SPEECHES & WRITINGS FILE Published writings by Terrell, 1906 10, 1906 9,000 TURN OUT TO CONSTITUTION LEAGUE CONVENTION. (Continued from page 3.) best to discover. All are sure-those who believe it exists-that if it is left unsolved, some day it will come to a head and hatch out a nest of vipers, or some other awful thing, which will proved to be the ruin of society. This view is held, not only of the negro, but of other men of dark skin. Trouble With the White Man, not the Colored "In Springfield, Mass., just a few days ago, a judge decided that a Japanese could not become an American citizen. It is not necessary to say that the Chinese is also under the ban. The fact is, it is RACE PREJUDICE; why then call it a problem? It is something that the WHITE MAN HAS; WHY THEN PUT IT ON THE MAN OF COLOR? (Applause.) "The way to solve it is simply this, do right. APPLY THE GOLDEN RULE IN OUR DEALINGS WITH ALL MEN. If a man commits murder, hang him. If he commits theft, put him in prison. If he behaves himself like a man, LET HIM ALONE. (Applause.) Follow the Golden Rule "This righteous course of action should be followed for at least two reasons: "1st. We claim to be a Christian nation, with the motto, "In God We Trust." Christian churches everywhere dot the land. We count our ministers by the tens of thousands. We go to the ends of the earth to teach Christianity. Is it not strange then that this nation, foremost among Christian nations should set aside a doctrine so fundamental to the Golden Rule? Divine Retribution and Lawless Spirit When Justice Is Denied. "2d. Because wrong doing brings upon nations, as well as upon individuals, its own awful punishment. THEY WHO SOW THE WIND MUST REAP THE WHIRLWIND. When the African was being brought to this country and enslaved, he was so weak and defenceless that those who spoiled him felt no fear of punishment. But God is not mocked. The time came, when Mr. Lincoln said, if the conflict continued FOR EVERY DROP OF BLOOD DRAWN BY THE LASH, ONE WOULD BE DRAWN BY THE SWORD, we must still say, "the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether." Besides the Divine retribution that is the sure result of wrong doing, is the fact that the DISREGARD OF LAW BRINGS ABOUT CONTEMPT FOR LAW. Those who are permitted to oppress black men contrary to the constitution, will finally OPPRESS WHITE MEN. Those who begin by murdering black men will soon learn to MURDER WHITE MEN. The nation, then, FOR ITS OWN PROTECTION, if not for a higher motive, should see to it that its constitution [text cut off here] Photo Rev. G. [???] P. TALDIAFERRO, D.M. One of Philadelphia's Great Baptist Divines Who Spoke at Great Mass Convention in Academy of Music in Philadelphia butchered Jew, to the righteous indignation with which the atmosphere fairly crackled and thundered and to the LOFTY IDEALS OF FULL AND COMPLETE LIBERTY FOR EVERY HUMAN BEING WITHOUT REGARD TO RACE OR CREED, to which all the speakers without a single solitary exception declared they were IRREVOCABLY PLEDGED. As I drew a mental picture of Russia, grovelling in the dust, prone under the weight of countless iniquities committed against a defenceless race, wallowing in the mud of political corruption and criminal cabal, and contrasted this with Borgia among the nations with my own fair land, I loathed her all the more. But suddenly an ugly, unbidden, unwelcome thought assaulted my brain and I was precipitated, alas! from the Elysian fields to which the beautiful ideals and glittering generalities had transported me to a dark and dismal abyss of the depressing and repulsive real. America's Treatment of the Negro. When I thought of the CONVICT LEASE SYSTEM, that new form of slavery which obtains in nearly every state in the south and which in some respects is MORE CRUEL AND CRUSHING than that from which Colored people were emancipated forty years ago, when I thought of the hundreds of men and women and children of my own race who had been hurled into eternity, unshriven by priest and untried by law, shot to death, flayed alive and BURNT AT THE STAKE WITH IMPUNITY IN MY NATIVE LAND, I was covered with confusion and shame and could not help wondering what RUSSIA WILL THINK, when she learned that a meeting had been held in the United States to protest against her treatment of the Jews. (Applause.) For Russia has ears and Russia has eyes. At least a portion of Russia can read, so that even ignorant, benighted Russia knows that thanks to the KU-KLUX-KLANS a few years ago, to the WHITE CAMPS, the LYNCHERS and other bands of organized violence today, KISHINEFF FOR THE COLORED AMERICAN HAS OCCURRED IN THE UNITED STATES, NOT ONCE BUT AGAIN AND AGAIN. (Applause.) The American "Glass House." When I think of the disfranchisement of Colored men practiced in at least eleven states of the south, by which the rights of citizenship has been violently snatched from more than a million American citizens, many of whom are intelligent, worthy and well to do, simply because they were not SHREWD AND FARSEEING ENOUGH TO HAVE THEMSELVES BORN WHITE; (laughter) when I think of how the CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES, which but a few years ago solemnly conferred citizenship upon the now disfranchised class is violated, TRAMPLED IN THE DUST BY ONE SECTION OF THIS COUNTRY, with the knowledge, the connivance, yes, with the consent of all the other sections, as manifested by the WICKED SILENCE WHICH THEY ALL SO RELIGIOUSLY PRESERVE, when I think also of the JIM CROW LAWS, enacted NOT TO HUMILIATE THE IGNORANT VICIOUS, BUT THE BEST AND WORTHIEST COLORED PEOPLE in the United States, I cannot help imagining how pointed and picturesque must have been the epithets used by the Great White Czar and his diabolical dukes, when they talked about the protest sent from the United States, insisting upon LIBERTY, EQUALITY AND A SQUARE DEAL FOR THE JEW. (Derisive laughter and applause.) Witte Asked to Make Protest to U. S. Oh, consistency, what a jewel thou art. I want to serve notice right here and now, Mr. Chairman, that before this meeting adjourns, I shall move, if I can get a second, that we cable M. WITTE, REQUESTING HIM IMMEDIATELY EITHER IN ST. PETERSBURG OR MOSCOW TO CALL A MEETING OF ALL THE RUSSIAN PRINCES, both great and small, of all Russian dukes, duchesses and dukelets, good, bad and indifferent, old and young FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROTESTING AGAINST THE DISFRANCHISEMENT AND [???] self have talked with scores of northern people who were shocked and pained beyond expression to learn that there are HUNDREDS OF COLORED MEN, in the south who are INTELLIGENT AND WELL TO DO, who would practically TAKE THEIR LIVES IN THEIR HANDS IF THEY DARED TO CAST A BALLOT, while hundreds of IGNORANT, VICIOUS DEGRADED WHITE MEN WHO FOUGHT TO DESTROY THIS UNION ARE ACTUALLY FORCED TO VOTE. (Applause.) Southern White Man Admits Southern Negroes Safer Voters than Poor Whites In discussing this phase of the question not very long ago, one of the best journalists in the country, who is himself a southerner, served four years in the Confederate Army, had twenty years' experience of political reformation and reconstruction in the south, and who for these reasons cannot be considered biassed in the Colored man's favor, expressed himself as follows: "My opinion," said he, "is based upon intimate acquaintance, close contact and careful observation covering a quarter of a century. In my opinion the AVERAGE NEGRO IS A BETTER CITIZEN AND A MORE CONSERVATIVE FORCE IN POLITICS THAN THE POOR WHITES. If the choice were necessary," said he, "I should RATHER HAVE THE DESTINY OF THE SOUTHERN STATES ENTRUSTED TO THE UNBIASSED ACTION OF THE NEGRO YEOMAN THAN TO THE CONTROL OF THE ILLITERATE WHITES. What is more, I believe and I think I know that the upper classes of the south are of the same opinion. In slave times, forty years ago," said he, "the Negroes were the friends and the poor whites were the enemies of the educated elements of society and conditions have not materially changed. The south will be the gainer by a dispensation under which southern states can become debatable in party politics. But, I ABSOLUTELY DENY," said he, "that this condition of things CAN BE BROUGHT ABOUT BY LEGISLATION WHICH EXCLUDES FROM THE BALLOT BOX ONE ILLITERATE CLASS AND LEAVES IN POWER ANOTHER AND MORE DANGEROUS ONE. We cannot help matters," said this southern man, "by leaving the franchise in the hands of the ignorant, the vicious and the corruptible no matter what may be the color of their skins." These views were expressed in the Washington Post, which is a southern newspaper to all intents and purposes and they were written by Mr. Richard, as fine a specimen of the old slave-holding aristocracy as can be found in a day's march. This opinion of the Colored-American's citizenship is doubtless entertained by many other southern men as well as by a mighty host in the north. Nevertheless, in spite of all his evidence in the Colored man's favor, the PULPIT, THE PLATFORM AND THE PRESS, are in the main SILENT upon this burning question of human rights. Neither the MOODY nor the CRUMPACKER (applause) resolutions received the support of men whom one would expect to see arrayed on the side of any honest effort to right such a prodigious wrong. North's Apathy Scored-Should Act For Self-Interest-There's Danger in Delay If the North is not moved by a sense of duty, to protect Colored men, in their rights, the sooner the NORTH REALIZES THAT SELF PRESERVATION DEMANDS IMMEDIATE, VIGOROUS ACTION ON ITS PART, the sooner will the North be able to avert those disasters and national tragedies which wholesale political corruption winked at by the "Powers That Be," and sanctioned lawlessness always precipitate. It does not require a great amount of profundity and perspicacity to see that the VIOLATION OF ONE FUNDAMENTAL LAW OF THE LAND INVARIABLY LEADS TO THE INFRACTION OF ANOTHER. If the events which preceeded the War of the Rebellion teach one lesson more than another, it is that TOLERATING WRONG, TEMPORIZING WITH INJUSTICE AND LONG FORBEARANCE WITH EVIL [???] [*Those who bear of heart the ?? of people who cruelly offend their fellow man and defy the laws of their country could render themselves*] (Continued from page 4) which no human justice-loving white man could be found, I should despair far more of the Southern white man's future than I do of the future of the race which he so cruelly wrongs. (Applause.) Constitution League the Best Friends of South in Reality. The men in whose energy and patriotism we are indebted for this meeting tonight, are the best and truest friends to the South that can be found in the United States. (Applause.) THOSE WHO URGE DELAY IN ENFORCING THE OBSERVANCE OF THE CONSTITUTION, because, forsooth the South may become unhappy and restless, if it is forced to observe the very laws which but a few years ago it solemnly promised to obey are the BITTEREST ENEMIES THE SOUTHERN PEOPLE COULD POSSIBLY HAVE. Failure to inflict upon an individual or a collection of individuals the penalty for wrong doing and crime is simply to encourage still further defiance of the law. Therefore the men in the NORTH WHO ARE AIDING and abetting political corruption in the South by allowing THOSE WHO COMMIT IT TO GO UNPUNISHED and unrebuked are EQUAL IN GUILT with the transgressors who so IMPUDENTLY AND OPENLY DEFY THE CONSTITUTION of the United States. (Applause.) Those Who Would Make South Obey Constitution Its Best Friends. There is a law, call it human, divine, retributive justice, or what you will, but there is an inexorable law which decrees that those who persistently and coldbloodedly oppress the weak shall not always escape the consequences of their guilt. The law of the Medes and Persians was not more changeless and certain than this. Therefore, those who really have the South's interests at heart should not cease to labor and remonstrate with it, until it is turned from its evil way. No greater service could be rendered the SOUTH BY ITS BEST FRIENDS THAN TO EMANCIPATE THE PEOPLE OF THAT SECTION FROM THE THRALLDOM OF THEIR NARROW, MEAN AND PETTY PREJUDICES, release them from the slavery of the brain-blighting, soul-crushing intolerance of other people's views, teach them the difference between the highest, purest patriotism and a narrow-sectional pride, instill a sense of justice which will prevent them from either inflicting or withholding the penalty for wrong-doing and crime on account of the color of a man's skin, finally breathe in the hearts of people as a whole a broad, Christian charity which shall extend even to their former slaves. At the Confederate Veterans' reunion which was held in New York city a short time ago, F. Hopkinson Smith, who a few years ago, while lecturing in Boston, won great fame and renown by attacking the veracity and impugning the motives of the sainted Harriet Beecher Stowe, declared that "conferring the ballot upon the Negro was the greatest crime of the century." It is not surprising that brilliant, intellectual lights like Mr. Smith and others of his ilk, should entertain such a view. FOR THE BALLOT IS THE ONLY THING UNDER HEAVEN AND ON TOP OF THIS MUNDANE SPHERE THAT WILL ENABLE THE COLORED AMERICAN TO PROTECT HIMSELF. (Great applause.) After expressing his disapprobation of the Colored brother's citizenship, Mr. Smith proceeded to arraign and indict the Colored man for just those crimes, alleged to have been committed since the war which would poison men's minds against the freedmen most. But the CROWNING INFAMY OF THIS VENOMOUS ATTACK UPON A RACE, whose fathers and mothers for nearly 300 years Mr. Smith's ancestors dehumanized and debauched was when he referred to the immorality of Colored men and DECLARED THAT WHITE MEN IN THE SOUTH NO LONGER DARE TO LEAVE THEIR WIVES AND DAUGHTERS ALONE. If this be true, surely it is not because of crimes against the womanhood of the dominant race which Colored men commit. Statistics compiled by white men themselves and available to all show that out of every hundred Colored men who are lynched from 75 to 85 are not even accused by the South of what is so maliciously and falsely called the usual crime. When one class of American citizens is so mali- (?) by another, is it THEIR OPPRESSED BROTHERS IN THE SOUTH ARE ROBBED OF EVERY RIGHT THAT MEN HOLD DEAR, if it does nothing but prove that there are Colored people in this country who, WITHOUT ANY QUALIFICATION OR RESERVATION WHATSOEVER INSIST UPON ALL THOSE RIGHTS, PRIVILEGES AND IMMUNITIES OF CITIZENSHIP WHICH OTHER AMERICANS ENJOY, this meeting will not have been called in vain. If meetings like this could be held in every city and town in the North, I verily believe that the slumbering conscience and the patriotic pride of the nation would shortly be so aroused that the LAWLESSNESS WHICH REDUCES MORE THAN A MILLION AMERICAN CITIZENS TO THE LEVEL OF SERFS AND SLAVES WOULD SOON BE A THING OF THE PAST. But- "Do thy duty, that is best, leave unto thy Lord the rest" is the spirit which should possess the heart and mind of those who are trying to emancipate for a second time that race which in this land of the free and home of the brave has been twice enslaved. Let me beseech the men of the North, who have it in their power to redress the wrongs of which their disfranchised brothers so unjustly complain to be as untiring and as uncompromising in their efforts to progagate those principles in which they and their fathers have already professed to believe as are the advocates of oppression in supporting their unholy cause. (Applause.) Let me also remind the men of the North that it is possible for them to be good and loyal citizens of this Republic and yet remain neutral on many public questions or differ widely in their opinion on the tariff, the Statehood bills, or even concerning the way we should dig the Panama Canal, but I insist that NORTHERN NEUTRALITY ON SOUTHERN DISFRANCHISEMENT IS TREASON - TREASON TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES-treason to the principles of liberty, justice and equality before the law of every human being for which this Republic professes to stand: in short, TREASON TO THE VERY PRINCIPLES UPON WHICH THIS GOVERNMENT WAS BUILT! (Great and prolonged applause.) REV G. A. P. TALLIAFERRO, D. D. One of Philadelphia's Great Baptist Divines Who Spoke at Great Mass Convention in Academy of Music in Philadelphia. the African was being brought to this country and enslaved, he was so weak and defenceless that those who spoiled him felt no fear of punishment. but God is not mocked. The time came, when Mr. Lincoln said, if the conflict continued until FOR EVERY DROP OF BLOOD DRAWN BY THE LASH, ONE WOULD BE DRAWN BY THE SWORD, we must still say, "the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether." Besides the Divine retribution that is the sure result of wrong doing, is the fact that DISREGARD OF LAW BRINGS ABOUT CONTEMPT FOR LAW. Those who are permitted to oppress black men contrary to the constitution, will finally OPPRESS WHITE MEN. Those who begin by murdering black men will soon learn to MURDER WHITE MEN. The nation, then, FOR ITS OWN PROTECTION, if not for a higher motive, should see to it that its constitution is respected, and that the proud American declaration of "Iife, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" shall apply alike to all men over whom floats the American flag. (Applause.) SPEECH OF MRS. MARY CHURCH TERRELL. After a stirring speech by Rev. W. A. Creditt, D. D., the great Baptist preacher, Mrs. Mary Church Terrell delivered an eloquent address. She said: A few evenings ago in the National Capitol, I attended one of the most remarkable meetings ever held in the United States. Every seat in a large theatre was occupied and people were turned away from the doors. The flag which adorned the stage was lent by the secretary of war and the secretary of navy donated the services of the marine band. On the platform sat distinguished men and women whose names are a household word throughout the length and breadth of the land. The meeting had been called, so as to pass resolutions which would show where the great American Republic stands with reference to Russia's inhuman TREATMENT OF THE JEW. The American Meeting to Denounce Russian Treatment of the Jews. Among the speakers on this most interesting and instructive occasion were representatives in congress, a justice of the United States Supreme Court, and ministers of the various churches, both Catholic and Protestant, each and every one of whom denounced in the most emphatic and scathing language possible the awful atrocities and the unspeakable barbarities perpetrated by RUSSIA upon the helpless and inoffensive JEW. And they did right. As the tender sentiments of pity for the victims who are plundered and murdered by Russia were touchingly and eloquently expressed, as the fiery denunciation of the ruler who has permitted if he has not actually instigated the outrages, rushed hot from the indignant speakers' lips, my own pulse quickened, my breath came fast and my heart beat loud. Every fibre of my being responded to the expressions of pity and sympathy with the stricken and KLUX-KLANS a few years ago, to the WHITE CAPS, the LYNCHERS and other bands of organized violence today, KISHINEFF FOR THE COLORED AMERICAN HAS OCCURRED IN THE UNITED STATES, NOT ONCE BUT AGAIN AND AGAIN. (Applause.) The American "Glass House." When I think of the disfranchisement of Colored men practiced in at least eleven states of the south, by which the rights of citizenship has been violently snatched from more than a million American citizens, many of whom are intelligent, worthy and well to do, simply because they were not SHREWD AND FARSEEING ENOUGH TO HAVE THEMSELVES BORN WHITE; (laughter) when I think of how the CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES, which but a few years ago solemnly conferred citizenship upon the now disfranchised class is violated, TRAMPLED IN THE DUST BY ONE SECTION OF THIS COUNTRY, with the knowledge, the connivance, yes, with the consent of all other sections, as manifested by the WICKED SILENCE WHICH THEY ALL SO RELIGIOUSLY PRESERVE, when I think also of the JIM CROW LAWS, enacted NOT TO HUMILIATE THE IGNORANT VICIOUS, BUT THE BEST AND WORTHIEST COLORED PEOPLE in the United States, I cannot help imagining how pointed and picturesque must have been the epithets used by the Great White Czar and his diabolical dukes, when they talked about that protest sent from the United States, insisting upon LIBERTY, EQUALITY AND A SQUARE DEAL FOR THE JEW. (Derisive laughter and applause.) Witte Asked to Make Protest to U.S. Oh, consistency, what a jewel thou art. I want to serve notice right here and now, Mr. Chairman, that before this meeting adjourns, I shall move, if I can get a second, that we cable M. WITTE, REQUESTING HIM IMMEDIATELY EITHER IN ST. PETERSBURG OR MOSCOW TO CALL A MEETING OF ALL THE RUSSIAN PRINCES, both great and small, of all Russian dukes, duchesses and dukelets, good, bad and indifferent, old and young FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROTESTING AGAINST THE DISFRANCHISEMENT AND THE LYNCHING OR COLORED PEOPLE IN THE UNITED STATES. (Roars of laughter and applause.) Public Wrath Against Righteous Who Call Sinner to Repentance. At the close of the war, if an abolitionist or a Union soldier had been told that in LESS THAN FORTY YEARS MUCH OF THE WORK WHICH IT COST MILLIONS OF TREASURE AND RIVERS OF BLOOD TO ACCOMPLISH WOULD BE PRACTICALLY UNDONE IN EVERY STATE OF THE SOUTH WITHOUT AT LEAST AN EARNEST PROTEST FROM THE NORTH, he would have dismissed such a prediction as too utterly idiotic to discuss, and yet that is precisely what has happened. The CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS conferring the elective franchise upon Colored men are a DEAD LETTER IN NEARLY EVERY SOUTHERN STATE and they have been so for many years. But if any one dares to call attention to these illegal political practices, he is accused of stirring up sectional strife and of WAVING THE BLOODY SHIRT, than which nothing could be more criminal! PUBLIC WRATH IS NO LONGER TURNED AGAINST THE SINNER, BUT AGAINST THE RIGHTEOUS, WHO CALL THE SINNER TO REPENTANCE. (Applause.) Most Intelligent Negroes Disfranchised and Most Ignorant Ex-Rebel Whites Vote Under So-Called Educational Test. Many people in the north wink at the disfranchisement of Colored men because they believe that the affairs of government should be intrusted exclusively to the intelligent rather than to the illiterate. They even CONGRATULATE THEIR BROTHERS IN THE SOUTH on what they call this happy EDUCATIONAL SOLUTION of the vexed political problem. It seems hardly possible that any human being in the United States, OUTSIDE OF AN INSANE ASYLUM AND ABLE TO READ COULD BE SO GUILELESS AND GULLIBLE AS TO BELIEVE THAT THE ABILITY TO READ AND WRITE IN THE SOUTH IS EXACTED FROM BLACK AND WHITE ALIKE. And yet, I my- will be the gainer by a dispensation under which southern states can become debatable in party politics. But I ABSOLUTELY DENY," said he, "that this condition of things CAN BE BROUGHT ABOUT BY LEGISLATION WHICH EXCLUDES FROM THE BALLOT BOX ONE ILLITERATE CLASS AND LEAVES IN POWER ANOTHER AND MORE DANGEROUS ONE. We cannot help matters," said this southern man, "by leaving the franchise in the hands of the ignorant, the vicious and the corruptible, no matter what may be the color of their skins." These views were expressed in the Washington Post, which is a southern newspaper to all intents and purposes and they were written by Mr. Richard, as fine a specimen of the old slave-holding aristocracy as can be found in a day's march. This opinion of the Colored-American's citizenship is doubtless entertained by many other southern men as well as by a mighty host in the north. Nevertheless, in spite of all his evidence in the Colored man's favor, the PULPIT, THE PLATFORM AND THE PRESS, are in the main SILENT upon this burning question of human rights. Neither the MOODY nor the CRUMPACKER (applause) resolutions received the support of men whom one would expect to see arrayed on the side of any honest effort to right such a prodigious wrong. North's Apathy Scored—Should Act For Self-Interest—There's Danger in Delay. If the North is not moved by a sense of duty, to protect Colored men, in their rights, the sooner the NORTH REALIZES THAT SELF PRESERVATION DEMANDS IMMEDIATE, VIGOROUS ACTION ON ITS PART, the sooner will the North be able to avert those disasters and national tragedies which wholesale political corruption winked at by the "Powers That Be," and sanctioned by lawlessness always precipitate. It does not require a great amount of profundity and perspicacity to see that the VIOLATION OF ONE FUNDAMENTAL LAW OF THE LAND INVARIABLY LEADS TO THE INFRACTION OF ANOTHER. If the events which preceeded the War of the Rebellion teach one lesson more than another, it is that TOLERATING WRONG, TEMPORIZING WITH INJUSTICE AND LONG FORBEARANCE WITH EVIL DOERS ARE SURE TO BRING SHAME AND DISGRACE UPON A NATION THAT MAKES THIS FATAL MISTAKE. Putting off till tomorrow the correction of national evils which should be made to day defers but for a little the hour of wrath which is sure to strike. AND WHEN THE DAY OF RETRIBUTION FINALLY DAWNS, then the DIFFICULTY OF THROTTLING EVILS GROWN GREAT AND STRONG BY TIME IS INCREASED A THOUSAND FOLD. Delay is wicked; delay is dangerous; delay means death, are the words of warning written on every page of the United States history from the day the Declaration of Independence was signed till Fort Sumter was fired on by Rebel guns (Applause.) The French Revolution taught France the danger of delay in redressing the wrongs of the oppressed. Russia is learning the same lesson to her sorrow and cost today. God grant that our own beloved land may not be forced to atone a second time for cruel oppression of a persecuted race in a nation's blood and tears. North Should Save South From Its Own Folly. It is plainly the NORTH'S DUTY TO SAVE THE SOUTH FROM ITSELF. Occasionally we hear about the cruel yoke of oppression under which Colored people groan in the South today. And every word written or spoken on this subect is the truth since it would be impossible to exaggerate the facts. But let me assure you that the COLORED MAN IS NOT THE ONLY SLAVE IN THE SOUTH TODAY. I verily believe there are hundreds of white men in the Southern States who have been blessed with splendid intellects, who are kind and tender of heart, and who yearn to be true to their higher, better natures, but who dare not listen to the dictates of conscience and be just, because they languish in the chains which a tyrannical public opinion and cruel, revengeful, vindictive intolerance of other people's views have forged. If I believed that the South of today were a Sodom and Gemorrah in (Continued on page 5) [?] [?] [?] THE PEOPLE OF THAT SECTION FROM THE THRALLDOM OF THEIR NARROW, MEAN AND PETTY PREJUDICES, release them from the slavery of the brain-blighting, soul-crushing intolerance of other people's views, teach them the difference between the highest, purest patriotism and a narrow-sectional pride, instill a sense of justice which will prevent them from either inflicting or withholding the penalty for wrong-doing and crime on account of the color of a man's skin, finally breathe in the hearts of the people as a whole a broad, Christian charity which shall extend even to their former slaves. At the Confederate Veterans' reunion which was held in New York city a short time ago, F. Hopkinson Smith, who a few years ago, while lecturing in Boston, won great fame and renown by attacking the veracity and impugning the motives of the sainted Harriet Beecher Stowe, declared that "conferring the ballot upon the Negro was the greatest crime of the century." It is not surprising that brilliant, intellectual lights like Mr. Smith and others of his ilk, should entertain such a view. FOR THE BALLOT IS THE ONLY THING UNDER HEAVEN AND ON TOP OF THIS MUNDANE SPHERE THAT WILL ENABLE THE COLORED AMERICAN TO PROTECT HIMSELF. (Great applause.) After expressing his disapprobation of the Colored brother's citizenship, Mr. Smith proceeded to to arraign and indict the Colored man for just those crimes, alleged to have been committed since the war which would poison men's minds against the freedmen most. But the CROWNING INFAMY OF THIS VENOMOUS ATTACK UPON A RACE, whose fathers and mothers for nearly 300 years Mr. Smith's ancestors dehumanized and debauched was when he referred to the immorality of Colored men and DECLARED THAT WHITE MEN IN THE SOUTH NO LONGER DARE TO LEAVE THEIR WIVES AND DAUGHTERS ALONE. If this be true, surely it is not because of crimes against the womanhood of the dominant race which Colored men commit. Statistics compiled by white men themselves and available to all show that out of every hundred Colored men who are lynched from 75 to 85 are not even accused by the South of what is so maliciously and falsely called the usual crime. When one class of American citizens is so mali- [?] by another, is it [?], justice and equality before the law of every human being for which this Republic professes to stand; in short, TREASON TO THE VERY PRINCIPLES UPON WHICH THIS GOVERNMENT WAS BUILT! (Great and prolonged applause.) [000178] ready, and asked are our men ?ing lessons how to do the busi- ?" Colored men should first be- e well acquainted with a line of ness and then when they get mon- go into it. He did not tell how this d be done, however, but admitted ad not kept within his radius in a e enterprise he invited the audi- to help him out on. Snelson Praises Ex-Slave Parents. ev. Ransom warned succeeding akers not to take 15 minutes out heir 10 minutes (laughter) and in uced Rev. F. G. Snelson, of Cam- ge. He gave the history of the A. E. Church in helping Negro educa- , saying the Zion Church and other ored churches had done the same, these two Methodist connections relied chiefly on their own race. eulogized the hard-working ex- parents who toiled that they ht send their children to school, he, self, having been sent to Atlanta versity by his father, who was also Atlanta graduate. He said Morris wn had 1,000 students and deserved . oid the Paths Advised by the Southern Whites." G. Morgan Esq., State Secretary the Niagara Movement was then ed to speak on how Northern Col- people could aid Southern Col- peoples' education. He said the Negro wealth was naturally in South, at least so claimed, and so Norther Colored people could give little, but the Southern brethren re welcome to their slim purses. they could help by inducing the tional Government to give aid and restore the ballot to the Southern ored men so they could force their n States to provide funds. He praised Bishop Turner as a man good courage who spoke out against ong to his race from way down in orgia so the whole country had to r him, even if they purposely mis- resented him. But he hoped they uld not adopt the scheme of educa- n which the former slave-holders d their descendants presented, men ose recent view was "No education Negroes" He noticed Clark How- approval in the circular and said at he recommended the race would well to avoid, for he has not the for both races turpentine or lumber firms, as cooks, washerwomen, waitresses, in laundries or as chambermaids, while men work as butchers, coachmen, waiters, shoe-makers, blacksmiths, on railroads, or as carpenters, brick and stone masons, etc. All are serving in one way or the other throughout the South. There is a class that does not work, often because they are poorly prepared to follow their own trades, and more often because of poor wages. "The question of educating our masses at the South must largely be left ot the good judgment of local conditions there, as we see and understand them, which in Boston or in this section cannot possibly be known and dealt with wisely. Proper training, good character, self-respect will in the South, as in the North, yield all that will be required of any people." The genial speaker, who had sway of the great audience, now making them laugh, now applaud, as he told witty anecdotes or rose to heights of eloquence, concluded with an appeal to help "in your own way whatever that may be, just so you say a word for us." Over a hundred dollars was raised for Morris Brown College. VERNON HELD UP (Continued from page 1.) P. G. M. Robert H. Terrell presided at the banquet. There were present as invited guests G. M. S. T. Wiggins of the jurisdiction of Oklahoma and Indian Terr., G. M. E. W. Laughton of Mississippi; G. M. J. Milton Turner of Missouri; P. G. M. H. S. [?South] [?] of the venerable guest and Grand Sec. Bro. Wm. H. Myers. Among those present were P. G. M. S. R. Watts, Recorder of Deeds Bro. J. C. Dancy; Register of the Treasury Bro. J. W. Lyons, Grand High Priest Charles D. Freeman, P. G. Com. John W. Freeman, P. Deputy G. M. John P. Turner, and other distinguished Masons of exalted station. At the conclusion of the feast, Brother Terrell, in brief but appropriate remarks, referred to the long and useful career of Bro. Smith, not alone as a Mason, but as a man and citizen and last but not least among his great achievements was the invaluable service rendered as one of the conductors the underground railroad during the k and bitter days of slavery. He ?oduced G. M. Grimshaw, who wel- ?ed Brother Smith in the name of the Masons of the District of Columbia. The same sentiments were ced in the address of G. H. P. rles D. Freemen. Brother R. W. pkins, Chairman of the committee banquet, then arose, and presented eautiful loving cup, handsomely en- ved, "Presented to P. G. M. John mith of Mass., by the Masons of D. C.," with appropriate words her Smith, his voice trembling emotion responded. He gave a interesting history of the birth growth of African Lodge of Mas- usetts and also an account of many is experiences during his connec- with the underground railroad. venerable speaker was greeted round after round of applause as rief addresses were made by Broth- J. W. Lyons, J. C. Dancy, J. Mil- Turner, S. T. Wiggins, S. R. Watts, H. Myers, C. A. Fleetwood, and ers. MAY OSTRACIZE DIXON. (Continued from page 1.) cMahon, advance repesentatives of e Clansman," because, they said, y were connected with the play. essrs. McCarthy and MacMahon e been staying at the hotel for sev- days, and there was not trouble un- yesterday morning, when every Ne- in the place, from the headwaiter n to the bellboy, refused to do any- for "The Clansman" representa- s. What in the world is ailing the ns?" asked Mr. McCarthy in a sur- ed tone, when all the Negroes van- ed as he came into the dining room breakfast. he head waiter then volunteered the rmation that an organization wn among the Negroes as "The stitutional League" forbade them erve anyone who was on speaking s with Rev. Mr. Dixon. This or- ion the Negro THE GUARDI?? News from the Nutmeg S ELM CITY NEWS. New Haven, Conn., March 6, 1906- From a Brooklyn exchange the following clipping of New Haveners was taken: "The residence of Mr. and Mrs. William L. Shepherd, 128 West 53rd street, New York, was the scene of a pretty home wedding on Tuesday evening, 20th of February. The parlors were beautifully decorated for the occasion. The Rev. M. W. Gilbert performed the ceremony. W. C. Coles' orchestra struck up the 'Wedding March' promptly at seven o'clock. Immediately the bridal party entered the parlors. The contracting parties were Miss Izietta E. Alexander and Mr. Henry L. Rivers, both of New Haven, Conn. Miss Carrie E. Alexander was bridesmaid. Mr. Frederick K. V. Jewell, best man. The bride's gown was a creation of the dressmaker's art; made of cream shrivelled taffeta in the modish princess style. The beauty of this was enhanced by a handsome necklace of topaz, which she wore, the gift of the groom. The veil falling in showery folds over the whole, together with the beautiful shower bouquet which she carried completed the picture of the ideal bride. Among those present were: Mrs. J. C. T. Alexander, of New Haven, Conn.; Miss S. Leonard and Miss Hamlett, of Philadelphia, Pa.; Mr. and Mrs. W. Johnson, Mr. and Mrs. R. Brooks, Mrs. M. W. Gilbert, Mr. and Mrs. Halloway, the Misses Jones and Ward, Mr. and Mrs. O. G. Kennedy, Miss C. Jackson, Mssrs., J. W. Stewart and J. V. Coles, of Baltimore. The reception lasted til 9:30 p. m., at which hour the happy pair left for New Haven, Conn."-Last Saturday evening Mr. Samuel T. S. Douglass of Ashnum street, an old resident of New Haven, passed away at the ripe old age of 78 years. Mr. Douglass was born in Edenton, N. C., and an idea of the length of time he had lived in this town will be gained when it is told that in 1856 he was confirmed in St. Luke's Church. Deceased had worked as butler in three prominent families in this city, and was the oldest churchman at St. Luke's. His nine children went on before , and of his immediate family, only his wife survives him. Funeral services were held Tuesday afternoon at his beloved church, which was filled by both parishioners and other friends. The rector officiated. Lay Reader Hendricks made a few remarks and Senior Warden read a memorial and resolutions adopted by the vestry. The floral tributes were numerous, among them being a standing wreath from the vestrymen. The active pall-bearers were Messrs. J. F. Cohen, W. I. Cummings, Theo Thompson, J. W. Merriman. The honorary pall-bearers were members of the vestry. Mr. J. W. Stewart was master of ceremonies. In the family lot beside his children at Evergreen [?] remains of the late Samuel Douglass.- Mr. James Simmons was married to Mrs. [?] Reynolds, of [?] street, last Saturday evening at the bride's residence. Rev. A. [C?] Powell performed the ceremony. The marriage was to take place last week, but news of the death of the bride's father a day before the intended ceremony, postponed it until Mrs. Reynold's return from the funeral in Cincinnati, O. -Mr. James McKenney, of Hartford, was the guest of Mr. and Mrs. Milton Thomas, of Dixwell avenue, recently. -Miss J. A. Morse, of New York City, visited Miss Amanda Randolph, of High street, last week, and attended the reception of the Orientals.- Mrs. William Boone, of Ansonia, was with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. W. J. Cummings, of Goffe street, last Monday. -Miss Effie Grant, of Worcester, is with her mother at York Hall. It is likely that Miss Grant will remain in town some months. - Mr. and Mrs. William Bolt of Derby avenue gave Captain D. P. Tilgman, chairman of the floor committee, knew his duties and did them well. The Association's first reception was a clear cut success in every way, and the whole committee is jubilant over the outcome.-Mrs. Marshall Williams, of New Milford, was the guest of her son and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin McIntyre, of Lincoln street, during the week.- It is a fact that the Eternal Bachelors will give a reception on May 3.-Mr. Charles H. Phillips, of State street, is again very sick. There is an added regret. Mrs. Phillips is also ill.- The organ recital to be given at St. Luke's next Sunday afternoon will be from 2:30 to 3:30 o'clock.-Mr. Charles A. Murray made a dash to New Milford last Sunday, and was the guest of his brother and sister Mr and Mrs Brewster. -At the Immanuel Baptist Church last Sunday, Rev. A. C. Powell baptized seven and gave the hand of fellowship to eleven new members. Among those baptized was Mr. Benjamin Mitchell, a graduate of the Law Department of Howard University. Another class for baptism is being formed for Easter Sunday.-Miss Bessie Comry, of Hartford, was the guest of the Morgans, of Hudson St., last week. Miss Comry attended the reception of the Orientals, and was one of those who lent charm to the function. Mr. H. W. Morgan was, of course, in evidence, and very happy. -The one-year-old infant of Mrs. Bessie Archer, of Winter street, died last Sunday night, and was buried on Tuesday, Rev. J. W. Davis officiating.- Prof. Charles F. Kent, of Yale University, addresses the Dixwell Avenue Congregational Church, under the auspices of the Men's Club, Sunday evening. His subject is: "The Message of the Book of Jonah."-Through the efforts of Mrs. Josephine Jennings and a committee, the congregation of the Immanuel Baptist Church presented recently to Rev. Powell a $21 baptismal robe, in which he preached and baptized several candidates last Sunday. -Mrs. Sarah James, of Providence, R. I., is visiting her mother, Mrs. Leah Congdon, of Front street, who is still seriously ill.-Mrs. William Thomas, of State street, and Mrs. J. W. Stewart, of Edgewood avenue, were numbered with the sick and afflicted during the week.-The Green Leaf entertainment given by Circle J. of the Dixwell Avenue Congregational Church for the benefit of the organ fund last Thursday night was very successful. "The Minister's Wife," a drama, was creditably presented by several young people. Mrs. Harvey Hope was chairman of the entertainment, and Miss Lillian Johnson and Miss [Al?] Blount took care of the program [?] forget the Spring bazaar at [?] Wesley's next week Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. An interesting program each night, and suppers will be features of the occasion. Admission, 10 cents. Season ticket, 25 cents. -G- HARTFORD HAPPENINGS. Hartford, Conn., March 7, 1906.- Although the weather was not pleasant last Sunday evening, the churches were well attended, it being the day for the holy communion to be administered. -Rev. Walter Gay left Hartford for Providence early Monday morning, where he is spending the week with his aunt, Mrs. Rebecca Perry. The reverend is taking a much needed rest but hopes to fill his pulpit next Sunday as usual.-Miss Lunice Seymour returned home last Sunday after spending a week with her friend, Miss Myra Jenkins, of Bristol.-The Misses Annie P. Holmes, Addie Byrd gave a party Tuesday, Feb. 27th, in honor of their friend, Mrs. Hattie Lewis Johnson of Warren street, the occasion being her birthday. She was the recipient of many pretty presents. Those present were Mr. and Mrs. Charles Tay- NORWICH NOTINGS. Norwich, Conn., March 7, 1906.