The Cleveland gazette. [volume], September 01, 1883, Image 1

About The Cleveland gazette. [volume] (Cleveland, Ohio) 1883-1892

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
The Cleveland Gazette.
VOL. 1.-NO. 2.
The Cleveland Gazette.
PUBLISHED BY THE GAZETTE PUB. CO.
fßntered at the Post-Offlee at Cleveland, Ohio,
as second-class matter.]
TER3K^—•Payable la Advance t
By mail or carrier, per annum $1 go
Six months j (K)
Three months 5)
** <\? ETT F desires an Agent
"village in the surrounding'
country, wnere it has none at present. Live,
r® men an ‘J Jwys can make money sell-
Liberal inducements offered.
Write to the Gazette for particulars.
. ^R rbspo ni»knck Wanted.—The Gazette
Bolicits correspondence from everywhere.
?n!S. •® , r’mtten communications on the
wiU 06 thankfully received
by the Gazette.
THE CLEVELAMD GAZETTE is
iMUed tmd Delivered Every
Saturday Morning.
OFFICERS OF GAZETTE PUBLISHING CO’
John F Lightfoot Pres dent.
John Holmes Vice President.
James H. Jac xson... Secretary and Treasurer.
H. C. SMITH, Managing Editor.
Adresss all communications to The Cleve
land Gazette, a»G Euclid Avenue, Cleveland-
Ohio.
There are 22,003 colored voters in
Ohio.
Read our Masonic column carefully
for a good account of the convention at
Lima.
We advocate industrial training, but
to all parents who are able we sav,
“Give your children collegiate educa
tions by all means.”
j We take great pride and pleasure in
calling the attention of our readers to
our advertising columns, as the firms
represented in them are well known,
and stand at the head of all others in
their lines.
Who is to represent us in the Na
tional Convention at Louisville? The
State of Ohio should send at least one
delegate to this convention, and it
looks as if this one must come from
Northern Ohio, if at all. Will not some
one ot our intelligent citizens call a
meeting?
As previously announced, the Ga
zette made its appearance last Satur
day and was praised on every hand for
its neat appearance and abundance of
local and general news. The Gazette
is published in the interests of the col
ored people and shall ever be a stern
advocate of their rights.
Different factions, composed of
different nationalities, receive some
thing for their services and fidelity to
the party, but as soon as the colored
voter demands what is justly his due.
he is said to be using “unprincipled
language, trying to sell the colored
vote, etc.”
Negro voters hold the balance of
power in the States of New York, Penn
sylvania. Ohio, Indiana and Connecti
cut. That is to say, there has not been
an election carried by the Republican
part}' in any of these five States during
the past three years which would not
have been lost had the negro voters
voted with sJie Democratic ticket.
At the Foraker and Rose Club meet
ing Monday evening only 27 out of
nearly 200 colored voters present signed
the club list binding themselves to vote
the straight Republican ticket. This
shows conclusively that there is dissatis
faction among the colored voters and
that they are heartily tired of being re
peatedly ignored by the party leaders.
, Agitation, constant protesting, al
ways standing up to he counted, to be
heard, or to be knocked down—this
spirit breeds respect, and dulls the edge
of tyranny. We should learn that the
aggressive man, the man who is always
ready to contend for what is his, is the
man'who gets what is his. In politics,
in business, in social intercourse, we
want to show more manhood, a deeper
appreciation of the philosophy of life.
We must learn to lean upon ourselves ;
we must learn to plan and execute busi
enterprises of our own; we must learn
to venture our pennies if we would gain
dollars. We must wake up. We spend
too much time and money in frivolity.
Fortunes and reputation are not made
in that way.”—W. Y. Globe.
WHAT WE NEED MOST.
Much is being said at present in favor
of industrial training, but it is to be
hoped that no intelligent person thinks
that we have a sufficient number of
skilled and professional laborers.
There is not any danger of the colored
race having too many skilled and pro
fessional men for many, many years to
come, such is the demand for them,
pnd so inadequate are the facilities for
Hie education, of the colored youth g n
erally.
