The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1914-05-15
N. Y. Editor Spoke to Large
Audience M. e. Church.
OF AB0uTI0NIST ANCESTRY
Willard Takes Heritage of Civil
War Seriously.
Greater Questions Been Solved
by Faith and Energy.

race problem in this country, ACCORDING
to Oswald Garrison Willard, eoltor oi
the New York Evening Post. ana
grandson of the famous cnamPion u
the negro cause, William Lloyd Gar
rison, who spoke before large ana at
tentive audience Thursday n2ht dI the
First Methodist church 1t was the
north that solved the slavery propiem'
said the speaker, and it Is Tor the nor Ill
to handle the present race proplem.
Arthur Capper, president of the To-
peka branch of the National Assoc1a-
ton for the Advancement OF the Coi-
ored People. introduced FRANK r. MAJ
Lehman. who served as presiding OIL
Ger and introduced Mr.. Willard. me
main auditorium was well nlled anu
the crowd overlooked into the room
adjoining on the south. The audience
consisted of both white and coioreo
people. The singing of the chorus OF
the Topeka Industrial Institute was
pleasing feature Of the meeting me
singing of Mrs. G. VI. Wright. soiolst'
was deserving Of special mention
Mr.. Willard. who is treasurer or the
National Association for the Advance
ment Of Colored People, and who mas
been doing a valuable work for this or
ganization. told of Some Traitors TO
the South" He said in part:
Traitors to the South.
why do we of the north boldly VEN
ture to believe that we can offer a So
luton of the race problem? Because
the unanswerable argument of titanic
historical achievement is on our SIDE
1t was the north which solved the slav-
cry problem, solved it in the face Of
practically united southern public SEN
timent. declaring that the interlopers
from the north were totally d1Squan-
fed by reason of their remoteness from
the problem. their ignorance. their
prejudices. and their prepossessions
from dealing with the question of ne
gro bondage. Today in all the south
there is not one person OF sound
mind. who does not freely confess the
folly of slavery, both on the score of
economics and of morality; not one
who would restore the system OF negro
unpaid labor If he could. The wisdom
Of the anti-slavery minority OF the
north which. with the aid of military
necessity compelled Lincoln to his
characterization proclamation. has been
justified of all men.
Same Old Assertion.
"Yet We today meet on every hand
the same old assertion of sixty and
seventy years ago. that the southerner
alone is competent to work out the
In the southerner's hands: that the
south understands him and knows
what is best for him, and that all
others should keep off and devote
themselves to their own parOchial
problems. Well, I for one, am willing
with one reservation, that the negro
in the south should be turned over
exclusively to southerners for man
agement and supervision: and that
reservation is simply that I should be
allowed to pick the southerners
Thank fortune, my friends, in this
great issue. the south is today divided
within itself Within it's own ranks
there are indictments and rebels
against the dominating public senti-
ment, the sentiment that is voiced to-
day by political demagogues risen to
eminence on the backs of the negro,
and by means of wicked appeals to
the unreason and to the baser pas
sions of a largely illiterate or unin-
formed electorate. 1t is in these vio-
lent anti-negro southern senators and
congressman that we see our chief
enemies. as we behold in those within
the other southern camp a chief hope,
chief Inspiration, certain promise
that the conscience and the justice
of the south. together with that Of the
north, will eventually solve this ter
rible problem Alright.
Negro Deprived of Schooling.
Then, when they fail to rise, YOU
cheerfuly assert that this proves the
negro incapable Of advancing and
half-brother to an OK. You deprive
the negro child of all schooling. as
five thousand are deprived in Atlanta,
turn him adrift to roam in slum
streets. and then if he grows up an
animal you say the responsibility is
his, that that proves him a beast. and
his race inherently criminal Never
was there a more brazen assertion
that people cannot rise in the scale
Of civilization and a more determined
effort to prevent their rising.
And so 1 could go on for hours citing
instance after instance from southern
lids and southern 70