- The collection Sunday and during the week at the McKinley Avenue Zion church for the remodel fund amounted to $59.80 and $800.97 of the $1300 needed has already been raised. The society has held its services in the church every Sunday during the time of alteration.-Rev. J. Eldred Brown of Trinity Episcopal church spoke from the pulpit yesterday to the congregation of the excellent reports from the Berkeley Divinity school in Middletown of the work of John S. Simmons, a Colored student. The church is paying his expenses at the school. Mr. Simmons is a hard, conscientious student, with a high standard of scholarship. Mr. Simmons graduates in June. He was formerly employed in The Record office as office boy.-Last Sunday at Mount Calvary Baptist church, 49 High street, Preaching at 11 a. m., by Rev. D. C. Thomas of South Norwalk for the Faithful." Sunday school at 12 m. B. Y. P. U. at 6.30 p. m. Preaching at 7.30 p.m.-A. M. E. Zion church, McKinley avenue. Rev. S. E. Robinson, pastor; residence, 24 Baltic street. At 10.45 a. m., preaching by Rev. Peter Wilson. Sunday school at 12.15 p. m. Y. P. S. C. E. at 6.30 p. m. At 7.30 p. m. the pastor will preach on "The Thing Most Needed."-The third grand social of the Jolly 2 will be given in Germania hall, Shetucket street, Friday evening, March 16, 1906. Music by Jackson's orchestra. Prof. Alofsin, prompter. Committee, N. C. Lansing, F. W. Jackson.-Mr. Robert Hillman is getting along splendidly.- Prof. J. Migkins is recovering slowly from his sickness.-The dancing class under management of Prof. Bricoe of Philadelphia was largely attended. Smith's orchestra furnished music.- If you want to be a clean shave come over and see Smith the barber.-The Academy Trust members, P. V. Robinson, W. S. Hall, H. Carrington and G. C. Howard are preparing for their S. E., which will take place March 26, 1906.-The Sedwick No. 1, G. A. R., and Sons of Veterans glowing campfire of Feb. 23d, Miss Clara Scott, pianist. Entertainment was the best they have ever had.-The revival services continued through this week at Grace Memorial Baptist church, Rev. Wooton preached three sermons Sunday with special music by the choir.-Funeral services of William Abney were held last Sunday afternoon in Undertaker [C?]'s parlor on Franklyn street. Rev. Dr. Wright presided and Prof. Geary sang "Flee as a Bird to Your [?] bearers were J. Perry, Lonsdale W. Smith, A. Butler.-Mrs. Johnson, one of the oldest members of the race, passed away Saturday at 3.40 p. m. Services were held in Allen's chapel Tuesday at 2.30 p. m. Rev. West of the Second Congregational church presided. Prof. Geary sang "Saved Through Jesus Blood." -G- ANSONIA ITEMS. Ansonia, Conn., March 7, 1906.- Sunday March 11, will be observed as [?] Day at the Clinton A. M. E. Zion Church. Rev. A. J. Tolbert, Pastor. -Miss Carrie Robinson, of New Haven, was visiting friends in Ansonial, Sunda.-Mrs. S. Coleman ARTISTIC Wall Papers At Reasonable Prices If you are about to paper one room or an entire house it will pay you to call and see our immense stock of New and Exclusive designs for season of 1906. LOWEST PRICES IN BOSTON. and Fllin rie Juli Tah Ma Sun cial Chr Rev pas to B[?] He The of ces wa w las bu on Ma ho ag R l ri to M li Na be mo Jo Ba He to Mrs Has pro nin thin abo whe mon " wo Nev TH W 715 M For Gen. re i w j C c ta n sc at iti he th me pl we pre the not rus ers bre lou spo and [?] [?] Bishop Turner as a man [of] good courage who spoke out against [wr]ong to his race from way down in [Ge]orgia so the whole country had to [he]ar him, even if they purposely mis[re]presented him. But he hoped they [wo]would not adopt the scheme of educa[tio]n which the former slave-holders [ha]d their descendants presented, men [wh]ose recent view was "no education [fo]r Negroes" He noticed Clark How[ell's] approval in the circular and said [th]at he recommended the race would [do] well to avoid, for he has not the [ ] rule for both races S. [?] Walls, Recorder of Deeds J. C. Dancy; Register of the Treasury Bro. J. W. Lyons, Grand High Priest Charles D. Freeman, P. G. Com. John W. Freeman, P. Deputy G. M. John P. Turner, and other distinguished Masons of exalted station. At the conclusion of the feast, Brother Terrell, in brief but appropriate remarks, referred to the long and useful career of Bro. Smith, not alone as a Mason, but as a man and citizen and last but not least among his great achievements was the invaluable service rendered as one of the conductors [of?] the underground railroad during the [dar]k and bitter days of slavery. He [int]roduced G. M. Grimshaw, who wel[co]med Brother Smith in the name of [?] the Masons of the District of Col[um]bia. The same sentiments were [ voi]ced in the address of G. H. P. [Ch]arles D. Freeman. Brother R. W. [To]mpkins, Chairman of the committee [?] banquet, then arose, and presented [a] beautiful loving cup, handsomely en[grav]ed, "Presented to P. G. M. John [?] Smith of Mass., by the Masons of [?] D. C.," with appropriate words. [Brot]her Smith, his voice trembling [with] emotion, responded. He gave a [?] interesting history of the birth [?] growth of African Lodge of Mas[sach]usetts and also an account of many [? h]is experiences during his connec[tion] with the underground railroad. [The?] venerable speaker was greeted [with?] round after round of applause as [?] [B]rief addresses were made by Broth[ers] J. W. Lyons, J. C. Dancy, J. Mil[?] Turner, S. T. Wiggins, S. R. Watts, [?] H. Myers, C. A. Fleetwood, and [oth]ers. ______________________________________________________ MAY OSTRACIZE DIXON. ------- (Continued from page 1.) _____________________________________________ [Ma]cMahon, advace representatives of [th]e Clansman," because, they said, [the]y were connected with the play. Messrs. McCarthy and MacMahon [hav]e been staying at the hotel for sev[eral] days, and there was no trouble un[til] yesterday morning, when every Ne[gro] in the place, from the headwaiter [do]wn to the bellboy, refused to do any[thi]ng for "The Clansman" representa[tive]s. ["]What in the world is ailing the [?]ns?" asked Mr. McCarthy in a sur[pri]sed tone, when all the Negroes vanished as he came into the dining room [for] breakfast. [T]he head waiter then volunteered the [?]rmation that an organization [kno]wn among the Negroes as "The [In]stitutional League" forbade them [?] [s]erve anyone who was on speaking [term]s with Rev. Mr. Dixon. This or[ganization] the Negroes [?] not [?] support or a "band of sen[timentalists," with headquarters in [Ne]w York and Washington. [M]r. McCarthy thought the whole [thin]g was a joke, but upon more ex[pos]tulations frm the head waiter he [real]ized that the Negroes were in earn[est] He then complained to Mr. Sa[?]ani, the proprietor of the hotel. Mr. [?]anni said that he could do nothing [?]h the waiters. ["]They have evidently got a message [fro]m some of their white supporters in [Wa]shington," he said, 'and they think [tha]t you are here to do something des[?]ate." Messrs. McCarthy and MacMahon [?] a train for New York. Before [?]ing Mr. McCarthy took opportunity [to] pay his respects to the "sentiment[tali]sts," who, he said, were trying to [furt]her their own selfish ends and [?]ke Mr. Dixon a blow in the back [?]ough the ignorant Negroes who put [thei]r trust in them. He compared [the]m to that unspeakable class, the [ca]rpetbaggers," who viciousness Mr. [Dix]on exposes in "The Clansman." Mr. McCarthy said that Mr. Dixon '[?]uld arrive in this city with "The [Cla]nsman" company and would per[hap]s deliver an address here. ____________________________________________ [B]ASIL F. HUTCHINS Funeral Undertaker 730 and 732 Shawmut Avenue All Modern Conveniences Chapel and Morgue Connected [Offi]ce Tel. 129 Rox. Residence Tel. 625-2 Rox. _______________________________________ JULIUS A. ZINN FLORIST. [?] Beacon Street, Boston, Mass. Original Designs a Specialty. ____________________________________________ CLARA BROWN CHRISTIAN Ladies' Hatter [?] WINTER STREET, BOSTON Hats Made and Trimmed Order Work a Specialty [?] flower bouquet which she carried, completed the picture of the ideal bride. Among those present were: Mrs. J. C. T. Alexander, of New Haven, Conn.; Miss S. Leonard and Miss Hamlett, of Philadelphia, Pa.; Mr. and Mrs. W. Johnson, Mr. and Mrs. R. Brooks, Mrs. M. W. Gilbert, Mr. and Mrs. Halloway, the Misses Jones and Ward, Mr. and Mrs. O. G. Kennedy, Miss C. Jackson, Messrs., J. W. Stewart and J. V. Coles, of Baltimore. The reception lasted till 9:30 p.m., at which hour the happy pair left for New Haven, Conn."--Last Saturday evening Mr. Samuel T. S. Douglass, of Ashnum streets, an old resident of New Haven, passed away at the ripe old age of 78 years. Mr. Douglass was born in Edenton, N. C., and an idea of the length of time he had lived in this town will be gained when it is told that in 1856 he was confirmed in St. Luke's Church. Deceased had worked as butler in three prominent families in this city, and was the oldest churchman at St. Luke's. His nine children went on before, and of his immediate family, only his wife survives him. Funeral services were held Tuesday afternoon at his beloved church, which was filled by both parishioners and other friends. The rector officiated. Lay Reader Hendricks made a few remarks and Senior Warden read a memorial and resolution adopted by the vestry. The floral tributes were numerous, among them being a standing wreath from the vestrymen. The active pall-bearers were Messrs. J. F. Cohen, W. I. Cummings, Theo Thompson, J. W. Merriman. The honorary pall-bearers were members of the vestry. Mr. J. W. Stewart was master of ceremonies. In the family lot, beside his children at Evergreen, lies the remains of the late Samuel Douglass.-- Mr. Joseph Simmons was married to Mrs. A[a?] Reynolds, of Foote street, last Saturday evening at the bride's residence. Rev. A. Clayton Powell performing the ceremony. The marriage was to take place last week, but news of the death of the bride's father a day before the intended ceremony, postponed it until Mrs. Reynolds' return from the funeral in Cincinnati, O. --Mr. James McKenney, of Hartford, was the guest of Mr. and Mrs. Milton Thomas, of Dixwell avenue, recently.-- Miss J. A. Morse, of New York City, visited Miss Amanda Randolph, of High street, last week, and attended the reception of the Orientals.-- Mrs. William Boone, of Ansonia, was with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. W. J. Cummings, of Goffe street, Last Monday.-- Miss Effie Grant, of Worcester, is with her mother at York Hall. It is likely that Miss Grant will remain in town some months.--Mr. and Mrs. William Bolt, of Derby avenue, gave a Shrove tea on February 27 to a number of friends. A society was formed, known as "The Society of Resolutions." Mr. Thomas, president; Mr. J. H. Griffin, vice-president; Mr. Moses F. Rice, clerk; Mrs. William Bolt, corresponding secretary; Mrs. S. G. Manyard, treasurer; Mrs. M. L. Henderson, second vice-president; Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin McIntyre, sergeant-at-arms and stewardess, respectively; Mrs. Moses T. Rice, matron; Mrs. S. G. Manyard, maid of honor, Mrs. William Thomas, nurse; Mrs. W. B. Johnson, delegate-at-large; Miss Madeline Bolt, baby of the society. If we understand the purpose of this new-comer among societies, it is for the improvement of' "good behavior and the carrying out of new resolutions." The world "do move!"--At the Communion service of the Dixwell Avenue Congregational Church last Sunday evening, some 20 candidates for membership were received, and three baptized.--The members of the Sperry Street A. M. E. Church will give a Stocking social Friday evening, March 16. The Four Leaf Clover Club of this church reported $50 from the collection of their mite boxes. Presiding Elder Rev. J. P. Sampson will occupy the pulpit Sunday evening, and hold quarterly meeting.-- Mr. Scott, of Brooklyn, N. Y., was in the city last Tuesday to be examined by the State Board of Undertakers. Mr. Scott expects to conduct an undertaking establishment in New Haven, if he passes the examination.-- Miss Nona Meadows, of Providence, R. I., and Mrs. Sally Simms, of Ansonia, were in the city last Monday and called on Mrs. A. Clayton Powell.--Mrs. Serena Bradley of Eaton street, is now improving, after four weeks' serious illness.--The first annual reception of the First Separate Co.'s Vetrean association took place at Warner Hall last Tuesday evening. A large number of patrons were present. The committee was very successful in their arrangements for the whole affair. Murray's orchestra was excellent and full of snaps. The grand march was led by the president, ex-Captain L. P. Wood, and daughter, Miss Emily Wood, followed by about seventy-five couples. guest of the Morgans, of Hudson St., last week. Miss Comry attended the reception of the Orientals, and was one of those who lent charm to the function. Mr. H. W. Morgan was, of course, in evidence, and very happy. --The one-year-old infant of Mrs. Bessie Archer, of Winter street, died last Sunday night, and was buried on Tuesday, Rev. J. W. David officiating.-- Prof. Charles F. Kent, of Yale University, addresses the Dixwell Avenue Congregational Church, under the auspices of the Men's Club, Sunday evening. His subject is: "The Message of the book of Jonah."--Through the efforts of Mrs. Josephine Jennings and a committee, the congregation of the Immanuel Baptist Church presented recently to Rev. Powell a $21 baptismal robe, in which he preached and baptized several candidates last Sunday.-- Mrs. Sarah James, of Providence, R. I., is visiting her mother, Mrs. Leah Congdon, of Front street, who is still seriously ill.--Mrs. William Thomas, of State street, and Mrs. J. W. Stewart, of Edgewood avenue, were numbered with the sick and afflicted during the week.--The Green Leave entertainment given by Circle J. of the Dixwell Avenue Congregational Church for the benefit of the organ fund last Thursday night, was very successful. "The Minister's Wife," a drama, was creditably presented by several young people. Mrs. Harvey Hope was chairman of the entertainment, and Miss Lillian Johnson and Miss Alice Blount took care of {???r] gran[?] [?] get the Spring bazaar at [?] Wesley's next week Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. An interesting program each night, and suppers will be features of the occasion. Admission [?0] cents. {?] ticket, 25 cents. --------------G------------------ HARTFORD HAPPENINGS. -------- Hartford, Conn., March 7, 1906.-- Although the weather was not pleasant last Sunday evening, the churches were well attended, it being the day for the holy communion to be administered.-- Rev. Walter Gay left Hartford for Providence, early Monday morning, where he is spending the week with his aunt, Mrs. Rebecca Perry. The reverend is taking a much needed rest but hopes to fill his pulpit next Sunday as usual.--Miss Lunice Seymour returned home last Sunday after spending a week with her friend, Miss Myra Jenkins, of Bristol.--The Misses Annie P. Holmes, Addie Byrd gave a party Tuesday, Feb. 27th, in honor of their friend, Mrs. Hattie Lewis Johnson of Warren street, the occasion being her birthday. She was the recipient of many pretty presents. Those present were Mr. and Mrs. Charles Taylor, Mr. and Mrs. William Knight, Mr. and Mrs. J. Slackman, Mrs. Byrd, Misses Blanche Robinson, Martha and Agnes Taylor, Fannie Williams, Belle Fisher of Baltimore, Ors. Nickins, Miss Johnson, Maggie Chapman, Addie Byrd, Annie P. Holmes, Messrs. Frank Davis, Robert Johnson, Willie Wilson, Otho Lewis, Johnny Taylor, P. Mills, Sr., Bernal T. Hill, Henry S. Johnson, and others. -------------------G----------------- WATERBURY WHISPERINGS. ------ Waterbury, March 7, 1906.--The an[?] [?] ey supper given at the Grace Baptist church Wednesday, Feb. 28, was a treat, both socially and financially. The ladies do not regret their attempt and success.--R. G. M. Miss H. E. Caseneau of Boston, R. G. P. Mr. C. H. Cannon of Ansonia of the G. C. of New England and Jurisdiction O. E. S., made their official visit to Calisto chapter, No. 22, on Feb. 27, 1906, where the Queen of the South and the Amaranth degrees were conferred on nine candidates by the Sheba chapter of Ansonia, after which they were entertained and a collation was served by the ladies of the Calisto chapter. Visitors present were Mr. Mayo and Mrs. Spencer from Eureka chapter of New Haven, Mesdames Lenard, Williams, Simmons, Gray, Green, Smith, Good, Phillips, James, Miss E. Good and Mr. burr of the Sheba chapter, Ansonia, Conn.--A few desirable rooms with hot water and bath can be had at 202 N. Main street of Mrs. L. V. Johnson. --Mrs. Giles Freeman has recently received the sad news of the death of her brother, Mr. Howard Weston of Washington, D. C.--Mrs. Eliza Waterman left here on the 7th inst., to attend the sick bedside of her mother, Mrs. Willis Green of New York.--Miss Onnie Hill who has been visiting in New Haven for the past week, has returned.-- Mrs. Theodore Jackson and Mrs. Willis Jackson of French street were in the North end of the city last Monday visiting relatives and friends, both looking the picture of health. Kinley avenue, Rev. S. E. Robinson, pastor; residence, 24 Baltic street. At 19.45 a. m., preaching by Rev. Peter Wilson. Sunday school at 12.15 p. m. Y. P. S. C. E. at 6.30 p. m. At 7.30 p. m. , the pastor will preach on "The Thing Most Needed."--The third grand social of the Jolly 2 will be given in Germania hall, Shetucket street, Friday evening, March 16, 1906. Music by Jackson's orchestra. Prof. Alofsin, prompter. Committee, N. C. Lansing, F. S. Jackson.--Mr. Robert Hillman is getting along splendidly.-- Prof. J. Migkins is recovering slowly from his sickness.--The dancing class under management of Prof. Bricoe of Philadelphia was largely attended. Smith's orchestra furnished music.-- If you want to be a clean shave come over and see Smith the barber.--The Academy Trust members, P. V. Robinson, W. S. Hall, H. Carrington and G. C. Howard are preparing for their S. E., which will take place March 26, 1906.--The Sedwick No. 1, G. A. R., and Sons of Veterans glowing campfire of Feb. 23d, Miss Clara Scott, [?]. Entertainment was the best they have ever had.--The revival services continued through this week at Grace Memorial Baptist church. Rev. Wooten preached three sermons Sunday with special music by the choir.--Funeral services of William Abney were held last Sunday afternoon in Undertaker Gagers parlor on Franklyn street. Rev. Dr. Wright presided and Prof. Geary sang "Flee as a Bird to Your [Mountain]." [Pall] bearers were J. Perry, Lonsdale W. Smith, A. Butler--Mrs. Johnson, one of the oldest members of the race, passed away Saturday at 3.30 p. m. Services were held in Allen's chapel Tuesday at 2.30 p. m. Rev. West of the Second Congregational church presided. Prof. Geary sang "Saved Through Jesus Blood." --------------G--------------- ANSONIA ITEMS. ------ Ansonia, Conn., March 7,. 1906.-- Sunday, March 11, will be observed as [?] Day at the Clinton A. M. E. Zion Church. Rev. A. J. Tolbert, Pastor.-- Miss Carrie Robinson, of New Haven, was visitnng friends in Ansonial, Sunda--Mrs. S. Coleman ____________________________________________ ARTISTIC Wall Papers At Reasonable Prices If you are about to paper one room or an entire house it will pay you to call and see our immense stock of New and Exclusive designs for season of 1906. LOWEST PRICES IN BOSTON. ------ THOMAS F. SWAN 12 CORNHILL. . . . . BOSTON Next Door to Washington Street _______________________________________________ PIANOS TUNED SATISFACTORILY $1.00, by PROF. SCOTT, 32 Soden Street, Cambridgeport, Mass. __________________________________________ BEAR THIS IN MIND ------------------------------------------ It will save you time and money when in need of awnings, tents, wagon covers, canopy decorations, etc., to come to the Hub Awning Co. Commissions given to agents and janitors. HORATIO A. SMITH, Pres. 94 Commercial Street, Boston ___________________________________________________ CRAWFORD BROTHERS Caterers and Confectioners 894 TREMONT STREET Ice Cream, Sherbets, Frozen Pudding Tutti Frutti, Delivered Free in City and Suburbs. First Class Cafe. Catering for Parties and Weddings a Specialty. Tel. 951-1 Roxbury. ________________________________________________ The Greatest of His Kind CHARLES FRED. WHITE, Entertainer Poet, Author, Song Writer, Reader, Whistler, Singer, Imitator Commended by Press, Clergy and Public. Entertains for Churches, Clubs, Parties, Homes. Absolutely High Class. For Terms and Engagements, address Carlos F. Blanco. 196 Northampton St., Boston There is no other like him; he is a whole program alone. He whistles two tones, Soprano and Alto, at the same time; hums two to four audible tones at the same time; singes Tenor, Baritone and Bass; sings his own songs; reads his own poetry; is the sweetest singer you ever heard. [* Page 271*] THE VOICE OF THE NEGRO AN ILLUSTRATED MONTHLY MAGAZINE VOL. III APRIL, 1906 NO. IV FEATURES OUR MONTHLY REVIEW. THE PLACE OF FAILURE IN SUCCESS By H. T. Kealing. THE ARTISTIC GIFTS OF THE NEGRO By Kelley Miller. ESPERANTO—THE NEW INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE By William Pickens. PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR By Mary Church Terrell. THE CALHOUN SCHOOL By John W. Lemon. ADDRESS ALL COMMUNICATIONS TO THE VOICE OF THE NEGRO, ATLANTA, GA. Published by HERTEL, JENKINS & CO., formerly J. L. NICHOLS & CO. Entered as second-class matter February 6, 1904, at the Post Office at Atlanta, Ga., under Act of Congress of March 3, 1879 [EDUCATION INDUSTRY ART SCIENCE RELIGION] (COPYRIGHTED BY HERTEL, JENKINS & CO.) CHRIST OR COLOR A MILLION WILL BE SOLD! A FORTUNE FOR AGENTS. 101 Prominent Colored People Size 20x28 inches. The picture is printed on the very best super-fine calender paper. It is a thing of beauty. The names of all are at the bottom of the picture. People buy this and frame it for their homes. It is worth $5.00. We have a small book giving the history of the lives of these prominent colored people (about like a song book) that we can furnish with the picture. Both for $1.00. Agents Wanted.—We want agents everywhere for this fast seller. One agent made $12.00 in one day; another $35.00 in one week. Send $1.00 for a picture and agent's outfit at once. Be the first agent in your county. Write for free circular. Address HERTEL, JENKINS & CO., 920 Austell Bldg., Atlanta, Ga. P. SHERIDAN BALL, President L. C. COLLINS, Secretary J.H. ATKINS, Treasurer The Metropolitan Mercantile and Realty Company (Incorporated) Home Office, 150 Nassau St., New York City This is an Inter-State Stock Company, combining the real estate, mercantile banking and insurance business. It was incorporated for the purpose of assisting worthy people in getting better homes, halls and churches wherever needed. The success of this company in the last five years has surpassed the hopes of its promoters. The last report to the Secretary of State showed that the profit of the mercantile branch was over $7,000 for the year; that over $65,000 had been expended in lifting mortgages and building homes, halls and churches in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi and other States. Among the operations in real estate during the last twelve months were the building of a Masonic temple in Savannah at a cost of $12,000; an apartment flat in Orange, New Jersey, costing $13,500; eight residences in Plainfield costing $17,600, and many private residences costing from $500 to $5,000. The company has today over 1,800 stock- holders in 21 differents States, holding nearly $300,000 worth of stock. This, with the amount held by the officers and directors, gives it a working capital unequaled by any other of its kind among the colored people. The insurance branch -The Metropolitan Mutual Benefit Association- has to date 145,653 policy holders, carrying death lists of over $4,000,000 and pays larger benefits than most of the industrial insurance companies. The company's bank in Savannah, Georgia, is doing a banking business that compares favorably with that of the older institutions in that city. Dividens of 7 per cent. annually have been paid for the last four years. Stock is now selling for $10.00 per share, in blocks of five shares and upwards. Further information may be obtained by addressing Metropolitan Mercantile and Realty Company Home Office, 150 Nassau St., New York Or 47 East Hunter St., Atlanta, Ga.; 222 West Broughton St., Savannah, Ga.; 420 1/2 King St., Charleston, S.C.; 2007 Ave. A, Birmingham, Ala. or any of the Branch Offices When writing advertisers, please mention this Magazine MORE AGENTS WANTED! THE ENTIRE EDITION of the March Number of "The Voice of The Negro" was exhausted by the 15th of March. On that account, we were not able to fill delayed orders from agents. This month we are compelled to print an additional ONE THOUSAND Copies for the April Number. This is gratifying. It shows that the people everywhere are endorsing the policy of the Magazine. We want to add an additional TWENTY THOUSAND subscribers to our list this year. To do this we need more agents. NOW here is an opportunity to make some money. Our terms are the most liberal of any reputable Magazine. Agents everywhere are sending in large subscription lists daily. Our agent, W. A. Fisher, of Mississippi has sent us thirty eight subscriptions within a month. James R. Clark has sent us thirty subscriptions within the last month. Mrs. V. A. Barlow (teacher) Alabama, writes: "As a teacher, the agency has been profitable to me in more than a financial way, bringing me as it did more in touch and sympathy with the people and giving new inspiration and courage for my work in the school room. If my health permits when school closes, I hope to continue the agency." Mrs. Barlow sends us $12.00. TEACHERS and Ministers everywhere are endorsing the Magazine and are taking hold of the work with zeal. We receive hundreds of letters from this class of men and women highly endorsing the magazine and commending us. Send today only TEN CENTS for an agents' outfit and make big profits handling the Magazine. Subscription price only One Dollar per year in advance. THE VOICE OF THE NEGRO, ATLANTA, GA. SOUTHERN RAILWAY Great Highway of Trade and Travel THROUGH THE SOUTHERN STATES Excellent Service Quick Time Convenient Schedules The Southern Railway is the Great Through Line North East, South and West J. C. BEAM, District Passenger Agent, Kimball House Corner ATLANTA, GEORGIA YOUR OPPORTUNITY Awaits You in The GREAT SOUTHWEST Will you improve it? That vast territory embraced in the Boundaries of ARKANSAS, INDIAN TERRITORY OKLAHOMA, TEXAS, & NEW MEXICO Is more than a land of full dinner pails. It is the land of the full barn, the full larder, the full pocket-book, the full cup of happiness-----In a word the successful. Write for our illustrated booklets and get the details. 75 per cent of the ONE WAY RATE for the Round Trip. Half Fare plus $2.00 One Way. First and Third Tuesdays in January and February. Rock Island System GEO. H. LEE Gen. Pass. Agent LITTLE ROCK, ARK. S. L. PARROTT, Dist. Pass. Agent, ATLANTA, GA. When writing advertisers, please mention this Magazine THE VOICE OF THE NEGRO. MAY, 1906. Among the many interesting articles we shall publish next month, one that is likely to attract wide attention is a paper by C. C. Poindexter of Cornell University, on "Some Student experiences." Mr. Poindexter is a graduate student of Cornell. He has had some exceedingly interesting experiences as a Negro student in a Northern University and will tell our readers about these experiences in May. By all means read this charming article. The Southern Federation of Colored Women met at Little Rock, Arkansas, last January. The women of the Federation made several excursions to places round about Little Rock while they were there. One of the most interesting places in Arkansas, and as for that, one of the most interesting places in the whole country is Hot Springs. It is a great health resort, a kind of American Carlsbad. Mrs. Addie Waits Hunton, President of the Atlanta Woman's Club, and one of the officers of the Southern Federation, will tell our readers all about Hot Springs in May. All of the club women will want to read this article because of the things that will be said about the Convention and because of the splendid group pictures of the club women which will be used in this article as illustrations. 10 Cents a Copy $1.00 Per Year THE VOICE OF THE NEGRO, 68 1/2 East Alabama St. ATLANTA, GA. The West Point Route DIRECT LINE WITH FAST SCHEDULES TO Texas Mexico California AND ALL POINTS SOUTHWEST Cheap Rates to California Until May 15th Through Cars Route of Special U. S. Fast Mail Full information at City Office, Fourth National Bank Building. J. P. BILLUPS, G. P. A., Atlanta, Ga. When writing advertisers, please mention this Magazine THE VOICE OF THE NEGRO Copyright, 1096. by Hertel, Jenkins & Company. Entered at the Postoffice at Atlanta, Ga., as second class mail matter. Contents for April, 1906. FRONTISPIECE-Full Page Portrait of P Sheridan Ball OUR MONTHLY REVIEW The Constitution League Southern Representation The Student Volunteer Convention The Effects of the Convention A Negro Bank for Atlanta Dunbar Memorial Service The Springfield Mob Sousan Brownwell Anthony The Retirement of Lyons Seed-Time Raptures THE PLACE OF FAILURE IN SUCCESS.....H. T. Kealing THE ARTISTIC GIFTS OF THE NEGRO.....Kelly Miller JAMES E. CHURCHMAN AS A LEADER.....Wm. H. Maxwel[l] ESPERANTO-The New International Language.....William Pickens PEONAGE (Part III)-The Five Years Contract.....T. H. Malone PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR-Poem.....Benjamin Griffith Brawley THE CALHOUN SCHOOL.....John W. Lemon PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR-An Appreciation.....Mary Church Terrell DOUGLAS DAY.....Emma F. G. Merritt THE SUMMONS-Poem-Written and Illustrated by.....John Henry Adams IN THE SANCTUM Two Great Schools Christ or Color WAYSIDE.....Silas X. Floyd P. SHERIDAN BALL, President of the Metropolitan System. THE Voice of the Negro APRIL, 1906 Volume III Number IV OUR MONTHLY REVIEW Copyright 1905, by Hertel, Jenkins & Co. The Constitution League The Constitution League is going to exercise a mighty influence on the politics of this country within the next few years. The League has headquarters in New York and is composed very largely of white men. This organization has set before itself the tremendous task of awakening the country to the necessity of enforcing the mandates of the constitution. The Hon. John Milholland, the man at the head of this movement, is a man of the highest standing in New York. he is a man of wealth and culture, and has no ax to grind in heading this movement. He is sincere in his efforts to have this country throw off its moral apathy, its chronic inertness, and to compel everybody in this country to respect the fundamental law of the land. The League has started a systematic agitation against class legislation. It has held three mammoth mass meetings already this year, and before the end of the year, meetings will be held in many of the leading cities of the country. At the meeting in Cooper Union, New York, during the early part of February, some of the most eminent men of both races addressed the people. Twenty-five hundred people attended the meeting held at the Metropolitan A. M. E. Church, Washington, D. C., February 23rd. Among the speakers of the evening were congressmen Bennett of New York and F. K. Cushman of the State of Washington. At the meeting in Philadelphia, March 1st, the spacious Academy of Music, which seats 4,000 people, was packed to the limit and thousands of people were turned away. At all of these meetings emphasis was placed on the necessity of calling a halt to the onward career of class arrogance in the South. By cunning class legislation many of the Southern states have nullified the effects of the Civil War. The very constitution has been annulled and abrogated. This whole section is besmirched by an infinity of rampant treacheries against the flag of the nation. The members of the Constitution League have set their faces towards the enforcement of the supreme law of the land and the termination of mob and class rule. It invites all good men to join in this battle. 242 THE VOICE of God's love ever flashed into the consciences of the men responsible for the absence of the representatives of 10,000,000 black people in this country, they must have felt that their course of cowardice and truckle was a rampant treachery to the cause of Christ. If white people in the South cannot treat the people of the darker races as men and brethren, such conventions ought not to come to this section. To discriminate against a man because of his color may be religious, but it is certainly not christian; and then it is a dwarfish, poverty-stricken stuff of a religion. Southern Representation The Constitution League has committed itself to the proposition to reduce Southern representation in Congress. A division of opinion arises here even among the friends of the League. There is room for a diversity of opinion. The writer was once of the opinion that the reduction program was not the course of wisdom. He has been converted and gives to our readers the reasons for his present position. It is granted by all except intellectually stranded bigots that the Negroes, generally speaking, have been boldly disfranchised in the South, and that this class legislation has worked harm to the political health of the whole section. The South has perpetrated on the country a kind of tyranny that literally kills our free institutions and destroys constitutional and representative government. The supreme law of the land has been made the scorn of its constituents. Something must be done. The South must not be granted unchecked liberty to annul the Federal Constitution at its sovereign whim and caprice. The time has come when laxity must cease, when the government must be asked to hold a whip over a section of the country in order to compel it to respect its authority. What must the lash be? The Constitution is spe- cific on this point: there must be a redistribution of representation in order to restore equity. But the man who opposes the reduction of representation is afraid that this will take away our cause of agitation and will permanently disfranchise us. Our argument is that the masses of us, through subterfuges and inane grandfather clauses are already disfranchised. If now, Congress should reduce Southern representation, the South would do one of three things: abolish her disfranchisement laws, boldly disfranchise the Negro on account of race and color or be content to be represented by a reduced contingent in Congress and still enforce her unjust, but nevertheless, cunningly devised disfranchisement measures. We would like to see these discriminatory laws with all of the South's absurd and exploded delusions abolished, and we are inclined to think that that would be the ultimate result of reduction of representation. But suppose the South took such action by Congress as license to disfranchise the Negro boldly, providing she was willing to pay the penalty. Then we could certainly get our case fairly and squarely before the courts, and it is not to be supposed for one moment that the courts would uphold legislation that was boldly made against a people purely on account of race and color. A ruling from the Supreme Court against color discrimination under such circumstances would go a long ways towards breaking up the whole disfranchisement system. On the other hand, suppose the South should accept such action by Congress complacently and should continue to enforce her present cunningly devised laws. Still conditions would be better instead of worse. Fifty men who are now in Congress at the expense of the public, and whose chief occupation is the belittlement of the Negro, would be sent back to the farms. They would not have the opportunity to slander and malign a people whom they pretend to "WHERE MOTH & RUST DOTH CORRUPT" COURAGE MANHOOD RACE LOYALTY DIPLOMACY POLITICS TACT TUSKEGEE NEEDS AMBITION SOUTHERN WHITE SENTIMENT Handy Keith LOCKED! represent. These men have always opposed progressive, sensible legislation. They should be placed where their opposition would not count for much. Thus, with an overwhelming majority of men in Congress from that section of the country where the Negro is not so much hated, we could go to Congress with hope and ask for the further enforcement of the Constitution. Reduction is but a step in the rescue of the Constitution, in the curbing of arrogance and in the restraining of each state from going beyond constitutional bounds by unjust legislation. Trouble there is bound to be in awaking the public mind to the enormity of these injustices. But always there must be the breaking of some eggs before we have the omelet. The Rubicon has been crossed. Let the great fraternity of class legislators and enemies of democratic government tremble. 