The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1907-03-22
BLACK Belt IS A MENACE
Prof. Bryan Says Negro Problem
Is Growing Cloud

E. A. Bryan, president of the Wash
masterful address to a fair sized au-
dience at the high school auditorium
yesterday evening. President Bryan
took for his subject, 1.-The Foes of De-
mocracy." After being introduced by
Superintendent G. S. Bond, he said:
I'VE are all democrats l do not of
course mean that We are all followers
of the party that worship at the shrine
of Saint Jefferson or Saint Jackson. l
mean simply that we, genuine Ameri-
cans, believe in democracy thoroughly,
in principle and practice.
Even the flunkies, who bow down
to the faded remnants of an older sys-
tenn in their secret hearts admire the
simplicity and sturdiness and genuine
ness of true democratic character, be
it of high or low degree.
1--WE never tire of the story which
begins in the log cabin and ends in the
White house. We forever applaud
when the man of high power and posi-
ton acts toward the lOwly with the
simplicity and frankness Of brother.
We are all proud that the world has a
political and social order where such
things are possible.
You cannot keep us from feeling,
somehow, that wealth and costly ap-
parel and honors belle the facts, and
that, stripped Of these, men are BROTH
ers and stand upon a level.
With us. proud that we are Ameri-
cans, democracy needs no argument.
We admit it's tenets as though they
gestiOn that democracy has any foes.
and are astonished that we see any
where bitterness and opposition to it's
progress. Despotism is a thing of the
past and anarchism is not a thing of
the future.
Black Welt.
LAS we look over this fair land to
discover sources of danger, our eyes
are directed to the black belt" In
the ignorance and low estate Of the ne
gro and in the fear and hatred with
which he inspires his late masters, we
discern elements of danger which cause
strong men to tremble for the future of
the southern states. Some even dread
the increased power which education
will bring to the blacks.
Work is not an evil and they lie who
say it is a curse. 1t is blessing.
Without it humanity would forever re-
main as stupid as beasts, the gratifi-
cation of whose bodily desires alone
would have formed the basis for action.
1t is not the work Of thousands living
in the slums of Chicago, East London.
and in the black belt, which is the
curse Of the people.
1T is rather the ignorance, the low
british lives that there are lived.
I'VE are proud of the common school
system. We look upon it as the acme
of an educational system suited to de-
mocracy. So indeed it is in it's broad
outlines. But merely philOsophic So
luton of the subject is not enough. AS
a concrete organizati ton, the school
must meet and satisfy the conditions"
In closing Mr.. Bryan said:
DO you think it worth while to
strive and accomplish? Are you con-
scious of power? Have you felt the
thrill of the call to conflict? Have the
forces of ignorance and caste and greed
and nihillism, arrayed before you,
frightened you? 'Ah, richly will de-
mOcracy be rewarded for all her care
over you, her nestlings, if with the
boldnesS and force of the eagle you
sweep down upon her foes in deadly
grapple."