The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-05-23
Present Duty.

THE living present owes a duty to the
oncoming future, but the greatest day of
| all is the duty to the living present Work
and build just the same as II we are going
to live forever; live with all mankind as
II we were going to die tomorrow. God
In his economy seems to have placed us
| in the great southland for the spirit OF
inter-dependence for no where else on the
face of the globe has the infusion of the
white manhood and intellect into the
warm hearts of the negro and the in
fusion of the warm hearts, love and de-
votion and pathos of the negro produced
a better and more useful humanity than
| in the south. History bears me out in
this assertion, or it does not show that
l am wrong.
| II tell you, that no where in the his
tory OF the races of mankind who have
moved upon the face of the globe in all
the years which have rolled into the Ian
of eternity, do va find anything COM
parable to the nigh afe Of the two races
| In the south.
| THAT there has been wrong, cruelty
murder itself, no sane man would attempt
| to deny. but underneath 1t all there has
been all these years, such exhibitions OF
the principles of right and justice, truth
and honor on the part of the one race
| fitting into the other, as to hold in check
| the baneful influences that would ignite
confiagration of racial hatred that
would sweep the negro from under the
protection of divine and municipal law.
II have said before many times and at
many places. No three hundred years
of human history have presented such
wonderful evolutions as the three hun
dred years of negro American history.
Eight millions of Industrious Christians
were evolved In the south from four mil
| lion savages.
| From four millions of pennlless negroes
having property value of three and one
| half billion dollars. have evolved in forty
years ten millions of citizens, more than
SO per cent with common school edu-
cation, forming l. per cent of the national
population and possessing hundreds of mil
lions of dollars worth of property In their
own name, right here In the land of their
| bondage. From eight millions white slave
| holders have evolved fifteen millions white
| taxpayers, who support churches and
| schools for their former slaves. The con-
| tribution to negro education and religion,
| in proportion to the ability of the south,
| exceeds that of any other sectin of our
country. The north, east and west, with
| limitless resources, have had hundred
years of unbroken prosperity. The south
| has been the scene of conflicts; vast
armies have Numbered over her and
| wasted her life; her whole social and
commercial fabric was destroyed; yet out
| of this she has crawled, and with the
| new order of things, promises more ex-
cellent development.
Industrial School.
"Old slave plantations have been turned
into industrial schools for the old slaves;
masters old mansions turned into col
| leges for the slaves, and old slaves are
| presidents of these colleges. Normal,
which | have the honor to represent. was
once a famous inn and race track. There
/ stood the distillery; there stood the grog-
shop; there stood the auction block
/ wherein the negro was sold. Today II
is one of the most useful negro col
legiate and industrial schools in the world
and every man on it's board of trustees
was commissioner officer In the Con-
| federate army.
1.-THE prophet has said, The people that
walked in darkness have seen a gray
light They mat dwell in the land of the
shadow of death, upon them hath the
light shned.' All this has taken place
in my day in the south. In my Short
life, from the turpentne groves of NORTH
| Carolina, through the Richmond slave
pen and the cotton fields of Alabama tC
| the present. the most luxuriant and wild
est dreams of my childhood have beer
more than realized.
"ln the building up of the south there
| are too many things of common interest
| to be concerned about. to be happy over
of which to be proud. to spend one mo-
ment In racial combat or one tear or one
drop of blood in internecine strife.
"As l have intimated, let us do all we
| can for the peace and happiness of the
| living present. for the establishment OF
good will and mutual helpfulness between
| the black man and white man and we
need not spend any sleepless nights about
| the future.
raise un men to solve them. From our
| standpoint We cannot see the problems
| far up the centuries. The problems IN
political life forty years ago are not the
problems with us today; the problems OF
| Industrial life forty years ago are not
| the problems of today. The problems In
civil and military life forty years ago are
not the problems of today. There is one
question that should be the supreme con-
| Germ of all men. Let us stand together
! for right for black and white Let lis
| stand together for everything that lifts
| the world higher. for the putting down
of error and the exaltation of truth. Let
| US stand together to give all men an OPP
| portunty to breathe, eat and drink. fol-
| after all when we reach the last analysis
| in the life Of the human being, he must
| have an opportunity to do these things
| Let MS strive by the exaltation of mind
industry and goodness of heart to give