244 THE VOICE OF THE NEGRO A Negro Bank for Atlanta The Metropolitan Mercantile and Realty Company is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, business institutions conducted by Negroes in America. Beginning many years ago in New York City, with very little capital and amid very humble circumstances, the company has gradually forged ahead until today it is one of the strongest and most reliable business concerns in the country. Expansion seems to be the company's watchword. Its growth has been astounding to its enemies and competitors and eminently satisfactory to its promoters. Today the four features of the company-the insurance, mercantile, real estate and banking departments-are all in splendid condition. The company has a fine standing in Wall street and the confidence of the people of the country. Mr. P. Sheridan Ball, president of the company, is a sagacious young man with exceptional executive ability and is looked up to by all of his co-workers as a shrewd and safe director and promoter. It is gratifying to Atlantans to learn that the Metropolitan Corporations have moved their Southern headquarters to Atlanta. The company now occupies the spacious quarters at the corner of Alabama Street and Central Avenue, near the Union Station, the place where the Lowry National Bank began its successful career. The company will soon incorporate a bank here with a capital of not less than $75,000, and probably as much as $100,000. It will also operate branch banks in other Georgia cities. The company is negotiating for the purchase of several of the industrial insurance companies in the State. President Ball of all the Metropolitan System will remain here in Atlanta in order to push the business of the company in the Southern States. Atlanta is the gateway to the far South, is almost the central point of the Southern seaboard states, and is, therefore, an advantageous point from which to direct a great interstate business. Dunbar Memorial Service Among the many good things that the Atlanta Woman's Club is doing, the one thing which appeals most strongly to the cultured classes of both sexes is its effort to cultivate and stimulate in the people of the city a high, wholesome sentiment regarding music, art and poetry. A commendable effort along that line was the Paul Laurence Dunbar Memorial Service held at the First Congregational Church on the evening of March 6th. The program included for the most part readings from Dunbar, addresses on the life and works of the poet, and music which in some way reminded one of the sorrow in the hearts of the people because of the death of the poet laureate of the Negro race. The Atlanta University Male Quartette sang "Po' Li 'l Lam," one of Dunbar's poems which had been set to music. A quartette of young ladies from Clark University gave a Delsarte from Dunbar's "Whistling Sam" which was happy in the extreme. Prof. W. E. B. Du Bois of Atlanta University, rendered the principal address on the Life of Dunbar, and Prof. William Pickens of Talladega College was the favorite reader of the evening. Letters were read from such eminent women as Mrs. Josephine S. Yates, Mrs. May Church Terrell, Miss Elizabeth C. Carter, Mrs. Booker T. Washington, Mrs. Elizabeth L. Davis, Mrs. Livy C. Anthony and Miss Josy Holmes. The Memorial Service was a very creditable affair and will serve to inspire and encourage the young people of the day who have literary aspirations. At the conclusion of the services, the Women's Club presented to the local Young Men's Christian Association a magnificent life-size portrait of the late and beloved poet. OUR MONTHLY REVIEW 245 The Springfield Mob No denunciation can be conceivably excessive in characterizing conditions which allowed a bloody-mad mob to hold sway for two days in a leading Ohio city. On February 26th, a white man in Springfield was seriously wounded while engaged in an altercation with two Negroes. The colored men accused of the crime were hurried out of the city in order to prevent a lynching. The murder of the white man angered the white people of Springfield and a mob at once began to burn and demolish the section of the city in which most of the colored people live. For two whole days this drunken mob held the city in its fierce grip, and unchecked by local authorities, drove colored people half-naked from their homes, set fire to houses over the heads of suckling babes, and turned all Springfield into a prowling hades. This is the second time within the brief period of two years that the anarchists and libertines of Springfield have tried to exterminate the Negro population of the city because of quarrels between white men and black men, in which blacks got the advantage. There are two distinct causes for this dangerous phenomena of lawlessness as far North as Springfield. First among them is the Southern white man. The trail of Southern race prejudice is over it all. Large numbers of Kentucky white men have crossed over from Kentucky into Ohio. When they reached Ohio, they found also large numbers of Kentucky Negroes whom they were accustomed to dominate and cower in Kentucky, and who refused to be cowered in Ohio. These Southerners are the leaders in these festive sports of lynching and burning human beings. The second cause of this race prejudice is plain, honest competition. Rev. Reverdy C. Ransom of Boston, who was for a long time a pastor at Springfield and who visits the city almost every year, in a letter to the Boston Transcript furnishes the public a searching analysis of the situation. In Springfield there are large establishments which manufacture farming and harvesting machinery. These establishments refuse to discriminate against laborers because of their color. For many years white workingmen have sought to oust Negroes from all positions in these factories save those of underlings and menials, but the authorities have refused to discriminate. As almost everywhere when given a fair trial, here the colored carpenters, blacksmiths, painters and machinists, seem not only to equal, but to excel the white workingmen. This has aroused the jealousy and envy of the white working men. Here is the second great reason for this strong race antipathy. Here again we have renewed evidence of the total unreliability of the Associated Press where the Negro is involved. The press dispatches made it appear that white people, with a kind of "Remember-the-Maine" sentiment, were cleaning out Negro "Jungles," "Dives" or "Dens." The effort was made to give the impression that the "Negro quarters" were a great festering sore of immorality. Rev. Mr. Ranson states that: "The homes of the colored people there are not cabins as the dispatches erroneously state, but are commodious cottages, some brick and some frame, not differing from the homes of other mechanics and people of like circumstances. When I was pastor there, out of a church membership of over 300, 137 of my members owned their homes." Who would have gotten this kind of an idea of the colored people of Springfield from the Associated Press dispatches? One of the homes burned was the palatial residence of Mr. Charles Fillmore, formerly corporation clerk in the office of the Secretary of State of Ohio, and now a clerk in one of the departments at Washington. Many others of the homes burned or damaged belonged to people of wealth, culture and standing in the com- 246 THE VOICE OF THE NEGRO munity. Under these circumstances we repeat our first statement,-you cannot exaggerate in characterizing the savagry of this Springfield mob; and the cowardice and cupidity of the skulking officers of the law will not be considered less criminal than the carelessness and stupidity of the citizens, if the men who are responsible for this highhanded and unchecked incendarism are not justly punished. Susan Brownwell Anthony The women suffragists of the world and the temperance people have lost a true friend in the death of Susan B. Anthony. Miss Anthony's long and eventful life came to an end March 13th, about one month after her 86th birthday. She had seen sixty years of service in the battle for reforms, and during most of these years she had helped to command the reform forces. She was trained under Lucretia Mott, and had during her lifetime been associated with the most noted women of the last century. She was intimately associated with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucy Stone, two of the most well-known women America has ever produced. Miss Anthony lived to see some momentous changes in the affairs of this country since the time she began her public life. She was a prominent abolitionist, and was one of the women who circulated and signed the petition to abolish slavery, which was presented to Charles Sumner in the Senate in 1862. After emancipation, her efforts were directed mainly towards the securing of equal rights in the country for man and woman. When she died she was probably the leading apostle of woman's rights in the whole world. Her splendid struggle changed the world's estimation of her sex. Whether it is wisest for women to vote or not, it is true that there has dawned upon the national consciousness a new idea of the part woman ought to play in politics. Thus Miss Anthony accomplished a vast amount of good. She was simple in habits and rigidly sincere in her life and work. She descended from noble ancestry and could trace her family back to before the time of Shakespeare's birth. The Retirement of Lyons This month will witness the retirement of the Hon. Judson W. Lyons of Georgia from the position of Register of the United States Treasury, a position which he has filled with competency for the past eight years. William T. Vernon of Kansas, who has been nominated by the President to succeed Mr. Lyons, has not as yet been confirmed by the Senate. Some very grave charges have been lodged against him by the colored people of his State, and it seems to be more than probable that he will have to clear himself of these charges before he will be commissioned to take possession of the Register's office. Whether there is any merit in the case against Mr. Vernon or not, we do not know and dare not venture an opinion. We can only hope not, for we get no pleasure out of the downfall of a fellowman. But that Mr. Lyons had administered his office with signal ability is beyond question. The contemptible little fling at Mr. Lyons last month by a certain New York Negro magazine is calculated to make people who do not know Mr. Lyons think that he is not a man of ability and courage. the animus of this attack on the retiring Register is shown in the concluding paragraph of the little editorial fling in question. Mr. Lyons did not have "that knowledge vouchsafed by humility's books;" that is, he was not willing to stultify himself and to truckle to arrogant bossism as does the man who attacks him. The charge that Mr. Lyons inspired the news dispatches which charged Booker T. Washington with political activity against the retiring Reg- THE HON. JUDSON W. LYONS, Retiring Registrar of the Treasury 248 THE VOICE OF THE NEGRO ister is wholly untrue. Not only that, it is a wilful and malicious misrepresentation; for the man who makes this attack upon one of the finest characters in the country knew the facts in the case ; knew that there was more truth than fiction in these newspaper dispatches. My Lyons will retire from the Registership with not so much as an iota of disgrace attached to his administration. Mr. Roosevelt concedes as much. Mr. Lyons retires over the protests of thousands of the best citizens of this country, and man of them represent great money interests. No Negro lawyer has been represented in Georgia more than Judson W. Lyons. He had, through sheer legal ability, built up for himself a large practice in Augusta before he was offered the postmastership in that city, which he refused for the registership at Washington. This attack on Mr. Lyons is an effort to crush a man because he is a man ; because he has not been led astray by an ephemeral freak of fashion. SEED-TIME RAPTURES An old legend has it that when the universe first swept into the view of primeval man, the one thing which excited his wonder and admiration more than all else was the sun. He watched the great magician of light as he rode majestically across the heavens and arrogantly stalked away to the West. He followed the westering pathway of this gigantic orb until he touched the horizon, and then a great cry went up from the earth. It was a tragic and depressing hour in the history of the world, for the children of the gods were wondering if that great light was gone forever. Though we have no account of it, some such feeling must have swept the bosoms of men when the first autumn came. The falling of the leaves, the dying of the vines, the chilling of the winds and the sombering of the skies must have looked like evil omens to those who had only seen Spring and Summer. The word Death had not yet entered into the language of men and they must have wondered in silence what was about to happen to the earth. But with the departure of winter with its rigors, springtime came again, and with it the hopes, the joys and the vitality of the season. Spring is a marvel and a miracle. For uncounted centuries men have been straining towards a grasp of the secrets of life; have been trying to understand what were the processess that caused a seed to send roots downward and tendrils upward. Germination is still a great and mighty enigma. All we know is that: Stillness reigns in the earth. The seeds lie silent and motionless. Suddenly, during the last days of February and the early days of March, there is a vague unrest, a stirring in the underworld. then we know that the days of winter are numbered. By the first of April a riot of creative energy has manifested itself, a deep-moving passion has awoke every slumbering seed and the whole earth has received a very baptism of life. With the first faint rapture of Spring there is a summons by Nature for her children to awake. As the message goes pulsing from cell to cell on the protoplasmic threads in the seed, we fancy there is a drowsy stirring, like the waking of men at the break of day. The sun sends a vitalizing current out of its own infinity of life into the earth, and the sleeping life within emerges and lifts its head towards the great source of life without. It is the call of the father unto his child and the glad answer. Spring first approaches coyly like a bashful maid. Altho day by day there is some wonder waking the seeds in the earth, on the outside you can hardly tellof the approach of the new season. The earth OUR MONTHLY REVIEW 249 seems to be midway between sleeping and waking. Presently, there is a tender green on the mountain sides, a peculiar haze on the horizon and a soft azure in the sky. Then there is a balm, a certain spiciness in the South wind, a gladness in the rills and and ichor in the blood. Suddenly the enfolding darkness of death and winter is burst aside and the world is flooded with life and joy. The birds are piping their lute-like notes in all the trees; all the hills are covered with smiling flowers, and there is a passion of energy and a thrill of life in every field. Every leaf and tiny bud is singing the Frost King's requiem. The seeds are rejoicing that they are allowed once more to produce fruits and flowers to feed and beautify the earth. BOOKS RECEIVED: We acknowledge the courtesy of Small, Maynard & Company, Boston, Publishers, in sending us for review purposes a copy of "The Aftermath of Slavery," by Dr. William A. Sinclair of Philadelphia. We also acknowledge receipt of "The Brother's Way," by Jonn C. Reed. This book is published by Little, Brown & Company, Boston, and is styled by the publishers as a dispassionate survey of the causes leading up to the Civil War. Both of these books will be reviewed in the Voice of the Negro at a subsequent date. The Voice of the Negro for May, 1906. Among the many interesting articles we shall publish next month, one that is likely to attract wide attention is a paper by C. C. Poindexter of Cornell University, on "Some Student Experiences." Mr. Poindexter is a graduate student of Cornell. He has had some exceedingly interesting experiences as a Negro student in a Northern University and will tell our readers about these experiences in May. By all means read this charming article. The Southern Federation of Colored Women met at Little Rock, Arkansas, last January. The women of the Federation made several excursions to places round about Little Rock while they were there. One of the most interesting places in Arkansas, and as for that, one of the most interesting places in the whole country is Hot Springs. It is a great health resort, a kind of American Carlsbad. Mrs. Addie Waits Hunton, President of the Atlanta Woman's Club, and one of the officers of the Southern Federation, will tell our readers all about Hot Springs in May. All of the club women will want to read this article because of the things that will be said about the Convention and because of the splendid group pictures of the club women which will be used in this article as illustrations. 10 cents a copy. $1.00 per year. The Place of Failure In Success By H. T. Kealing, Editor A. M. E. Review [Read before the National Negro Business League, Aug. 17, 1905, New York] The indispensable conditions of success in business, to limit ourselves to the most important, are a knowledge of the laws of business; business integrity, including the scrupulous keeping of one's word; self-reliance; appreciation of the value of time; responsiveness to public demands; taste in selecting goods; subordination of accessories to essentials; ability to meet competition; ability to buy well; ability to sell well; ability to advertise well; willingness to do hard work. The Negro in business has had to learn these things by the knocks he got for not knowing them. He has not been admitted to the stores and counting-rooms of the land to receive tutoring. His place in other people's business houses has been before the counter; it was not till he attempted to open a place of his own that he knew how the case appeared behind the counter. Of course, he failed time and time again, but it was by those failures that he reached this session of the Business Men's League, or had any League for that matter. There are two kinds of failure-that which puts a man out of business to stay and that which puts him in it to stay. This League is interested in the last only. Bulletin No. 8, of the United States Census for 1900, gives some facts of great value to any discussion of the success the Negro has had in occupations requiring unusual skill or capital. From that report we learn that, of 3,998,963 persons investigated, 2,143,156 or over one-half, were engaged in agricultural pursuits; and that from among the remainder there have emerged 76,026 engaged in the following pursuits requiring capital, skill and business foresight, which pursuits were practically unknown among us forty years ago: BUSINESS REQUIRING CAPITAL. BUSINESS NO. ENGAGED. Bankers and Brokers 82 Livery stable keepers 509 Retail merchants 9,098 Wholesale merchants 149 - 9,838 BUSINESS REQUIRING SKILL. Architects and designers 52 Artists and art teachers 236 Dentists 212 Electricians 185 Civil engineers and surveyors 120 Journalists 210 Literary and scientific persons 99 Musicians and music teachers 3,921 Teachers and professors 21268 Physicians 1.734 Hotel, boarding house and restaurant keepers 8,663 Bookkeepers, clerks and accountants 6,649 Packers and shippers 1,870 Salesmen and women 2.799 Telegraph and telephone operators 69 Watch and clock makers 109 Bookbinders 86 Engravers 22 Printers, pressmen and lithographers 1,221 Milliners and hat makers 202 Dressmakers 12,572 FAILURE IN SUCCESS 251 Tailors 1,845 Pattern makers 24 Photographers 247 Upholsters 1,045 - 66,188 Grand total for both classes 76,026 THREE WAYS OF LEARNING BUSINESS. Such a showing tells the story of economic and commercial growth among us more eloquently than rhetoric or oratory can ever hope to do, but it does not tell how many obstacles were overcome, how many failures were experienced and how much good gray matter was used up in the brain of patient plodders before the census enumerator could get busy with our successes. Of that I propose now to speak. The Negro did not enter business for the first time during the last fifteen years, though that is the period of his greatest growth as a business factor in the United States. A few in the North had shops long before the emancipation; but the great bulk of the race dates its business birth from that momentous event. Now, there are three ways of learning to conduct a business: (1) by training in a school; (2) by an apprenticeship in another man's business; or (3) by experimenting in your own till you make all the mistakes possible to be made, and have the true principles left. This last method is, as you may well suppose, the most expensive and the slowest; for by it we lose much valuable material and waste a large part of our short lives before we begin to succeed. Yet I undertake to say that the man who does come through without falling by the wayside is all the better equipped for measuring arms with any form of opposition or competition. The schools will give you the theory and some practice arranged to order; apprenticeship puts you in touch with the tools and materials; but neither of them puts upon you the responsibility of laying your own plans, securing your own assistance, shouldering your own losses and backing your own judgment. This you must get from the experimental method, if you get it at all. HOW FAILURE COMES. Every man here today operating his own business has attained the measure of success that he enjoys by the road of many failures, partial or complete. The one who lost nothing has made nothing. He is the one-talent man. But the merchant who is going to the front has failed to collect some of his bills receivable, been deceived by faithless clerks, had bad goods unloaded on him, or failed to put on his shelves the class of goods his customers desired. He may even have been closed out altogether by his creditors, and been put to the embarrassment of seeing two big Norman horses and a bright green wagon drive up to his shanty, while the two hundred pound driver gravely loaded on the six boxes of sardines and ten bottles of pepper sauce that the store contained, and hauled them away because they had not been paid for; yet if that merchant had the right stuff in him, he is here today with a big well-stocked establishment, a heavy run of customers and a bank account that puts a good thick bumper between him and starvation. A number of colored men began little business enterprises immediately after the emancipation but very few of them got beyond the peanut period because they had neither capital nor experience, the two legs upon which success walks. I knew of a case where an ambitious laborer, wishing to make an easier living, in- (Continued on page 284) The Artistic Gifts of The Negro BY KELLY MILLER What contribution has the Negro race ever made or ever can make to the general culture of the human spirit? asks the critic with a scornful disdain that allows no answer. Ridicule and contempt have characterized the habitual attitude of the American mind towards the Negro's higher strivings. The faintest suggestion as to his higher possibilities is received either with a sneer or with a smile. The African was brought to America to be a hewer of wood and a drawer of water. Requisition was made upon his physical faculties alone to perform this manual and menial mission. His function was supposed to be as purely mechanical as that of the ox which pulls the plow. No more account was taken of his higher susceptibilities than of the mental and moral faculties of the lower animals. Indeed the Negro has never been regarded in his own right and for his own sake, but merely as a co-efficient which is not detachable from the quantity whose value it enhances. The servant exists for the sake of his master. The black man's status is fixed and his usefulness is recognized on the lower level of crude service. His mission is to administer to the wants of the higher, or as it is more fitting to say, the haughtier race. "The Negro is all right in his place" phrases a feeling that is deep-seated and long abiding. this historical bias of mind is brought forward in current discussion. It is so natural to base a theory upon a long established practice that one no longer wonders at the prevalence of this belief. The African has sustained servile relations to the Aryan for so long a time that it is easy, as it is agreeable to the Aryan pride, to conclude that servitude is his ordained place in society. The dogma of Carlyle, that "the Negro is useful to God's creation only as a servant," still finds wide acceptance. Much of our current social philosophy on the race problem is but a restatement of the ancient prejudice in terms of modern phraseology. Why awaken the higher faculties of the race when only the lower ones are demanded in our scheme of economy? What boots it to develop higher taste and finer feelings in a people who must of necessity perform the rougher grade of the world's work? Is it not preposterous that black men should ponder over Shakespeare and Dante and black maidens pursue music and painting when they might earn a dollar a day at useful productive toil? Such arguments are as familiar to us as the more orthodox doctrine drawn from the curse of Canaan used to be in days gone by. To an attitude thus predisposed, manifestation of higher qualities on part of the people held in despite is both unwelcome and embarrassing. The justification of oppression is always based on the absence of higher faculties. Phyllis Wheatley and Frederick Douglass were more persuasive and potential anti-slavery arguments that all the flood of eloquence poured forth in behalf of an oppressed race. There was serious hesitation in admitting the Negro possessed a soul and was entitled to the rites of baptism, on the ground that it was not right to hold a Christian in slavery. There is a sneaking feeling in the breast of humanity that the ennobling circle of kindly sympathy should include all persons and peoples who display aptitude for the higher intellectual and spiritual cult. Despite traditional theories and centuries of cruel usage, there have been more or less continual outcroppings of the Negro's suppressed and stunted soul. Any striking ARTISTIC GIFTS OF THE NEGRO 253 emanation from this dark and forbidden background was at one time called a freak of nature not to be calculated in the ordinary course of events. But when freaks become too frequent, they can no longer be ignored in any rational scheme of philosophy. Music is the easiest outlet of the soul. The pent up energy within breaks through the aperture of sound while the slower and more accurate deliberations of the intellect are yet in process of formulation. Plantation melody, that blind, half conscious poetry that rose up from "the low ground of sorrow" was the first expression of the imprisoned soul of an imprisoned race. It was the smothered voice of a race crying in the wilderness, "with no language, but a cry." These wierd, plaintive, lugubrious longings go straight to the heart without the interventions of cumbersome intellectual machinery. They came from the unsophisticated soul of an humble and simple-minded black folk and make the strongest appeal to the universal heart. There can be no stronger argument of the sameness of human sympathy. "As in the water face answerest to face, so the heart of man to man." Negro melody has been called the only autochthonous music of the American continent. The inner soul of the red man is not preserved to us in song. The European brought his folk thought and folk song acquired by his ancestors in the unremembered ages. It was reserved for the transplanted African to sing a new song racy of the soil, which had been baptized with his blood and watered with his tears. This music is the spontaneous expression of the race soul under new and depressing environment. It is the folk genius of the African, not indeed on his ancestral heath, but in a new, though beloved land. Unlike the captive Jew, who, under like circumstances hung his harp upon the willow tree and sat down by the rivers of Babylon and wept, the transplanted African made a contribution to the repertoire of song, which moistens the eye and melts the heart of the world. These songs are not African, but American. The scene, circumstances and aspirations are not adapted to some distant continent, but to their new environment in a land, not of their sojourn, but of their abiding place. Shall they not immortalize the soil from which they sprung? Robert Burns has gathered the superstitions, the sorrow, the sufferings, the joys, the strivings of the lowly life of Scotland and woven them into soulful song, and has thus rendered old Scotia ever dear to human memory. The tourist makes his eager pilgrimage around the world to witness "the banks and braes o'bonnie Doon" where the peasant lass poured out her soul in anguish. What halo of glory hovers over that ghostly route traversed that dreary night by the tippled Tam O'Shanter! The glory of a locality rests as much upon the folk song or folk story that grows out of and gathers about it, as upon the tradition that this or that great man was born there. If the human heart ever turns with passionate yearning to our own Southland, it will not be so much in quest of the deeds and doings of her renowned warriors and statesmen, as to realize and revel in the scenes amid which these pathetic melodies took their rise. Which of their musical achievements would the American people not gladly give in exchange for "Steal Away to Jesus" or "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot?" What song yet ascribed to the glory of Hail Columbia equals in power of pathetic appeal and strength of local endearment the yearnful quest of the slave for his home land. "Way Down Upon the Suwanee River?" The motif of the world renowned "Dixie," the musical inspiration of the Southern Confederacy, is based upon the yearning of a slave removed from his native Sunny 254 THE VOICE OF THE NEGRO South, for the land where he was born. The South is the home of the Negro, not merely because he has aided in the development of its resources by his strong and brawny arm, but also because he has hallowed it by the yearnings of his soul. There is a disposition on the part of the more sensitive members of the colored race to affect to feel ashamed of the melodies which solaced and sustained their ancestors under burdens as grievous as any the human race has ever been called upon to bear. They fear to acknowledge a noble influence because it proceeded from a lowly place. All great people glorify their history, and look back upon their early attainment with spiritualized vision. What nation is there that cannot find in its earlier struggles those things which, if interpreted in light of present conditions, would count for humiliation and shame? But through the purifying power of historical perspective, they are made to reveal a greater degree of glory. However trying and perplexing experiences may be while we are in the midst of them, yet a longer range of vision gives us the assurance that "it will afterwards please us to remember even these things." A race that is ashamed of itself or of its history which it had no hand in making makes a pitiable spectacle in the eyes of the world to which it appeals for sympathy and tolerance. A people who are afraid of their own shadow must forever abide in the shade. These plantation melodies represent the Negro's chief contribution to the purifying influences that soften and solace the human spirit. Can the oyster be ashamed of the pearl, or the toad of the jewel in its head? For the Negro to despise his superior natural qualities because they differ from those of another class would be of the same order of folly as if the female sex, in derogation of its natural endowment, should refuse to sing soprano, because the males excel in barytone. This music is indeed inimitable. Its racial quality is stamped on every note. The writer remembers the anomalous spectacle of a white principal trying to lead his colored pupils in the rendition of Jubilee glees. The requisite melodic, pathetic quality of voice is a natural co-efficient which is as inalienable as any other physical characteristic. It rings out from the blood. As we listen to its sad, sighing cadence, we naturally expect to look and see, and say- "these are they who have come up through great tribulation." A white man attempting a plantation melody is as much a rcial anomaly as a Negro affecting to feel in his soul the significance of that line of a celebrated hymn in which the singer passionately avows that he will never "blush to speak His name." Immediately after the war troupes of Negro singers invaded the North and sung the songs whose melodic pathos melted the heart like wax. The Fisk Jubilee singers carried the ministration of this music to the remotest ends of the earth; and kings and emperors have wept before these soul-moving wailings. Many a school in the South owes its endowment to this sweet, sad singing. The plantation melodies possess the quality of endurance. It fulfills Keats definition: "A thing of beauty is a joy forever." Whenever and wherever they are faithfully rendered, the people are moved mightily. Transition from plantation melody to the standard tunes of Watts and Wesley was as easy as the second step in walking. Indeed the Negro's gift for psalmody and his wonderful melodic and harmonic endowment is the marvel of the musical world. The wonder is how these people can sing so well without having learned. To listen to a Negro campmeeting in the backwoods of the Carolinas rendering the good old songs ARTISTIC GIFTS OF THE NEGRO 255 of Zion is almost enough to "rob the listening soul of sin." The rise of rag-time music, which for the past few years has been the rage, marks another stage of Negro music. The potency of its spell has been all pervasive. Half the world has been humming its tunes. The small boy whistles it on the street; the Italian grinds it from his music box, while the urchins gambol on the commons; it jingles in our ears from the slot machine while we wait for the next train or sip a glass of soda; it has captivated the European capitals; the ultra dilettante and his alabaster lady in the gilded palace of wealth glide gracefully over the tufted fabric to the movement of its catchy, snatchy airs. The critics may indeed tell us that music is one thing and rag-time another, but the common people, and the uncommon ones as well, hear it, not only gladly, but rapturously. Ragtime is essentially Negro in motive, meaning, movement, and indeed, in composition. It is neither serious nor soul deep, like its plantation prototype, but is rather the outcome of a silly, flippant, dilletantism of the "new issue." The scene is in the city, not the country. Indeed it might well be called "city airs" in contradistinction from "plantation melodies." While this music portrays faithfully the Negro race in a certain phase of development, and while some of it bites deep into the experiences of human nature, yet it lacks the element of permanence, and seems destined to pass away, like the jingles of the variety stage which tickle the ear only for a season. It is here for the first time that the Negro figures as a composer of music. The words and music of the plantation melodies are attributed to no definite authorship. The "coon songs,," a sort of connecting link between the old and the new, were composed mainly by white authors. It is not generally known that such famous songs as "Ben Bolt," "Listen to the Mocking Bird," and "Rally Round the Flag Boys" bear the stamp of Negro workmanship, as respects either words or music. But the Negro's chief musical distinction, up to the rise of ragtime, rested upon rendition, rather than composition. For the past few years, however, music sheets by Negro authors have been flying from the press as thick as the traditional autumn leaves. There has scarcely been a musical play, so the critics tell us, during that interval, that has not contained songs by Negro authors. Colored troupes in roles of Negro authorship or improvisation have crowded the largest theaters in all parts of the land. Several such troupes have undertaken European tours with marked success. There is a group of Negro composers in New York whose works bear the imprint of the best known publishing houses. Some of them have accumulated fortunes from their composition and performance. Such famous pieces as "All Coons Look Alike to Me," "Under the Bamboo Tree," and "Go 'Way Back and Sit Down," are sung between the oceans, and indeed, around the world. Gus. L. Davis, the most famous Negro composer, died a few years ago. He belonged to the era of the "story song" and did not attempt any piece of purely Negro sentiment. Whenever the world plays, or hums, or whistles, or sings, "The Lighthouse by the Sea," "The Baggage Coach Ahead," or "The Fatal Wedding," it pays homage to the musical genius of the Negro race. The Negro is indeed a highly musical people. The love of music crops out everywhere. The back room of every Negro barbershop is a young conservatory of music. In the ordinary Negro household, the piano is as common a piece of furniture as the rocking chair or centre table. That rosewood piano in a log cabin in Alabama, which Dr. Booker T. Washington's bur- 256 THE VOICE OF THE NEGRO lesque has made famous, is a most convincing, if somewhat grotesque, illustration of the musical genius of the Negro race. Music satisfies the Negro's longing as nothing else can do. All human faculties strive to express or utter themselves. They do not wait upon any fixed scheme or order of development to satisfy our social philosophy. When the fires of genius burn in the soul, it will not await the acquiring of a bank account or the building of a fine mansion before gratifying its cravings. The famished Eliijah under a juniper tree, was the purveryor of God's message to a wicked king. Socrates in poverty and rage pointed out to mankind the path of moral freedom. John the Baptist, clad in leather girdle, and living on the wild fruits of the fields, proclaimed the coming of the kingdom of God. Would it be blasphemy to add, that the Son of Man, while dwelling in the flesh, had not where to lay His head? Our modern philosophy would have advised that these enthusiasts cease their idle speculation, got to work, earn an honest living, and leave the pursuit of truth and spiritual purity to those who had acquired a competency. Is it a part of God's economy that the higher susceptibilities of the soul must wait upon the lower faculties of the body? Should Tanner paint no pictures because his race is ignorant and poor? Should Dunbar cease to woo the muses till every Negro learns a trade? The Negro in poverty and rags, in ignorance and unspeakable physical wretchedness uttered forth those melodies which are sure to lift mankind at least a little higher in the scale of spiritual purity. There are scattered indications that the Negro possesses ambition and capacity for high-grade classical music. The love of music is not only a natural passion, it is becoming a cultivated taste. The choirs of the best colored churches usually render at least one high-grade selection at each service. Blind Tom and Black Patti are at least individual instances of the highest musical susceptibility. There are numerous colored men and women who have completed courses, both instrumental and vocal, in the best American conservatories, and several have pursued their studies under famous European masters. In almost every center where a goodly number of cultivated colored people are to be found, there is a musical organization devoted to the rendition of the standard works of the great composers. But music is only one of the forms of art in which the Negro has given encouraging manifestations. Frederick Douglass was among the foremost orators of the anti-slavery crusade, the second great oratorical epoch in the annals of American history. Booker T. Washington, according to some, is the most effective living orator that speaks the English tongue. Phyllis Wheatley, the black Daughter of the Sun, and Dunbar, the peerless poet of lowly life, wooed the Muse of Song who did not disdain their suite because their skin was dark. Pictures by Tanner adorn the walls of many a gallery in two hemispheres, one of which is on its way to the Louvre. If we might be permitted to cross the ocean and include those whom the Negro race can claim through some strain of their blood, Pushkin stands as the national poet of Russia, and the Dumas as the leading romancers of France. It is noticeable that the names which the Negroes have contributed to the galaxy of the world's greatness are confined almost wholly to the fine arts. Toussaint L'Ouverture stands almost alone among Negroes of whose fame the world takes account, whose renown rests upon solid deeds. The Negro's order of development follows that of the human race. The imaginative powers are the first to emerge; exact knowledge and its practical application come at a later stage. The first superla- ARTISTIC VIEW OF THE NEGRO 257 tive Negro will rise in the domain of the arts. The poet, the artist and the musician come before the engineer and the administrator. The Negro who is to quicken and inspire his race will not be a master mechanic nor yet a man of profound erudition in the domain of exact knowledge, but a man of vision with powers to portray and project. The epic of the Negro race has not yet been written; its aspirations and strivings still await portrayal. Whenever a Dunbar or a Chestnut breaks upon us with surprising imaginative and pictorial power, his race becomes expectant and begins to ask-"art thou he that should come, or doe we look for another?" Mr. W. D. Howells writing in the introduction of Mr. Dunbar's first volume of poems, says: "I said that a race which had come to this effect in any member of it, had attained civilization in him, and I permitted myself the imaginative prophecy that the hostilities and prejudices which had so long constrained his race were destined to vanish in the arts; that these were to be the final proof that God had made of one blood all nations of men. I accepted them as an evidence of the essential unity of the human race." James E. Churchman As a Leader of the Negroes of Essex County For a decade or more the Negroes of Essex County, N. J.-and I might say of the whole state-have been drinking much from the cup of false leadership. Political privileges have been curtailed, social and industrial opportunities have been flatly denied, in short the civil and political rights have blended into almost a complete nothingness. Being tired and sore of the suffereings caused by the pains of injustice and the wounds of oppression, James. E. Churchman, a capable, affable and worthy young man-despite his many business cares-has forged his way to the front ranks, and now comes out into the open with a manhood rights program to defend the people of his race. The colored people of Essex County have elected Mr. James E. Churchman as their Leader in the county, and through his efforts and by his strength a great King in the Political Arena has been dethroned. Since we are contending for the Negro's rights and immunities as a man, we may as well contend for each and every right as to contend only for certain specified rights. No compromises in this matter, and that is the ground upon which the head of our host in Essex Country is standing. He says, "I believe in perfect equality of educational advantages and industrial opportunities; I believe that Public Service Corporations should grant to all men equal opportunities of employment, be those men black or white; I believe absolutely in political and social equality based solely on intellectual and moral fitness." If a man is qualified to be a man, allow him that privilege without regard to color or creed, for it is no where recorded in order to be a man you must be white. The color of a man's skin never has nor never will determine his true qualities as a man. We should not say to the white man, Just let us live here and we will do as you say, just give us a chance to make an honest living and we'll be satisfied." O no, we who are men, are entitled to every right, privilege and immunity that any other man is entitled to. "A square deal, no more and no less." We ask that we be allowed to go as far as our qualifications, as men,will carry us; we ask no more we expect no less. We in Essex County are struggling and with a man at the head of the column, we hope for and will hail with cheers and joy the time when all God's people will be counted and treated according to their worth as men. WM. H. MAXWELL. Esperanto The New International Language By William Pickens Everything now-a-days is being "made to order,"-boots, dry goods, laws, moral systems, religious creeds and languages. Man does not and cannot create anything, but his advancement is one progressive improvement on Nature's product. In this sense a new international language has been made outright-a manufactured article that beats anything which Nature can show in this line from Sanskrit to slang. All previous attempts to formulate what was styled "a universal language" have mis-carried; but Esperanto, the latest effort of this sort. seems to have in its very make-up the elements of success, and in its accent the ring of victory. Last year an Esperantist conference was held in France, attended by representatives from a score of different nationalities, who were not familiar with each other's mother tongues. But they conversed and conferred in Esperanto; and in this new speech business was done, songs were sung, lectures delivered and love made. It was an "all-round" test of its efficiency. The smiling reader might be thinking: that was a feat possible only to experienced linguists and scholars. One purpose of this article is to show you that any man of any language of Europe or America, who is of sound mind and well trained in his mother tongue, can master the syntax of Esperanto in a week. The writer saw his first book on Esperanto less than a week ago. His attention being called to the language in January, he immediately sent to the "Review of Reviews" in London for some books on the subject. These arrived and were perused one evening between the hours of six and ten; and the next morning he wrote letters in Esperanto to some European Esperantists. But before we speak further of Esperanto itself, let us interest ourselves by inquiring what would be the practical benefits of any well known international language whatever. First, it would save time and expense. A language universally understood, if only by the intelligent, would save all the expense that great nations must pay for large forces of interpreters and translators. It would economize time and therefore often prevent bloodshed and confusion. Economy would be served in the same way as by uniform laws and interstate railroad systems. If we had to change passenger and freight trains at every state line, how much more time would be consumed in going or sending from New York to San Francisco! What if the Peace of Portsmouth could have been given to the whole civilized world in the same words of the same language? Perhaps under such a condition there would be fewer "peace conferences," for a universal language would surely tend, it that direction. Secondly, to further the cause of international peace and universal brotherhood. Except color, there is no greater bar to sympathy and communion among men than a difference of language. Two men who do not know and cannot learn each other's tongue may live side by side for a score of years and be strangers still. One who does not understand the words and sounds which to you are so intelligible and full of meaning, must forever seem to you outlandish and barbarous. By the Greek populace all men who could not speak Greek were dubbed the "barbaroi." The great languages of civilization are so many Chinese walls DR. L. ZAMENHOF, FOUNDER OF THE NEW INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE, ESPERANTO. 