The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1906-05-18

AAAt -AiAIF. NAaLS III virginia ole u
every fifteen owns his home. In New
York one in every forty-four. while in
North Carolina one in every twenty
own his home.
Permit me to cali your attention 10
another phase Of negro life in Amer.-
ca, so that you can better answer
/, TO yourselves the question, Wha- IS
the South doing for the negro? The
negro = than three times as
crimina, in the Northeast and more
than three and one-half times as GRIM
inal in the Northwest as he is I'm ne
South. In the North one negro in
less thsc every one hundred and fifty
IS In prison. while in the South only
IL in every four hundred and fifty
! In Massachusetts n IN every one hun
dred and ~thirty-six, while in MisSiss-
ippi only one in every six hundred and
fifty is in prison. in Illinois one III
every one hundred and thirty Is in
prison while in North Caro-
lima one in every four hundred. Pris-
on here includes city and county iails
as well as State prison.
Sirs, | present these facts TO the
heart and conscience of the nation As
incontestable evidence Of the high
standard of citizenship to which We are
lifting the colored man in the South
II they be rejected a. Incompetent. on
that point, | offer them as i~rrefutable
| proof Of the fairness and mercy Of our
courts towards him. | repeat hat the
oolored nan is being treated bette. IN
the South, than he is or has yer IL
any place on earth. If ! were 10 ask
the North to name the best product
of negro life in America, with one
voice the answer would be, Booker T
Washington. Were | TO ask further
what institution in America is doing
| more for the advancement of the ne
| gro race, the same voice would reply,
Tuskegee Institute.
If a stranger were TO hear the cruel
criticism which are 50 often made
against the Southern people, he would
be astonished 10 the told that Booke~
T. Washington was born, reared, and
has always lived in the South. How
! amazed he would be to know that,
| with its faculty numbering, perhaps,
| one hundred, with its student body
| above the fifteen hundred mark, right
in the midst of Southern white citl-
zenship, no note of discord or difficulty
| between a white person and any one.
faculty or student, in that institution
| has ever been sounded. (Applause.)
call to the nation and to the
| world to behold the unmolested work
| of Washington and Tuskegee Institute,
, standing in the heart Of the South,
daily refuting in its daily growth he
| cruel charges against my people with
an argument and eloquence far above
the power of speech. cloud applause.
But have we settled the problem?
| No. Will we settle it? | do not know
| No man can tell. But this we feel:
That, though failure has been written
| across the effort of every other peo-
pie, if it be given TO human possibility,
we will succeed. (Applause.) We stand
| ready at each recurring decade, and at
all times, to report. If that report
| shows a contentment, progress of
the colored man, as it has thus far,
We shall demand of the judgement
and o science of the nation and Of the
| world its approval and confirmation.
Many have expressed doubts as to the
| wisdom of the South in expanding her
| millions on negro education; some
| have protested against it. At times 1t
! puzzles the wisest and the best of us.
Whether we are charming into a
| gstronger life Il serpent that shall in
the future turn upon us with us
! strength and it's sting, or we are lift
inb both white and black to a higher
| plane. on which they can tread the
Journey of life's responsibilities side Dy
side, in understanding and in peace, we
do not know. The latter in
| spires our hope and demands our
,ecor@ DIT uyhofaror tho l11fn0mn We
are thus far pledged to the risk, and
we move on in the path OF the ne"
duty.
This question is the only spark that
can ever again relume sectional ami
mostly. With r%elutance do | venture
here this suggestion: Our step in the
slow march of its successful ad1us--I
ment would be less impeded if the
politician North and South could be
dominated by the patriotic conviction
that fraternal harmony between the
two great sections is worth more to
the peace and progress of the Union
than the solid negro vote of Amerl-
ca for one party or another.( Loud
applause.)
NY friends since the day of Appomat-I
tox dark then to US and bright TO youi
the men OF the NtTLu anu Inc Ilcii VI
South have had their backs turned to-
each other, feeling only the kick 81
one against the other, fainter and faint
er with each preceding year, though
| some times fear family still.
May the God of our nation give toI
US of the new generation, Republic
ans and Democrats alike, a patriotismI
broad enough, generous enough, and
strong enough to turn the North and
the South around, fact TO face, in full
and perfect understanding, so that in
all the coming years for our RepublicI
they can only feel the beating togeth-
er of their great hearts in unison for
the happiness and glory of the whole
American people! prolonged cheers
and a%pplause.)
And He Voted.
a young man came up 10 the poll-