The skilled laborer should have th •
best common school education, if not a
collegiate education, that is possible.
To make a professional man, it is ab
solutely necessary that the person have
the very best collegiate education pos
sible. This isappan n to all in 'lligent
per Sons, and it behooves parents to use
every efl’ort in giving their children a
collegiate education, which does not
mean simply finishing the High School.
CLASSIFICATION OF LABORERS.
Laborers are classified as common,
skilled and professional. The work
did by these classes as common, skilled
and professional labor. Common labor
is that which can be rcceptably per
formed by an ordinarily competent per
son aftera little practice and instruction,
without anything corresponding to an
apprenticeship as a preliminary.
Farm laborers, miners, teamsters, por
ters and many more belong to this
class. Wages are usually the lowest
and steadiest in this class, because,
owing to the ease with which the class
can be recruited at any time from
growing boys and immigrating for
eigners, the supply is kept constantly
large relatively to the demand. Skilled
labor, viz., that of those wh > have had
to pass through something equivalent
to an apprenticeship in order to be
able to offer their services, presents
some points of differen"e from common
labor. In the first place, their
numbers are fewer, because com
paratively few parents can afford to
give their children the time and money
needful for them to learn a trade, or to
become skilful in any art requiring edu
cation: and. as a result of this, their
wages will rule higher than common
wages, because the press of competi
tion will be less felt among them, and
because, being more intelligent and
consequently mobile, they can better
insist on their claims, and can better
distribute themselves to points where
their services are in demand. In the sec
ond place, they are more likely to be sub
ject to a stronger demand than common
laborers are, on account of the close
connection of their labor with special
accumulations of capital. Professional
labor is the highest form of personal
services rendered for pay, because it
involves the most of time and expense
in the way of preparation, because it i>
most often connected with .high
natural abilities and genius, and be
cause for these reasons it receives the
highest remuner.ilioi, or wages.
Clergymen, physicians, lawyers, doc
tors, artists, actors and many more are
of this last named class.
SOME REASONS WHY
The Colereil Voters arc Becoming Rest
less—The Treacherr ot Hayes, Ha treaty
Indifference of Carfield anil lordly
Contempt of Arthur—An Extract From
a hotter to the New York Times by T«
Thomas Foriime, Kditor New lork
filobe.
The colored people of this country
have ample causes to be dissatisfied
with the treatment they received from
the Republican party, and as these
causes have often been referred to but
never fully set forth by any colored
man in any one article, I will attempt
to do so now: (1.) The settlement of
the questions growing out of the elec
tion of Hayes and Wheeler and the in
■famous terms of which turned the State
Governments of Florida, South Caro
lina and Louisiana over to the De
mocracy—which turned the black ma
jorities' of those States (majorities
which had never faltered in devqtion
to the Republican Party) over to the
rapacious malignity of their hereditary
political opponents, is one of the black
est crimes in the catalogue of factional
treachery. If Hayes and \\ heeler re
ceived a majority of the popular vote of
those States, so also did the Republican
candidates for Governor of those States;
and the sacrifice of those State Govern
ments tn insure the election of the
Hayes ticket was a deliberate abandon
ment of the black voters of those States,
and absolved them absolutely from the
frail obligations which had bound them
to the Republican party. This treach
ery of the party, by no means the first,
opened the eyes of intelligent colored
men to the fact that the party cared no
more for them than to use them and
their race for its own advancement and
aggrandizement, ft was aru b*, a cruel
awakening. (2.) The whining, vacil
lating, temporizing policy adopted by
Mr. Hayes in carrying out the
stipulations by which he came
into the Presidency, his whole
sale appointment of Southern Demo
crats to office over the heads of loyal
Republicans, white and black, com
pletely disgusted every thoughtful col
ored man in the country, and made
them query: “Have we deserved such
treatment* from the man our votes
placed in office?” (3.) The haughty
and indifferent manner in which Gen
eral Garfield received the delegation of
Southern colored men, headed by Rob
ert Browne Elliott, of South Carolina,
at Menter, just before his election to
the Presidency, was an eye-opener.