260 THE VOICE OF THE NEGRO of exclusion, forever shutting out from each other the masses of the different nationalities. If the dealings and relations of two nations could be published in some language legible to the masses of both, the people would often refuse to be tumbled into unjust wars by their unscrupulous demagogs. Genius itself cannot master more than two or three languages to the utmost idiom; the average man can thread but one such "idiomatic" maze, and the masses never really know their mother tongue. Why? Because all these well known old languages are products of Nature, and Nature is an extravagant and erratic idiot who pampers variety rather than utility. She lays within the stream a myriad eggs to raise a dozen fishes; she sows a hundred acorns to sprout two or three sickly oaks. Everywhere she wantonly mixes and mingles the useful and the useless. Just so in these natural tongues she will write a half dozen words meaning the same thing; in one language she might have four or five regular conjugations or declensions and as many "irregular" ones-where one regular would suffice. She will obey no single rule without a half dozen exceptions. All in all, she has so mixed and muddled and anticked in the every-day speech of men, that if idiomatic German be rendered literally in English , the King of England could not interpret that English. And the result-the masses of mankind, so far as Nature's languages are concerned, will never be intelligent beings save in that tongue to which they were born. By the scheme of Esperanto Dr. Zamenhof, the Russian, has removed the whole difficulty, as we shall indicate below. Science can be frugal if Nature is prodigal. Furthermore, such a language would be an inestimable contribution to the accuracy of international business. The dispatches and reports which we get from foreign nations are always second-hand, and very often unreliable-they are translations. And how much different translations of the same thing do disagree with each other! The Germans translate a report from St. Petersburg, the Swiss translate from the Germans, the French from the Swiss-and what do we get in English? We would get nearer the truth if the news was sent through the same territory but clothed in the fixed and unambiguous words of Esperanto; for words, like the savages that they are, lose in both vigor and grace when clad in other than their native garb. Now let us speak more particularly of Esperanto. As Dr. Zamenhof thought over the methods and failures of previous efforts to form such a language, he saw that, if such was ever to succeed, three great problems must first be solved, which we state briefly: (1) The language must be so easy that its acquisition is a mere pastime to the learner of average ability. (2) The learner must be assured that he can make direct international use of the language with others who have not even heard of it. (3) The natural indifference of mankind to take up a new thing, especially an easy and simple thing, must be overcome. An idea of Esperanto can be conveyed in the briefest manner by indicating how Zamenhof has planned to overcome each of these three difficulties. First difficulty. The vocabulary is made easy in two ways: by selecting words which are common to two or more languages, and by making the absolute number of different words very small. This language thus stands on the shoulders of the natural ones. The word for dog is hundo ; for bird, birdo; which words every student of the Teutonic languages at once recognizes. The word for international is internacia ; for high, alta ; which every man of the Romance ESPERANTO 261 languages and every Latin scholar immediately recognize. In this way the words of Esperanto are practically all known to an educated person before he studies it. And a linguist would have no use for an Esperanto lexicon. The shortening of this easy vocabulary is very ingenious. First, thee are no synonyms (which make up a large part of other languages). Next, one does not have to learn antonyms. In English we must learn light and darkness, in Spanish luz and tinieblas ; but in Esperanto we have only to learn lumno which means light, and for darkness we have mallumo by adding the prefix mal which always makes a word its own antonym. Estimi, to esteem ; malestimi, to dispise. Alta, high ; malalta, low. By the above processes Zamenhof made unnecessary the accumulation of whole heaps of mental rubbish. And by other devices equally ingenious, which we cannot mention in this brief article, he has produced a vocabulary of 900 words, affixes and all, that can express any idea which English can express with its 100,000 words. All nouns end in o, adjectives in a, all infinitives in i, the present tense is denoted by the ending as, the past by is, the future by os ; the conditional mood by us and the imperative by u. There is one conjugation, no declension (but n denotes the accusative), and the whole grammatical scheme, most elaborately explained, occupies but 25 small pages. There are no "exceptions" or "variations" to rules: every letter has the same sound everywhere and accent is always penultimate. When we remember that English has eight variations in the sound of a, what a blessing is Esperanto! A noun becomes an adjective by simply adding a, or changing its final o to a ; hundo, dog ; hunda, canine ; du, two ; dua, second. Numerals are simple. The first ten numbers are : unu, du, tri, kvar, kvin, ses, sep, ok, nau, dek. Cent, 100 ; mil, 1000. Other numbers are simply compounds of these words : dudek, 10 ; dekdu, 12. Second difficulty. An American can write to an intelligent Frenchman in Esperanto, whether that Frenchman has ever heard of Esperanto or not. A complete Esperantist vocabulary interpreted in any language you please can be bought on a single sheet of paper, costing but few cents, and can be enclosed with your letter. With this vocabulary an intelligent foreigner would have little difficulty in reading your letter ; for Esperanto is the only language in the world that can be learned from the dictionary alone. Words have a fixed form and no inflections ; they occur in the vocabulary just as they are in the sentence. But what stranger looking, for instance, into a German book for the first time could ever guess that dachte in the sentence is to be sound under denken in the vocabulary ; or that war is from sein? Third difficulty. Dr. Zamenhof knew that the natural inertia of the human mass, called conservatism, has resisted introduction of every great scheme of improvement and opposed every inch of scientific progress. Men are especially phlegmatic toward a scheme that is so simple ; a thing must be enigmatical and hardly understandable to attract much willing attention. And Esperanto is so easy. The cause is prospering, however, through the work of Esperantist societies. They are active in England, and publish works in Esperanto which Dr. Zamenhof kindly revises or approves. A periodical is published in Paris in French and Esperanto ; in London there is the "British Esperantist" in English and Esperanto. An annual Adresare (address) of Esperantists is published and sold for a few cents to encourage international correspondence between persons who are learning the lan- 262 THE VOICE OF THE NEGRO guage. Hamlet and other English classics have been translated into Esperanto, and we hear that it is being taught at Harvard. From what has been said above let the reader, before proceeding further, endeavor to recognize the following passage: Kaj Dio diris ; estu lumo ; kaj farigis lumo. Kaj Dio vidis la lumon ke gi estas bona, kaj nomis Dio la lumon tago, kaj la mallumon nokto. Kaj estis vespero, kaj estis mateno-unu tago. (The diacritical marks over the g in farigis and gi are necessarily omitted in this type). This is part of the thrid, fourth and fifth verses of the first chapter of the Bible. Now it happens that the writer had never read one word from Dickens' Christmas Carol and has never yet seen it in English. So, as evidence of the ease with which Esperanto can be read at sight (for the writer does not yet possess an Esperanto-English dictionary), we will retranslate into English the first few lines of the Christmas Carol, which Martin Westcott has translated into Esperanto under the title "Kristnaska Sonorado:" "THE GHOST OF MARLEY. "Marley was dead. No doubt about that. The official announcement of his death was subscribed by the pastor, the ecclesiastic, the coffin-maker and the chief-mourner. Scrooge subscribed it. And the name Scrooge was much taxed by every matter of the Borse. "Old Marley was dead as a doornail. "Mark you!' I do not mean to say that I myself know why a doornail is especially dead. As for me, I regard coffin nails as the deadest iron commodities in trade. But in that simile lies the wisdom of our ancestors ; and my hands shall not defile it. Then allow me to repeat emphatically , that Marley was as dead as a doornail." How audacious is man ! to handle so familiarly this most dangerous of weapons- Speech. How the mind revels in its fancies of the future ! Esperanto may yet accomplish what is utterly impossible to the Hague Tribunal and all other tribunals put together -universal peace. The case of Esperanto seems to argue that it would not be impossible to revise the other languages in point of syntax, spelling, etc., spite of the general belief that all such efforts are futile as attempts to reverse the course of nature. All efforts of the American and English Philological Societies to the contrary notwithstanding, very few of us have consented to amend our spelling beyond such particles thru and such nous as fotograf. Perhaps Esperanto may some day persuade the nations to apply to some better use all the energy that is now wasted on orthographical and syntactical curiosities. Take for example this -phthisic-and think of pronouncing that jumble of letters simply tizzic. Perhaps most of the "undergrads" in college could wish with all their hearts that Homer and Virgil, instead of stamping ORDER on the face of the tohu-bohu of their respective languages, had sat down and made up something absolutely original. What next?-Well, let the next genius sit down and draw up some easy international rules of etiquette, table manners, courtship, etc., so that we may not be socially embarrassed when we go abroad. Esperantist agencies are just now being established in America, and anyone wishing books or other information, can write to Fleming H. Revell Co., 80 Wabash Ave., Chicago, or to 158 Fifth Ave., New York City. Peonage "THE FIVE YEAR'S CONTRACT." By T. H. Malone "Good morning Squire." "Why howdy'y Billy, how air ye and what air ye up to this morning?" "I only wanted to see you to git you to witness a paper," replied William Harkness. "I am too glad to write my name and the title which the law gives me on the papers of my firends and if you be so kind as to have a seat I will accommodate you. Now what is this document, may I ask? You see a Justice of the Peace ought to always know what he is witnessing before he does it" remarked the magistrate in a serious tone of voice. "It's jes' a little contract that me and Simon's going to make. We have talked the matter over between us and it's settled all right. You see I like Simon and I believe he ruther likes me, leastwise I have never heard nothing to the contrary. It aint ever nigger that I would make a contact with, so favorable to him as this one is to Simon but, as I said, I kind o' like him and am willing to do this much for him. He understands all about it but you can read it for yourself." The magistrate pondered over the document for a short while and then exclaimed, "Oh well I guess it is all right anyhow. Come up here Simon." The colored man, who all this time had been silent, walked up to the little table. "The law says that when a man cannot write his name and it is necessary for him to sign a paper some one else must write it for him and he must touch his pen and make a cross mark between the first part and the last part of his name. Do you understand that Simon?" "Yassir," mumbled the colored man. "Well then," responded the magistrate, "I have written your name right here on this first line now touch the pen and make your mark." But Simon hesitated. "I don't 'zactly like dis way of going so fur ahead in my business." "Well that is left to you and Mr. Harkness," said the magistrate. "There is jes' this much about it," retorted Harkness, "I am not agoing to lose and let my stuff be et up and my mules and horses driven around the country unless somebody becomes responsible. This contract has got to be signed or there will be trouble. Now you can do as you like, sign that contract or take the consequences." Simon trembling touched the pen, for there was nothing else for him to do, after which Harkness scrawled his own mane underneath and the magistrate attested the paper. When signed and witnessed it read this way: "State of Alabama, County of Jackson. This contract, made and entered into this the 2nd day of January, 1889, between Simon Dorsey of the first part and William Harkness of the second part, both of the said state and county, witnesseth that the said Simon Dorsey hereby agrees and binds himself to work for the said William Harkness as tenant of said William Harkness for five years beginning with the signing of this paper. The said Simon Dorsey agrees to keep his family consisting of his wife Mary, and his children, Lige, Plute Cato and Nancy Bell in the employ of said Harkness and they and neither of them shall leave the employ of said Harkness without his consent. The said Harkness agrees to furnish the said Simon and his family with suitable clothing and provisions, a house to live in and stock and utensils for farming purposes. The said Harkness reserves the right to work the said Simon and his family as croppers or as wage hands as he 264 THE VOICE OF THE NEGRO may deem best and is to pay them at the rate usually paid for either kind of labor. The children of the said Simon are to be allowed not over two months schooling each year provided this does not interfere with the making and gathering of crops. Said Simon whether as cropper or wage hand shall not be at liberty to sell or dispose of anything raised on the lands of the said Harkness without the express consent of the said Harkness. The said Harkness reserves the right to say how much clothing and provisions are necessary, for said Simon and family have heretofore received money and provisions from the said Harkness which have not been returned or paid for, and a violation of its terms constitutes a criminal offense as is contemplated in the statutes of this state. Signed the day and year above written, his Simon x Dorsey mark WILLIAM HARKNESS Attested by Hiram Rivers, J. P. Jackson County, Alabama. It was all settled now and Simon and his little flock belonged to "Billy" Harkness for five years. "You gwine to give me one of them too ain't you?" asked Simon of Harkness, but the latter only shook his head and replied that the law only required that he, Harkness, have the paper. The colored man was now as effectively within the grasp of his employer as if he had been sold to him. It was morally certain that for five years he and his family must work the land of Harkness. The last clause in the contract in which Simon had acknowledged that he had received money and provisions, whether true or not, would in itself, be a bar to his breaking the contract and moving away as most of the states have enacted laws to the purport that when a tenant has contracted with his landlord t work for him and on the strength of the contract has received advances, a breach of the contract by the tenant is a criminal offense, and this too irrespective of the fact as to whether the contract was written or verbal. The difference between imprisonment for debt and obtaining goods under false representations or cheating and swindling is very fanciful, and what is really a violation of a civil contract is easily converted into a penal offense. It will be noted that under the contract above the overwhelming advantage is with the landlord. He reserves to himself even the right to take his tenants children out of the short school term allowed them and put them to work. Indeed it most generally happens that they get no schooling at all under the arrangements entered into between their father and their quasimaster. There are thousands of black boys and girls, scattered all over the South, and of school age, whose hearts are made happy if they are permitted to attend school for thirty days each year. It will also be noted that the landlord under the contract has the right ot say what sort of farming the tenant will engage in, whether as "cropper or wage hand" and practically the right of saying what shall be given him. The tenant generally gets what the landlord thinks he ought to have and that usually is very little if anything at all above his clothing and food. There would be other means of keeping the tenant on the place for any desired number of years without the formality of signing a contract, but this latter procedure is thought best as a means of "satisfying the law." For instance, Simon might have had a little fight with one of his neighbors which was hushed up between them but which reached the ears of the landlord. In that event Simon would have been told that he must agree to work a cer- PEONAGE 265 tain number of years or that the matter would be brought to the attention of the grand jury and he would be sent to the chaingang for a term of years. Simon, naturally, would not have liked the idea of being separated from his family and would have readily agreed to have worked on the farm rather than to have worked on the chaingang though in truth the liberties of the one are about equal with those of the other. The contract above set out is not the only kind of document entered into between landlord and tenants. Some of them are for a less number of years and others contain other provisions, but all have in view the keeping of the tenant in subjection. They are held over the heads of the black man as a means of inspiring obedience to him. They never find their way into court because the tenant faithfully keeps his part of the agreement whatever the landlord may do. PAUL LAWRENCE DUNBAR By Benjamin Griffith Brawley And so thour't gone, O brother to the night! After the years of waiting and the pain, After the striving and the stress thou'rt gone! After the pulsing heart-throb and the fret, The quick reward, the sudden voice of fame, The noisy clamor of a great world's praise, The great far-sight into the heart of things, Thou'rt gone, and wilt be with us here no more. We loved thee, brother, in this nether light, With hearts more full of love than we did dream; We loved thy voice, thy work, thy heart, they hope, Thy aspiration and enlightened view, We loved thee in the darkness of the year When thou didst tread the borderland of death; And love thee now with that far greater love That beckons us to thy eternal light. And when in some far-off hereafter day The voice of Fame shall speak her last decree, When she shall summon from the wreck of worlds The names that Time's great movement shall defeat, And when then she shall stand beside thy tomb, The laurel in her hand, and think on thee, Tis then will be thy word upon the scroll: He voiced the yearnings of a people's soul. The Calhoun School By John W. Lemon In the spring of 1891 a mass meeting was held in a little church at Calhoun, Lowndes County, Alabama, to consider ways and means for obtaining better school facilities for the colored children of the so-called Black Belt of the State. The prayer on the lips of the people was: "O Lord, give us a good school for Calhoun, like they have at other places." They did not know how the school was to come, but the people believed in God. Two teachers at Hampton felt that it was their mission to push still further South to the regions where the people sat in darkness. The prayers of the people of Calhoun reached the ears and the hearts of these two noble New England women-Miss Dillingham and Miss Thorn. These two women came to the conclusion that Calhoun was their field of labor, and so in January, 1892-in the dead of winter-they came here to look at the place, meet the people and put things in readiness for a school in the fall. Those two noble and brave women would have us pass over the hardships they had to endure-the dark nights through which they went and the deep waters over which they crossed in their mission of love for others. They would not have us think of the opposition of some of their own friends who felt that theirs was a wild and almost foolish venture. Much less would they have us remember the hard, bitter, and almost unbearable opposition SCHOOL GROUNDS IN 1892. THE OLD CHURCH and threats that came from some local quarters, that their names were cast out as evil-that some of the colored people seemed afraid to own them as their friends that had come to help them;-or that they had laid down their lives for the people. They would have us forget that there was no room for them in the inn-to say nothing about the great lack of all comforts, and the rain and almost impassable muddy roads. I say they would not have us mention any of these things. For the thing that stands out most distinctly in the minds is something far brighter. They remember how in the first meeting that old Ramah church was crowded, with men, women and children; they remember that all-day meeting of song, prayer, speech-making, thanksgiving, the raising of money,, and the people's pledge of their earnestness and support. Perhaps the one person that impressed them as much as any in that day's meeting was an old woman who had no had her chance, but had spent most of her time in the bitter days of slavery. There she was in that meeting, little, old and bent, clad that cold day in a thin, cotton garment, only the head kept warn in the luxury of a baddanna and two sun-bonnets, one over the other. And yet that old woman's speech and prayer, short but very impressive, can never be forgotten. Although she had neither child nor grandchild to go to school, she came to the table, and taking a five-dollar bill, which was I suppose all that she had, she put it on the table, saying "Dis is to help give someone de chance which I never had." That kind of earnestness, sacrifice, prayer and appeal for more light fully settled the question as to whether or not a school would be started at Calhoun. During the summer land was bought, a school building contracted for, and by Sep- 268 THE VOICE OF THE NEGRO tember 1892, Miss Thorn, Miss Dillingham and tow other women came to start their work. As they found that their building was not ready for them, for a week they lived in one of the Negro cabins. But nothing could discourage them. The work must go on. That work then started has grown through all of these years. The plant is now valued at $32,000. 23 workers are now at work here helping these people to help themselves. We have 62 in the boarding department. Our day schools enrolls 304. These go from the kindergarten up through primary and grammar grades. Instruction is also given in agriculture, manual training, plain sewing and domestic science. Much attention is given to the homes of the people. There are the regular mothers' meeting twice a month, a farmers' conference each month, our annual coun- ty farmers' conference each year, agricultural fairs, public school teachers' institute, church and Sunday-school work, bible classes for the older people, cabin prayer meetings, as well as well planned entertainments and games. In all these ways the school is reaching the lives of this people and inspiring them for better things. 56 have graduated from our school. Some of the brighter of these have gone on to higher schools, the better to fit themselves for work among their people; while others are teaching and helping in the communities where they are. About 3,500 acres of land have been bought. So far 83 warranty deeds have been given to 65 individuals. This people have paid in $31,000 toward their land in the last eight years. They are now taking the next step. Good three and four-room buildings are fast taking the place of the THE NEW CHURCH ON THE HILL PRESENT SCHOOL GROUNDS 270 THE VOICE OF THE NEGRO miserable one-room log cabin. A good new church has gone up on the hill. Our school is trying in its work for the real development of heart, head and hand -the reaching of the whole man, and at the same time to keep in a very real and helpful touch with the community. Some of the wisest and best people of our country are a very real part of our work. They have made possible what otherwise never could have been for this people. They have seen to it that although Calhoun's expenses necessarily increase each year, still our school closes out of debt. Miss Dillingham, one of the Calhoun's founders, died here in the midst of this people in the fall of 1894. Hers was a life given for the redemption of humanity. That kind of self-sacrifice and inspiration that came with the founders of this school, those lives of intelligent sympathy, inspiring the lives of this people have made pos- sible the work so far accomplished, and they prophesy complete redemption. Some of these people tell me that Miss Dillingham was the first person that they were not afraid of after her death. She had been so loving, kind and sympathetic, that they could not think of her with fear. One of those here who met on the committee of resolutions said he had only one thing that he wanted put in the resolutions -"She who has done so much for us has not gone." And it was only the other day that that same man told me-"After all these years she is still here. Ever since her death, death has had to me a new meaning. It has been swallowed up in victory. Life-more life-has been to me the important thing." There truly is the spirit of the Christ. This school has come that this people may have more of the right kind of life and be truly intelligent American citizens. MY LITTLE DAUGHTER By Sarah S. Stewart When the evening shadows fall Darkly over the crowded street, From the nursery, through the hall, Comes the sound of little feet. Sweet the hour at close of day, When my baby comes to me, Putting all her toys away, Climbing eager to my knee. Presses tender lips to mine, Nestles fondly on my breast; Loving arms about me twine--- How she loves to be carress'd! Little hands so warm and soft; Sweet brown eyes and tresses, too' Cooing voice that murmurs oft, "Mamma, mamma, I do love 'oo!" Oh! my precious little girl--- Priceless gift you are to me! Earth affords no richer pearl, Life and love abound in thee. THE OCEAN'S MASS By Azalia Martin Is ever a death-song chanted Above the watery graves Of those who sail the ocean And sink beneath its waves? Ah, yes; a solemn requiem The sea sings over the dead--- Over the silent millions Who sleep in the ocean's bed. A Small Matter.-"Oui, madame is ill, but ze doctor half pronounce it something very trifling, very small," said the French maid to an inquiring friend. "Oh, I am so relieved, for I was really anxious about her," replied the friend. "What does the doctor say the trouble is?" "Let me recall. It was something very little," answered the French maid. "Oh, I have it now! Ze doctor says zat madame has ze smallpox." -Philadelphia Ledger. Paul Laurence Dunbar BY MARY CHURCH TERRELL In the death of Paul Laurence Dunbar the nation as a whole as well as the race to which he belonged have sustained an irreparable loss. He was undoubtedly the greatest poet his own race has ever produced and it is certain Nature has bestowed the gift of poetry upon few, if any, Americans, with more lavish hand than she did upon Paul Dunbar. "Conquerors are a race with whom the world could well dispense," said a great writer, "but a true poet, a man in whose heart resides some effluence of wisdom, some tone of the eternal melodies, is the most precious gift that can be bestowed upon a generation." The story of Paul Dunbar's life is familiar to all. He was born in poverty in 1872 and spent his youth in Dayton, Ohio in unceasing, grinding toil. Both is parents were slaves, his father having escaped from Kentucky into Canada. Fortunately for the son, however, his parents determined that he should enjoy the educational advantages of which they themselves had been deprived, as he was sent to the public schools of Dayton, Ohio, and form which he graduated, when still in his teens. As soon as he knew how to write, his mother says, he began to scribble rhymes and gave evidence of his genius, when he was only seven years old. Obliged to support himself and mother he secured employment as an elevator boy, after he graduated from the public schools, and it was while engaged in this most prosaic occupation that many of his first poems were written. At that time his life must have been a constant insurrection between the spirit that would soar and the wretched circumstances in which he was placed and which bound him fast to the earth. But while he was chained like a galley slave to the ropes of the elevator earning only $4 a week, the wings of his aspiration refused to be clipped and bore him ever higher and higher. Paul Dunbar's first appearance as a poet occurred in Dayton, Ohio in 1891, when he was 19 years old, when he was presented to the members of the Western Association of Writers and read a poem. This scene was described by Dr. James Newton of Mason, Ill., as follows: "About half way down the programme the presiding officer announced the reading of a poem by Paul Dunbar. Just the name for a poet, I thought. Great was the surprise of the audience to see stepping lightly down the aisle, between the rows of fluttering fans and assembled beauty and wit of Dayton, a slender Negro lad, as black as the core of Cheop's pyramid. He ascended the rostrum with the coolness and dignity of a cultured entertainer, and delivered a poem in a tone as musical as Apollo's lute. He was applauded to the echo between the stanzas and heartily encored at the conclusion. He then disappeared from the hall as suddenly as had entered it, and many were the whispered conjectures as to the personality of the man and the originality of his verses, none believing it possible that one of his age and color could produce a thing of such evident merit. Show me a white boy of nineteen who can excel or even equal this black boy's "Drowsy Day." After repeated inquiries this man of the dominant race who had been so surprised at the ability Paul Dunbar possessed and so transported by his reading succeeded in finding the rising laureate of the Colored race in the store in which he worked. He was seated in a chair in the lower landing of the elevator, Dr. Newton says, hastily glancing at the July Century and jotting down notes on a handy pencil tablet. Not 272 THE VOICE OF THE NEGRO having time to converse with Dr. Newton, Paul invited him into the elevator and during a few excursions from floor to floor the black poet told his newly found friend the story of his life. In writing to Dr. Newton soon after their first meeting, Mr. Dunbar, whose spirit at that time seemed almost broken, expressed himself as follows: "My hopes are no brighter than when you saw me. I am getting on so better, and what would be impossible, no worse. I am nearer discouraged than I have ever been." Shortly after this, however, the clouds which had hung so heavy and menacing in the young poet's sky began to clear away and a brighter day dawned. When the illustrious Frederick Douglass, who had become deeply interested in the young poet, was Haitien Commissioner to the World's Fair in 1893, he made Mr. Dunbar his secretary. From that time forth it was no longer necessary for the poet to engage in menial labor to support himself and mother. His first volume of poems Oak and Ivy which was published by his Dayton employer in 1893 brought him instant recognition and his second volume entitled Majors and Minors, published two years later greatly increased his fame. Mr. Howell, the dean of American literature, paid the young poet a glowing tribute which undoubtedly enabled him to secure recognition in certain quarters which would otherwise have been withheld perhaps. James Whitcomb Riley, the Hoosier poet, compared Dunbar's Drowsy Day with Longfellow's Rainy Day and did not hesitate to declare that the black man's poem was superior to his white brother's both in lyrical power and in harmony of expression. So far back as in 1892, when the name of Paul Dunbar had just begun to be heard James Whitcomb Riley sent him the following characteristic letter: Denver, Col., Nov. 27, 1892. Paul Dunbar, Esq.-See how your name is traveling, my chirping friend. And it's a good, sound name, too, that seems to imply the brave fine spirit of a singer who should command wide and serious attention. Certainly your gifts as evidenced by this "Drowsy Day" poem alone, is a superior one, and therefore, its fortunate possessor should bear it with a becoming sense of gratitude and meekness, always feeling that for any resultant good, God's is the glory, the singer but His very humble instrument. Already you have many friends and can have thousands more by being simply honest, unaffected and just to yourself and the high source of your endowment. Very earnestly I wish you every good thing. Your friend, JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY. In the best magazines of the country like Scribner's, the Century and others there appeared a series of Negro songs and ballads which impressed themselves upon the reader as being among the best of the kind yet produced. The name or Paul Dunbar was signed to them, but probably not one of every hundred who read and enjoyed these characteristic little verses, so finished in form and instinct with the true race spirit dreamed that their author was really a Negro. The versification was that of an accomplished writer, whose excellent method was noticeable in spite of the rude dialect used. It was evident to the student that he had mastered more fully than most writers of Negro verse the real genius of the race whose characteristics his verses portrayed. For a long time the editors of the magazine, themselves did not know he was a Negro. They accepted his productions on their merits, which in itself was a high compliment, since only the best of lighter verse appears in the magazines to which Mr. Dunbar contributed. When Mr. Dunbar tried to sell his serious verses in the classic style of English composition, they were refused, although a high estimate was placed upon them by some of the best literary critics of the day, because his char- PAUL LAWRENCE DUNBAR 273 acteristic Negro poems were considered so superior and were in such demand. Mr. Dunbar's reputation as a writer was not enhanced by his prose, although he wrote many short stories and several novels. Among the latter his first "The Uncalled," which was published in Lippincott's magazine, was probably the best. Altogether Mr. Dunbar published 17 volumes, the last of which Howdy Honey, Howdy came from the press just a short time before he died, February 9th. The list of his works is as follows: Oak and Ivy, published in 1893. Majors and Minors, published in 1895. Lyrics of Lowly Life, containing an introduction by Wm. Dean Howells. Folks from Dixie, 1898. The Uncalled, 1898. Strength of Gideon and Other Stories. 