The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1919-01-25
Continued from Page ~

that they were but little better than
animals.
Thus the slave cared nothing except
to minister to the want of his mas
ter; he knew of little except to toll
and work that his master might be-
come more rich and more powerful.
Books had no place in his daily life,
for they might help him become more
enlightened, and eventually to become
discomfort with his lot. 1t was a crime
on many plantations to attend church.
In short, the South was determined to
hold the Negro securely down in the
place which circumstances had as
signed him with an iron hand. And
the Negro could not very well escape
except at great risk of being tracked
and hunted down by merciless blood
hounds, kept on every southern plan
tation. If he were caught, he would
be more cruelty treated than ever, or
he might be put to death, for the mas
ter possessed absolute power over his
slaves.
1t was plain that Justice, so far as
the slave was concerned, was slum-
bering, and she continued to slumber
for nearly two hundred fifty years be-
fore she took any stand with regard to
the slave question whatever.
In 1857, however, came the one, and
only thrust from her sword which had
been sheathed so long. bred Scott, a
slave, had been carried into free ter
rtory by his master where he had re-
NAMED for several years, at the end
of which time his master carried him
back to a slave-holding state. He,
through the influence of some of his
friends made while in the North, took
his case to court, suing his master for
his freedom. The matter was event
ually carried before the supreme court
of the country where it was ruled that
a slave, born of slave parents, was to
be considered as the personal proper
ty of his master, and a. such, could be
carried into any state or to any place
where the master saw fit to go; and
that since a slave was regarded as SO
much personal property, he could not
sue in the courts of the United States
This decision of the highest court in
the land seemed to have strucg the
doom of all Negroes who had a ray
of hope for the future left within
their breasts. For, now, men who
were wont to consider affairs of state
and of others with great gravity, mer
whose office has always been consid
cred as symbolizing the defense and
protection of all that is held most sa
cred to mankind, went so far as to
openly avow that the millions of mer
and women bound in misery in the
South were to be regarded as so many
horses or cattle. In other words, they
did not possess hearts that trobbed
with anguish and sufferings; in other
words, the blood that ran through theiI
veins was not as sanguine as that
which coursed through the veins q
the most thoroughbred gentleman o
the North or South. Tese men turned
a deaf ear to tie millions who were
oppressed, and trampled all that is
most sacred to man, whether bond O.
free, under their unhallowed feet. And
they, by their decision, established
new era in the history of master an(
slave. Justice might have spared thu
slave this cruel blow.
When God in His all-wise providence
saw that the slaves had borne enough
when He saw that the refining proc
ess, through which he was putting
people peculiarly His own, was vel
under way, He brought forth Abraham
Lincoln as His special instrumen
1SG1-1S65) to aid the Negro throw of
his heavy yoke. And Lincoln, and hi
name should call forth the sincere rev
erence of every Negro, backed up b,
loyal Negroes of the North and South
combined with aid from those in tn
North who felt that the institution wa
= radically wrong, struck the blow whic
eliminated in the second birth Of fou
millions of Negroes.
y Thus in the year 1865 four million
of ignorant, illiterate men and wome
e were placed on their own resources
Indeed, the outlok was anything bu
encouraging. But, had not God brough
: them through what seemed almost il
surmountable difficulties Had H
not heard their cries in the darkes
hours of despair? Surely, the futur
. could not be more black than the hide
Gus past. Timely assistance cam
. from friends Of the North of bot
races, for some of the Negroes ha
managed to escape through the u
derground Railway and had manage
to learn much about the vital thing
of life. So, they, together, set then
selves to work to prepare the eX-slaV
to take his place in the social and il
dustrial life of this country in a ne.
role--a free man.
Time and space will not permit m
go into details of the horrors of r
construction, the terrors of THE Nigl
Riders" the "Klu Klux' and whf
not, invented to prevent the NegI
from coming into his heritage, fl
because of their great numbers, IL
South soon began to fear their polit
cal power. No nation has yer ha
such %stupendous problem to solve sint
nor before the advent Of the Negl