He requested* Mr. Elliott’s address,
(through his secretary) and Mr. Elliott
so far forgot his dignity and the majes
ty of the cause he represented as to
send it to him. When the address was
CLEVELAND, OHIO, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1683.
returned, Mr. Garfield had erased what
he did not desire to have read to him,,
a id had otherwise tampered with the
document, so emasculating it as to de
stroy all its saliency. In reply to the
address, as emasculated, Mr. Garfield,
advised the delegation to go home
ami study, and encourage others to
study, “Webster's blue-back spell*
er’” and that, too, when Mr. El
liott was a graduate of an Eng-,
Ihh college, an I had measured thought
and eloquence with Mr. Garfield him*
self on the floor of the House of Rep
resen a i . es, and when ot her members
of the delegation were as thoroughly
educated and polish al. and whose abil
ities were as eonsid Tabi.* as those of
General Garfield. The ILgra •> It ape 1
upon the delegation was heated upon
the race, and Mr. Garlie’d in ended to
show thereby his contempt o the races
His revocation of the appointment of
Mr. Douglas as Marshal o.' the Dis
trict of Colum’ ia and dropping him a
peg lower, into the ollbe of Recorder
of Deels, was in accordance with hi*
estimate of the race. Mr. Bru e, who
should, in recognition of his race anti
the prestige attaching to an ex-Senator,
have been called to the Cabinet, was
hid away in one of the oureaus of the
Treasury Department with his hands
tied to his sides and his voice effectually
stilled. The dignity of the Senatorial
office, and the faithful adherence,
through thick and thin, of a million
black voters, were stowed away in the
oblivion of one of the bur au* of the
Treasury Department. Im ’lligent col
ored m*n chalked the e tlungs dowp
nga’n-t the party for which they had
fought, voted, and died, and they still
smart under that indignity, a few col
ored dupes, and office-holders to the
contrary notwithstanding. (4.) The
course pursued by President Arthur in
giving into the hands of such men as
('halmcrs, of Mississippi: Cash, of South
Carolina, and Longstreet and Speer, of
Georgia, the control of the party, has
thoroughly disgusted intelligent col
ored men who have borne the heat and
burden of the day. Men like Governor
Pinchbaek, of Louisiana: the lion. D.
A. Straker, of South Carolina: the lion.
John R. Lynch, of Mississippi:
Rev. William J. White: T. T. Harden,
editor of the. Echo, and the Deveaus
and Belchers of Georgia (men who
have always stood by the party), can
not even reach Mr. Arthur unless they
sneak under the coat tail of such men
as Chalmers, Longstreet, Cash, and
that sort of mongrel politician. Tie
policy of lordly eon-enip! adorn ed
pursued by Mr. Arthur memices, as far
as the black vote is concerned, the
present and fill tire prospects of the
parly. He has, time and again, spoken
and acted as if the colored voters of
the connin’ counted for nothing, in his
estimation, as political factors. Mr.
Douglas. Mr. Bru o and Mr. Lynch
are not and never have been respected
or consulted by Mr. Arthur and his
lieutenants upon measures affecting the
rare for which t icy stand. On the
contrary, Mr. Arthur usually com uRs
Mr. Longstreet, .Mr. Chalmers, and that
sort of new-made Republican. Mr.
Arthur is in disgrace with intelligent
colored men who d > not live upon the
crumbs of patronage that fall from the
tables of the Republican carnivals.
THE DISCONTENT HAS BEEN VOICED BY
THE PEOPLE.
I will now show that the causes of
discontent I have enumerated, have
been voiced by the colored people of
the country. (1.) The colored people
of Rhode Island in convention as
sembled. denounced the party ami the
methods practiced by it. and put their
denunciation in the ballot-box not a
year ago for the Sprague ticket.
Mr. Downing was at his post.
(2.) In the tidal wave which buried
Mr. Folger under 200,0)0 votes in
New York, and which wrung Pennsyl
vania, Connecticut and Massachusetts
out of the Republican c dumn, the
colored voters gave ample proof that
they were not all of them machines.