1900. Love of Landry, 1900. Candle Lightin' Time, 1901. Fanatics, 1901. Sport of the Gods, 1902. The Heart of Happy Hollow. Lyrics of Love and Laughter, 1903. In Old Plantation Days, 1903. Lil Gal, 1904. When Malindy Sings, 1904. Lyrics of Sunshine and Shadow, 1905. Howdy, Honey Howdy, 1906. After Mr. Dunbar's marriage to Miss Alice Ruth Moore in 1898, he came to Washington to live and was employed for a time in the Congressional Library. Like James Whitcomb Riley no one could read Mr. Dunbar's productions so well as he could himself, so that he was in great demand as a reciter and gave entertainments all over the country, until he was physically unable to stand the strain. In a short sketch like this it is impossible to give either a satisfactory review of Mr. Dunbar's poems or a comprehensive sketch of his life. Only a cursory glance at each must suffice. In Paul Dunbar's poems there is neither affectation nor fustian. He is always true to himself and to his subject. His ideals were not in foreign climes and distant lands, but in the scenes he himself beheld every day and in the people with whom he himself had walked and talked. He had an eye to see, and intellect to understand, a heart to feel and the heart to portray what had passed before him. His hope and despair, the joys and sorrows of his own heart as well as those of this own race he gives articulate voice and every word rings true. Is his muse a bit disheartened and sad? Every line the poet pens is steeped pathos and every cadence a sigh. His own sensibilities are so tremblingly alive that one can feel them pulsate and throb under their mask of words. Nature appeals to him strongly. The rising of the storm, the woods in summer and winter, the patter of the rain are his delight and charm him into song. The thoughts of love which inflame his heart kindle him to melody. His love of children was genuine and great, and inspired some of his tenderest lines. The sight of a little brown baby and the tragic death of Ella May move him to pity and eloquence. His songs are born of genuine emotion and are the very pulse beats of his heart. Now buoyant, now pathetic, sometimes satirical and then ingenuous, now stern and then tender, Paul Dunbar has words for every mood of man's heart. His own heart was indeed "an AEOLIAN harp swept by an ever varying breeze." His convictions were invariably expressed with undiluted earnestness and unflinching honesty, no matter what he discussed. It seemed possible for him to transcribe feelings diametrically opposite to each other with equal skill. The desire to cite poems which would best illustrate his versatility is a temptation which I must resist. Everybody who has read Mr. Dunbar's poems will bear testimony to this fact. His deep and ardent loyalty to his rac 274 THE VOICE OF THE NEGRO bursts forth occasionally into white heat. His Ode to Ethiopia quickens the pulse and stirs to its depths the heart of the strongest and most phlegmatic member of the race. With what a fine outburst of enthusiasm he recounts the reasons for his pride in his race whose, "Name is write on Glory's scroll, In characters of fire." What a magnificent tribute he has paid his people for the long suffering, uncomplaining matter in which they bore the trials and tribulations heaped upon them during slavery and the Christ-like manner in which after emancipation they forgave those who had despitefully used them, in the following lines: "No other race, or white or black, When bound as thou wert to the rack, So seldom stooped to grieving. No other race, when free again, Forgot the past and proved them men So noble in forgiving." Again when Frederick Douglas dies: "and Ethiopia with bosom torn, Laments the passing of her noblest son, Paul Dunbar, inspired by the reverence and affections for his illustrious benefactor and friend pays him one of the rarest and finest tributes ever offered by poet to mortal man. "Oh Douglas, thou hast passed beyond the shore, But still thy voice is ringing o'er the gale. Thou's taught thy race how high her hopes may soar, And bade her seek the heights, nor faint, nor fail She will not fail, she heeds thy stirring cry, She knows thy guardian spirit will be nigh, And rising from beneath the chastening rod, She stretches our her bleeding hand to God." It is difficult to speak of his ode to "The Colored Soldiers" in terms of quiet moderation and use language which may not smack of exaggeration to some. How Paul Dunbar glories in their dauntless courage and delights to recount the great service they rendered their country during the Civil War: "so when war in savage triumph, Spread abroad his funeral pall- Then you called the colored soldiers, And they answered to your call. And like hounds unleashed and eager For the life blood of the prey, Sprung they forth and bore them bravely In the thickest of the fray. And where'er the fight was hottest- Where the bullets fastest fell There they pressed unblanched and fearless At the very mouth of hell." He takes a pardonably fierce delight in reminding this country that his race is not indebted entirely to others for its emancipation from the awful bondage it endured. "Yes, the blacks enjoy their freedom, And they won it dearly too; For the life blood of their thousands Did the southern fields bedew: In the darkness of their bondage, In their depths of slavery's night: Their muskets flashed the dawning And they fought their way to light. They were comrades then and brothers, Are they more or less to-day? They were good to stop a bullet, And to front the fearful fray. They were citizens and soldiers, When rebellion raised its head; And the traits that made them worthy--- Ah! these virtues are not dead. And their deeds shall find a record, In the registry of Fame; For their blood has cleansed completely Every blot of slavery's shame. So all honor and all the glory To those noble sons of Ham--- To those gallant colored soldiers, Who fought for Uncle Sam." So long as there is remains in this country a man even remotely connected with the race, whose soldiers have been so immortalized by the eloquence and the music of the verses just quoted, and so long as the blood courses warm in the heart of such a man, so long will it thrill under this heroic ode, one of the best that was ever written and which can be compared only with PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR 275 Burn's "Scots, who hae wi' Wallace bled." It can be asserted without fear of successful contradiction that in range of genius as well as power and aptness of expression Mr. Dunbar has not been excelled by any poet born in United States. If he infrequently rose into the region of great ideas, the peculiar conditions surrounding him and not his mental limitations are responsible for this failure to soar aloft. To some of his more serious poems reference has already been made. In the same class his "Life", "Comparison", "A Creed and Not a Creed," together with others equally as good are as elevated in sentiment, as profound in philosophy, as musical in tone, as perfect in form and as complete in treatment as some of the best poems written by the most inspired singers of the past. Attention has already been directed to the attitude of the editors who published Mr. Dunbar's poems and who insisted upon his confining himself to dialect. So far as I know, with but a single exception, this advice was given him by all his literary advisers and friends. In two little stanzas entitled, "The Poet", which Mr. Dunbar wrote to explain his position with reference to more serious efforts which he wished to make but from which he was withheld by the public one cannot help feeling bitter regret which disturbed his peace of mind and the resentment which rankled his heart. THE POET. He sang of life serenely sweet, With now and then a deeper note, On some high peak, nigh yet remote, He voiced the world's absorbing beat. He sang of love, when earth was young, And love itself was in his lays, But ah! the world, it turned to praise, A jingle in a broken tongue. It is always pleasant for me to recall that the first time I ever heard of Paul Dunbar was when the illustrious Frederick Douglas told me about him, while we were in his library at Cedar Hill on afternoon and read me one of the young poet's early productions entitled Drowsy Day. Previous to the reading, however, Mr. Douglas had spoken with deep feeling about the young man's poverty and had expresses regret that he had been so seriously handicapped in his career. And so as he afterward read the poem, the great man was so deeply affected by it, that he could not restrain his tears. When Mr. Dunbar first took up his residence in Washington, he lived in a house at 1934 4th street N.W., next door to the one in which we were living at that time. Near neighbors as we were, it was quite natural that we should see a great deal of each other and we did. Being a hero worshiper by nature and inclination as well as by cultivation, particularly where members of my own race are concerned, I did not try to conceal from Mr. Dunbar home great and genuine was my admiration of his gifts and how brilliant were the hopes I entertained of his future success. It happened therefore, that many a time he honored me by coming to my home to read me his poems or his short stories, telling me in what magazine they had appeared or would appear. He would also tell me how much he had received for his articles, when I was impertinent enough to inquire, which I frequently did, just for the pleasure of hearing how well he was compensated for the product of his genius and his brain. On one occasion he invited me to his home, so that he might read a play which he had just written and which I hope may someday be produced. Mr.Dunbar was a man of charming personality with a bold, warm, buoyant humor of character which manifested itself delightfully to his friends. Mingled with his affability of manner were a dignity 276 THE VOICE OF THE NEGRO ty and poise of bearing which prevented the overbold from coming too near. While there was nothing intrusive or forward about Paul Dunbar, when he found himself among eminent scholars or distinguished people in the highest social circles, he showed both by his manner and his conversation that he felt he was just exactly where he was entitled to be. There was nothing that smacked of truckling, and nobody in the wildest flight of his imagination could dream that Paul Dunbar felt particularly flattered at the attention he received. The maturity of intellectual power was manifested in his conversation as well as in his writing and his fund of information was remarkable, considering both his youth and his meagre opportunities for culture. His wit was decidedly pungent at times and then nobody in his presence was immune therefrom. His sense of the ludicrous was highly developed and nothing ridiculous or funny escaped him. I can never hear certain styles of music rendered without being convulsed, when I remember the comments made by Dunbar at a musical we attended once. Last July Mr. Dunbar extended me a cordial invitation to be the guest of himself and his mother, while I was attending the convention of the Ohio Federation of Colored Women's clubs which was held at Dayton, Ohio, and which I had been asked to address. I accepted and spent several days at his home. I am glad I did, for I am sure I learned more about the character of the man and the genius of the poet during the short visit with him in Dayton than it would have been possible for me to ascertain in any other way. I account it a privilege to have had such an excellent opportunity of becoming thoroughly acquainted with the greatest poet the race has ever produced. During the few days spent with Mr. Dunbar last sum- mer I discovered there were depths in his character that I had never sounded and qualities of heart of which I had never dreamed, although I saw him frequently while he lived in Washington. Owen Meredith says that The heart of a man is like that delicate weed Which requires to be trampled on, boldly indeed Ere it gives forth the fragrance you wish to extract. Tis a simile, trust me, if not new, exact. Whether affliction and sorrow always bring out the best there is in a man, I cannot say. I do know however, that the physical and mental pain which Paul Dunbar endured for at least a year before he passed away, developed the highest and noblest qualities in him. When I saw Paul Dunbar last summer, he was shut in, wasted and worn by disease, coughing his young and precious life away, yet full of cheer, when not actually racked with pain, and perfectly resigned to his fate. I shall always think of his patience under his severe affliction as a veritable miracle of modern times. In the flush of early manhood full of promise of still greater literary achievement in the future than he had been able to attain in the past, fond of life as the young should be and usually are, there he sat, rapidly losing his physical strength every hour, and yet, miracle or miracles, no bitter complaint of his cruel fate did I hear escape his lips a single time. The weakness and inertia of his worn and wasted body contrasted sadly and strangely with the strength and activity of his vigorous mind. As I looked at him, pity for the afflicted man himself and pity for the race to which he belonged and which I knew would soon sustain such an irreparable loss in his death almost overcame me more than once. As incredible as it may appear, his moods were often sunny and then it was delightful to hear the flood of merriment roll cheerily from his lips. PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR 277 It was gratifying to see the homage paid Mr. Dunbar by some of the most cultured and some of the wealthiest people of the dominant race in Dayton. As soon as I reached his house, I saw a chair most elaborately decorated in royal purple and was informed that a company of distinguished people of the dominant race had improvised a birth day party for the young poet a few days before I arrived and had thus festooned this chair in his honor. One of Mr. Dunbar's white friends did all his stenography for him for nothing, refusing to take a cent of pay. What an invaluable service was thus rendered is easily seen and appreciated, when it is known that Mr. Dunbar's last two volumes of poems, Lyrics of Sunshine and Shadow, and Howdy, Honey, Howdy, were prepared for publication by this same generous and unselfish friend. Mr. Dunbar's mother told me that the white people of Dayton had helped her care for her son in every conceivable way. One one ocasion after some beautiful girls had called to pay their respects to Mr. Dunbar had gone, in a nervous effort to relieve the tension of my own feelings, I turned to him and said, "Sometimes I am tempted to believe you are not half so ill as you pretend to be. I believe you are just playing the roll of interesting invalid, so as to receive the sympathy and the homage of these beautiful girls." "Sometimes I think I am just loafing myself," he laughingly replied. How well he remembered this was shown a short while after I returned home. He sent me a copy of his Lyrics of Sunshine and Shadow which at that time was his latest book. ON the fly leaf he had written with his own hand, a feat which during the 1st year of his illness he was often unable to perform, the following lines. Look hyeah, Molly Aint it jolly Jes a loafin 'roun'? Tell the Jedge Not to hedge For I am still in town. Whether Paul Dunbar will be rated a great poet or not, no human being can tell. It is impossible for his contemporaries either to get a proper perspective of his achievement or to accurately guage his genius. Personally I believe he will occupy as high a place in American literature as Burns does in the British, if not higher. But whether Paul Dunbar will be rated great or not, it is certain that he had rendered an invaluable service to his race. Because he has lived and wrought, the race to which he belonged has been lifted to a higher plane. Each and every person in the United States remotely identified with his race is heal in higher esteem because of the ability which Paul Dunbar possessed and the success he undoubtedly attained. Indeed the whole civilized world has greater respect for that race which some have the ignorance to underestimate and others the hardihood to despise, because this black man, through whose veins not a drop of Caucasian blood was known to flow, has given such a splendid and striking proof of its capacity for high intellectual achievement. The more one thinks of the obstacles Paul Dunbar was obliged to surmount, the more remarkable appear both the quality and quantity of the literary labor which he performed. Other poets have been born poor before and were cruelly handicapped for years by hard and grinding toil. In the history of men who have enlightened the world through the medium of their pens or lightened its sorrows by their wit and mirth, poverty is no new thing. Milton was poor and so was Burns, between whom and Paul Dunbar there is a striking similarity in several respects. But Milton and Burns were forced to fight pov- 278 THE VOICE OF THE NEGRO erty alone. Prejudice against their race did not rear its huge and hideous proportions athwart their path to literary achievement and success. Heine's position, so far as concerns prejudice against his race, more closely resembles Paul Dunbar's than that of any poet with whom he may be compared perhaps. But Heine's burden was far lighter than the one which the black American poet was forced to carry. Heine was a Jew to be sure, and he was born and reared in Germany where Jews are hated and ostracized. But in the very beginning of Heine's career he was blessed with a comfort and an inspiration which Paul Dunbar was denied. Heine's race from time immemorial had produced authors and poets and great mean galore. Therefore, no taunt of racial inferiority flaunted itself in Heine's face and filled his soul with tormenting doubts concerning his ability to succeed in a literary career. More than a hundred years before Paul Dunbar was born Phyllis Wheatley, a little African girl who had been brought to the country packed like a sardine in a slave ship had poured forth her soul in song, to be sure. But in spite of the fact that she was a slave, she was loved and encouraged and protected by her devoted master and mistress so that the atmosphere which she herself breathed was more conducive to the development of her talent than that in which Paul Dunbar lived. And so to a certain extent, at least Paul Dunbar had to blaze his path. Though the empyrean soul of Paul Laurence Dunbar has winged its way to another world, the light of its celestial nature, which often groaned under the weight of a weary life, will never be dimmed. In the flower and fruit of his genius he has bestowed upon his country and his race an imperishable gift. In grateful appreciation of his services and in genuine affection Paul Dunbar lies to-day enshrined in our hearts, a far nobler mausoleum, after all, than one built of marble could possibly be. ADVICE. If you can sing a happy song, Oh, do not fail to sing it; But let it warble forth so loud That echoes afar will ring it! If you can do some kindly deed, Oh, do not fail to do it; For every good deed done on earth Leads heavenward, if you but knew it! True to Life.---"Gracious!" exclaimed the shocked old lady as she adjusted her spectacles. "If you big boys don't stop pummelling that little lad he will have to go to the hospital. I hope you don't call that playing soldier." "We ain't playing soldier," retorted the tough boy in the green sweater. "We're playing naval cadets."---Chicago News. They're Expensive.---YOUTH---What do I have to pay for a marriage license?" CLERK: "Well, you get it on the installment plan." YOUTH: "How's that?" CLERK: One dollar down and your entire salary each month for the rest of your life."---Cleveland Leader. Douglas Day Why Not Make it National By Emma F. G. Merritt "Ah Douglas, thou has passed beyond the shore, But still thy voice is ringing o'er the gale! Thou'st taught thy race how high her hopes may soar. And bade her seek the heights, nor faint, nor fail. She will not fail, she heeds the stirring cry. She knows thy guardian spirit will be nigh, And rising from beneath the chastening rod, She stretches out her bleeding hand to God!" Thus sang in sweet pathetic tones the late departed poet of the race; and on the 14th day of February of each year, thousands of tender hearts in the public schools of the city of Washington, catch the spirit of the singer and determine by God's right hand, under the guardian spirit of the sainted Douglas, to rise from beneath the chastening rod and mount to higher planes. The custom of celebrating the birth of Douglas on "Douglas Day," by the youth of the race in the public schools of the District of Columbia, has been in vogue for a number of years. It was inaugurated by Mr. G. F. T. Cook during his superintendency of the colored schools, a period extending over a quarter of a century. Appropriate exercises are conducted in the public schools for children throughout the District. Prominent men, and women of the race are invited to speak on the life and character of the grand old sage of Anacostia; children contribute to the programme by giving incidents in his life, extracts and quotations from his writings,- these are interspersed with suitable music, the hero's favorite hymns being most prominent. Seed thoughts are in this way sown that must develop nobler manhood and womanhood. So enthused is young colored America over the account of the life of the noblest champion of the race, that he repeats to playmates, parents and friends the wise saying of Douglas. To note the little tot, the modest lass and timid lad, the graceful Miss and manly youth, all centered for the time in the life of the highest and best product of their race, is truly impressive. These are some of the quotations that impress the hearers. "The lesson of all ages is: that a wrong done to one man is a wrong done to all men." "Notwithstanding the great and all abounding darkness of our social past, notwithstanding the clouds that still overhang us in moral and social skies, and the defects inherited from a bygone condition of servitude, it is the faith of my soul that a brighter and better day will yet come." "Neither we or any other people will ever be respected until we respect ourselves, and we will never respect ourselves until we have the means to live respectably." "The fact that we have endured wrongs and hardships which would have destroyed any other race, and that we have increased in numbers and in public consideration, ought to strengthen our faith in ourselves and in our future." "The cause of liberty is one the world over." "Social equality does not necessarily follow from civil equality." "Greatness does not come on flowery beds of ease to any people." Does any one question for a moment 280 THE VOICE OF THE NEGRO that such mental food for the babes of the rejected race, when properly digested and assimilated will not spiritually nourish and sustain them? The custom is pregnant with much that is wholesome and far-reaching. When those who have the training of these young people in hand, realize in part, the glorious possibilities that lurk in every such occasion, the moral, spiritual, and intellectual tone of the race concerned, will be raised commensurately with the illumination of those directing and guiding the work. One thing is clearly evident, conscious, intelligent directing of the young to true greatness, begets in the young respect and reverence for nobility, and stirs within them the desire to emulate such examples. This end attained, all labor spent has been richly paid. "What man has done, man may do," is the rock upon which the mighty character structure is reared. All difficulties vanish and discouragements disappear, as the glistening dew before the sun, in the light of this indisputable truth, and hope mounts high inspiring the weakest and poorest of God's mortals to take heart and strive to attain the desired end. Existing conditions obscured the vision of the colored youth, when the hero considered belongs to one of the more favored races. The distance between the observed and the observer is too great, the goal at once becomes unattainable, and faint and heartsick the toiler falls out of the race and leaves the trophy to his formidable competitor. But when the successful winner in the contest belongs to the same race, conditioned as the struggler, distance is eliminated, youth is inspired and encouraged, and the beginner enlists in the race determined to attain the goal. In the discipline growing out of his many struggles, he may find it easily possible to outreach the point reached for. The proper grit then may be put into colored children, by lifting high to their view the acts and the lives of those of the race who have accomplished anything worth while. This systematic character work can easily begin with Douglas, as he is the recognized leader of his race, together with the fact that the movement has been started in the District of Columbia by Mr. Cook, the former superintendent of colored schools, with such excellent results after trial. The minutes of the meeting of the board of trustees of public schools of Washington report Mrs. Mary Church Terrell, then a member of the board, as the maker of the motion that made "Douglas Day" a feature of the educational system. It would be a wise move were teachers and preachers among the colored people throughout this land to establish "Douglas Day," on the 14th of February each year and seek with conscious, persistent effort to inspire and lift our youth to higher life. The hint underlies this suggestion that gradually, as the movement succeeds, other great men of the race will be considered. We will do well, to accomplish one thing at a time. Make Douglas Day national before we select our next Negro, and so until we educate our children to respect the race to which they belong. Unless these exercises are judiciously conducted, the purpose will be frustrated. That which is thrown out, on this occasion, should be stripped of all that tends to recall a dark and gloomy past merely for revealing its ugly skeleton. The experience of the past may be so related to present experience as to minimize discouragements and raise and properly direct low aim. Slavery and her array of miserable associations fail to vibrate a sympathetic cord in the young people of the race. They are totally incapable of appreciating the true condition of their grandparents, and efforts to bring them to appreciate the suf- DOUGLAS DAY 281 ferings and hardships of their weaker race by a more powerful, can but result in dwarfing character instead of beautifying it. Childhood is in sympathy with all that touches child life, and so, the little heart swells with tender emotion and bright eyes glisten with tears, as childish tears and fears are rehearsed. This, then, is the direct avenue to the accomplishment of effective character work. During the Douglas exercises, it is not infrequent that the eyes of the little ones sadden as their little souls go out to young Douglas when that little six-year old struggled with Nep, the old watch dog, for the crumbs and bones to appease his hunger; when the tiny friendless boy was torn from the dear old grandmother, with all the fond recollections she awakens, and placed amid misery and want, and when our half-starved, naked little urchin sang beneath his Mistress's window for the coveted Maryland biscuit. These and similar childish experiences of this little slave boy awaken a responsive cord in the young breasts, and, at the same time inspire hope and lead to better lives. Not the hardships and sufferings should be stressed, but rather, how these were met and conquered and the effect upon the victor are valuable lessons to be taught by the speaker on such occasions. Applications should not be wanting to lead the young people to feel that as strong sterling qualities, combined with tender, gentle ones were developed in our grand old hero through his struggles and sufferings, so the difficulties and hardships that daily enter their lives may, if properly handled, lead to grand and noble manhood. The plan suggested, to inaugurate "Douglas Day" on the 14th, of February annually, in every school and church of the race, is simple, inexpensive, and offers a rich return for labor employed. Can we do it? Who will take the lead? The Summons Why stand ye there face down, strong man? Lamenting o'er the years thou't spent In serving paler men their plan; In paying meaner men their rent; In hiring weaker men. thy arm; Those men who send abroad alarm The danger thou dost threaten them Of equal craving for the light To see the wrong, its tide to stem, To live a man and wield thy might? Lament not o'er the time thou'st lost In loving men who show their hate For thee and thine, and keep the cost Of friendship where to reach the rate Thou must unman thyself of thought And hope and pride, of ideals wrought Soul deep by loving angels' touch. They may all go the truth to give: Both they and it are not worth much Compared with God and life to live. In thee is ev'ry function right Of head and heart and hand; tis true! Confide to them they will, and blight The source which holds thee the view Of endless serfdom for thy years. Lament no more! Clear up thy tears! Lift up thy drooping form and head! The hour has come to think, to stir, To work. Thy friends are all not dead. God reigns to yet thy foes deter. John Henry Adams 284 THE VOICE OF THE NEGRO (Continued from page 251) vested his last $25 in a few groceries and then sat down to wait for customers. The first day was somewhat dull, contrary to his calculations, and he was obliged to draw on the stock for something to feed his family. The next day, one of his old friends dropped in and announced his intention to transfer his trade to this tore, giving as his reason that the race ought to stick together. He bought about one-fifth of the stock and had it charged. The merchant's wife also drew out some sugar, coffee, flour and bacon for supper. Some children came in the next day, and after they had bought ten cents worth of blueing, he gave then each a stick of condy as a bait to return. Things ran dull till Saturdy, outside of what his own family ate; but on that day there was a rush of business, or would have been, but it happened that he was just out of most of the things the people wanted; still, when he counted up the week's receipts, he had $15, not including the unpaid bill of the friend who wanted the race to stick together. Monday the merchant took his $15 and bought more goods to replenish the empty shelves. That night his tardy friend dropped in and explained that he did not pay up Saturday night as he was sick. He then said again the race ought to stick together, and bought another big bill of provisions after paying $2 on the old account. Thus affairs went on, the stock getting lower and lower till there came a day when the merchant was "broke." He sat down one night after he had gone back to his old job and proceeded to analyze the causes of his failure. He saw that it was due to these things: he did not have enough capital to live on till he had built up a living from his store; he had credited when he was not able to carry time trade; he had credited people who had no standing; he had credited them because they were friends; he had too many home eaters for the number of outside customers; he had given away most of his profits to make his store popular; he had bought brands of goods that were not in general use in that neighborhood; he didn't know anything about the business anyway. What was the result? He had failed, it is true; but he had also learned what caused the failure. In other words, he had approached that much nearer to success. He worked on patiently, determined at the proper time to build upon the experience that had cost hom so much, and, in due time, when he had accumulated several hundred dollars, he went into business again, prepared to shun the rocks upon which he went to pieces before. Today, he is a prosperous grocer in the state of Texas, carrying a stock of $1,500 clear of debt and owning his own home unencumbered. Failure had met a real man and brought him success. I wish to cite one more real instance which did not turn out so well, and then give attention to the business principles that underlie success. In a Northern city not for from New York, and rapidly filling up with Negroes, a company of ambitious and progressive young men decided to establish a shoe store in a popular section. They raised $300 among them for the purpose. Out of this they paid $35 for the first month's rent of the building; then they had the old shelving torn out and put in nice new ones, stained and finished in oak; a rolling step-ladder sliding on grooves, enabling the clerks to reach even the highest shelves with ease, was put in; up-to-date oak-stained counters were provided; silvered show cases for displaying the delicate makes of shoes, and a big FAILURE IN SUCCESS 285 show window of expensive plate glass came next; the best lineoleum wasput on the floor; and the remaining 30 was spent for the stock of shoes. They then sat down to await developments. Meanwhile the local papers told in glowing and flattering terms of the new enterprise which was destined to prove the Negro's ability to manage great business enterprises; the pictures of the company were published, and none doubted the issue. It was a pretty place but it did look like $270 worth of fixtures to display $30 worth of shoes was a little top-heavy; and so it proved. The people hastened to patronize the store and soon bought out the stock; but, unfortunately, rent day arrived just in time to take the money, and as the young men were working hard for every dollar they put into the business they did not see the fun in paying another month's rent out of their pockets on a place with fine fixtures and shoe boxes, but no shoes, and so they gently closed the doors and meandered away to meditate. They are still at it. I am informed that an insignificant Hebrew, who for years kept a little hole in the wall just across the street where he sold and repaired shoes, has moved in and is riding on the rolling step-ladder selling shoes at a great rate. It is easy to see what was the young men's trouble. They fell by trying to make display belonging to a business of five times the capital they possessed. They probably reasoned that the people would rate them according to their display, and in fact the people did; but our shoe merchants forgot one thing-that a bill must be met, display or no display; and that there must be money available to meet it. Surely, the $270 put into shoes and the $30 put into fixtures would have brought about a different issue with the right management. HOW FAILURE HAS AIDED SUCCESS. It is estimated that only about 5 per cent. of those who start in business succeed. I believe that, other things being equal, a larger per cent. of colored men who enter business succeed, because, in the first place, they do not expect such large returns in so short a time as the Caucasian; and, secondly they expect to do more in person and hire less than he. Their rent usually costs less and their social claims and expenses are less also. These things make, in the aggregate, the difference between failure and success. Forty years ago there were as many opportunities for making money in business as now, but the Negro had not developed enough business sense to know how to take advantage of the situation; but from repeatedly trying and failing, he has at last come to realize that business is subject to as imperative laws as the ordinary operations of nature; and from running against those laws and being knocked out by them so often, he has learned to conform to them. Here are some of the laws that the Negro has learned and is now taking advantage of in conducting business. 1. That a man who has no surplus capital after investing in his supplies is foredoomed to failure. He must be able to replace losses, replenish supplies, meet current bills, present a decent appearance and feed his family while he is waiting for the people to find out he is there to stay. Too little capital is the rock upon which three-fourths of men beginning business go down. I do not mean by this that one must start large; on the contrary, I believe he should start on a small scale and feel his way up gradually; but, you know, 286 THE VOICE OF THE NEGRO a person may be under-capitalized in the smallest enterprise as well as in the largest. The main thing is to have some little money left after your business is set up and before you have built up a trade. Frequent failures taught us that. 2. That knowing how to buy is more important than knowing how to sell; for having paid too much for a commodity, all chance of making a profit on it is destroyed. If you have bought high and your neighbor has bought low, or if he gets a private discount and you do not, you will soon see your finish. Then again, the purchaser must know good goods from bad goods as well as low prices from high prices, otherwise your drummer will make you a low price on things worth no price, and there you are again. The preeminence of the Jew comes from knowing what kind of goods will suit his trade and how much to pay for them. The Negro merchant has learned this also by being caught with the wrong goods at the wrong price so often. 3. That color is neither an asset nor a liability in business. No man can succeed by claiming that, being a colored man, he ought to have the colored trade. Neither need he fear that, being a colored man, he cannot get the white trade. At first, our little merchants with small and inferior stocks thought their own race not loyal because they passed by and bought at the other larger stores, but repeated failures have taught our men that customers will not buy dark flour from a dark man in preference of white flour from a white man at the same price; that they would rather buy all of their goods from one store than to buy one article from a colored man and then go to another store for the rest because the colored merchant did not have them; that, in short, the people are interested in prices and things, and not in the person who sells them. This has been a hard lesson for some of our business men to learn, but failure after failure has taught it at last. 4. That special friends and blood kin are the worst enemies to business success. They want more than the scales entitle them to, and want it for less than the market says you can afford to let them have it at; they want to eat out of the open barrel while your are weighing from the box; they expect credit no matter how poor their credit is; they do not expect to be crowded to pay; they do not expect to pay unless you do crowd them, and they will not pay when you crowd them; when they are sick, or out of work, they look to to your store to feed them for nothing. My father once kept a small grocery store. I broke him eating peanuts and candy between customers. One cousin is worse than a dozen rats, and an uncle can do you as much damage as a burglar. Repeated failures have taught us this lesson. 5. That small capital can afford to give no credit, and large capital little credit. How many a deserving man has laid out his little all in business and let his stock out on time in a pathetic desire to win popularity and trade, only to see his goods gone, his debtors dodging him, his creditors pursuing him, and the sheriff visiting him till failure closed the chapter! No one ever lost his money in a cash sale; thousands have in a time sale. 6. That bookkeeping is not a luxury, but a necessity. The old time store-keeper who told the state of his finances by counting the money in his breeches pocket, has about gone down and out. The trouble with him was that he never knew when he had failed. It is not enough to know that FAILURE IN SUCCESS 287 there is a leak somewhere; one must be able to know where it is before he can remedy it. This bookkeeping does. It tells when you are spending too much, or taking in too little. It shows what are the profitable things and what the unprofitable. It shows where to let up and where to bear down. It is, in fact, to the business what the head is to the body-the thinker. 7. That an obligation must be met exactly when it is due-not before, not after. All a man's bank and business credit depends on that. If he pays a bill before it is due, except by request, it proves either that he was afraid he would not have it when it became due, or that he is unbusiness-like enough to lose the use and interest of the money for the time remaining till maturity. If he fails to pay it when due, then according to the ethics of business the world over, he is absolutely unsafe and unreliable, and the only safe thing to do is to withdraw all advances, either of money or goods from him. If he is a day late one time, argues the bank, he may fall next time to show up at all. The old way of sending word, "I haven't forgotten you; I'll bring the money as soon as I get it," cuts no figure with the colored business man today. 8. That neatness of person and cleanness of place are drawers of custom. The modern place of business is swept and dusted and frequently scrubbed. Show-cases, glass-covered cracker boxes, fly-proof sugar cases and gauze-covered fruit stands, etc., are powerful attractions to people who have money to spend. No less an attraction is a clean collar on the clerk who waits on them. The way of the world is to favor the man who looks as if he did not need help. 9. That loafers and loungers hurt business. NOTORIETY GORMAN CORRUPT LAWS THE CLANSMAN DIXON YARDAMAN PLAN OF MY CAMPAIGN FOR U.S. SENATOR INSIGNIFICANCE NEGRO RACE CROSSING THE BRIDGE A Trio of Those who Never Would Have Been Heard of But for the Negro L. E. MASON 06 In The Sanctum TWO GREAT SCHOOLS. SPELLMAN SEMINARY AND TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE. During the month of April these two landmarks of educational progress among the race will celebrate their twenty-fifth anniversary. The names of these two institutions have become household words in every family, and their fame has crossed the waters to foreign shores. Each stands for an idea, peculiar to itself and necessary to the full development of the race. Tuskegee's fame rests upon the industrial education. Its more than forty buildings make a bee hive of human activities in nearly all the trades of the land. The hum of its machinery, the spirit of its founder and teachers and the large outcome of its varied and interesting life all emphasize the need of a higher and purer industrial life for the race. Tuskegee represents Mr. Washington in his broad views and his wide-awake energies. Spellman Seminary is the flower of the race's educational institutions. It was founded in prayer; it teaches its pupils the beauty and power of prayer and it has won all its victories in this land and in other lands by means of prayer. Its key note is Christian character. No school of learning among the race has a more beautiful history or purpose or has accomplished so much for the race as Spellman Seminary, the largest of its kind for the elevation of the daughters of the race. Her founders---Miss Packard, and Miss Harriet E. Gliles were the messengers of God sent in answer to their own and the prayers of the people. The coming of these women in the smoky times of the Reconstruction period to be welcomed by criticism and ostracism reads today like a chapter from the Arabian Knights. They came to elevate the daughters of the recently liberated and to teach them the way of life. It was said in that elder day that the Negro woman was a reprobate. If she was a reprobate, they did not say who made her thus. This slander is repeated even today by some who are sent to preach peace and truth. But the founders of Spellman Seminary believed in the power of divine grace and truth, and they set themselves to the task of proving to the world that the Negro woman was as responsive to the truth, kindness and love, and was as capable of high intellectual culture, pure domestic life and Christian womanhood as any other class of women, AND THEY HAVE SUCCEEDED. Their work in the purified and cultured lives of scores and hundreds of the graduates speak a story that words cannot approach. Twenty-five years of patient, prayerful, persistent and Christly service crown the virgin brow of Spellman Seminary with a halo of glory unequalled by that of any other school among the race in the world. All honor to the great-souled women who saw the school grow from the infant days of hard circumstances to a position of preeminence as a Christian school where character is more than gold. All honor to Miss Harriet E. Giles. May her days be long and may He whom she has served so well and long show her His salvation. CHRIST OR COLOR, WHITHER? Two strange events recently happened, one in Nashville, Tenn., and the other in Atlanta, Ga., that have given the Negro race genuine shocks and have started trains of thought hitherto rare and unwelcome. Both of these incidents were cut from the same piece of cloth, the black cloth of 290 THE VOICE OF THE NEGRO prejudice, the one following the other. The Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions held its International Convention in Nashville. The Executive Committee at New York handed over to the Local Committee the entire right of providing for the colored delegates. Secretary William A. Hunton had pleaded with them to accept his plan for seating these colored delegates, knowing that his plan would work satisfactorily to all concerned. The Local Committee refused and the three universities of the race in Nashville, supported by the best sentiment of our people voted squarely not to ask their students to accept the humiliation proposed by the Local Committee. As a result, the colored delegates refused to come and those that came before, knowing the unkind discrimination proposed, withdrew and went home. The Atlanta case is equally stenchy in the nostrils of our respectable people. Miss Helen Stone, the return captive missionary from Macedonia, was invited to speak in Atlanta. Before she had received such an invitation, Dr. Proctor of the Congregational Church, had received Miss Stone's direct word that when she came to Atlanta, she would speak to his people. She came, and was invited also to speak at Spellman Seminary and at Clark University. The Atlanta Constitution came out with strong headlines urging that the white people cancel their engagements with Miss Stone because she had gone to speak a kind word to the Negroes. These two episodes made one ask the question, Whither is American Christianity tending, to Christ or to Color? The Convention at Nashville was to discuss the evangelization of Africa, but they did not want any of Africa's descendants in sight. It is believed that the best way to redeem Africa was by not touching her children with the little finger. The Bible Confer- ence of Atlanta, before which Miss Stone was to speak, believes that a missionary who goes to Macedonia and is made captive is a heroine and should be praised, but if she should visit a school of cultured Christian students, many of whom are preparing to do missionary work at home and abroad, and speaks a word of cheer and promise to them, she should be driven into captivity by those Christless, heartless and inhuman brigands. Would these Bible, cultured Christian people have opened their mouths in protest had a representative of the Brewers Association gone through this state and urged the colored people to buy their liquid hell? Have they ever complained in the public press out of the love of humanity against the shameless degredation that is visited upon Negro womanhood in the Decatur Street dives? This constant howling against the humane and cultured people who want to see the colored people rise and who would do everything in their power to accomplish that result is not calculated to make the race