Omaha daily bee., 1909-02-07

the slaves. There is no one now, north or
south, who believes that slavery was a
good thing, even for those who seemed to
profit most by it; but hard and cruel
as the system frequently was in the case
of the black man, the white man suffered
quite as much from the evils that 1t pro-
duced. In order to hold the negro in
slavery It was necessary to keep him In
ignorance. The result was that the south
condemned itself, not merely to employ
none but the poorest and most expensive
labor, but what was worse, to use all it's
higher intellectual, moral. and religious
energies in defending, before the world,
its right to hold another race, not merely
in a condition of ignorance, but Of moral
and spiritual degradation.
There is no task that individual or a peo-
pie can undertake which is SO ungrateful
and so certain, in the long rum, to fail,
as that OF holding down another individual
or another race that is trying to rise. 1t is
not possible, you know. for an individual
to. hold another Individual down in the
gutter without staying down. there with
him. So 1t is not possible for one race to
devote a large share of it's time and atten-
ton to keeping another race down with
out losing some time and some energy
that might otherwise have been used in
raising itself higher in the scale of civ1liza-
ton. -.
south Out of TOucn.
Under the influence Of slavery the south
was fast getting out Of touch and sympathy
wfrh all the generous, upbuilding, and civil
izing influences Of the world.
Abraham Lincoln. in giving freedom to
the black man. who was a slave, gave 1t at
the same time to the white man, who was
free. He not merely loosened the en-
slaved forces OF nature in the southern
states, but he emancipated the whole United
States from that sectional and fratricidal
hatred which led the white man In the
south to look upon his brother In, the north
as an enemy to his. section and himself.
and led the white man in the north to
look upon his brother in the south as an
enemy not merely to the nation, but also
to mankind. I have had some experience
: OF physical slavery, and I have known. too,
what it is to hate men of another race,
and 1 can say positively that there Is nc
form of slavery which is so degrading as
that which leads one man to hate another
because of his race, his condition, or the
color of his skin.
All these things did not seem, to clear Ia
us before the war as they do now, and YET
there have always been people in the south
who clearly saw the evils of slavery and
opposed them. II the times had permitted
these men in the south to look calmly upon
the course of events. they would HAYS
found themselves in close sympathy will
Abraham Lincoln. Now that the excite.
away. not merely these men, but many
others in the south, are beginning to see
hat during the whole course of the civil
war the south had no more sincere
friend than the abolitionist president Of tbs
United states, Abraham Lincoln. He, a
least. never forgot. during all the long anC
bloody struggle, that a time was coming
when the men who fought for the south
and the men who fought for the unior
must settle down side by side as fellow
citizens OF the one indivisible republic.
Let Us Judge Not.
Some one who was present when Lin.
coin heard tho news Of Lees surrender
said that jeff Davis ought TO be hung
The president in reply quoted from hi
inaugural address, Let us Judge not tina
we be not judged" Another said that tn,
sight OF Libby prison forbade mercy. lie
us judge not" he repeated, that we b,
not judged" This was said at the CLOS
OF the war when the whole north wal
aflame with the news OF victory. A yea
before. however. he had said in his Joculal
way, I'VE should avoid planting and cult
waiting too many thorns In the bosom o.
society" All through the war he saw
what southern statesmen either shut theii
eyes to or failed to see. that even haC
the south won in the war the old struggle
between freedom and slavery would hav'
gone on just the same. under other banner
and other battle cries.
Physically speaking he said. In hi
first inaugural address, we cannot sepa
rate. We cannot remove our respective
sections from one another, nor build al
impossible wall between them. A HUSBAND
and wife may be divorced and go out o.
/. the presence and beyond the reach OF on
anotheG but the different parts OF on
country cannot do this. They cannot bu
remain face TO face. and intercourse. eitheI
amicable or hostile. must continue betweeI
them. II 10 impossible, then. to, make tina
intercourse more advantageous, or NOR
satisfactory, after separation than before
Can aliens make treaties easier than friend
can make IAws7 Can treaties be NOR
faithfully enforced between aliens tina