(3.) The opposition to the proposed
National Colored Convention, in which
Mr. William Calvin (’base was an actuat
ing and inspiring figure, grew out of
the conviction that the convention was
to be run in the interest of politicians.
So furious was the opposition to holding
the convention at Washington that the
place and time of meeting were changed
from June to September and from
Washington to Louisville.
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER.
Washington, Aug. 27, 1883.
We learn from reliable sources that
there are to-day one hundred and
twenty-seven legitimate colored news
papers in the United States. These
are for the most part ably edited and
creditably conducted. The question is
often asked: Have colored newspapers,
as such, any influence—are they of any
real advantage to the colored people,
and do they .pay financially ? The
proper way to measure a paper’s use
fulness is by ascertaining its influence
upon public opinion—its influence in
shaping public sentiment. It is a fact
capable of demonstration that the pub
lic mind, in making up its judgment
upon many questions, is influenced, to
a considerable extent, by the colored
press; for these papers are read not
only by colored men, but also by white
men. In those parts of the country
where there are large numbers of col
ored people, the white man sees that
it is for his advantage to advertise his
business in colored newspapers, and so
he does not let prejudice interfere with
his interests. When a merchant of-
fers hrs goods for sale to the public, ;
lit matters but little to him what the I
। color of the purchaser is or to what '
I r ice he belongs. Business is business, j
What the merchant wants is cash.
Colored newspapers reflect the opin- 1
ion of colored men, and. be it remem- j
bered, the colored people number !
more than six millions in this country j
—-surely no insignificant part of the ;
population. They are particularly in- j
terested in showing what progress the ■
race is making in education and wealth !
--what advancement it is making so
cially and morally. Colored men think j
more than t hey did a generation ago.
They have intelligent opinions upon :
finance. upon polities and upon '
j the topics of the day. The white man,
j e er mindful of his own interests, ■
■ desires to know what the colored man :
| thinks. The best and surest way to ac- '
; complish this is by reading newspapers ;
' controlled by colored men. In the i
great States of New York, Pennsyl
i vania, Ohio, Indiana and New Jersey,
where colored men, in State ar-', I
Pre dential elections, hold the balance
of power, do not members of both
parties seek to obtain the vie v* of
colored men upon matters of politics?
Is not this particularly so since the
Democratic party is becoming more
liberal in its policy toward the Negro?
and the Negro himself is discussing the
question -whether it would be for his
advantage to continue clannish as here
i tof ore in casting his vote for the candi
datesof one party, or to vote for the
! best man in either party. What candi
। date for Stale honors in New York
i would fail to estimate the political force
of theNew York Globe* White politi
cians read this paper, and are forced to
give it its proper pla oe in importance
and influence among the great journals
of New York Citi. The same will be
found to betrue of colored newspapers
।in other cities where the\ are ably
edited ami successfully conducted.
Colored newspapers often are the
only ones through which the voice of
an outraged people can bo, heard.
I Many newspaperswill only print one
j side of a question -the *ide they favor:
! and where an*, question arises as to
the rights of the negro, the Sou hern
new .paper. Dem erratic or Republican,
is slow by its utterances to offend the
white nativ •. They hesitate to a ril ate
unpopular questions, such m abolishing
the separate school sys cm. no discrim
ination in hotels and places of public
amusement, equal accommodations for
all the people on railroads and steam
, ; oats, mid last, bit nyi lea g doing
away with the negro v m while
churches. As an illustration we give
a ca e that happened in this
■ District. Some time ago an educated
j gentleman from Philadelphia, a. clerk
I in the First Comptroller’s office in the
' Treasury Department, stepped into
Ward’s, on Fiff ’enth Street, to get a
roll and a glass of milk, his fellow
clerks being a -custome I I > take lunch
eon at Ward’s. Accommodation was
refused the colored man unless he would
take away what he want - I and eat it
l outside. Angry words fallowed as might
have been expected. Mr. Gorham, the
then managing editor of the XCional
of this city, refused to even
publish Ihe facts in the case. He said
the matter was not a public but a pri
vate on# between the clerk and Mr.