feel that the occasional outbursts of good feeling is deep-seated. The South is afflicted with two classes of enemies that keep back the era of good will between the races. The first is that brutal mobistic and anarchistic element that respect neither God nor law, that are the plagues to decency and good government. The other class is that small party of influence and power who have set their faces against every good thing for the Negro. Some of them are on the bench, some in Congress, some in governors' chairs and some in the pulpit. As between the two, the latter is calculated to destroy between the rising and setting of one sun all the faith that the Christian Negroes had in the loud preaching of the Gospel of brotherhood and peace. The white man of the South has to a large extent shut the Ne- IN THE SANCTUM 291 fro out of Christianity and his prayers and when he prays for the conversion of the whole world, his conception of the "whole world" is like the old conception held by the Calvinist. The Negro is still asking what is the meaning of brotherhood? A FEW CORRECTIONS. In the February number of The Voice of the Negro thee appeared a biographical sketch of Dr. Nathan F. Mossell of Philadelphia. The regular proof reader of the magazine was sick in bed at the time the proofs for the February number were read and his assistant made a great many blunders. In the first place the portrait of Dr. Mossell on the cover of the Magazine was marked "N. F. Morrell" instead of N. F. Mossell. The heading of the article on the inside reads "Biographical Sketch of Nathan F. Mossell, D. D., whereas it should read "Biographical Sketch of Nathan F. Mossell, M. D." The qualifying phrase which gives Mr. T. H. Gray, the writer of the article, credit for being "Philadelphia's famous surgeon, organizer and Present Director of the Douglass Hospital" should apply to Dr. Mossell and not to Mr. Gray. Whereas the regular proof reader was sick when the proofs for the February number of the Voice were read, he was in another part of the country filling an important engagement when the March proofs came from the printers. This accounts for some glaring errors in the March issue of the Magazine. We make only a few important corrections. Among the list of signers to the address of the Georgia Equal Rights Convention to the country there should have appeared the names of A. D. Williams, J. B. Goodwin and J. W. Holly. All of these men are prominent in their communities, and we are glad to know that they are willing that the world should know that they stand for that address. Again, in "Our Monthly Review" and in the note headed "Senator Patterson's Manly Action" on page 170, the proof reader makes us say of the United States Senate that it has, "in the main, degenerated into an aggregation of querulous gamblers, and unctuous quibblers" when we meant to say "querulous grumblers and unctuous quibblers." We by no means meant to accuse these grave and reverend gentlemen of making the coin at dice or cards. The lady teacher on page 180 in Dr. Proctor's article on "Forty Years of Fisk" is Prof. Helen C. Morgan, not "Moroan." There are a great many other errors but these are misleading and we correct them. We are greatly aggrieved that these two issues of the Voice have fallen below our established precedent. SERIOUSLY, Why are you not a sub- scri- ber to The Voice of The Negro? Wayside By Silas X. Floyd "YE OLD COLLECTOR. Far back in the good old days of slavery, a master discovered in some way that one of his slaves had been paying nocturnal visits to the hen house. "Sambo," said the white man, after the Negro confessed that he had stolen the chickens and had eaten them, "don't you know that I can't afford to lose my chickens in that way?" "Marstah," humbly replied the slave, "you don't look at it right. I knows you's got a little less chickens, but den you's got a heap mo' niggah!" "I wuz jes' gittin' marstah's things togeddah!" UP OR DOWN? The employer knew of the debts which his young clerk had contracted as a result of high-rolling etc. He had spoken to the young man more than once about mending his ways. One day, thinking to reinstate himself at least tentatively in his employer's esteem, the young man approached him and said: "Mr. Rampley, I've decided to get married and settle down." Quick as a flash the employer replied, "That's a good thing to do, Benjamin; that's a good thing to do. I have nothing to say against getting married and settling down, but it seems to me, if I were in your fix, I would first settle up." THE EXTREME OF CAUTION. It was All Fool's Day. A man got on the ferry boat at 23rd street to cross to Jersey. "Mistah," cried the boot-black, as the man strode through the cabin, "you dropped your pocket-book." "You may have it," replied the man,, without looking back. Fifteen or twenty minutes later, when he felt for his purse in order to pay for a railroad ticket, the man was horror stricken to find that his purse was gone. He hurried back to catch the ferry boat and boot-black, and they were gone, too! A LONG STAY OR A QUICK MOVE. "Mistah," said a colored street gamin to a white man who was passing along the street, "kin you tell me whar ma's done moved to?" "No," replied the white man. "I don't know anything about you er your ma either. Why do you ask me such a question?" "Well, sah;" said the boy, "my ma sent me up town to get cents wo'th er sugah, an' w'en I come'd back she done moved, an' I can't fine her nowhar." THE EASTER SPIRIT. To the members of our parish It was known on every side That of temperance our good rector Was a friend both true and tried. But a few days after Easter, We were puzzled when we learned That for Biffkin's brandied peaches Thus the rector thanks returned. "Dear and faithful Warden Biffkins: Since we've safely passed through Lent, Truly, Sir, I like the spirit Which surrounds the gift you sent!" LAUREATED. (To the Memory of Paul Laurence Dunbar) The heavenly choir was incomplete, The Father had need of a voice, And downward to earth He straight way sent Death, with the name of His choice. Swiftly Death rode to a poet's abode--- And now, the dim river passed, Paul Dunbar sings in the heavenly choir, And is crowned with the laurel at last! HELL-BENT. No, sah; I ain't gwine sign no pledge, An' it ain't no use ter try me. Now, look hyar, man, you's was' in' brief--- Jes' bettah pass on by me! Ain't I a deacon in de church? W'y, bless mah soul, I is, sah! But ef you gimme a little dram, I'll swallow it a-whiz, sah. Humph! Does I read de Bible? Cou'se! Say, w'ite man, what's you t'inking? Mah Bible tells me dat above De saints new wine is drinkin'. An' so you go 'long wid yo'r pledge--- I tell you I won't sign it; An' ef dah ain't no wine on high, Im gwine whar I kin fin' it! WAYSIDE 293 THE VILLAGE SERENADE. Perched on my neighbor's back-yard fence, An old black Tom-cat wailed; The cat, a mighty pest was he, With freedom unassailed, And the music of his lusty lungs The neighborhood regaled. His hair was black, and short, and crisp, His face, a fright to see; His brow as wet with honest sweat, As caterwaul did he; He made the whole night hideous, And sleep a mockery. Night in, night out, from dark till day, You could hear his wild notes flow: You could hear his sound the treble high With happy heart, I trow, And the bass re-echoed like funeral bells, When the evening sun is low. My neighbor got a shot-gun old, And he rammed it full of nails, Determined to stop the serenade, And end those awful wails; And thus equipped, I see him now, As forth in the night he sails. He pointed the shot-gun straight and true, He handled the trigger with care, And a sound as of the Judgment Day Broke through the midnight air, And scores of those old rusty nails Were scattered everywhere. And now my neighbor's gone to rest, Alas, alack, poor Will! And the gun is wrecked beyond repair, And foils the mender's skill; But the cat that wailed on the back-yard fence. Sits, there and waileth still! The Galtonic Equation "H." About five o'clock one afternoon, when the "delicious elixir" of Spring was reviving the dormant earth, I stumbled across Blakeman strolling leisurely along in the direction of a cafe. "Heigho!" I exclaimed in surprise, "when did you appear on the asphalt skyline of Washington? We thought you were in Europe trying to promote Anglo-American misunderstandings." "Not this time" replied Blakeman, pressing my hand warmly, "I've been right here in New York for the last four weeks working on the Von Moritz case." Von Moritz case?" "Oh yes:, to be sure; the young chemist who shot himself about a month ago." "Same one," answered Blakeman- Was highly connected here by marriage and after all the excitement about his action had subsided, I received a letter from the Legation requesting that I proceed to New York to investigate the circumstances surrounding his death." We had moved along steadily during our brief conversation and at the corner of the street whereon I reside, Blakeman extended his had for a parting grip, but far from countenancing his departure, I insisted that he should grace my humble board with his presence. After dining, we retired to my den to enjoy our Havanas and coffee. A pleasant silence had fallen between us meanwhile which Blakeman broke by querying: "Did you ever hear of the Galtonic equation?" "Not to my present belief," I answered." Blakeman took a pencil from his pocket and wrote on a slip of paper, which he handed to me, the following: - "(O.5)1 x (O.5)2 x (O.5)3 x (O.5)4 -- (O.5)n=1." "Well," I inquired, after examining the paper carefully, "why have you underscored the third term?" "That is the Von Moritz case," he replied. "The equation is an atavic one and rightly interpreted, means that when any 294 THE VOICE OF THE NEGRO two new specie are crossed the chances of atavism are even. That is represented by the first term. Now if sterility has not been the result, and you cross the new offspring with either of its grandparents, the chances that it will be like the other, will be as four is to one. And so we progress until there are "n" crosses, where the chances are 1-n. When the sum of these terms is equal to one, we have accounted for the whole heredity. "And does this law represent also an increasing physical and intellectual virility?" I asked. "Yes. Beyond the first cross, it is in these respects an ever increasing function which exhibits no cusps when the environment is favorable. Of course where the environment is unfavorable to the development of elevating tendencies, it is necessarily favorable to the development of degrading tendencies and the individual remains as a product thereof. Whatever is, is statistically right." "Still," I interjected, "you have not told me why you underscored the third term." "If you follow the interpretation of the law correctly," said Blakeman," you will observe that in this case the chances of atavism are one in eight. Some of the world's greatest geniuses fall in that class; such men as Alexander Hamilton, Henry Timrod and Robert Browing. Now, like Hamilton's, this young man's racial great- grandmother was an African, his real name being not Von Moritz, but Smith. He was born in London in 1870 and according to the records, is the son of Frederic Smith of North Carolina, U. S. A., and Nannette Chervois, a French quadroon of great beauty. Frederic Smith was a merchant who, at his death bequeated to his son an independent fortune. So circumstanced, he was free to follow his hobby-physiological chemistry-for the ends of pure scholarship alone. Somehow or other, though, he drifted to America, where his money and good looks obtained for him an easy entree to our most cultured and exclusive circles and five years ago, he married the aristocratic and beautiful young sister of the-Minister there was some opposition to the marriage at the time on account of his mother's race. But his fiance, who loved him devotedly, settled the whole matter by a secret wedding. When the parents were apprised of her action, however, there was a terrible scene in which many things were said, that were better unsaid and ended in the young girl's vowing never to see them again. The newly married couple therefore, instead of settling down in Washington, took a house in New York's fashionable residence district in which Von Moritz installed the finest laboratory in Manhattan, and here at the end of two happy years, a daughter was born to them." "There was at first no apparent difference in the father 's devotion to either the mother or child, but later the young wife was horrified by the discovery that the father held little or no affection for the baby. To worship his wife and his work had been his habit for so long, that it had become an automatic instinct, in which, try as she would, the mother could find no place for the child. The lover therefore, which had been for her an ecstatic pleasure, became a source of misery. The child raised an insurmountable barrier between herself and her husband. "Often," she afterward told her closest friend-"have I felt an almost uncontrollable desire to cut its slender grip on life when I though of what the future years might bring forth. I lived in him through my child, but, outside of his work, he lived for me only." "Fighting, this between the self-sacrificing mother instinct and the spectacle of her husband's indifference, she lost her usual vivacity. Von Moritz was not slow in noticing the change THE GALTONIC EQUATION 295 in his wife's manner, but instead of encouraging her to confide in him, isolated himself from the unhappy woman. Sometimes two whole days passed in which he never left his work." "One day in midwinter, prior to which he had worked continuously in his laboratory for twenty-four hours, he came into her boudoir. Her baby, at that time, was suckling at her breast, and observing his wife's careworn expression, Von Moritz chided her for confining herself so closely, whereupon she gave way to sudden fit of anger, precipitating thereby, one of those scenes for which he family is famous. Shortly afterward, the baby, who had been nestling peacefully in her breast, during the storm, was seized with convulsions that ended its feeble little life before medical aid could reach it." "The death of the little one removed the barrier which held the husband and wife apart, but a year after the death of the child, the mother was drowned in a squall which overtook her while sailing with a party of friends in Long Island Sound." "And the husband?" I queried feverishly. "The wife's body was washed on the Connecticut shore," continued Blakeman, "where it was found by some clam-diggers and after her interment, Von Moritz went back to England, returning last year to take up his work again. It appears, however, that the brilliant young chemist had been in America only four months when the whole scientific world was shocked by the news that he had been found dead in his laboratory with a "gaping bullet wound in his head." Such were the facts of the case which I obtained from his brother-in-law prior to my departure for New York." "Having scattered the impression that I was off for Europe among the clubs," said Blakeman, "I left for New York two days after my conference with the-Minister and quietly engaged rooms in an obscure boarding house on the West Side. Then I sought the police and obtained from them the evidence before the coroner's jury and a pile of chemical manuscripts written in a cipher, but which were deemed by the authorities to be unimportant. Proceeding on the theory that there was a stronger motive than mere despondency which prompted Von Moritz's deed, I first weighed carefully all the evidence given before the coroner and then turned my attention to the manuscripts. These were printed on a peculiar cream-colored paper and the only thing apparently decipherable about them were some lines on the cover which ran:" "Spirits of old who bore me, And made me meek of mind, Between great deeds before me And deeds as great behind, Knowing humanity my star As first abroad I ride, Shall help me wear with every scar Honor at eventide." "These were indorsed-"Some lines by a lady on seeing Donnatello's statute of St. George in a niche of the Or Saint Michele, overlooking the Via Cazaioli, Florence"- Happily it was rather cold in New York that day and in my desire to be as comfortable as possible, I took a seat near the radiator in the police headquarters, while I proceeded with my examination of the papers. An inspector came in after I had been working on the manuscript for about an hour and a half, to present the compliments of the chief and to inquire, with an ill-concealed sneer, if I had succeeded in discovering anything startling. I answered him that I had not, but I had not given up hope. We then fell into a short discussion about the evidence before the coroner. Meanwhile I had laid the notes on the radiator and to my surprise when I ran through them again, I found on page 156, WILLIS MURPHY. WM. OSCAR MURPHY. Willis Murphy & Son. Wholesale and Retail Dealers In Groceries, Grain and General Merchandise. 514 DECATUR ST. ATLANTA, GA. TELEPHONE 1818 Help Wanted WANTED-Boys and Girls to sell Satchet Powders among their friends. There is a Gold Ring in it for you. Send ten cents for sample powders and terms. G. W. PINKNEY CO., Manufacturers of Perfumery, Atlantic City, N. J. MILLINERY! Do you wish a beautiful new hat? Do you want your last year's hat to be made over equal to new? Call on me. I guarantee all work. MDME. J. P. HAWKEN 204 Clark Street, Atlanta, Ga. IRON FENCE LOW PRICE HIGH GRADE CATALOGUE FREE. DOW WIRE & IRON WKS. LOUISVILLE, KY. AGENTS-Can make a living in a pleasant and profitable business by handling our High Grade Perfumes. We have a plan that wins. We tell you how to start a business for yourself. Write for particulars. G. W. PINKNEY CO., Atlantic City, N. J. THE VOICE OF THE NEGRO $1.00 Per Year in Advance. Corona Industrial College Situated in the midst of the Corona Coal and Iron Company's Great Coal Mines EXCEPTIONAL ADVANTAGES OFFERED Fifty to seventy-five dollars earned a month and education of a whole family or an individual at a cost of one dollar a month. For information, write J. R. E. LEE, President, Corona, Ala. The Tuskegee Student Edited by EMMETT J. SCOTT and Published by The TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE, Tuskegee Institute, Alabama Subscription Price, 50 Cents per Year The Student, published weekly during the school term and bi-weekly during the summer vacation in the interest of the graduates of the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, contains full information regarding the work of the school, and, in addition, valuable articles bearing upon the moral, material and educational advancement of the Negro people of America. Sample copies sent on application. Address all communications to The Tuskegee Student, Tuskegee Institute, Tuskegee, Ala. WRIGLEY ENG CO DESIGNERS ENGRAVERS ELECTROTYPERS STEREOTYPERS ATLANTA, GA. LARGEST AND BEST EQUIPPED PLANT SOUTH COR ALA & FORSYTH STS THE Colored Teachers AGENCY Prompt Reliable Efficient It recommends teachers and graduats for every line of instruction in the public school system and higher institutions. Its orders come directly from superintendents, principals, presidents and boards. It operates throughout the South, Middle West and West. Circulars and blanks sent on request. Now is the time to register. C. W. REYNOLDS, Mgr. Box 574, Maysville, Ky. Box 265, Springfield, Ohio. THE VOICE OF THE NEGRO, $1-00 Per Year in Advance. 176 Warren Avenue. CHICAGO, ILL., Oct., 22, 1902. For nearly four years I suffered from ovarian troubles. The doctor insisted on an operation as the only way to get well. I, however, strongly objected to an operation. My husband felt disheartened as well as I, for home with a sick women is a disconsolate place at best. A friendly druggist advised him to get a bottle of Wine of Cardui for me to try, and he did so. I began to improve in a few days and my recovery was very rapid. Within eighteen weeks I was another being. CECELIA STOWE Mrs. Stowe's letter shows every woman how a home is saddened by female weakness and how completely Wine of Cardui cures that sickness again. Do not go on suffering. Go to your druggist today and secure a $1.00 bottle of Wine of Cardui. WINE of CARDUI Learn to Write and Speak Correct English POOR English will hold you back, no matter what you may try to do in a business or social way. We can raise your value in business 100 per cent-we will teach you, by correspondence, to write and speak correctly, easily, forcefully and fluently. No matter what your position is-whether stenographer, book keeper, salesman, clerk, office assistant, advertisement writer, correspondent, reporter, journalist, short-story writer,-you must understand the correct use of English in order to advance rapidly. You will not feel at home in good society unless you can talk with the assurance that you are not making blunders. Our plan is original and intensely interesting. We will gladly explain it if you will write. ADDRESS Page-Davis School of Correct English Dept. 246, 90 Wabash Ave., Chicago, Ill. When writing advertisers, please mention this Magazine A Monthly Magazine and a Weekly Newspaper ONE YEAR FOR $1.10 The Metropolitan Review Is a weekly newspaper devoted to Insurance, Banking and the Mercantile Interests of our people. It is a large sheet, well edited and full of interesting news. Besides these features it contains correspondence from all parts of the country on social and other matters. The price per year, 50 cents. "The Voice of the Negro" Magazine Is the most complete Negro magazine published in the world. It is brilliant and pleasing in all its features. It comes each month laden with the choicest selections from a large galaxy of writers. The price per year, $1.00. Anyone sending only $1.10 will receive the magazine and newspaper one year. Please say you wish the paper with the magazine when you write. Address all communications- THE VOICE OF THE NEGRO, 70 East Alabama Street ATLANTA, GA. TO THE DRUG, GROCERY and Confectionery Trades If you should find at any time A space in your Chewing Gum case, Will you let me fill that space with some, White Lily and Yalu Cream de Mint Gum. I manufacture my own Chewing Gum and guarantee satisfaction. I ask a trial. Agents wanted. A good hustler with a little cash can make big profit. Write to me for full particulars. 20 to 40 per cent. made by very little effort. Be independent, I can tell you how if you write. Address for information and prices R. W. JOHNSON, 5113 Dearborn St., CHICAGO, ILL. A SPLENDID OPPORTUNITY To save money. Read carefully and be conviuced. THE MOON-Price per year, - - -$2.00 W. E. B. DuBois, Editor. ALEXANDERS MAGAZINE, per year, $1.00 A representative Negro magazine, published in Boston Total for both, $3.00 OUR OFFER.-Send us $2.00 and we will enter your name for a full year's subscription to both magazines. Tell us what papers you want and we can save you money on such combinations. We can sell you anything that's printed. Our catalogue is in preparation. Send us your name and be the first to receive one. Address AFRO-AMERICAN CO-OPERATIVE CONCERN, Athens, Ga. ALL SERVICE RESUMED. The SOUTHERN PACIFIC and UNION PACIFIC Lines reach nearly every State in the West, with Steamship Lines to China, Japan, Hawaian Islands, Australia and India. Round trip Homeseekers rates to Louisiana, Texas Oklahoma and Old Mexico, each first and third Tuesday. Through Pullman Tourist Cars three days each week from Washington, D. C. to San Francisco, via Atlanta, Montgomery, Mobile and New Orleans and Southern Pacific "Sunset Route." Cheap one-way Colonist Rates from all points to California and Northwest, from February 15, until April 7, 1906. Requests for information cheerfully answered. J. F. VAN RENSELAER, General Agent. 124 Peachtree St. ATLANTA, GA. P. O. BEAN, T. P. A. DO YOU want the trade of 15,000 regular subscribers? We presume that you do. We do not guarantee that you can get them but we do guarantee that an advertisement placed in our magazine will reach that many persons. We reach more persons than any magazine published by the race. If you have an article that you wish agent to handle, try our columns. One thousand persons handle our magazine and you may get them to handle your articles. Our subscription list is open all the time to our subscribers and advertisers. We reach the people. Try us. Write for testimonials. The Advertising Department THE VOICE OF THE NEGRO Atlanta, Ga. LEARN TO INSTALL ELECTRONIC BELLS, TELEPHONES and ELECTRIC LIGHTS. We teach you by mail with BLUE PRINTS and instruction papers which show how to do the work. You make money and learn a good trade. ELECTRIC BELL OUTFIT $1, TO $2. TWO GOOD TELEPHONES WITH 200 FEET OF WIRE AND 4 BATTERIES $10. You can put this set up in one day and get $20 for same. ELECTRICAL GOODS OF ALL KINDS AT LOW PRICES JOSEPH M. PATTERSON, 1409 NEW YORK AVE., N. W. 20 Years in business. WASHINGTON, D. C LET YOUR MONEY WORK FOR YOU WHY ACCEPT 3% and 4% from SAVINGS BANKS, when we are paying 6% and 7% on GUARANTEED Investments? BEGIN NOW. Investments may be made on the INSTALLMENT Plan. We have the best proposition on the market. Write for particulars. ADDRESS MAXWELL, 150 NASSAU ST., N. Y. CITY, ROOM 1335. Why not put an advertisement in this space and get good results? SPECIAL OFFER We will mail "Adology," the leading M. O. Trade Journal, to any address One Year for 10 Cents. to cover postage (Regular sub. rate 25c). Walters Advertising Agency, 35 & 37 Dean Street, BROOKLYN, N. Y. Ford's Hair Pomade, formerly known as "Ozonized Ox Marrow," Makes the Hair Long, Soft and Easy to Comb. READ WHAT THE PEOPLE SAY Key west, Fla., Aug. 28, 1904. I used only one bottle of your pomade and my hair has stopped breaking off and has greatly improved. When I started using this wonderful preparation my hair was seven inches long and now it is ten inches or more. I beg to remain, yours truly, MINNIE FOASTER. 314 Southard St. Atlanta, Ga., June 6, 1900. Gentlemen: I have used your pomade and have found it to do more than it is recommended to do. It stops the hair from falling out and breaking off, and cleans the scalp and makes the hair soft, pliable and glossy. MISS MAGGIE REND. Milwaukee, Wis., June 23, 1893. Gentlemen: Please send me two bottles of your pomade. I think it is one of the best hair preparations made. MRS. JOHN GRAF. West Chester, Pa., Mch. 30, 1905. I had typhoid fever and my hair all came out. I used three bottles of your pomade, and now my hair is nine inches long and very thick and nice and straight. Most every one seeing how good your pomade did my hair, they too are anxious for it. My hair is an example to every one. Yours respectfully, ELLA BYE. Colvert, Tex., Mch. 31, 1905. I have used one bottle of your pomade and my hair is now perfectly straight, soft and black as silk. I will not be without it. RHODA EDWARDS Paris, Mo., July 15, 1899. Gentlemen: When I began using your pomade my head was so bald I was ashamed of myself, but now my hair has grown three inches all over my head and I have been using it only two months. IDA PRETER. I have seen the original letters and testify to the genuineness of the statements. A. N. JENKINS, Vice-President Hertel, Jenkins & Co. FORD'S HAIR POMADE was formerly known as "OZONIZED OX MARROW," and is the only saf preparation known to us that makes kinky or curly hair straight. Its use makes the most stubborn harsh, kinky or curly hair soft, pliable and easy to comb. These results may be obtained from one treatment; 2 to 4 bottles are usually sufficient for a year. The use of FORD'S HAIR POMADE ("OZONIZED OX MARROW") removes and prevents dandruff, relieves itching, invigorates the scalp, stops the hair from falling out of breaking off, makes it grow, and by nourishing the roots, gives it new life and vigor. Being elegantly perfumed and harmless, it is a toilet for ladies, gentlemen and children. FORD'S HAIR POMADE ("OZONIZED OX MARROW") has been made and sold continuously since about 1858, and the label, "OZONIZED OX MARROW," was registered in the United States Patent Office in 1874. In all that long period of time there has never been a bottle returned from the hundreds of thousands we have sold. FORD'S HAIR POMADE remains sweet and effective, no matter how long you keep it. Be sure to get Ford's as its use makes the hair STRAIGHT, SOFT AND PLIABLE. Beware of imitations. Remember that FORD'S HAIR POMADE ("OZONIZED OX MARROW") is put up only in 50c. size and is made only in Chicago and by us. The genuine has the signature, Charles Ford, Prest., on each package. Refuse all others. Full directions with every bottle. Price only 50c. Sold by druggists and dealers. If your druggist or dealer cannot supply you, he can procure it from his jobber or wholesale dealer, or send us 50c. for one bottle, postpaid, or $1.40 for three bottles, or $2.50 for six bottles, express paid. We pay postage and express charges to all points in the U. S. A. When ordering send postal or express money order, and mention this paper. Write your name and address plainly to OZONIZED OX MARROW CO. (None genuine without my signature) Fourth Floor, 76 Wabash Ave., Chicago, Ill. Agents Wanted everywhere. Charles Ford. Prest How to Make Money One of the main questions that confronts every boy and girl who attends school is, "how can I make some money?" The very best wages you receive for unskilled labor is never more than $1.25 per day. After you secure such employment and have labored for days, you are still classed as unskilled. "THE VOICE OF THE NEGRO" magazine is easily the best periodical that an agent can handle. It sells at first sight and subscriptions pour in. The boy or girl who becomes an agent and comes in contact with different people, who is constantly shifting scenes, learns the secret of success in money getting. No intelligent Negro American will fail to subscribe for "THE VOICE OF THE NEGRO." Here is an Opportunity Send us only thirty cents, and we will send you a supply of the very latest number of our magazine and an agent's outfit. You can sell these to your friends and make a good profit on a small investment. To Make Money after school hours in the evening will no longer be a question. Lots of boys and girls are doing this. Why not you? Address The Voice of the Negro, ATLANTA, GEORGIA. The Biggest Money Maker ever placed in the hands of an Agent. "THE PROGRESS OF A RACE" THE ONLY BOOK THAT CONTAINS FULL AND UP-TO-DATE RACE STATISTICS IT TELLS YOU How many colored people there are in the United States; how many in each State; how many in each county in all the Southern States and in other States having any considerable number of Negroes, From Special Statistical Tables You Can See at a Glance How many Negroes own homes; how many schools there are for Negroes; how many teachers and scholars; how many colleges and professional schools there are for Negroes; how many churches and church papers; the estimated value of Negro church property, and also the total value of property held by the race; how many own farms; how many own homes and how many are tenants; how many colored persons are lawyers, how many doctors; how many are engaged in agriculture; how many in domestic service; how many in trade, transportation and manufacturing. Special Collection of Plantation Melodies Will be of unusual interest not only to the colored [?re]ader, but to all who see them. They have been made especially popular by Prince Henry of Germany, who requested that they be sung to him on several occasions during his visit in America. While these melodies and other pleasant anecdotes will charm the reader, he will be thrilled by the hair-breath escapes enroute the "underground railroad" and a thousand other incidents recorded in this magnificent book. AGENTS WANTED It sells like hot cakes. Several hundred sold daily. The following names persons have just ordered the number of books set opposite their names, as follows: Mr. Fred Wallis, Columbia County, Ark., 27 Mr. I. H. Sullivant, LaFayette County, Ark., 39. Mr. Finis Purofoy, Ouachita County, Ark., 21; Mr. L. C. Bridges, Sabine County, La., 31; Mr. Oscar Hays, Ware Country, Ga., 24; Mr. Fred Wallis, Columbia County, Ark., 23; Mr. J. Haynes, Woodruff County, Ark., 26; Mr. G. W. Irwin, Landerdale County, Tenn., 22; Mr. W. D. Mott, Florence County, S. C., 30; Mr. S. Fincher, Round Lake, Miss., 39; Mr. C. L. Pique, Itta Bena, Miss., 100. Now is the time to make money. Agents' commission liberal. 700 page book, 200 illustrations. Price, postpaid, $1.95. OUTFIT FREE. Write today for particulars or send 15 cents in stamps to pay postage on free outfit. Address, HERTEL, JENKINS & CO. 920 Austell Building, Atlanta, Georgia. 1860 A Slave. 1870 One-mule farmer. 1880 Two-mule farmer, Owning some land. 1890 Ten mules, two cows, Two hundred acres of land. 1900 Fifty head of stock, Five hundred acres of land, Boys in college, Boys owning farms, Daughters teaching, Daughters keeping neat homes of their own. NOTE.--The above is the history of one colored man-it is the history of one thousand today. Don't Fail to Get a Copy of the Book and Read for Yourself A FEW INTERESTING QUESTIONS CAN YOU ANSWER THEM? Do you know the population of the Negroes in America for each decade since the revolution? How did President Lincoln treat the slave dealer? Do you know anything of the slave laws in the colonies? Have you read the history of the anti-slavery agitation? Do you know w[here] [t]he first convention of anti-slavery women was [h]eld? Do you know what is mean[t] by the "Underground Railroad?" Who carried [?]on? Do you know how many Negroes there were in the civil war? How many schools are there to-day for the Negroes? How many teachers? How many scholars? What is the estimated value of church property? What is the estimated value of property held by Negroes? A FEW INTERESTING QUESTIONS. CAN YOU ANSWER THEM? What is the population of the Negroes in each of the States of the Union. Are Negroes living principally in the city or in the country? How many Negroes in all cities containing fifty thousand or more? What counties in the South have more colored people than white? How many Negro officers in the Spanish-American war? 1001 other questions answered that you have no idea of. See it for yourself. Get an outfit at once and get ready for Spring Work. Subscribers actually refuse to take $25.00 for it. WRITE FOR BOOKLET OF TESTIMONIALS AND PHOTOGRAPHS OF AGENTS WHO HAVE MADE MONEY. Save Page 411 THE MUCK MAKER THE VOICE OF THE NEGRO AN ILLUSTRATED MONTHLY MAGAZINE EDUCATION INDUSTRY ART SCIENCE RELIGION VOL. III JUNE, 1906 NO. VI FEATURES OUR MONTHLY REVIEW. CHOOSE By William H. Pickens THE SERVICE OF DUNBAR By George Davis Jenifer SUSAN B. ANTHONY By Mrs. Mary Church Terrell A WARNING TO THE SOUTH By John D. Swain ROOSEVELT AND HAYTI By Frank Rudolph Steward A LEAGUE OF SOUTHERN AMERICANS By Joseph C. Manning ADDRESS ALL COMMUNICATIONS TO THE VOICE OF THE NEGRO, ATLANTA, GA. Published by HERTEL, JENKINS & CO., formerly J. L. NICHOLS & CO. Entered as second-class matter February 6, 1904, at the Post Office at Atlanta, Ga. under Act of Congress of March 3, 1879 (COPYRIGHTED BY HERTEL, JENKINS, & CO.) 10 CENTS A COPY $1.00 A YEAR The Great National Temperance Beverage Coca-Cola Great corporations are now exerting a powerful influence to promote the growth of temperance sentiment. The position taken by managers of railway companies and other large commercial enterprises, is almost equivalent to prohibition. COCA-COLA has been a great factor in promoting and increasing this sentiment. It has caused thousands of young men to give up the habit of drinking beer and other intoxicating liquors. COCA-COLA is delightfully invigorating, delicious to the taste, contributes to healthy activity of mind and body. 5c On Sale at Soda Founts 5c or Carbonted in Bottles P. SHERIDAN BALL, President L. C. COLLINS, Secretary J. H. ATKINS, Treasurer REMARKABLE! Over One Hundred Thousand Dollars in Profits. Do you want to Better Your Condition? Is it your aim to Make Your Future Better Than Your Past? If you are not satisfied with your income, position or condition, read this: OVER $100,000 clear profit made by the first investors in the Metropolitan Mercantile & Realty Company. You could have been one. This company has been a favorite with investors since its incorporation. Why? Because it is a high grade corporation with stock at reasonable prices. Because stock was offered in small blocks, so that the investor of limited means could acquire ti. Because stockholders' money was invested largely in real estate, this giving them absolute security for their money. Because it has assisted many worthy people in getting decent homes, many organizations in getting halls and congregations in getting churches. Because the increased operations have caused the stock to advance steadily from $5.00 per share to double that sum, or $10.00. Thus those who purchased the first $100,000 worth of stocks have made in profits $100,000, besides $7,000 a year in dividends for four years. The capital stock will soon be increased to one million dollars, and the ever enlarging scope of the company's operations and the increased assets will force the price of stock to not less than $20.00 per share within the next two years. Can't you see that the holders of the present one-half million dollars stock will make more than one-half million dollars on the transaction in two years? What are the figures in the case? The Metropolitan Mercantile & Realty Company has nearly four thousand stockholders in seventeen States and one hundred citis ; has bondholders of $50,000 ten year bonds that pay 6% interest semi-annually and mature in 1915 ; has over 175,000 policy holders ; owns nearly $150,000 in first mortgages on improved real estate in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and other States ; is doing a banking business of over $100,000 yearly ; has a department store that clears over $7,000 yearly ; is erecting buildings from $500 residences up to $17,500 apartment houses ; is employing 1,200 men and women as agents, superintendents, managers, stenographers, book-keepers, mechanics, messengers, tellers and cashiers. What do these figures stand for it they don't mean that the Metropolitan is the most progressive, most substantial, most helpful, and in short is the leading company among Negroes in the United States? Will you wait until stock reaches $20.00 per share, or will you buy now and be one of those to make one-half million dollars? For further information, address METROPOLITAN MERCANTILE & REALTY COMPANY Home Office, 150 Nassau St., New York PRINCIPAL BRANCHES: BOSTON, MASS. SPRINGFIELD, MASS. NEW HAVEN, CONN. PROVIDENCE, R. I. NEWARK, N. J. BALTIMORE, MD. PHILADELPHIA, PA. WASHINGTON, D. C. CHARLESTON, S. C. SAVANNAH, GA. MACON, GA. BIRMINGHAM, ALA. COLUMBIA, S. C. AUGUSTA, GA. MONTGOMERY, ALA. ALBANY, GA. or Metropolitan Mercantile and Realty Company SOUTHERN HEADQUARTERS, 69 E. Alabama St., Atlanta, Ga. When writing advertisers, please mention this Magazine AUTHORIZED CAPITAL STOCK $100,000. The Voice Publishing Co., (Incorporated, Atlanta, Ga.) "THE VOICE OF THE NEGRO" has been divorced from the old firm of Hertel, Jenkins & Company and is now published by The Voice Publishing Company, an incorporated concern of Atlanta, Ga. We have executed a purchase of the Magazine with all its property from the old publishers. Two Great Reasons This is No Fakish, Get-Rich-Quick Scheme of Migratory Tricksters, But a Proposition Which Should Appeal First to Your Business Judgment and Second to Your Race Pride. Two reasons have influenced us to adopt this course: First and foremost was race pride. The Voice of the Negro should be owned by Negroes. While it is edited and operated by Negroes, the money of white men was running it. The new concern intends to fit up a high class printing office as soon as our funds will justify it, and every line of work in it will be done by members of the Negro race. Then it was a business proposition. If any money is to be made out of race literature, Negroes ought to make it "The Voice of the Negro' is the most popular periodical the race has. Why not put your money into it and make out of it a great race corporation, where a hundred instead of a dozen young men and women will find employment? Then why not make your money bring you a handsome income? We are handling large book orders as well as investing in real estate and mercantile concerns, and will be able in the near future to declare large dividends. Get in on the Ground Floor The Voice Publishing Company, as stated above, has an authorized capital stock of $100,000. The stock has been divided into 10,000 shares of $10.00 per share, par value. We are selling the first 2,000 shares at $5 per share. A block of a thousand shares was sold within two weeks. The second thousand is going rapidly. The third thousand will be worth $6.50. Better write today if you want to secure rocky bottom prices. For further particulars address The Voice Publishing Company, 68 1-2 East Alabama Street - - - - Atlanta, Ga. SOUTHER RAILWAY Great Highway of Trade and Travel THROUGH THE SOUTHERN STATES Excellent Servie Quick Time Convenient Schedules The Southern Railway is the Great Through Line North East, South and West J. C. BEAM, District Passenger Agent, Kinball House Corner ATLANTA, GEORGIA SUMMER THIS SUMMER IN COLORADO Many people put aside all thought of an outing in Colorado because they are accustomed to consider this greatest of American playgrounds as one of those impossible things beyond their means. Time was when a visit to the "top of the Continent" was a great luxury, as high in price as in altitude; but not so today. You can spend the Summer or a part of the Summer in Colorado, and live as reasonably as you do at home, and the quick service and low tourist and excursion rates afforded via Rock Island lines bring the Rockies within your easy reach. Our Booklets and Folders give the whole story. Write today. GEO. H. LEE, G. P. A. Little Rock, Ark. S. L. PARROTT, D. P. A. Atlanta, Ga. Rock Island System When writing advertisers, please mention this Magazine. GREAT CLUB OFFER A FEAST FOR