The sun., 1908-03-17

~ ,ITS TLECTORlL o. lLIIIr 4.
TiONS iAC fORRECf,
pu' fslds thai tbeJ shSuid apply ~ iass-
fsm white Hsa ~ Wen o. n tslsFsd
Uen iAfue tudieHee N Piymsu,h
fnufeh Hears NeaFo FFaiieIu l,spusasd.

tHfeh NeaFs Neafo FF'HefH WistuNafu'
tr.,may NJ war William n Tah No.
q. r-sI an address m me negro problem
r,. Nah bsfrre IN audience that nlled
Plymouth church In Brooklyn. M great
,ss mo dcsife ~ hear w. Tafi and BOokef
Washington, VIM also spoke that m
t.Ir toirre tho meeting there were lines
r. rsupIe stretching Tor several blocks
ton 'he entrances
mo police and the Fire Department
.,dsnily had anticipated that a big crowd
-,ul1 turn out and probably on account
~ ,re nature NJ the edihce refused 10 allow
many persons 10 stand In the church Con-
ssorenty great many persons didn I get In.
secretary Taft read long and carefully
rrsrarei speech In which he reviewed
mo attempts made 10 raise the negro since
,he qAr and also discussed the political
,spscts NJ the question and the exclusion
ofa large part of the negroes from suffrage
II me south
mo point which Mr. Taft seemed 10
desire TO make was that while It doubtless
vas true that the educational and property
qualifications we're intended 10 he enforced
ony against the negroes and not against
me whites yet no one under the Constitu-
't7n could object 70 such qualifications
vrsre there was a large ilhterate popula-
non. What the negroes had a right to
o0Iert to, he said, was the enforcement
n such a law as TO the ignorant negroes
and not "A 10 ignorant white persons, Mr.,
Tsft declared that all the signs in the South
rointed 10 an amelioration Of the conditions
that had brought this about and to a more
impartial enforcement Of these laws be-
cause political and economic wisdom de-
nanded IT,
Let the negro make himself indispensable
IN the business prosperity Of the South and
h,s political influence will take care Of it.
self be said
Possibly because the meeting was in a
church the applause which greeted Mr..
TAFT was very infrequent and never pro-
longed
The meeting was under the auspices Of
tna Brooklyn Armstrong Association and was
for the purpose OF helping Hampton lnsti-
tute 10 raise It's deficit this year, amounting
IN $4,000. Robert c. Ogden, chairman Of
The Institutes trustees, said that large
part Of this had been raised elsewhere and
asked Brooklyn TO contribute $4,000. He
announced that two women Of Brooklyn
Who did not care TO have their names made
snown just before the meeting had given
s. nm of this
secretary Taft said that the founding
o' Hampton Institute constituted truly and
historically an epoch In the development
of the whole negro race. He discussed at
length the history Of the progress OF that
race in this country and especially the
effect of the three great war mendments
larly the efforts made 20 give the negroes
Industrial training and referred repeatedly
10 the Philippines, at one time saying;
In the Philippines we have been confronted
In founding industrial schools by the social
prejudice cultivated in previous regime
that manual labor Is a mark Of slavery.
Many young men who have been invited 10
take up the trades of the printer, Of the
machinist. Of the carpenter, Of the electrician
onected and have asked to be allowed to
prepare themselves as clerks, although they
are told that the compensation Of the former
Is $50. $40 and SO month and that OF the
clerk but $50. They have said they pre-
ferred 10 be classed rs gentlemen. This Is
now wearing or
In a different way there was a similar
feeling against manual labor among the
enirsnchised negroes. They had somehow
got II into their heads that freedom brought
freedom from the necessity for labor and
that work was an accompaniment Of bondage
Hampton and Tuskesee teach the dignity
NJ labor the value Of skill, the use OF the
mind and the application OF the hand, and
the lesson that without attention and without
taking pains. without self-rostraint, no prog
rss can he made by either man, race or
4 nation
After giving a description and statistical
report NJ the changing condition Of the
negro race in several Southern States
II was a very favorable and encouraging
report Secretary Taft said;
. 'ome now IN the political phase Of the
negro problem and the effect Of the Fifteenth
Amendment TO the Constitution. The inn
mediste effect Of the Fifteenth Amendment
with the exclusion from the fran chise Of
those who had been engaged in the Confed-
sracy, was 10 throw large political power
mo the hands of an electorate that had not
the education properly 10 conduct Gov
ernment And this led 10 the abuses which
have been held up 10 eXeCration by the lurld
pictures Of the reconstruction days How
far those pictures have been colored beyond
tho truth by partisan and race prejudice
II IA rot necessary for us 10 discuss, because
one Of the things which every lover OF his
country ought to refrain from doing ls 10
say the things which are likely 10 stir up
a gain the dying embers Of race and sectional
hatred, II ls unnecessary 10 do so. Even
the truth under such circumstances Il an
offence
" is enough to say that following recon-
t'ruction days the votes Of the negroes which
U nder state and national laws they we're
entitled to cast were by fraud and violence
made 10 count for nothing, and since 1880
the Fifteenth Amendment In a number OF
n, Southern States has been treated largely
as a dead letter or recent years. however
the leaders Of the South have felt deeply the
Generalization sure 10 follow the houting OF
the law and the maintenance Of government
on fraud and violence, They have seen that
" was impossible 10 conlne that lawlessness
which they justified TO rid themselves OF
What they called negro domination 10 the
ons purpose. and they have felt its dsarad-
Ing influence In the whole political atmos-
phere Of the South,
Hence they have attempted to make the
laws NJ the South square with the exclusion
Of the nergo from the ballot They have
sought 10 do this by acts which we're IN their
inception an evasion Of the Fifteenth Amend :
ment by the use Of so-called grandfather
clauses and in other ways. But ultimately
tl'er these grandfather" clauses had ceased
n operate the laws upon which they have
depended we're laws creating educational
ard property qualifications for electors. IL
is charged d-and doubtless with truth-that
sVch laws we're not intended to be enforced