Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1907-11-29

the human voice for praise, for even
the finest organ lacks something when
Negro voices swell.
Booker Washington Is the combined
Moses and Joshua OF his people. Not
only has he led them to the promised
land, but still lives to teach them BY ex-
ample and precept how properly to en-
10y II. He is one Of these extraordinary
men who rise at rare intervals and work
miracles. Born slave, he is today
the acknowledged leader of his race--a
modest, gentlemanly man, of pure, SIM
pie life and engaging qualities, su.
premely wise, an orator, organizer and
administrator combined. Considering
what he was and what he is, and what
he has already accomplished, the point
he started from and the commanding
position attained, he certainly is. one
OF the most wonderful men living or
who has ever lived. History Is to tell
of two Washingtons, the white and the
black, one the father Of his country, the
other the leader Of his race. ! COM
mend to you his autobiography, up
from Slavery" as companion to "The
Life Of General Armstrong"
"There were giants in those days"
We are apt to exclaim, and lament their
absence in our own age, but this arises
from our failure to recognize the gi-
gartic proportions Of some of our con-
temporaries. Today is King in dis
guise, Carlyle tells us. Hence our
kings pass unnoticed until viewed in
their proper perspective by one who
has the gift to see and reveal the true
heroes to the masses. Future ages
are to recognize our contemporary,
Booker Washington, the, slave, as a
giant, distinguishing the age he lived
in, and General Armstrong, the pioneer,
as another who can never be forgotten
in the history Of the Negro race. He
will grow as he recedes. These men
of our own day are hereafter to be
canonized as true heroes of civilization,
whose life work was neither to kill nor
main, but to serve or save their fell
lows. -~~
In the task Of elevating the Negro,
the part played by the northern peo-
pie, from the inception of the Hampton
School idea to the present day, has
been great. Not only have many mil
lions of dollars been contributed, but
many earnest men have given, and are
still giving their personal services CIV
ing not money only, but themselves to
the cause. Among these there is one
who deserves special recognition, Rob-
er, C.. Ogden, Of New York, than whom
none was closer to General Armstrong
from first to last, and who still serves
as chairman Of the Southern Education
Board. 1t is only just that the north
should cooperate with the south in the
great task, for it is equally responsible
for slavery.
Lest you separate, holding the view
that there remains little more to be ac-
complished. in the Negro problem, let
me say that all that has been done, en-
couraging as it undoubtedly is, yet is
trifling compared with what remains to
be done.
The advanced few are only the lead
ers of the vast multitude that are Still
to be stimulated to move forward. Nor
are the leaders themselves, with certain
exceptions, all that it is hoped they are
yet to become.
When you are told of the number
owning land or attending school, or OF
the millions of church members, and
the amount of wealth and of land pos
sessed by the Negro, pray remember
that they number ten millions, scat
tered over an area nearly half as great
as Europe. -.
The bright spots have been brought
to your notice, but these are only small
points surrounded by great areas OF
darkness. True, the stars are shining
in the sky through the darkness, but
the sun spreading light over all has not
yet arisen, although there are not want
ing convincing proofs that her morning
beams begin to gild the mountain tops.
All the signs are encouraging, never
50 much so as today. One is quite JUS
titled in being sanguine that the result
is to be respectable, educated, intelli-
gent race Of colored citizens, increasing
in numbers, possessed of all civil rights,
and who in return will by honest labor
remain notably the chief factor in CIV
ing the world among other things its
1uOlSPClSdUAS ouPPAy " So@toiI oAAN'
no inconsiderable extent, Of the prod
ucts of cotton, while individual men,
bers gifted beyond the mass will worth
lily fill places in all the professions. Nor
will the race fail to be distinguished
from time to time in the future as in
the past by the advent Of great men, fit
successors Of Frederick Douglas and
Booker WASHINGTON, ~
+
Meanwhile, my personal experience
of the south, small as It is compared
with that OF many northern men who
have been from the first, and still are,
leaders in the work Of elevating the
Negro, leads me to endorse the opinion
Of one Of the best known and foremost
of these, the Rev. Lyman Abbott, editor
OF The Outlook, who has recently de-.
clared that "never in the history of man
has a rsce made such educational and
material progress in forty years as the
American Negro" @. K es
KEOKUK NOTES. y
srG AZ. 80 M.n Erad y;oL;oe- x,,ho .ra.