A FARTHING For a Whole Year The three greatest current literary productions of the Negro race for only $3.45; This offer holds good for only 90 days from June 1st. Read and Act! The new Voice Publishing Company is making a great effort to secure 10,000 new subscribers for "The Voice of the Negro" between now and September 1st. We recognize the fact that there are thousands of people who would like to read all the best there is in the Negro literary world. The ablest newsgatherer and best edited weekly paper in the country is the Boston Guardian. It is a little radical, but then the times are out of joint and need radical treatment. The only weekly magazine the race has worthy of the name is the Moon, of Memphis, Tenn. It is edited by that stalwart champion of human rights, W. E. B. DuBois. Nobody of any consequence in this country has to be told who DuBois is. The author of the "Souls of Black Folks" has an international reputation as a publicist. Recently one of the New Zealand magazines around on the other side of the world had an article on the race question in it from the facile pen of Dr. Dubois. He writes in German as fluently as he does in English, and quite frequently is a contributor to German periodicals. The Moon is the Literary Digest of the race, with an editorial page thrown in for good measure. Shall we have to tell you about "The Voice of the Negro?" Let our readers speak. Jasper Phillips of Nashville, Tenn., says: "The Voice of the Negro is unique and can only be spoken of in the highest terms." Lawyer Gregory, of Washington, says: "It is unsurpassed by anything that is published in the country." James T. Porter of New York says: "Your Magazine published in the heart of the old slave South on such bod and manly lines is the most hopeful sign of the times." Wilson Jefferson of Augusta, Ga., says: "Every issue of your Magazine is a gen. Only the reviews of the New York Outlook and Independent in any way approach your own 'Monthly Review' in appropriateness of subject matter and clearness of presentation." Lawyer L. C. Collins of Atlanta says: "Your editorial reviews are the clearest, precisest, richest, manliest and fairest discussions of the topics of the times that can be found anywhere in American journalism." Hundreds of others testify to the great value of "The Voice of the Negro" to the race and nation. Listen! The price of the Voice is $1.00 per year The price of the Guardian is $1.50 per year The price of the Moon if $2.00 per year But Listen Again! We have made arrangements with these publications so that you can get the Moon at $1.50 per year; the Guardian for $1.20 and we are offering you the Voice for 75 cents. These are clubbing rates and these periodicals can be secured for these low figures only by sending for more than one. Here is the gist of the matter: The three publications ordinarily cost VOICE $1.00 GUARDIAN 1.50 MOON 2.00 All three, $4.50. The club rates are: VOICE $.75 GUARDIAN 1.20 MOON 1.50 All three, $3.45. Or: VOICE $.75 GUARDIAN 1.20 Two $1.95. Or: VOICE $.75 MOON 1.40 Two $2.25. This offer lasts only 90 days. ANSWER AT ONCE. The Voice Publishing Company, 68 1-2 East Alabama Street - - - Atlanta, Ga. PUBLISHER'S ANNOUNCEMENT J. W. E. BOWEN, J. MAX BARBER, Editors. JAMES W. WOODLEE Circulation Manager. TERMS: Subscription $1.00 per year Foreign subscribers should add 36 cents a year for postage Any one sending us four new subscriptions at the above rates will receive a magazine free for one year. We allow our agents liberal commissions on all money received from new subscriptions; they earn large salaries; send 10 cents for agent's outfit. Send money only by draft, registered letter, or money order. We will not be responsible for loss of currency or stamps unless the letter be registered. Our advertising rates are very reasonable. Write for them. Remember that no manuscript will be acknowledged unless accompanied by a return envelope stamped and addressed. Those who order change of address, must give old as well as new residence. Notification of change of address of the magazine should be in our office by the 20th of month preceding date of publication to insure the subscriber the current number. If you fail to get your Magazine, drop us a card. We are always glad to correct mistakes. Address The Voice of the Negro, 68 1/2 East Alabama Street, ATLANTA, GA. THE VOICE OF THE NEGRO Copyright, 1906, by Hertel, Jenkins & Company. Entered at the Postoffice at Atlanta, Ga., as second class mail matter. Contents for June, 1906. FRONTISPIECE-Full page portrait of Susan B. Anthony. OUR MONTHLY REVIEW Heinrich Hein San Francisco Presidental Presumption The Proper Critic The Shattering of a Glass House Rate-Making in the Senate May Day in Paris The Meeting of the Duma. The Voice Publishing Company Mr. Manning's Call for a League Mrs. Terrell on Miss Anthony African Unrest The Muck-Makers THE QUEST FOR TRUTH SPRINGTIME-Poem . . . . . . . By Sarah S. Stewart RECOLLECTIONS OF EASTER . . . . . . By Azalia E. Martin CHOOSE . . . . . . . . . . By William H. Pickens THE SERVICE OF DUNBAR . . . . . . . George Davis Jeniter FIRST SIGHT-Poem . . . . . . . . Benj. Griffith Brawley W. H. HOUSER . . . . . . . . . Mrs. Howard Diggs SUSAN B. ANTHONY . . . . . . . Mrs. Mary Church Terrell A LETTER FROM TEXAS . . . . . . . Mrs. Vandavell Jones THE SOUL-Poem . . . . . . . . Eugene Curry Nelson A WARNING TO THE SOUTH . . . . . . . . John D. Swain COMPELLED TO SPEAK-Poem . . . . . . Will H. Hendrickson A LEAGUE OF SOUTHERN AMERICANS . . . . . Joseph C. Manning QUATRAIN-Poem . . . . . . Wilson Jefferson ROOSEVELT AND HAYTI . . . . . Frank Rhudolph Steward PAUL LAWRENCE DUNBAR-Poem . . . . Waldo Jones GENTLE SPRING-Poem . . . . . . J. T. Phillips TWENTY-FIFTH ANNUAL SESSION OF THE ALABAMA TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION By R. D. Hunt PEONAGE-The Remedy . . . . . . . By T. H. Malone WOULD RACIAL EMIGRATION BE BENEFICIAL . . . . By O. L. Garrett IN THE SANCTUM Senators Bacon and Tillman Material and Political Progress and Culture A New Sign of Progress WAYSIDE THE LATE SUSAN B. ANTHONY (From Photo Copyright, 1906, by Underwood & Underwood, N. Y. THE Voice of the Negro JUNE, 1906 Volume III Number VI OUR MONTHLY REVIEW Copyright, 1905, by Hertel, Jenkins & Co. Heinrich Heine The occasion this year of the commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the death of Heinrich Heine is an opportunity to call attention anew to the attitude of Germany towards the founder of her modern lyric poetry and to review some of this poet's characteristic eccentricities. Probably the name of Heine is less revered in Germany than in any of the civilized lands of Europe. Certainly, Heine's name is more venerated in Paris than in Berlin. The reason for this is not far to find; in Germany today, as was the case there a hundred years ago, as was the case in England in Shakespeare's time, and as is the case in Russia today, the Jew is the butt of race prejudice, a dark and despised son of Abraham. In Paris, in New York, in some of the isles of the sea, monuments have been reared to the memory of Heine, but in his own native land no pile of bronze or marble lifts its head towards the clouds for him. The Germans claim to have other faults to find with Heine besides the fault of being a Hebrew. They say that he was revolutionary in his political faith, un-German in his public addresses and attitudes, irreligious and foppish. Certainly Heine was not perfect. He was not a sample of mankind that we would wish to introduce to another planet. The atmosphere that gathers around his moral and religious life does not have a fragrance like that of St. Francis Assisi. Nevertheless, this Jewish singer sang the soulful songs of genius and exercised kinship with those self-sceptered kings whose minds are more vast than earth or sea or sky. No fair mind can deny that in his "Reisebilder" Heine has given to the world an admirable and unforgettable creation. It is said that there are many points of coincidence between the behavior of the man of genius and the pathology of the insane. Eccentricity does not, necessarily, betoken genius, and yet it is a fact that almost all geniuses are men of eccentries and imbecilities. The lives of Cato, Cowper, Coleridge, Swift, Lamb and Poe all confirm this statement. But the world does 392 THE VOICE OF THE NEGRO not discount the greatness of these men because of their weaknessess; and the fact is Germany would not so steadfastly refuse to honor the memory of Heine had he come of the old Teutonic stock. Heine was the offspring of three great literary movements. First, the great intellectual awakening known as the Renaissance was yet being felt throughout Europe when our poet turned from business to literature. Then the Sturm and Drang period of German literature, with its mad indecencies, had left its after effects upon the times. And lastly, the Troubadour period had handed down to the age a graceful sweetness of song, a delicacy of language and a daintiness of rythm hard to surpass. We must bear in mind the fact that the Renaissance was a revival not only of Greek art, but also of Pagan philosophy and religion. As a disciple of these three great periods in literature, we get in Heine a combination and a contradiction. Some of his airy, sentimental poems are musical with mythology. Others are vivid, dramatic, wonder-world tales, extravagant in their romantic qualities, and striking in their originality. When he praised, it was a song of most delicate sweetness, but from such a song he could turn to the most bitter satire and buffoonry. He could end the most serious poem with a coarse, sensuous jest. Yet, in spite of Heine's empty and grotesque conglomeration of the real and the unreal, in spite of his volatility and blatant blasphemy, still he founded a German school of modern poetry that entitles him to a place in the Valhalla of the great. He crystallized many a noble and pure sentiment into charming verse and in many ways he enriched the language of his birth. San Francisco As the result of a terrible quake on the morning of the 18th of April which was fol- lowed immediately by disastrous fires, almost three-fourths of the beautiful city of San Francisco are in ruins. The newspapers have given to the public detailed accounts of the fearful disaster from day to day. Therefore, we will not attempt to give details. But it does seem that a general account of the calamity of one of our greatest cities is not out of place at this late date. At 5:13 o'clock on the morning of April 18th the earth suddenly began to quiver and quake. Immediately great buildings began to tumble in like children's playhouses. A sleeping city awoke to find that its very foundation was being rocked by some unseen dynamite. People rushed to the streets half-clad. Everywhere man, women and children were running madly to and fro screaming and praying for mercy. It was an extraordinary exhibition of human helplessness before the subtle and hidden forces of nature. Man's greatest effort at construction, the steel skyscraper, staggered and reeled like a drunken man. The earthquake broke the great water-mains of the city and also many gas-mains. Fires broke out everywhere. The city was at the mercy of the flames. Many human lives were lost in the earthquake and now practically 300,000 people were rendered homeless by the fire. While such an awe-striking event as an earth-shivering is to be dreaded and while the destruction of almost an entire city by fire is a fearful calamity, still this double fate of an American city brought out and developed an American characteristic of which we are proud. The people of San Francisco were cool under most trying circumstances. Many deeds performed during the two days after the fire died out, and the people set OUR MONTHLY REVIEW 393 themselves to the tremendous task of building a new city. Never before has the spirit of charity been shown so readily. The millionaires of this country poured out of their wealth to relieve the situation. Congress made large appropriations. The poor man gave his mite. The foreigner reached his hand across the sea to help his brother. The whole world is now like a vast crazy-quilt and we all recognize kinship with each other. Thus the convulsion and fire at San Francisco have caused the heart of humanity to reveal its growth in love. Presidental Presumption According to the Constitution, the fundamental law of the land, we have three co-ordinate branches of the United State Government. They are the Legislative, Judicial and Executive departments. The sphere of each department is defined and no one department has the right to encroach upon the territory of another department. It is the business of Congress to make the laws of the land. It is the business of the courts to interpret those laws. It is the business of the President and his co-workers to enforce those laws. When this is thoroughly understood, it will at once be seen that Mr. Roosevelt has made an egregrious blunder in a message to Congress during the last days of April. For the last year or more Mr. Roosevelt has been on the trail of the Beef Trust. It is true that in his zeal to achieve popularity he has not gone about his work as a cool-headed statesman would have gone about it, but still we allowed that it was human to be vain, and gave Mr. Roosevelt credit for whatever was accomplished along the line of reforms against corporation tyranny. The President sent Mr. Garfield, his young Commissioner of Corporations, to Chicago to gather information about the Beef Trust. Mr. Garfield came back to Washington and reported to the President, who at once instructed Mr. Moody, Attorney General, to begin suit against the packers. In the court proceedings all the evidence pointed to the fact that Mr. Garfield had promised the packers immunity from prosecution on account of any evidence they might furnish him. Accordingly, the packers gave the Commissioner of Corporations free access to their books. Mr. Moody's strongest evidence of a packers' conspiracy to control the meat market was obtained through Mr. Garfield. Consequently, the packers claimed immunity from prosecution, as was promised them by Mr. Garfield. Judge Humphry, the Judge of the United States District Court of Chicago, decided that the packers were immune from prosecution by virtue of the information given Mr. Garfield under the promise of immunity. Judge Humphry's decision was very displeasing to the President. He forthwith sent a special message to Congress in which he denounced the decision of Judge Humphry as a "miscarriage of justice," declaring that "such interpretation of the law comes measurably near making the law a farce" and that he could "hardly believe that the ruling of Judge Humphry will be followed by other judges." This language from the President must strike all believers in our form of government as amazingly arrogant. Nothing can be said in extenuation of either the rascality of an extra-smart trust which avails itself of the chances offered by legal laxaties or of some of our courts steeped in the fustiness of traditional absurdities. The President was right in asking Congress for reforms along this line. But he has no right, as the Executive head of the government, to constitute himself a court of appeal for the judiciary. That is not and has never been his function. This irritability in Mr. Roosevelt is inexcusable. He seems to be incurably cocksure, posing before the world 394 THE VOICE OF THE NEGRO as the oracle of the continent. Of late he has exhibited nothing of that calm, judicial, unruffled temper that we are wont to see in our presidents. Frantic with fury at an independent judiciary, overtowering tin his ambition to be the most popular president America has ever had, arrogant and bulldozing towards Congress, which makes the laws which he is to execute, impatient with those who do not hasten to accept his radical and socialistic preachments, the conservative citizenry of the country are beginning to feel a dizziness as if we were rushing down a steep place to destruction. The proper Critic While it is the duty of each one of the departments of the government to respect the other in its sphere of operations, on the other hand it is the duty of the people to watch their liberties with the eye of an eagle and to forcibly and fearlessly criticise any and all of the departments when they do not perform their respective duties. For instance, Mr. Roosevelt has mad himself liable to criticism by the way he has avoided calling the attention of Congress to the open nullification of the 14th and 15th Amendments to the Constitution in the Southern section of the United States. Had the violation of this fundamental law of the land related to anything else save the Negro, our strenuous President would not only have called the attention of Congress to the matter, but would have had the Attorney General and all his department on the trail of the lawbreakers. To thus allow the laws of the land to be openly violated without turning so much as a straw to correct this evil tendency is a gross breach of duty as an impartial executive of all the people. The President owes it, not only to eight million colored citizens, but to all of those people who believe in law as the mainstay of society, to, at least, seek to limit the field of activities of class legislators. Quite likely his course has been based on a mistaken policy of peace and reconcilliation; but a peace which acquiesces in the decitenization of a large class of people is a cowardly peace which no official should welcome. Congress, too, has been derelict to its duty. It seems to have formed itself into a conspiracy to gabble. All of the problems of the country go begging for solution while the representatives of the people at Washington industrially manufacture campaign thunder. Never have we suffered from a greater dearth of statesmanship. Law-breaking is so common in America these days and the interests of civilization are so seldom vindicated that it is becoming manifest to all the world that whatever else the United States government can do, one thing it cannot do, and this is to govern its own people. Our courts rest under a deep shadow of suspicion. It is a remarkable fact that the Supreme Court of the land has always found a way to evade a square decision on our vicious Southern disfranchisement laws. The grandfather clauses in all of these new Southern State Constitutions are manifestly opprobrious and one-sided arrangements. They would be aburd and unsupportable in any fair court in the land. The lawyers who have appeared before the courts in the interest of these bad laws have gone there with no law and no argument, -nothing but the mere vapidity of idle words. And yet the courts have wrapped themselves about in a cloud of legal verbiage and allowed the rascality of undermining the Constitution to go on unchecked. The Chattanooga lynching was an open flouting of the dignity of the Supreme Court and a challenge to the potential efficiency of the Federal Government. What has the Court done to uphold its dignity. What has the President done to protect the Court? What expression have we OUR MONTHLY REVIEW 395 heard in Congress against this denuded diabolism? Manifestly, the whole regime is squandering the political heritage of the people. But something will yet happen to stir up the stagnated morals of the Nation. It is up to those people who believe in law, liberty and justice to stand by their guns. The Shattering of a Glass House Senator Hopkins of Illinois performed a duty in the Senate on the 19th, of April which should have been performed long ago. For the last five or six months Senator Tillman of South Carolina has been posing as a great reformer before the country. Everybody and everything have been of a peculiar wicked character to Tillman. He took a malicious delight in finding fault with things. In his topsy-turvy world the color of the grass was blue, the sky bright green and the roses wore an ebony hue. Tillman was forever snapping at and bulldozing everybody. Upon this particular occasion he was trying to fasten some blame upon Senators Hopkins and Cullom for the fact that John R. Walsh, a Chicago banker who failed through fraud some months ago, was out on bond. Senator Hopkins turned fiercely on Tillman and said: "I am unable to understand the motive that can prompt the senator from South Carolina morning after morning, like Don Quixote, to get astride his steed and bring some question into the senate that has no relation to the legislation before this body or before congress for the simple purpose of exploiting himself, attracting the attention of the galleries and getting a little attention through the newspapers of the country. I cannot understand why it is that a man living in the section that he does, representing the constituency that we know he represents, should so concern himself as to whether the law in the city of Chicago, in the State of Illinois is obeyed. I intimated to him the other day that the 2,000,000 people living within that splendid city are quite capable of taking care of themselves. "Now, I think it is about time that the country should know something about who this modern reformer is, this man that is seeking to pillory every other locality as dishonest and every other man before the public as a dishonest man and a violator of the law. I think it is about time that the senate and the country should know something about him. Who is he and where does he come from? He comes from the State of South Carolina, I find, Mr. President, with a white population of 557,000 and with a colored population of 782,000. "It is known the country over that the senator owes his seat in this body to the suppression of the colored vote in that State. "It is known here, and it is known there. I say, in every section of our common country, that the majority of the people of that State, by the manipulation of the senator from South Carolina and the men who associate with him in that State, have been deprived of their rights, civil and political, that have been guaranteed to them under the constitution of our common country." Quoting from one of Senator Tillman's lectures in which he declared "we have hung them and burned them in South Carolina," Senator Hopkins continued: "He bows his head in assent. My God, think of a man in the United States who would approve such a barbarous and treacherous practice. He talks about possible infractions of the banking laws; how is a little money to be compared with the burning of men and women at the stake without the opportunity of protecting their innocence? When the people of South Carolina shall enjoy the rights and privileges granted to them under our constitution, when we may say upon this floor that the courts are open to protect the rights of all, great and small, rich and poor, in that State, as they are in Illinois, then I will listen with some patience to a criticism of me and my people and with the manner in which the law is administered in Chicago. But until that time, Mr. President I protest against such a senator as that claiming that the law is not properly and fully administered in the city in which I live." This provoked a retort from Tillman. He declared that the protection of civilization demanded lynching for crimes against womanhood. He made a reference to the recent lynching at Springfield, O., which brought Senator Foraker to his feet. Mr. Foraker acknowledged regretfully that a lynching had occurred at Springfield, but rejoiced that Springfield and Ohio contained men who vindicated the law. He said that of all the lynchings that had occurred in this country, he had never known of but one man who defended them in the 396 THE VOICE OF THE NEGRO halls of the Senate. At least once this blab-mouth has received his deserts. His moral pretences are perennially ridiculous to those who know his malign history. He has never been regarded by the decent white people of his own State as anything but a screaming, uproaring farce. The very fact that he is in the Senate instead of the penitentiary is a howling parody on justice. His advent into politics in South Carolina precipitated a carnival of racial passions, anarchy and murders. He made the whole State a zone of tragedies and impartial historians will refer to the rise of Tillman as the nightmare period of South Carolina. During that period law was rendered contemptible: it was an unforgettable outrage to be born a Negro; and chivalry and mob law were placed in the same category. Tillman went hither and yon in the State sizzling and spluttering, hurling everywhere his verbal venom. A man like Tillman has no business in the Senate. He is responsible for half of the South's rascalities and ebony cannot be stained with a darker tinge than the history of this yawping blackguard. Rate-Making in the Senate Whatever may be the ultimate fate of the railroad rate bill in the Senate, the lengthy debates on it have disclosed the fact that many Senators seriously doubt the constitutionality of the bill. Mr. Roosevelt has been pleading for several years for extended powers of rate regulation for the Interstate Commerce Commission. Many of the senators have felt that this was needless meddling with the business of the country by the Federal Government, but they have a man who wants to to go down in history as the individual who started the agitation which culminated in rate legislation. Swept into line by the power of public sentiment, they have been placed in a position of ad- vocating such legislation and yet of trying to impede the same. There are other senators who want such legislation and are fighting for it in earnest. All of this hue and cry about discrimination in rates is about freight. The other day Senator Foraker offered an amendment to the bill which provides that the "same or equal accommodations" be furnished both races on passenger trains. Immediately all of the Southern senators were on their feet. They objected. They were against discrimination when hogs, horses, fruits and lumber were concerned, but when human beings were considered, thy objected. Think of it? Man who can aspire and dream and think must be discriminated against, but mere chattels must be treated alike. Senator Bacon made an assertion which he knew was was false. He declared that equal accommodations were furnished both races in Georgia today. Such an assertion can only be made in reckless defiance of all the notorious facts. There is but one road that runs out of Atlanta that gives the colored people decent accommodations. None of them furnish sleeping car accommodations for colored people. In some parts of South Carolina the little dingy apartment marked "Colored" is unfit for decent work hands to travel in. This same Jimcrow apartment is used for work hands, convicts, white drunkards and the news butcher. And yet men have the audacity to rise in the Senate and claim that the races have equal accommodations here in the South. Mr. Roosevelt of "Square Deal" fame has nothing whatever to say of such conditions. He is too anxious to be popular for that. The Foraker amendment was voted under and twelve Republicans joined the Democrats in killing it. It would be hard on Mr. Roosevelt, but would probably be a blessing to the country if the rate bill was OUR MONTHLY REVIEW 397 voted under too. It is of evil parentage in the Senate and the overtowering ambition in the White House deserves a curbing. May Day in Paris The uneasiness felt in the French capital at the approach of May 1, known as May Day, was natural and justifiable. A huge strike of most of the laboring forces of Paris, Brest, Lyons, Lens, Bordeaux and Marseilles for an 8 hour day followed the mine disaster at Currieres. It seems as if May 1 was set as the day when all the strikers were to make special demonstrations in the interest of their cause. It was to be a kind of field day for labor. The Monarchists, Bonapartists, Revolutionists, and Anarchists were planning to take advantage of the dissatisfaction among the laboring classes in order to start a revolution. The nature of the Frenchman is volatile and excitable, and therefore, the threat of a revolution was not to be scoffed at lightly. The government authorities were equal to the occasion. As a precaution, thousand of soldiers were brought into Paris and the metropolitan city was turned into a huge military camp. It was well that Paris was filled with soldiers, for while no revolution took place, there were many scenes of extreme violence in the city and several which would have been unmanageable by the police. More than a thousand persons were arrested, among them many of the strike leaders and prominent Monarchists and Bonapartists. The arrest of the leaders confused the mob and nipped the threatened revolution in the bud. The world congratulates France on being able to avoid the carnival of violence which less stern measures would have brought forth. The Meeting of the Duma The early years of the twentieth century seem to be the meeting-place of events of world-historical importance. Nations and policies are changing with amazing swiftness. Among the marvelous transformations of the times no event is more significant that the exit of absolutism in Russia and the entrance of c constitutional government. The clanging of the church bells of St. Petersburg at 10 o'clock, Thursday morning, May 10, as Czar Nichols passed under the grim walls of the fortresses of St. Paul and St. Peter to the cathedral where he could offer prayer before the tombs of his ancestors, must have sounded to this weak, but benignant Romanoff, like the tragic knell of autocracy in the whole western world. May 10th was the long looked-for day of the Duma, the dream of two centuries of agitation, toil and prayer. The huge and unwieldy Slavonic Empire whose portentious growth for a century has been regarded as a menace to two continents is no longer the plaything of a monarch. A parliament was wrung from the Czar in the hour of distress. In his more peaceful moments he evidently regretted that he had made concessions. The original manifesto of October 30th was conservative enough. Sufficient trammels were imposed upon the Duma to keep it from doing a great deal that was distasteful to the Czar. But the Czar took alarm from the April elections. As soon as the election returns began to show that an overwhelming majority of Constitutional Democrats would be sent to the Duma, Nicholas promulgated a fresh manifesto in which he made it clear that he did not expect the Duma to tamper with the "fundamental laws of the land." He wants to be liberal, and yet he hangs with melancholy fanaticism to his absolute power. He reserves the right to dissolve parliament at will. He will not suffer the "fundamental laws of the land" to be modified, and he reserves the absolute veto pow- 398 THE VOICE OF THE NEGRO er over all legislation. Still the Russian people have much to expect from this new institution. The members of the Duma say the peasants will kill them if they return home without reforms and they declare they will prefer death in the Duma, if death it must be. Nicholas may find his Duma like Louis XV's States-General. When he orders it prorouged, some fierce Mirabeau may arise on the floor and tell him that the members of the Duma are there to legislate for the people and will only be dispelled at the point of the bayonet. The day of the meeting of the Duma was the most picturesque in the history of St. Petersburg. ONe scene in particular was in striking contrast to all former state functions. Within the inner chambers of the Czar's palace, mingling with all the gold and glitter of the Czar's minarets, was the bloused and bearded toiler of the steppes and the sear-faces and horny-handed harvester of the plains. It was a sight hard to credit, but, nevertheless, a sight which told in dramatic style the tale of a revolution. From the throne the Czar read a colorless speech which was received in sullen silence by the parliament, altho the courtiers cheered. The Duma has now begun its work. Probably its first work will be to ask amnesty for those who were imprisoned because they struggled for the freedom of Russia. One of the burning questions of the Duma will be the defining of the relations of the emperor to itself. Another most important task is the peasant land question. That question and the question of a constitution for the country seem to be the great issues for the first session of the body. The Voice Publishing Company Two years ago when "The Voice of the Negro' was founded by Mr. A. N. Jenkins, nobody dreamed that within such a short time, it would prove to be such a phenomenal success. We are not measuring our success particularly by the sordid standard of dollars and cents. We refer to the public sentiment created in behalf of righteous dealings between the two great races of this country, to the discovery of genuine white friends for the Negro, to the acquainting of the Negro race with itself, to the ennobling of the lives of our own people and to the inspiriting of the masses of both races with heart and hope for the dawn of a day when a broad human sympathy can characterize our relations. In all of these things we have every evidence that we have succeeded. Sentiment in the South is better towards the Negro because "The Voice of the Negro" was established. ON the streets of Atlanta many of the leading white citizens stop the writer to say that they have more respect for the Negro race since they have had an opportunity to read "Th Voice of the Negro." Our Magazine goes to almost all the great libraries of the South. There the young people are reading it, and are finding out the fact that the Negro does not ask charity but justice. They have had the hope shattered that the Negro would forever be content to hew their wood and draw their water. The Negro wants to, and has a right to be a full-fledged citizen of this country. Thus they at least see that no adjustment can ever be satisfactory that smacks of serfdom. We have proved the fact that, at least in the large cities, free speech will be tolerated in the South. Nobody can accuse us of trimming and truckling because our Magazine was edited in Georgia. Before "The Voice of the Negro" was established nobody knew that we had so many excellent writers. We have not only acquainted the Negro race with itself, but we have introduced many new writers to the white OUR MONTHLY REVIEW 399 world. Many a life has been helped by our Magazine, and at times we have wished for a daily or weekly paper so we could publish the many fine letters that come to us. We have succeeded in a measure in welding the darker races of the earth together, for in all of the countries of the world, where there are Negroes who speak the English tongue, we have enthusiastic admirers. From Africa, from France, from Australia, from Jamaica and many other lands come letters saying that "The Voice of the Negro" has increased the black people's faith in God and the destiny of the race. In all of this great work with its glorious fruit, Mr. Jenkins, our philanthropic founder, rejoices mightily. Who would not? We said we did not measure our success in dollars and cents. We do not? Many times we have said things that our Business Manager thought would cut off subscribers and advertisers. At times advertisers have written us to discontinue their advertisements because we criticised certain idols of their hearts. We have faith in the right, and so none of these things have moved us; none of them are going to move us. Soon after Mr. Jenkins founded "The Voice" it was bought by the Hertel, Jenkins & Company, publishers of Chicago. The men of the company were all white. The managing and editing of the magazine was done by colored men. But that did not satisfy some critics. They thought Negroes ought to own the Magazine. Dr. Bowen and Mr. Barber did not have the money to buy the Magazine outright, but they did the next best thing: became partners with Messrs. Hertel and Jenkins in the ownership of the Magazine. But his did not satisfy some of our friends. Black people must own the publication outright. We have given these friends a chance to make good. We have formed a corporation known as the Voice Publishing Company. Our authorized capital stock is $100,000. The stock is divided into 10,000 shares at $10 per share, par value. A block of a thousand shares is now on the market at $5 a share. We have bonded the Magazine to the old company for $15,000. As soon as that is paid by the colored people, the Magazine is theirs. Do we really want to own "The Voice of the Negro?" Now is the time to show our faith by our works. Then too, this is a business proposition. Within the course of two years we are likely to be declaring dividends. Let us have the support of those friends who love us. Only those who make the effort immediately will be able to secure any of the 1,000 shares on the market at $5 a share. Mr. Manning's Call for a League We invite our white readers, and particularly our Southern white friends, to peruse carefully the article by Mr. Joseph C. Manning of Alexander City, Ala., published in this issue of the Voice. Mr. Manning has called for the formation of a league of Southern white men who believe in the principles of free government. He has no desire to assemble together the hypocrites who prate in the market place about the rights of the "common people" in one breath and who forthwith in the next breath decry so-called "negro domination." Nobody who is consistent with his conscience and the spirit of the Declaration of Independence cares to have any association with such pretenders. Mr. Manning, himself a Southern white man, wants to count the hands of those Southern white men who believe in the fundamental principles of the American government. The laws of this nation are opposed to class legislation. The honesty and individual efficiency of a man is the test of his worthiness to be a citizen. The recent law-makers of the South have made grandfathers the test of worthiness. How 400 THE VOICE OF THE NEGRO many white men have we in the South who are opposed to the suffrage knavery and chicanery that is imposed upon the South? How many white men have we who have the temerity to so declare publicly? How many white men have we who are willing to begin organized work for the equality of privileges and rights for all the people? How many white men have we who are willing to give their lives to the repudiation of the Tillman-Vardaman-Dixon class of Bourbons and who want to abolish the unsavory reputation for deviltry the South has before the world? Those are the men Mr. Manning wants to hear from. Write him at this office or at Alexander City, Ala. If the few manly white men that we have should unite in a League against race bitterness, within less time than three years, the South would witness a mighty moral earthquake. Mrs. Terrell on Miss Anthony The very interesting article by Mrs. Mary Church Terrell in this number of the Voice of the Negro on the life and work of Susan B. Anthony will be read everywhere with pleasure by women, irrespective of race or color. Miss Anthony's life-blood was poured out for two great causes in America -the freedom of the Negro and the freedom of woman. She dedicated her life to the cause of freedom at the critical time- the period when the nation most needed her. The democracy was in the throes of its fiercest struggle to vindicate its principles. When the slave was emancipated she turned to give her life mainly to her sex. She threw aside all reservations and asked boldly that women be accorded all the rights and privileges that men have. She achieved some splendid triumphs for womankind. Her death was pathetic. The cords of life were snapped when she was yet peering forward for some glimmer of that for which she had fought so heroically -women's suffrage. She raised herself on her pillow and exclaimed bitterly: "Just to think I have spent all my life fighting for a taste of freedom and am dying without it!" Then she stretched out and breathed her last. How well she fought for the faith that was within her and how she was laid to rest amid the lamentations of a continent Mrs. Terrell has told us in her splendid paper. It is peculiarly fitting that Mrs. Terrell should perform this duty. First, Mrs. Terrell knew Miss Anthony as a personal friend. Then Mrs. Terrell was selected to represent the colored women of the country in the two great memorial meets held in New York and Brooklyn in March. The meeting in New York was held in the Hudson Theater, while the meeting in Brooklyn was held in the famous Plymouth Church of which Henry Ward Beecher was at one time pastor. On those two programs were the brainiest and best known white women of the country. Miss Ida Husted Harper, Miss Antnony's biographer, and Mrs. Villard, William Lloyd Garrison's daughter, both declare that Mrs. Terrell carried away the honors at these two meetings. Being so thoroughly acquainted with Miss Anthony's life and spirit, we repeat it is peculiarly fitting that Mrs. Terrell should relate the life and work of this noble woman to our readers. African Unrest Our April batch of African and Australian papers show that there is still grave unrest in Africa among the natives. In certain parts of Africa it seems as if the Ethiopian Church, a branch of the A. M. E. Church in America, is leading the natives to revolt against the impositions of the white man. It is also that the spread OUR MONTHLY REVIEW 401 of education is kindling in the blacks an ambition to share, and sometime to monopolize the government. Robert Jones, a white newspaper correspondent for a European new syndicate, writes from Natal that in order to preserve "white supremacy" in Natal the natives must be "rigorously excluded from political power and anything like social equality must be strenuously discountenanced." In the Transvaal the Boers are working hard to keep England from giving any recognition to the black man as a man. Telegraphic dispatches show that in German East Africa many severe conflicts have taken place between the natives and the German troops. The Germans fear that the entire section of the country known as Northern Nyassaland is about to be set ablaze with an insurrection. Germany is also having trouble in Southwest Africa. Another Herero rising is worrying the Kaiser's troops. IN Northern Nigeria a sanguinary battle between a British force and 2,000 natives resulted in a victory for the British troops. The one hopeful thing about the situation seems to be the fact that the chiefs in the various territories are combining for mutual protection. This has a deep significance. The flags of the civilized nations of Europe today which are in Africa, are, for the most part, in the hands of men devoid of every vestige of principle-mere exploiters who have a thirst for gold. They have confiscated the lands of the Kaffirs, enslaved the Negro in Portuguese Africa, cut off his limbs in the Congo to compel him to bear ivory to his treasures and in the vast outstretches of a whole continent a mere handful of pale-faced men try to rule as lords and kings. The Negroes in Africa, as in America, seem to lack the spirit of unity. While some would be manly and strike for every right, there are others whose delight is to serve as sycophants and slaves to European exploiters. If, now, the chiefs can get together and agree to stand together, the native will find not trouble in protecting his land and country. In every way he has the advantage of the white man. There must be tribe fusion for the sake of a common cause. The Much Makers. In an address delivered in April in the city of Washington at the laying of the corner stone of the new office building for the House of Representatives, President Roosevelt called attention in a striking way to the present tendency among current magazine writers to camp on the trail of corruption. It is not that Mr. Roosevelt dows not desire that crime and corruption should be exposed; rather he endorses those writers, who, after careful study, feel called upon to lay bare the vileness of corrupt systems and unrighteous public officials. What the President objects to is the notoriety-seeker, the sensational writer, who, upon the slightest suspicion of dishonesty, launches out in lurid style to "expose" some man whose life is a blessing to the community. This class of writers Mr. Roosevelt call the muck-rakers, and he places them on the same plane with the corruptionist whom they profess to denounce. The President is right. The magazines are too full of fake exposures. The average current magazine is a species of yellow journalism reeking with sensationalism. But there is a type of writ- 402 THE VOICE OF THE NEGRO ers today who are doing more harm than the muck-makers, or sensational and unreliable corruption-hunters. They are the muck-rakers, those writers of that class of fiction which saps the morals, debauches the intellect and corrupts the conduct of youth. Fully one half of the books of fiction that are now written are mere muck-heaps written for muck-worms to burrow in. A conspicuously infamous type of present-day toxic literature is the class of novels which Thomas Dixon is giving to the world. In all of Dixon's books he throws a numbus of heroism around the mobbist. He makes a hero of the highwayman; the midnight marauder and the virile scoundrel are the men he glorifies. He has a way of setting forth his mental posing in what appears to be a wonderfully luxuriant style, but what is in reality the dreariest of inanities. Bret Harte first exploited the generous rascal as a hero. Of late years writers feel that if they want to get their books on the market, they must give their heroes a dash of blackguardism. In England the ten cent novel which gives the young people the opportunity to enjoy the giddy whirl among the titled throng is ruining the lives of the young by giving them false ideas of life. In America, and particularly in the South, the race question is the most fruitful topic for the novelist, the journalist and the politician. The secret poisoners of the Middle Ages were not worse than these peddlers of literary muck on the race question. The baneful influence of this kind of welter can be seen every day. The little white children are having mimic lynchings in their own back yards, and the youth of seventeen is leading the mob. Nor do the colored children escape the influence of this poisonous fiction. They have seen how Negroes are treated in fiction as sub-human, super-animal beings, and many of them have re- solved to die rather than accept the place assigned to them. Witness the harvest of murderers and desperadoes. It is high time the people of both races were denouncing this class of muck-makers, these venders of literary garbage. It is time to turn the impressionable minds of our young people to that which is excellent and enduring in literature. THE QUEST FOR TRUTH "Sheen will tarnish, honey cloy, and merry is only a mask of sad."