The broad ax. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1895-19??, 1908-10-24

OF faith Inasmuchs however as tner
; may be differences Of thought an
sentiment among those who profes
TO be friends Of the Negro. ] desir
to declare myself as belonging to n
Booker Washington Tuskegee sectiol
Of the organisation. I believe tia
the days Of Uncle Toms cabin an
past. I believe that neither the de
cree that made the slaves free no
the enactment that suddenly investe.
them with the rights Of citizenship
any more purged them Of the imper
fections and deficiencies their racia
slavery had bred than It changed tn,
color OF their skin.
Faults stu Exist.
Il believe that among the nearly
nine millions Of Negroes who have
been intermixed with our citizenship,
there is stin q grievious amount Of
ignorance, a sad amount OF vicious
ness and q tremendous amount of
Iaziness and thriftIessness. I believe
that these conditions ineIorably pre-
sent to the white people Of the United
States, to each IN his environment
and under mandate Of good citizen
ship, problem which neither en-
lightened self-interest nor the higher
motive Of human sympathy viii per-
NIT them to put aside. I believe our
fellow-countrymen in the Southern
and late slaveholding States sur
rounded by about nine-tenths, OF
nearly 5000 1000 Of this entire Negro
population. and who regard their ma
tereial prosperity, their peace and
even the safety Of their civilization.
interviewer. with the Negro problem,
are entitled to our utmost considera-
ton and sympathetic fellowship. I
am thoroughly convinced that the
efforts Of Booker Washington and
the methods OF Tuskegee institute
point the way to a safe and benehcent
solution Of the vexatious Negro prob
lem at the South: and / know that
the good people at the North who
have aided these efforts and methods
have illustrated the highest and best
citizenship and the most Christian
and enlightened philanthropy.
Trouble Not Due to Prejudice.
Il do not know how It may be with
other Northern friends Of the Negro,
but 1 have faith IN the honor and sin
certify of the respectable white people
OF the South In their relations with
the Negro and his improvement and
Well-being. They do not believe in the
social equality o; the races, and they
make no false pretense in regard to
It. That this does not grow out OF
hatred Of the Negro is plain. It seems
to me that there Is abundant senti-
ment and abundant behavior among
the Southern whites toward the Ne
groes TO make us doubt the justice
Of charging HIS denial Of social equal
fly to prejudice. as we usually under
stand the word. Perhaps It is born
Of something 50 much deeper and
more imperious than prejudice as to
amount to a racial instinct. What
ever It is, let Us remember that It
has condoned the Negroes share IN the
humiliation and spoilation Of the
white men Of the South during the
of reconstruction days,
and has allowed a kindly feeling for
the Negro to survive the time when
the South was deluged BY perilous
food Of indiscriminate, uninteIligent
and blighting Negro suffrage. What
ever It Is. let rs Try to be tolerant
and considerable Of the feelings and
even the prejudice or racial instinct
Of our white fsllow-contrymen Of the
South, who, IN the solution Of the Ne
zro problem. must, amid their own sur
bear the heat OF the day
and stagger under the weight Of the
white mans burden"
Lastly, it must be admitted; that
no other ez-presfdent interested him
self In the welfare of the Negro, Ike
unto, Mr.. Cleveland, and II the Ne
gro win partly adhere to his last ad-
nee, refrain from continuing to ride
and open his eyes to the
radiant sunlight, Of q brighter and
Larger day. Study the political cues
ions Of the present. and not Of the
past, and vote intelligently thereon
Then and not until then WIN some
II the problems, which now impedes
Ifs progress. disappear, from these
,eautiful shores, as silently and as
luiely. as the peaceful river, which
lows on. ana on, between fits banks.
Without a ripple OF q murmur into