The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-09-26
LONG TO NEGROES.
Comments on Progress and Develop
ment of the Race.

Kansas City, Sept. 26.-The negro
population of Kansas City, Kan, OBJ
served Emancipation day yesterday
with street parade and a general
park, Thirteenth street and Wood ave-
nue. More than 1000 negroes con-
gFeSated at the park. The principal
speaker was United States Senator
Chester I. Long, who arrived in the
city early in the morning, and after
attending a reception given him at the
Grund hotel by business men and Re
publican politicians he was escorted
to the park.
Senator Long was introduced by
Professor w. T. Vernon, registrar of
the treasury at Washington, d. C. Sem
ator Long said in part:
When freedom came, many of you,
nred by new ambition, left the plan
tation and went to the city. There YOU
engaged in other occupations You
now have representatives in all the
140 occupations reported by the last
census, including all the professions
and every trade and industry. You
have shown yourselves capable to en-
gage in and make a success of prac-
ticaily every industry which white
men pursue L have here. a negro
business directory of the two Kansas
CItys which shows the possibilities of
your race, and that practically no line
OF business is barred against YOU who
nave the energy and determination
win success. whether the color of his
skin is white or black
Ihat race prejudice exists no one
can deny. It always has been so and
VIII continue until the end of time
But as it is not possible to entirely
change conditions that exist, it be-
comes necessary for you to do your
part as best you can under the condt-
tons and surroundings as you find
them. The law has done much for Won
and you have done much for YOUR
selves There is much yet to do. for
statistics show high per cent of il
literacy and much poverty among
your people. The same reports show
however, what can be done by all of
you by showing what has been done
by some of you. You have your Iimi-
tations the same as the people of 9TH
er races, and what you do or attemDt
to do must be done with reference to
these limitations. The most desirable
thing for each and all of you to hone
for is to become good citizens of the
republic and worthy. honorable mem
bers of the community in which You
live.
THE thirteenth amendment gave
you freedom, and that you now fully
and completely enjoy. The fifteenth
amendment prohibited any state from
denying you the right of suffrage on
account of color. Unfortunately. in
some states this amendment has been.
In a measure. nullified by state laws
passed for that purpose Congress
has the power to enforce the fifteenth
amendment by appropriate legislation
and the time is not far distant when
this must be done. But while the law
has done much for you, and 1 hope
VIII do more fST YOU IN the future vet
the fact remains that much of that
which Is necessary for your continued
Advancement and progress must be
done by yourselves. Education will do
much to render ineffective many of
the state laws that have been passed
to injure you. and industry will en-
able you in the future to make so
much progress toward a higher civili- |
zation that such laws can no longer |
initiate against you.
The most gratifying thing in your
recent history is the progress of your l
schools in the south and /
north. and the way and manner in /
which you have patronized such insti-
tutions. In these schools you are not /
only given a good practical education.
but you are there taught how to Iabor
with your hands and with a machine.
With the knowledge that you obtain
in these Institutions you are better
prepared to overcome the obstacles
which lie in your pathway. I stand
here expressing nothing but hope and
confidence in your ultimate success
and in your ability to go onward and
upward, not backward and downward
race that is not yet half century
from slavery that has accomplished |
what it has should not be dishearten-