Ward. No, we need the colored press
that we may expose the fraud and
violence pra tired upon us when the
columns of white newspapers are closed
to its. The colored press will be ag
gressive—it will be vigilant it will
insist in season and out of season upon
all the rightsof the Negro being granted
him.
Again there is pressing necessity for
colored newspapers,'since, as a rule, a
cruel pre’udice excludes the Negro ap
prentice from the printing office, undec
the management of whites. When the
business is performed by colored work
men, as in many instances, they give
opport unity to our young men. if t hey
elect to do so, to follow an honorable
ami lucrative profession. The exist
ence and continuance of these papers
are proof positive that the Negro exhib
its ability, courage, industry, persever
ance, energy and business tact in the
profession of journalism as he does in
other professions where a fair oppor
tunity is accorded him.
Do colored newspapers pay finan
cially ? It is a matter of com
mon observance that newspapers,
like other business enterprises
that are not self-sustaining,
cease to exist of their own accord.
Thcy die a natural death. They rarely
die through violence. A newspaper
cannot be run without money. Money
is needed for every issue. Without
money the paper must fail. The mere
statement that many of these one hun
dred and twenty-seven papers have been
published for years is evidence that they
are financially successful. As occasion
offered from time to time, I conversed
with many of the leading colored
journalists of the country upon this
very point, and they all assured me
that their respective papers were man
aged on business principles and in most
cases were more than self-sustaining.
Some of the larger papers declare
handsome dividends on the stock in
vested, or what is the same thing, yield
good interest on the capital employed.
Before I pass from this topic I trust
I have said nothing that will cause any
"pader to believe that your correspond
ent is in?favor of drawing the color
liiu. No. I am an advocate of equal
privilege and equal opportunity every
v. here. White men force us to draw
all the lines that have been drawn.
Sometimes we are compelled seeming
ly to draw the line for our own defense
and protection. It is for the purpose
of destroying this very color line in all
its bearing that the colored press is
needed. It is like the anti-slavery
party, it has a mission.
We spent one evening last week with
Register Bruce. The Register lives in
au attractive house, handsomely fur
nished, on M Street, a street usually
preferred for residences, as it runs
through the higher parts of the city.
The ex-Senator being a quiet, unas
suming gentleman, many have sup
posed that he was n>t a good
conversationalist. Th ' very oppo
site is true. He is ready and
fluent in conversation, thoroughly in
formed in matters of general interest.
While a member of the Senate a broth
er Senator called him a “leveled-hea led
man.” The <1 es ’fiption is amost happy
one. Who ever heard of Mr. Bruce
being engaged in any uncertain, foolish
or deceptive cute'prise'’ No: the
Register is a man of good judgment,
of strict business habits, conducts his
office properly and to the satisfaction of
all. It is chain terislic of the man to
do well everything that he undertakes.
Would that we had a few more lecdcd
hea h tlwMx among us.
Mr. W. S. Montgomery, one of the
.Supervising Principals ot the Washing
ton colored schools, arrived in the city
last week, with his bride, Mrs. Emma
Rosa, daughter of Hon. U. M. Wilder,
postmaster at Columbia, S. C. The
wedding is described as amost brilliant
affair, flic bride ws elegantly at tired.
The presents were numerous and costly.
Mr. Montgomery is the brother of 11.
P. Montgomery, also Supervising Prin
eipal of our colored schools, who a few’
years ago m fried Mis* Emma Brown,
a I id. well mi l favorably known in
education.d circles.
Washingtonians are beginning to ar
rive. Oue on the stre t next week W’ill
see many famili.tr feces. It is predicted
by those who ought to know that Wash
ington will be crowded with strangers
this winter. Who among t e visitors
will represent the Forest ( (y?
Capita l.
NEU-EDUCATION
of the Slaws ol I. niislaua.
BY I’M I. <i A
thirt First—: >m mn-.i.
