue cess and honor now than the Jews dld more than twenty-five centuries ago TOT like frivoities. Three hundreds years or training for freedom, fifty years of educa- ton, should bring us face to face with serious thoughts on the purposes of God in the creation of the negro race. We are now responsible, from every cons1deratlon, for our racial destiny. There are no ex- ternal forces capable of changing that destiny against our will. We make con | ditions good or bad.
 All Lies With Negro.
 "That other races are friendly, that they help or oppress us, has nothing to do with the case. It Is all with the ne- gro. He can do or die-he must do or die. Complaints can do no good. The negro must formulate and answer his own prayers. Disclaiming any attempt at sacrilege, I repeat that the negro must answer his own prayers-he can answer his own prayers. God helps them who help themselves' We can set an ideal. 1 Instill 1t Into the hearts of black boys | and girls while at their prayers about our knees-an ideal which will lead them | on to usefulness and the respect of the
 
 | operation healthful, vigorous energies which will roll on and on forever. Shall we do this or shall the race retrograde, grow weaker and weaker, more and more Goddess, more and more sinful. un- til it dies by it's own hands?
 .'Why not change the meaning of the 1 designation of the words 'nig.' 'nigger.' or 'coon. which is now used as the appro- brlous epithet applied to a negro of any | grade of intellect or worth? There was tine when the word Jap was applied | to the Japanese as term Of reproach. | insolence cowardice and everything not manly; but by the possession of just the l opposite qualities. they have beaten their way into the recognition of the highest | civilization of the world There was n l time when the naughty Philip and his friends designated the Dutch by an ap- probrous epithet, which the Dutch chang 1 ed into term of honor that lit the way | to Dutch glory, as well as to failure and ignominy-through difficulties, over thorny roads and all the combined powers of greed and hell. to success.
 Nations, races and individuals may change their reputation, may so alter l their character, that instead of being known for their disagreeable and indo- lent qualities, they will be respected and honored for their opposite virtues.''
 Inspired By Retrospectlon. | "The races in inferior condition should be inspired to do nobler things by the | retrospection of the lives of other races, who came from inferior condition to su- perior condition. The history of the world shows that races are but spokes In the great wheel of humanity. If the negro wishes for good things in this world, he must eat no idle bread. He l must do the hard things which freedom | and righteousness always require In this | life. He must overcome some things, and the hardest things to overcome are the | errors of his own ways, the ignorance l and superstition of his own life, and | then comes the triumph which passes not | away but abides with him forever He must take the pruning hook of the high est civilization, and go to work on him. l self, cutting off here and there the in- | cumbrances in his own race take the knife and cautery apply them to him. | self by nflicting the severest pain, he | will reach the greatest comfort and high | est regard He must strike down idle ness evtpywhere That he who does not work shall not eat ever has been the | fundamental law in the development of nations, races and countries This has | been the law which has carried all pro- | gressive people to the greatest altitude | of their existence. This must be the law 1 that shall govern us in our racial pro- press, or we must die. The boys and