The Washington bee., 1908-01-25
HIS GREAT SPEECH
THE NEGRO,s FUTURE.

The most serious problem Tor the Tor
mer slave-holding States TO solye-by
reelection one of the most serious prob
lens for the GATES Of the North TO
consider and help to solve-is known
as the Negro question As it stands.
it is the embodiment of a century of
misleading and error. Each side to the
controversy has had its share in both
the misleading and the error Not until
Heaven raised up in the prescribed race
a mana leader of men, though q Ne
gro-who is with us here tonight-did
a single ray Of truth penetrate the sur
rounding darkness. Almost despairlng,
| had ceased to thcorize. throwing my
self back on simple, childlike faith i'll
God, when Booker T. Washington tap
peared upon the scene to Tighten the
gloom and point the way. 1t rejoices
me 10 stand by his side, to hold up his
hands. Nobody can go to Tuskegee, and
see what I saw there, and come awaq
without being impressed. Ever since /
went there. now many years ago, / have
been filled with hope; for though the
institution of African slavery be dead,
and thank the Lord Of Hosts for that,
the Negro IS here; he is here in ever
increasing numbers, and he is here TO
so stay. All schemes for getting rid
of him are fantastic, and, if attempted,
would prove abortive He must be ed
veloped on new lines, educated to an
anomalous situation, and resolved into
the body Of society, not as an irritant.
but as a natural, indispensable compo-
nent part That's the problem.
Both Sections Responsible.
The two sections Of the AmericanUn-
ion were in the beginning, as you all
know, Jointly responsible for African
slavery. Originally the slave trade ex-
isted both North and South. The At
rican was brought here III Northern
ships. When the North found slave
labor improbable it sold its slaves to
the South, which mistakenly thought it
profitable. I have never heard that the
North failed to put the money it got
for its slaves in It's pocket. 1t sto the
glory of our common manhood that,
when Virginia ceded an empire to the
Federal Government, it was stipulated
that human bondage should never cross
its border At last the Institution of
African slavery precipitated the South
into a ruinous war and after this war
II was discovered that slave labor had
been more profitable in the South than
in the North.
The NegrO's CyO2gH of Glory.
During a century of angry contention
among the whites about the blacks,start-
ing with the suppression of the African
slave trade to culminate with the Proc
lamation of Emancipation. it was the
black people, not the white people, who
conducted themselves like Christian men
and women, and if Gabriel should sud
denly blow his horn and the world
should come to an end this blessed in
stant, many a white man might be
fOund holding up a black man betwiXt
himself and the fire, to plead his case
before the recording angel. The black
people ought to be very proud of this.
1t should constitute their point of de-
parture in that soul journey from grace
- grace toward perfection which IS
the goal of those that accept for their
rule of life and death the religion OF
Christ and Him crucihed
Rights and Wrongs
Many years ago, within the circle Of
bay window overlooking one of the
great avenues Of the city of Washing
ton, was dining with a party of my
friends. We had been discussing the
iace question, when, as if to punctuate
our discussion. two men across the way
"A black man and a white man-en-
tered upon an alteration which came
TO blows. The police were conveniently,
/ might say characteristically, absent. A
ring was formed. and in true Marquis
of Oueensbury style the race war upan
a small but tangible scale was then and
there fought out Taking this to illus
trate the interrupted conversation one
among our group asked, con-
hdcnI of the reply, which are We for,
the nigger or the Irishman?" 1t was
an eminent statesman of the South who
answered, well, before I decide that
l should like to know which has the
right of it"