Nearly <me bundle I mid ninety-three
vears ago Pere Marquette and his in
seporable companion, Pere .Joliet, be
eame the first thoroughexp'orers of the
Mississippi. Seven years later Robert
< ’hevalier de la Salle and Chavalier de
Tonti descended to its mouth, and on
returning to Erancc related its grand
eur ami ’fertility to their magnauimous
gnvmigttrf.'nms NIV. -
Following these heralds of a distant
and almost uulimi ed empire came the
venturous iber.ille, the ga;-,ike Bien
ville and (he Holy lather Ana-tase,
who became the pioneers of the first
settlement in the; colony, and the last
spring of the s-ventoenth century be
held their first rude hamlet on the
simas of Biloxi Bay. Prosperity, how
ever, refused to smile upon this enter
prise. The settlers accustom d to the
bracing air of Canada and the milder
breezes of Eranee, were un 1 pial to the
cmsls <>f the scorching sun and con
tagioas* il'sea-os of this semi-tropical
(dime.
Sickness and death invaded their
ranks, and consigned many of their
companions to a premature grave. Only
a few \ears after these events (If 08
the colonists, in consequence of the
inability of Europeans t > endure the
climate, began to di-erss the ‘ea-iidiity
of introducing slave, labor in the de
velopment of the vast resources of the
colony. The curse had already been
introduce I and found to lie profitaid .■
in the'Vest Indies, and was therefore
regarded as essential to the prosperity
and perpetuaT n of the province.
Indians were at first seized ami com
pelled to undergo the unremunerated
toil, b it the difficulty of domesticating
and confining them to the plantations
consumed so much time, and inpurred
so great an expense, that the planters
aboudoned the enterprise, and turned
their eyes to the swarming shores of
Africa as the nursery which was in the
future to stock their almost, princely
domains.
For a century and a half since that
period an irrepressible conflict between
freedom and slavery has been waged,
and until the rebellious bombardment
of Fort Sumter, slavery seemed the
victor..
In many of (he English settlements
on the Atlantic coast loud and repeated
remonstrances were made to the mother
country until the period of the, Ameri
can revolution against the introduction
of the African element into the colonial
population, but in the early history of
Louisiana we find no serious opposition
was ever made to the employment of
slaves, or any apprehension indulged
of future evils from their presence.
The early Governors welcomed slav
ery as the only means of producing
permanent prosperity. The monarchs
of France and Spain regarded .it as a
proper element of industry, and a legit
imate source of revenue: and lienee the
slave trade, with its hideous moihd de
formities, became, in their estimation,
at once a humane, beneficent and civ
ilizing institution, and because they thus
regarded it, should lie perpetuated to
the latest posterity, not, of course, for
the aggrandizement of the colonists,
but for the enlightenment of “Africa’s
heathen sons.”
In pursuance of this beneficent idea,
when the entire control of the colony
of Loui-iana was in 1712 entrusted to
Antoine Croznt. ,slayer;, had already
been introduced.and he was by royal de
cree authorized to perpetuate it by send
ing a ship once everx \ ear to Africa for,
slaves to supply the pkmiations. From
that period to the promulgation of the
edict of eman.-ipation in ISG3—one hun
dred and fifty years- ■slave labor has
PRICE FIVE CENTS.
been fostered by legislative en mt.:n n
and judicial decisions, and. as a cmis
quence, struck its envenom.■ ! roott
firmly and deep into th" social system.
It should not seem strange io the re
llective mind that itseradi: ation should,
even now. be so difficult.
From Crozat the colony passed into
the hands of the “India Company,”
whose act of incorporation required
that the demand for la »or should be
supplied by the importation o three
thousand negroes annually from Africa.
The “Black Code,” first established
by Bienville, has ever been the model
for all subsequent legislation on the
subject of slavery in Louisiana. When
the colony was first taken possession of
by Spain in 1769, the laws of the “Code
Noir” were retained with such modifi
cations as “La Siete Partidas” deemed
best for the consolidation of its pet in
stitution.
