The advocate. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1901-1913, 1911-08-17
l'resfdentN' Taft ana the" Colored
49, People


H. People,
! The great transactions of the worl'
have not been and cannot be governed
by mere maxims OF abstract right
ISome day it may, be so, but thus ia,
It never has been SO III any age OF
among any people, >Sinre the. dawI
OF civilization, in the providence OIL
God, it has happened that only
through aSCsly and, the shedding Of
blood could the living principle con
tanned in the Declaration OF Independ,
ence--the eternal principle of indi.
Yidual rights and liberty--be wrought
ont
The attitude of the present Chief
Executive on the question of color
prejudice in the. United States Is so
veil understood by all that it seems a
little less than imbecility for any one
to misinterpret his standing on this
question, The color line exists, and
IS so intricate in, character that it is
extremely difficalt to fully understand
in its entirety. h>
Prior to the last presidential contest
a large part of the press OF the
United States declared it to be a
truism that except for the fear of
negro domination" the Southern
States would go Republican almost
|soidly. This did not mean the total
Acknowledgement Of the colored voter,
but the broad statement was made by
both the democratic and republican
papers Of the eountEy-that but for the
cQlored mans ballot, Mason and Dix
ons line would be- wiped from the
political map; that the Democratic
party would be left IN sorry plight
for a real live southern issue. A few
brief years before this Editor Henry
W. Grady, one of the South's famous
leaders and, perhaps, It's best journal
list, declared In a speech in the city
of Boston, before the Merchants Asso-
citation, that:
Never before in this Republic has
the white race divided on the rights
of an alien race. The red man was
cut down as weed. because he hi1-
dered; the way of the American citi-
zen. The yellow man was shut out
OF this Republic because he is an
alien and an Inferior. The red man
was owner of the land-the yellow
man highly civilized and assimiabIe-
but they hindered both sections and
are gone. But the black man, clothed
with every privilege Of government
is pinned to the soil, and my people
communicable make good at any haz-
ard. and at any cost, his full and equal
heirship of American privilege and
prosperity: It matters not that every
race has been routed Or excluded. 1t
matters not that wherever the whites
and blacks have touched, in any era
or any climes there has been irrecon-
cilable violence. It matters not that
no two races, however similar have
ever lived anywhere, at any time, on
the same soil" with equal rights, in
peace. In spite Of these things, we
are commanded to make good this
change ofiAmefican policy which has
| not, perhaps, changed American pre-
judice-toi !; make certain here what
has elsewhere been Impossible be-
tween whites and blacks-and to re-
verse, under the very worst condi-
| lions, the universal verdict of racial
| history
We are driven to this superhumar
task With an Impotence that brooks
| no delay, a rigOr hatLaccepts no ex-
cnse, and a suspicion that discourages
| framkness and sincerity. e. 1t is SO in
| terWoven with our industrial fabric
that we cannot disentangle it If We
would--so bound up in our honorable
! obligation to the world, that we would
not # we could. The weakest an6
Wtsest of us know we cannot solve /
with less than tolerant and patie1
| sympathy
=, But following the more recent trend
Of events Since the days of Edito,
| Grady, President Taft cited the fol
| lowing in his inaugural. address, OF
March 4, 1909:
! The. colored men must base thei
| hope on the results Of their own in
| auStry self-reStraint, thrift, and bust
ness success, as we'll as upon the aid
and comfort and sympathy which the,
-aay-feee4Ee from theif-1Hhite- neigh
bors of the South.
| There Is FIJI the South q stronge
| feeling than ever arne1g the intelIi
| gent, Wefl-to-do,' apdt influential ele
ment in favor Of Industrial education
Of the Negro and the encouragement
OF the race to: make themselves use
full members OF the community. TIL
| progress which the Negro has mad
In the last fifty years, from slavery
when it's statistics are reviewed., j
marvellous, and 1t furnishes every rea
son to hope that in the next twenty
five years a still greater improvement
in his condition as productive mem
Der Of society, on the farm, and, i
the shop, and In other occupation
may come.
| ------e--A~-e
= ATTACK LIKE TIGERS.