The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1908-01-18
PLEAD FOR NEGROES.


ing numbers, and he is here 10 stay. A
schemes for getting rid Of him are far
tastic. and. If attempted, would prov
abortive. lie must be developed on ne'
lines, educated 30 an anomalous situation
and resolved into the body of society
not as an irritant. but as natural. indls
pensable component part. That's tn
problem
Both Sections Responsible.
The two sections OF the America
Union were in the beginning, as yo
know. jointly responsible for Africa
slavery. Originally the slave trade ex
listed both North and South. The Africa
was brought here in Northern ships
When the North found slave labor un
profitable 1t sold its slaves TO the South
which mistakenly thought it profitahl,
have never heard that the North faile
10 put the money il got for It's slaves i
its pocket. It is 10 the glory of our com
mon manhood that. when Virginia ceds,
an empire TO the Federal government, {
was stipulated that human bondag
should never cross its border. At las
the institution of African slavery pre-
and. after this war II was discOvere,
that slave labor had been no more proht
able in the South than in the North.
The Negroes Crown of Glory.
During century Of angry contention
among the whites about the blacks. start
ing with the suppression Of the African
slave trade 10 eliminate with the Procla
nation of Emancipation, 1t was the blacl
people. not the white people. Nho con
Quoted themselves like Christian men an,
women. and if Gabriel should suddenly
blow his horn and the world should CONF
white man might be found holding up
black man betwiXt himself and the fire
TO plead his case before the recording
angel The black people ought to b,
very proud of this. II should constitut,
their point of departure in that soul
journey from grace 10 grace toward per
fectlon, which is the goal Of those tha'
accept for their rule of life and dealt
the religion Of Christ and Him cruel
fed
Rights and Wrongs.
MANY years ago within the circle OF
a bay window overlooking one of IN,
great avenues Of the city Of Washing
ton, / was dining with a party of friends
We had been discussing the race ques
ton. when. as if TO punctuate our dis.
course, two men across the way-a black
man and a white man-entered upon an
which came to blows. The
police We're conveniently / might say
enthusiastically, absent. A ring was
formed. and in true Marquis of Queens
berry style the race war upon a small
but tangible scale was then and there
fought out Taking this to illustrate the
conversation. one among our
group asked. apparently confident of the
reply, Which are we for, the niger or
the IrishmanT II was an eminent states
man of the South who answered, We'll.
before ! decide that, / should like 20
know which has the right Of il.
Ny own attitude toward the racial
question has always grounded itself in
the same principle I want nothing for
myself or for my children. which am
not ready 10 give TO my colored neigh
Dor and his children. / live in region
pe0pled by many blacks. good, orderly.
nardWOrking folk. They know me and
they know that, when / declare this, 7
mean t.
Il am, in my own home. served by
black people and very well served. hav-
ing had no occasion to change a serving
man. or woman. in many years We
go away, and sometimes are absent for
months, returning 10 find the place as
faf rof Bs-v-
Of the family, they could not be more
sOlicitous for our welfare
Some Personal Experience.
4 passed not a few Of my boyhood days
upon a plantation in Tennessee-in point
of fact, upon two plantations in Tonnes
slavery existed in its complete
but also under its milder aspects and con-
itions, From the earliest davnings Of
Intelligence, which ] can remember. the
system seemed to me monstroUs. IF
slavery is not wrong said Lincoln. moth
ing Is wrong So I thought, and so I
think. Thousands Of men fought and fell
]n the Confederate side Of the war of
sections. who believed the same thing; as
lid Washington and jefferson, ana the
gentlemen Of Virginia who made the first
American Revolution.
When the second American Revolution
came to pass, liberating. as by a stroke
IF the sword, nearly four million slaves
from bondage, my sentiment Of freedom
was in excess Of my sense Of the magni-
.ude and the complexities of the event. I
accepted the situation. The three last
10 the Constitution 1 de-
,lared to be the actual and final treaty
# peace between the North and the
South. II was my opinion-based on feel
ng and not on knowledge or Judgment
hat invested with full citizenship the
lewly-liberated slave would be able 10
work cut his own destiny. During the ten
years Of reconstruction that followed. I
devoted my energies toward the habilita-
ion Of the black man of the South rs
essential to the pacification Of the white
men Of the North and South. There are
plenty of black people living in Kentucky
who remember we'll the contest We had
with the elements Of disorder masquerad-
ng as the Ku-klUx Khan long after the
of that dread organization
n the States south OF US, the struggle
or the admission OF negro testimony 10
BUR courts of LAWN point OF fact. the
stubborn fight for the expurgatlon Of the
I'D black laws from the statute books OF
he Commonwe alth-narrowing itself down
wen to the right of the negro to ride
lp0n the street cars. Happily. Kentucky
scaped the many evils and dangers
which would surely have ensued. If the
.Htremism Of those dark days had pre-
allied.
Because it did not. we have had no race
var or serious racial conflict in Ken
lucky. The feUdists OF the mountains,
he night riders Of the tobacco belt.
ire all whites. not blacks Reasonable
White people and reasonable black people
ind il easy TO get along much as If there
xisted no color line Each is inspired
" sense of duty to the other. which.
nder the benign influence Of religion and
may yet blossom into the old
Domestic relations OF confidence and af-
ectiOn. the man-Ownership clause sue
eeded by a manhood clause, at once self
and reeiOrocaIIxy Yeepaotad