This system of laws, first enacted in
A. D. 1263, has ever since been the
“Blackstone” of Spain, in all her col
onies, and prevailed in Cuba until the
late modifications of the law of slavery.
Although founded on the Roman civil
law, it is acknowledged to be the best
digested system of laws on the con
tinent of Europe, and is still the au
thority in American colonies settled by
Spaniards. In this system the subject
of slavery is well defined, and is evi
dently based on the “Code Justinian.”
The early settlers of the colony of
Louisiana were mostly descendants of
the “Latin races.” A few' Germans in
habited the parishes of St. Jean Bap
tiste, St. James and Lafourche. But
these have lost all trace of their former
language and nationality. Up to the
beginning of the XVIJ century the 30l
ony, witn this exception, was peopled
chietly from the shores of the Med
itterranean Sea, and in every city the
people, language and customs of
France, Spain, Italy and Portugal {we
vailed. In a large portion of New
Orleans there is little to remind us that
we are in an American city. We hear
European languages in the streets,
cases and shops, and thousands are ig
norant of the Engli.-h language, and,
though residing in America, do not
eieii ii nv regard themselves as Ameri
cans.
fTO BE CONTINVEDj
EDUCATION.
Extract-, fr » n an eloquent address
delivered by n. Re.. Dr. Haygood,
President of Emory College, author of
the exccllem book,' “Our Brother in
Black,” and general agent for the
“John F. Elani' r'und,’’ at Monteagle,
Tenn.: ■
The proposition that I am here to
advo'-ab 1 is inis, and this only: The
Ne ro in the Lulled States ought to be
cuu-’ated.
The first reason 1 offer is in the fact
of his humanity. He ought to be edu
cated because he is a man. At this
point I say nothing to (hose who deny
the essential unity of the human race.
1 speak to those who do believe in that
essential unity. For one I believe in
the essential unity of the race, and I
believe in the brotherhood of the hu
man race. 1 believe, therefore, in all
brotherly help ami service, wherever
and howe er 1 find any human being.
For the very same rea-on that 1 be
lieve in sen ting the gospel atid the
Christian civilization 1 :al goes with it
to China, I believe in ivi ag Christian,
education to the Negroes in America;
and. lest by some possibility there should
no some misapprehension as to the truth
1 hold, let me say: 1 believe in giving
the, opportunities of Christian education
to the Negroes for the same reasons
that I believe in gh ing the opportuni
ties of, Christia-n education to white
people —that is, because they are alike
human beings, and by natural, God
given rights, should have the best op
portunit y God s providence allows them
for be oining all that they are capable
of becoming. So long as 1 believe in
lesus Christ and His Gospel I cannot
•land upon any lower platform than
this.
THE NEGRO’S CAPACITY FOR LEARNING.
How much he can learn, of what de
velopment die is capable, we of to-day
do not know: our children will not
know, for the elevation of a race im
plies the education of generations. But
individuals of the Negro race have done
enough in the matter of advanced edu
cation: hundreds of thousands of them
have done enough in the matter of ele
mentary education to put to flight, ut
terly the theories and arguments that a
feneration ago we of the white race,
with few exceptions, accepted as the
final orthodox philosophy on this sub
ject.
As a practical proposition I would
say ^at every child in this country,
white or black, should have, from his
parents or from the government, an
equal chancefor elementary education.
1 believe in what Americans mean by
the ‘-common school." There should
be schools enough to give every child
the rudiments of learning; if you please
the “three B’s.” And these schools
should be good enough to teach the
rudiments thoroughly. Such schools
there must be, if the children of the
republic are to be educated; if they are
to be efficient, if they are to reach the
case, they must.be backed by the Gov
ernment. To avcpmplish this end
wisely, justly, efficiently, there must be
a fair and e ( uitable distribution of the
school funds, without distinction of
race. I rejoice that every State in this
Union—with perhaps one exception
does now, in principle at least, use. its
school funds without distinction of race,
so that in the opportunities of element
ary education there may be juatic^ to
both races.
What comes after this universal ele-