The Washington bee., 1908-09-19
The NeDro Defended

of CoI0yed americans Upheld. .
. They Must Vim Their Way.....
s....IHdHStria and Higher.
Education.
Cincinnati, 0. September 10 The
brave, manly, c,ean-cut and outspoken
address of Judge William Howard
Taft to the colored ministers at Gin
cinnati onTuesday evening has heart
ened his colored adherents beyond
measure. Although the utterance
erty of Congress- It will be settled
Of the candidate on the rights of the
Negro in his speech of acceptance
. left no doubt in the mind Of most peo-
pie as to where he stood on the ques-
tion nearest 20 the Afro-American
heart, the Cincinnati deliverance took
up the specific problems in a more
amplihed way and clinched the more
firmly the sentiments of sympathy
with, and approval of, Negro progress
that had gone before.
In language marked by unusual di-
rectness and force, Judge Taft took
occasion to reiterate its heartfelt in
terest in the uplift of the Negro race,
inherited from abolition parentagee,
nurtured from boyhood,a and stimu ated
through his experience with the dark
skinned people in the Philippines.
He reviewed the struggles of the race
from the time of slavery, and found
infinite satisfaction in the marvellous
progress it had made in education,
commerce and in agricultural and in
dustrial pursuits. He extolled the
value of education of ever kind, and
while he felt that the training most
needed b ythe masses at this time lay
along the agricultural and industrial
line, this elementary and rudimentary
education should be supplemented ~
higher education for those of larger
capicity and more liberal opportuni-
ties to furnish well-rounded ministers,
doctors, lawyers and the special call
ings. He added significantly and with
engaging frankness:
Il have not always believed in The
higher education for members Of the
Negro race, because Of alack of op-
portunity to study the whole subject
in more than a perfunctory way, but,
after full consideration of the needs
Of the race, in the light of his demon
strated possibilities and splendid
achievements, l am convinced that
was in error.
A race that can increase its body OF
Eterates from ) to so per centin forty
years is capable of using to the ad-
vantage of itself and the nation the
highest education obtainable and it
ought to have the best that the nation
can offer"
On the subject OF mob violence,
Judge TAFT spoke out in unequivOcal
denunciation of the exhibitions Of
british cruelt that had been happen
ing ali to frequently in many sections
Of the country, and feelingly deplored
the fact that these fendish crimes
could be perpetrated by so-called
civilized people against innocent men
and women, simply because Of their
color
1T is impossible" said he, TO read
accounts of this sort without having
ones blood boil with Indignation that
there can reside in the human breast
such a savage and beastly impulse and
motive. The best remedy and the
most necessary one" continued the
Judge, is an improvement in the ad-
ministration of our criminal laws and
the holding to strict account the OH
GERS of the law who do not use all
possible means to prevent or suppress
such outbreaks"
Throughout the able and cogent ad-
dress, which will be found in full II
the daily papers, the eminent jurist
strikes straight from the shoulder II
defense of the fullest observance ot
the laws designed to protect every
citizen in the enjoyment of his con
stitutional rights, regardles of race
color or previous condition of servi
tude." He stod by the letter and spiri
of the War Amendments and declared
that they were a part of the Fedora
constitution, and should be enforced
as strictly and as zealously as othei
sections are enforced. He condemned
as strongly as words and gesture en-
abIad b;r, the DubliC men. who II