The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-10-12

"If we do not take steps to dis
charge our Christian duty towards the
negroes, their degeneration will rapid
1y undermine our society" was the as
sertion of ]. B. Lehman, president of
the Southern Christian Institute in
Mississippi at the Auditorium this af-
ternoon.
1.-The social conditions about our
towns and villages is simply alarming,
he continued.
THE emancipation proclamation
freed about four million slaves, or about
one-eighth of our entire population. In
the past 45 years these have increased
to about ten millions, so that they are
still about one-tenth of our population
in spite of the fact that millions of
foreigners are cast upon our shores
every decade. In some localities they
are now $50 of the population; in some
states they are over 800; ana IN the
entire old south, nearly 4O9o-
IF we do not take steps to discharge
our Christian duty towards them, their
degeneration will rapidly undermine our
society As a positive force for inttla-
tive work they have hitherto proven
themselves a negligible quantity; but
negatively, as a silent pulling down
force. they could scarcely be more pow
erful.
In Cuba we have an example of how
Lne process MOThS- Inc GpeAlAlolA AACpASS
made no effort to give to their freedmen
the principles of Christianity and, as
a result this ignorant mass OF black
folk soon broke down the morals OF the
nobles and with the breaking down OF
their morals came loss OF power Whlch
was followed by anarchy.
In the turmoil that followed this the
negroes found allies in the poorer
whites. took to the saddle, and rode
over the island. trampling the mobiles
a more VlTlle
civilization interVened, Cuba would
have passed out forever. Any careful
observer can clearly see this process
at work in our own states.
'Ir those sections of the south where
the old southern mobiles have tried to
elevate the negroes, we have the hnest
specimens of American Christian gentle
men to be found anywhere in the land;
but in those sections where nothlnS Is
DONE the descendants OF our hnest or
iginaI stock are fast being submerged
in a degeneration that is pitiful to be-
hold.
ssThe social condition about our
towns and villages is simply alarming.
A prominent state official recently said
to me that he regarded it as calling
for serious consideration. Unless we
arrest this influence by beginning
counter influence, we must prepare TO
see in the next fifty or seNenty-hVe
wears. in the midst of labor strife, mob
I,ioIance and night rider depredations
a tragedy that will be far more serious
than Cuba's.
Need of Missionaries.
..Tf we are content to allow the ne
erOes themselves to recruit their min
isters from the environment OF the old
plantation life, and their leaders from
the atmosphere of ward politics, We
must be content to see things that Will
shock our sense of decency. If we do
not prepare for them leaders skilled
in the divine art of replenishing and
subjugating the earth, they VIII choose
those who have reverted TO the prlInl-
tive tendency of gambling and 1mmor-
..'Tbe awakening of the Christian
,,aorla of the South clearly marks the
beginning of new era. ms now
e,,er in no way releases the Christian
ueoDle of the North, put places upon
fbero an additional responsibility. 1t
onens mn for them an opportunity of
Sending hundreds of thousands of dol
lars into this field where 1t can be
spent in cooperation with theh
brethren of the South in work, the
stake whereof is the clNlliHdtioh ol d
'7yVe wish to record here that it is
o,,r irnn belief that this will be the
outcome. and that work Will be
done that will make one of the
brightest pages in the history OF the
church in her nineteen huhureo years
of conquest.
twelve hundred people attended the
session at the Auditorium this morn
ing conducted by the Christian
Woman's Board of Missions. the
women outnumb mbering the men fifteen
to one.
The president of the organization,
Mrs. Anna r. Atwater of indianapolis,
Ind. in her message told OF the De
veIopment of the missionary worN
among women. She said in part:
.'It was in the winter of 1860 and
,e1 that the first Woman's Mission
ary Society was organized This was
a union society. Seven years later, af-
ter the Civil war had ended and
women proven in the stress of the
times. their ability to do many things
that previously seemed to beyond their
sDhere of action. and power to dare
and to do in the face of opposition
I'm private and public circles. the
women of the church realized enough
strength in their own numbers to or
ganize the first denominational wom-
NV