-Emerson Strikingly and cruelly, but faithfully and truly, has this man Emerson pronounced the funeral oration of all the material things of this world Gold and silver and brass and granite are perishable even as are the bodies of mortal man. The truth alone is permanently powerful. Search history and answer: What is it that has withstood the ravages of time and linked the ages together? Surely not empires; for all the great empires of the world have risen to vanish like the changes of a phantasmagora. Not the granite and brass monuments that men have reared towards the clouds. From the far beginnings of history men have been rearing their Babels only to see them crumble again to heaps of rubbish. Not even the mountains with all their majestic attributes are steadfast and unmovable. Any day the pent up gases in the earth are likely to violently expand and blow off a mountain-top. The one thing that does not have a fitful and wayward career, the one thing immanent in all the Universe, is Truth. This fact has been recognized by all the seers and prophets of the ages past. Jeremiah, the great Hebrew lamentator, declared that the very atmosphere with which the white-haired Ancient of Days surrounds Himself was composed of Truth,and Zachariah prophesies the millenial day as the time when Jerusalem shall be called the OUR MONTHLY REVIEW 403 City of Truths. And even so all the philosophers and seers that have entered the theatre of vital activities for the purpose of perceiving relations have come back from their excursions into the fields of speculation with the conclusion that there is one great Essence of Things, the First Cause, the I AM. All else is relative and tributary. The Universe is a great problem to be solved and Truth is the unknown quantity in the equation. For uncounted centuries men have been straining forward towards a grasp of the fundamentals regulating the great Cosmos. The astronomer sounds the depths of space in search of a limit to the material universe. The physicist probes the secrets of a drop of water for the live that is hidden from the naked eye. The chemist is busy pulling atoms to pieces and putting them back together in his effort to unravel the chemical and physical rationale of all the vital processes. The explorer seeks to cross those snowy wastes where the ice-packs grind in the gale and the dazzling light of the sun fades away into the unbroken gloom of the long Arctic night. The sociologist and the psychologist are daily detecting and collating the facts which pertain to the mind in order to discover the basis of human activity. The whole race of man is in a state of intellectual parturition and those who help to sweep onward the progress of Truth are the only ones who occasionally throw a flash of faith across the world. Time and again men have shouted "Eureka" at the sight of mirages which they thought were Eldorados. Still the lives of these men were not in vain. They have builded scaffolds upon which others have climbed. They have given inspiration to those daring spiritual and intellectual scouts who have approached to the outskirts of that great world of thought and life and occasionally ensnared a straying fragment of truth. Some nay doubt the regnancy of truth over love. To us love is but an emotion kindled by the true and the beautiful, a deep-seated sentiment which reaches out towards the ideal. Eros yearns for and worships Truth, beyond and above which there is and can be nothing. No pleasure is so sweet as the pleasure derived from sporting with and exploring the upper currents. The pursuit and elaboration of Truth is a pleasure that is refined and enduring. The vast embacement of Truth encloses and comprehends all that is wise and just and beautiful in the universe. Truth is the precious life-blood of all that is distinguished in art, science or literature. Those monarchs of the mind, the self-sceptered kings who by their immortal creations have shed the luster of their genius on the world, must of all men, be the most happy. No loftier feeling could come to mankind that the feeling which must come to him to whom it has been given to hold aloft the torch of wisdom. The Truth is the one thing worth while in all the world, for while other things come to the grave with their mouths shut, our faith in Truth, our love for the Eternal enables us to peer beyond the veil. When the fierce onward rush of the inevitable moment comes, when the lights burn low and the boat is ready to sail for the other shore, no devouring ogre over there can terrify if we have followed the lights given down here. The cords will be snapped and the golden bowl shattered only that we might tread the golden highway to the gates ajar. Then, those things which are veiled in the darkness of opacity and all the infinite reaches of the Universe which lie beyond our senses and which have evaded many centuries of toilsome research will be made manifest. The search for truth is a gigantic, but neverthelesss a glorious quest. Choose! By Wm. Pickens Sit denique inscroptum in fronte unius cuisque, quid de republica sentiat.-Marcus Tullius Cicero. God offers to ever mind its choice between truth and repose.-Ralph Waldo Emerson Where are you? What are your colors? Have you any standard, any principle? Have you heroically taken your stand in either line of fighting, or are you a useless contemptible, Janus-faced, amphibological "straddler?" For, strange to note, there are two well defined factions among American Negroes and their friends, who of all people upon the face of the earth should now be presenting a solid front. The Romans murdered each other under Marius and Sulla, but moved as one man against the Parthians and the Gauls. They butchered each other under Anthony and Octavius, but they turned in solid phalanx against Anthony when he allied himself with the vile Egyptian. But we are divided. And in a certain sense I thank God for the division, inasmuch as frank discourse is superior to cunning amphibology, in as much as it forces the wavering and faint-hearted to consider and choose principles, in as much as it brings a trial of strength and puts Truth on her mettle. How much is involved in a choice, and yet how necessary is it to choose! We are daily and hourly choosing between worlds and-who knows-between destinies. There are certain questions affecting the very highest and deepest interests of the Negro race in America, questions which every intelligent and self-respecting Negro should weigh in his own mind. And he must choose. It is a condition that abhors both cowardice and puerility, and demands only courage. The Negro race and its friends are thus divided:- In our economical and industrial life one side says-"Seek ye first the almighty dollar, and after its acquisition all things will be added thereunto." The other side is crying-"The dollar is of little avail in the absence of civil and political rights and even of personal liberty; you are grasping for the prize and leaving in the power of your enemy the great weapons for striking it from your hands. Will the slave flatter himself that the horse is his, while he in turn is owned body and soul by his master?" In discussing politics one side says- "Take no thought of the ballot. There is nothing in America so useless as voting. Become wise and rich first and that meaningless privilege-citizenship-will follow as the shadow the substance." The other side claims-"The ballot is your most powerful auxiliary in the fight for education and wealth. What a childish and pitiable bit of foresight for you to enter the race for property and learning and allow your competitor to lay all the taxes and make the apportionments, and own all the courts and decide the litigations." A fish might as well try to swim higher than the surface of its pond. In the educational world one side says- "Learn to work (i. e., with your hands) and be useful, for the present. Men plowed before they wrote poetry. Besides, your industrial activities are the line of least resistance. That would accord with the wishes of your competitors. Work is at the basis of everything else and supports all things. High ideals etc. etc., all depend for their life upon this ubiquitous groundwork." And the other side CHOOSE 405 replies-"Learn everything; true independence for a race can result only from diversified attainments. Yes, labor does support everything and is the substratum, but why should you be the 'substratum'? Why should you not be a part of the over- as well as of the under-world? Why should the world's burden rest upon your bowed backs? What glory is there in being merely the pack-animal of civilization? To hold your own in this civilization you must seek representation in its every phase. The superstratum and the possibilities of its attainment are the chief inspiration of those beneath. You cannot grasp high by reaching low. There is another question, a question purely of personal liberty and individual equality, but which is usually mystified by the following phase of vicious association- "social equality." Here one side advises, "Quietly accept the imposition of inferiority. It is a lie, but just treat it as the truth for the sake of peace. Diligently apply to the white man the titles of a gentleman, and care not if he persists in addressing you as he calls his horse and his dog. Be patient. This general disrespect and discrimination will develop into the proper respect and impartiality at some time in the long lapse of geological ages, just as the cohippus has developed into the race horse, and the ancestor of the baboon into a respectable Anglo-Saxon." The other side says-"I ask for nothing more or less than the liberty to associate with any free man who wishes to associate with me. Your color discrimination, legal or not, are all damnable, in as much as they draw an artificial and heartless line, give encouraging suggestions to the vicious, and allow the stronger in brute power to force bastardy upon the weaker without a remedy. Color has absolutely no virtue for me and however much I am outnumbered I will not retreat one inch from that principle. However little my position might affect savage opposition, by the God of your fathers and mine, I will never by voluntary act or word acknowledge as the truth what I know to be the grossest of lies." And you might ask all the truly valiant hearts of the world and the ages how they beat towards these contrary tennets. CHOOSE? "But," says the fellow who is following the line of least resistance, "how foolish it would be to choose the hard and rocky way of 'principle' when a body can have such a fat time by simply acknowledging the might of the mighty." Yes, as foolish as Socrates and Luther and Garrison, and almost as foolish as the Man of Nazareth and the first century Christians. I overheard a colloquy the other day, the principals were a fat pigeon in a cage on the back porch and a lean sparrow on a limb nearby. The cageling was helping himself to abundant supplies of corn and peas and seeds. And when he looked up and caught the wistful glances of the sparrow on the limb, he said with a semi-sardonic smile:- "An empty crop and a lean thigh, my friend, are the price of independence and freedom, but the fatness and ease in which I live are the rewards of submission. All this"-and he picked one of the choicest seeds-"is gratuitously supplied daily by a ruddy hand that sparkles inn gold rings and gems." And the sparrow began spicily: "Do you not know why your crop, is daily filled? O, you superlative of fools-" And the sparrow took precipitate flight without drawing the moral lesson, which we must therefore draw for ourselves, for just at this juncture there appeared upon the cage of the pigeon the "ruddy hand," ruddier than ever but bereft of its gems and jewels, and this time bringing-not the 406 THE VOICE OF THE NEGRO bread of life. Choose between the half-empty crop and luxurious enslavement by the gilded hand. Never mind about that smart and up-to-date individual from New England, New York or Chicago, who makes a flying tour of the South, and then returns home and tells in some great daily about his discovery of two classes of Negroes-one patiently laboring and "wisely yielding to the inevitable," and the other chiefly complaining and "foolishly kicking against the pricks." He only passed through, while you must continue to live in the South; his passage was made in parlor cars and clean accommodations, while you for the most part occupy the disadvantageous end of a smoker and sit in filth. No wonder he writes with such comfort and cocksureness. I say emphatically that the well-known illogicalness of human nature will not allow the Negro safely to entrust solely to white men, even to the best of them, his interests in politics and education. The Roman father who wept over the small bruises of his child and the Roman governor who was praised for mild and gentle rule over his province, would go to the Colosseum and cheer while 500 men of an alien and captive race were murdering each other in gladitorial combat. The mediaeval knights were gallants to the fine ladies of their own rank, and brutes to the wives and daughters of the peasants. The English prayed and plead for the captive African in the United States and the West Indies, and with iron heel were grinding the hearts out of the children of the Emerald Isle. The Fathers of our country signed and swore by the statement that "all men are born free and equal," and returned home to kick their slaves. The Czar theoretically seeks the happiness of the world through peace conferences, and feels his throne rocking above a seething volcano of popular oppression, discontent and misery, and sits still. Americans are much more stirred by Kishinefs than by Springfields. And we all with comparative apathy see the innocent murdered day by day where our interference would tend to save them, but we gush and overflow with pity and horror when Nature shakes the foundations of the earth and works a destruction where our interference is of no avail. How strangely illogical is this human nature of ours. Spite of the sophistical Tuskegee speech of Wm. Taft and other like "taffy" from equally high sources, it is the worst kind of folly for the Negro race to think of resigning its political destinies to the good graces of Time, Fate and the white man. The very things which they tell you to get first and then vote, are the very things which to get and to hold requires the ballot. Would it help the Negro to vote? If the Negro voted on exactly the same basis and qualifications as the white man, and his vote counted to elect or defeat, sheriffs would stop firing into the air, and fire into the mobs; Negro public schools in Louisiana would not be all primary; city schools for Negroes would be moved out of the slum districts when parents asked it; the uglier forms of "Jim-crow" legislation would be practically impossible; a white prosecuting attorney would not think it so necessary to let the 'voters' hear him (as I personally observed a few weeks ago) reminding the jury that altho he is prosecuting a white man for murdering a Negro, the jury must not forget that the latter is a member of the "the inferior race." If Negroes voted, they would have a representative in every department of the government at Washington to belie the slanders of the Tillman's and Gormans, instead of letting them make their statements ex parte to the world. If the suffrage were impartially open to black and white, with CHOOSE 407 any kind of qualification thinkable, the Negro would control a large part of the government of the South. Perhaps you flatter your soul with the unction that your mis-representatives can do you no harm, since the whole world knows the truth. But the outside world only knows what it hears. Even malice incessantly re-iterated wins its way. Old Cato closed every speech, however impertinently with the words: "As for the rest, I vote that Carthage must be destroyed," until the Roman republic, like the huge overgrown brute that it was, rose up in jealous wrath and smote its wealthy rival into dust. I am glad that the "revisers" of our Southern constitutions have recently thrown off the mask and declared that they never intended to oust simply the illiterate Negro, but Negroes of every character. For that offers a sharp and piquant challenge to the deeper American sense of decency and humanity. The present situation in Georgia is typical where no gubernatorial candidate is pleasing for discriminatory laws that will disfranchise the Negro, while the other argues against such laws on the ground that they are too good a stimulus to the Negro's educational activities, and that "white primaries" and such other court-proof shams of the present order are adequately effecting the desirable end of oppression without the undesirable result of enlightenment. Between the two it must be hard for the Georgia Negro to tell just which is His Majesty and which is the Deep Blue Sea. In Alabama I heard one of the most prominent members of the late "constitutional" convention pledge the people of his state that not a white man, however poor or ignorant, should be disfranchised. And most of the Negroes who have since registered in this state, were not admitted on any educational rest but on the recommendation of some white man that they were "all right." We can appreciate the sarcasm of the Negro; he had answered the listed questions, but the registrar, not wishing to register any more than the 35 Negroes he had already enrolled, added this stunner: "And what is a writ of habeas corpus ad testificandum?" The Negro, illiterate but not unwitty, replied: "Well, sah, I dunno what that is unless it's something' another to keep a nigger f'om votin'." Acquaintance with such conditions without at the same time being acquainted with the Negro, particularly with the "rising generation," would render one pessimistic. But, thank God, there is one great advantage in it all: The Negro is not being fooled. The aspiring, ambitious, intelligent members of the race know what is the matter. And especially is the oncoming generation "alive to the situation." If you have any doubt of the young Negro's choice of the foregoing opinions, just acquaint yourself with an intelligent body of them in any part of this country. Spite of the seductive influence of gold and silver the Negro of the future promises to be the humanitarian bit of leaven in the American mass of commercialism. Finally, my brother, whatever our friends do, whatever the "administration" does, whatever the opposition and the golden gods do think or say-for that, you and I are not responsible; we are accountable for our own lives and conduct, only for ourselves can we and must we choose. The Services of Dunbar. By George Davis Jenifer In all fairness to him who fashions the thing, let us consider the limitations under which the man wrought-let us, when we judge, measure his work by relative standards. In justice to ourselves, however, we must measure by standards that are absolute; thus judged, work is either good or it falls short of excellence; there is no middle ground. Measured by absolute standards, Dunbar may not have been a great poet. Little of his work in the vernacular tongue rises above the mediocrity of every-day magazine verse-much of it is not as clever. It were an injustice to his people, therefore, and to his own memory-for he was ever modest of spirit-to rate him higher than he really attained as a writer of pure English verse. What he might have been in this regard had he reached riper years, has passed forever beyond the chance of our solving. There were notes deep and true here and there in his songs and -eheu!- could experience have brought clearer insight and maturer craftmanship, we might yet have cherished him among our greater American poets. Relatively considered, however, Dunbar has done well as a poet. Finding significance in the passions of simple black folk, he has lovingly set forth with picturesque truthfulness the sensuous joys, the broad humor, and the simple pathos of their lives. Moreover, he has preserved to our literature a life and patois that are doomed to pass with the diffusion of greater light among the colored people of the South. Dunbar's verse was an earthly flowering of Negro genius. It takes a great deal of human experience before a man may sing worthily; his race must have lived through much of sorrow and of joy; himself must have epitomized within his existence the life of his kind, and what is more, must have realized keenly and clearly the passion of his singing. If it took two hundred years before the American white people -gifted with the power of more or less accurate self analysis and precision of expression -could produce a poet; Dunbar has wrought exceeding well for the Negro people in attaining thus early to an articulate and fit utterance of the soul life that stirred vaguely within them. With all this,however the service of Dunbar does not halt at the exposition of Negro humanity in sincere and musical verse. If he has pointed out to white men and to black men the touch of nature that makes them kin, he has also done far more. In those days when master and man were united in the bonds of slavery, there was abundant intercourse between the races and much of trustfulness and of affection. The black man's hand received the newborn master; the black man's feet were patient to stay beside the faltering baby steps of his charge and swift to the rescue when danger threatened; the black man chastened the unruly spirit of the child that it might grow strong and comely in character as a gentleman's spirit should; trembling with eagerness and affection, black hands clad the master for his marriage and when the white man's hour was come, black hands, faithful to the last, gently closed his eyes in death. In spite of slavery, the people of the South recognized a common humanity. Then came the horror of war. Across the chasm reft by wounded pride, and defeated hope and bereavement, the white man gazed with sullen eyes upon the Negro, forgetting that once the black man SERVICE OF DUNBAR 409 was his friend; only mindful now that his bond servant had been raised up as an equal. Pondering thus, his heart grew hot with rage and hate and lust for revenge. If habit tended to assuage the poignancy of this aftermath of war, and to restore the old affability between the races, time interfered; for the men of the old regime both black and white, who had known and loved each other well, fast went the way of all flesh and new generations arose. The white man, unduly fearful for the integrity of his kind, withdrew from the Negro; and the Negro, suspicious of the other and jealous of his own new found rights, went apart with those of his blood into a group life. Now, each knows little of the other. In the homes of the Southern white people, strange legends, told with shuddering, have grown up about the Negro's bestiality and utter hopelessness. In the North, also, painstakingly educated by indiscriminating press reports, and generalizing loosely from their own observation of a few miserable unfortunates, men have formed cruel estimates of their black fellow-citizens. Unto these, who should be brethren, comes Dunbar singing of the Negro, not as a beast, not as a fiend, but as a gentle simple-hearted man. And the Southern white man remembers again the traditional kindliness between his fathers and the fathers of his black neighbor; while the northerner, perplexed to find a refutation of his theories, is disposed to be more generous. Possibly, then, when the future has witnessed the complete revival of that friendship between the races, for lack of which our common country suffers today, men may see fit to raise in our National Capital, a monument to the black poet, whose songs made two angry peoples mindful of their common brotherhood. FIRST SIGHT Benjamin Griffith Brawley I did not dream when first I saw you, dear, That I should ever love you---did not dream That by and by I should unhappy deem Each day that brought no message to my ear; You were so young, so wicked, and so near To all that pained me that it did not seem That sometimes in the after years the gleam That comes with love would bid me have no fear; But all those days are over and are gone; Above them rests the Never-Nevermore; At midnight in the silence and anon It is your voice that trembles o'er and o'er--- Your heart that thrills me with its own sweet tone--- Your love that bids me claim you all my own. W. H. Houser By Mrs. Howard Diggs W. H. HOUSER The history of the career of W. H. Houser, the well-known brick manufacturer and contractor of Charlotte, N. C., is at once an example and an inspiration to young men of the race who are inclined to scorn small beginnings. Born in 1845 and reared as a slave, at the age of 12 he became an apprentice of the brick-mason and plasterer. At the age of 16 he was put in charge of a brick yard in Chester, S. C., and a little later his remarkable executive ability caused him to be selected to take charge of a brickyard in Yorkville. In 1865 he moved to Charlotte and spent the years from 1865 to 1880 in contracting. The A. M. E. Z. church at Concord, N. C., the country jail, an addition to Mt. Island Factory, the Tuckesse Mills costing $3,000, and the Gastonia Mills costing $4,500 and the Henrietta Mills costing $5,000 were evidences of the mechanical genius of Mr. Houser. His building of the Charlotte Oil and Fertilizer Mills in 1889 at a cost of $20,000 was perhaps Mr. Houser's largest job up to that time. During this time he employed 20 bricklayers and 40 laborers with 30 men at work on the brickyard, his pay roll running from $100 to $150 per day. He furnished brick for the erection of the Second Presbyterian Church, the City Hall, the North Graded School, the D. A. Tompkins Building, and many other of the largest structures in Charlotte, including Carter Hall at Biddle University, which cost about $14,000 and required the services of 10 bricklayers, 10 carpenters and 25 laborers. At one time more than one half the brick used in and around Charlotte was furnished by Mr. Ho[u]ser, who conducted two large brickyards with eight wagons and 16 fine mules. In speaking of his latest enterprise, that of the management of a $50,000 brick plant, the Observer, one of the leading newspapers of the State, recently designated Mr. Houser as being "considered an artist at the business." Altho a man with superior natural gifts, possessing sound understanding, quick perception and business talent, Mr. Houser attributes much of his success and prosperity to the obstacles and adverse circumstances of his early life. Himself a self-made man, he gives ever ready encouragement to deserving youth of his race. Prosperity has not spoiled him, as it does many, for he is a man of a singularly cheerful and buoyant disposition, a favorite with men of all classes and most admired and beloved by those who know him best. he is considered by white and black alike to be one of Charlotte's most substantial citizens, a striking example of what may be accomplished by force of purpose and perseverance. Susan B. Anthony, The Abolitionist By Mary Church Terrell Among the men and women who have paid tributes to Susan B. Anthony since she closed her eyes in death March 13th, not one owes her such a debt of gratitude as I myself. My obligation to her is two-fold, for I am a woman as well as a representative of that race of whose freedom Miss Anthony worked so indefatigably, so conscientiously and so well. The debt of gratitude which women, not only in this country, but all over the civilized world owe Miss Anthony is great enough to be sure. But the representatives of that race which but fifty years ago bowed under a yoke of cruel bondage in this country in addition to bearing the burdens of a handicapped sex, owe her a debt of gratitude which cannot be expressed in words. Though Miss Anthony rendered signal and conspicuous service during those dark days, when there was neither light nor shadow of turning for the slave, the work she subsequently performed for the amelioration of the condition of women was so prodigious that her anti-slavery record during the last decade or two has become partially obscured. Nevertheless, among the abolitionists who strove so earnestly to break the fetters of the slave, not one worked with such sublime heroism and more ardent zeal than did that noble woman, whose loss is so sincerely mourned all over the civilized world. It is difficult to speak of such valiant and valuable service as that rendered by Miss Anthony to my race in language which some may not consider extravagant and fulsome. Thee are so many recorded, indisputable facts, however, which show the incredible amount of work she performed in behalf of my oppressed race as well as her own handicapped sex, so many facts which prove her clear title to our grat- itude and love that it is unnecessary for me or anybody else to resort to fiction to add one jot or one tittle to her fame. From the moment Susan B. Anthony accepted the invitation of the American Anti-Slavery Society to assist it in breaking the fetters of the oppressed, till the shackles had fallen from the last slave, she consecrated herself to this cause with all her heart and sol and labored for it with unflagging zeal. Routes for herself and others were planned and meetings arranged with the greatest skill and care. Into towns great and small, some of them off the railroad and reached only by stage, Miss Anthony went, preaching the gospel of freedom, portraying the horrors of slavery and imploring the people to extirpate it root and branch. With the mercury many degrees below zero, we see her emerging from one snow drift, only to plunge into another, or shivering with cold in a sleigh nearly buried in a snow bank, while the bewildered driver goes to the nearest farm house, only to discover that he has missed the road and driven over a fence into a field, but urged, nevertheless by the dauntless, determined Miss Anthony to do his level best to reach the town for which they are bound, so that she may touch the hearts and arouse the conscience of the people in behalf of the imbruted, wretched slave. During a winter of unusual severity, when the men who were her co-laborers in the cause of abolition broke down physically, one after another, cancelled their engagements and converted their letters to their family and friends into veritable Jeremiads, full of the most pathetic complaints about their heads, their backs, their throats, their lungs and their eyes, Miss Anthony trudged bravely, heroically on. Though 412 THE VOICE OF THE NEGRO she herself doubtless ached many a time from her head to her feet, was sick for the comforts to which she had been accustomed in her comfortable home but which she often lacked on the road, and was sad and heavy of heart because of the awful persecution which as a woman supporting two unpopular causes she was forced to endure, so literally did she crucify the flesh in behalf of that cause for whose triumph she worked with such desperate, effective earnestness, she neither missed a single engagement nor lost a day from her work. In every fibre of her being she loathed an institution which robbed an unfortunate race of every right that men hold dear, tore mother from child and separated husband from wife. Having devoted this unnatural brutal system to destruction, so far as in her lay, she allowed neither height nor depth nor any other creature to turn her aside from this work. So great was the confidence reposed in Miss Anthony's ability by the men who represented the brain and the conscience of the abolition movement that the whole State of New York was at one time placed under her control. "We want your name to all letters and your hand in all arrangements," Mr. May, the secretary of the Anti-Slavery Society wrote her once. "I think," said he, "that the efficiency and the success of our operations in New York this winter will depend more upon your personal attendance and direction than upon that of any other worker. We need your earnestness, your practical talent, your energy and your perseverance to make the conventions a success. We want your cheerfulness and your spirit, in short, we want yourself." Considering how many giants there were in those days among the dominant sex, this was high praise indeed for a representative of that half of humanity, whose men[i]al inferiority and dearth of intellectual prospects were accepted as foregone conclusions both by wise men in the new and progressive West and by their brothers in the ancient and stagnant East. In addition to being violently hated by the advocates of slavery in the North as well as in the South, Miss Anthony had no sooner proclaimed the Garrisonian doctrine "No Union With Slaveholders," than she incurred the bitter hostility of that party destined to crush the rebellion and break the fetters of the slave, but which at one time did not stand for the abolition of slavery and simply opposed its extension. It happened, therefore, in a series of meetings planned one season for the Anti-Slavery Society by Miss Anthony, she was mobbed in every city and town she entered from Albany to Buffalo. But neither the winter's cold nor the white heat of wicked men's wrath could force or frighten her from the work in behalf of freedom and justice to which she had devoted her life and consecrated her powers. When at Syracuse, New York, eggs were promiscuously thrown around and about her and benches were broken, when pistols and knives gleamed in every direction Susan B. Anthony, the only woman in the midst of that hissing, howling, murderous mob stood determined, fearless and serene. Hideous effigies of herself were dragged through the streets and burned, but such exhibitions of hatred only nerved her all the more for the holy warfare in which she was engaged. But Miss Anthony's service to the anti-slavery movement did not consist entirely either in the speeches which she herself delivered or in the meetings she arranged for others. The emancipation proclamation had no sooner been issued by Abraham Lincoln than this far-sighted woman and close student of human nature saw clearly that the resourceful, infuriated masters who had lost their human chattels would do everything in their power to render this SUSAN B. ANTHONY 413 document null and void. The fact that the jails of loyal Kentucky were filled with slaves from Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi who were advertised to be sold for their jail fees according to law just as they were before their emancipation was proclaimed, filled Miss Anthony with the gravest apprehension and inspired her to work in their behalf with renewed energy and redoubled zeal. Firmly convinced that the only way of securing freedom for the slave was by and through an act of Congress Miss Anthony and Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton called upon the women of the free States to do their duty to their government as well as to the slave by signing petitions urging Congress to pass a law forever abolishing slavery in the United States. As a result of this call the Woman's National Loyal League was formed. With her headquarters in Cooper Union in New York City and without the guarantee of a single cent for expenses Miss Anthony worked throughout the long hot summer of 1863 with might and main, scattering letters far and wide, arousing men and women to a sense of their duty and directing the affairs of this organization with the sagacity and the skill of a general. Not until the Senate had passed a bill prohibiting slavery and there was no doubt about the intention of the House to concur did Miss Anthony cease to secure and send petitions to Congress and close her headquarters in Cooper Union. The untiring, persistent, consecrated chief of this Woman's National Loyal League, the head, the heart, the feet and the hands of that magnificent movement was the noble, justice-loving woman whose memory is so dear to us today. Not only in her public work and by her platform utterances did Miss Anthony help to create sentiment in behalf of an oppressed and persecuted race, but by her daily example and by her private conversation as well. Shortly after she had left home for the first time to teach, she wrote her family that she had had the pleasure of visiting four colored people and taking tea with them. With great emphasis she asserted that "it affords me unspeakable satisfaction to show this kind of people respect in this heathen land." Again she writes a scathing denunciation of some "meek followers of Christ" as she sarcastically calls them, who refused to allow a colored man to sit in their Church in Tarrytown, New Yor, and who could not worship the God who is no respecter of persons with their sable companion sitting by their side. If at any time Miss Anthony's zeal in behalf of the race for whose freedom she had labored so faithfully and so hard seemed to abate, it was not because she desired justice for them less, but because she yearned for justice toward all God's creatures more. Having worked with such genuine, devoted loyalty and such unflagging zeal to help free an oppressed race, it is no wonder that Miss Anthony was wounded to the heart's core, when the men whom she had rendered such invaluable assistance in this cause, coolly advised her to wait for a more convenient season or refused absolutely to assist her, when she implored them to help her secure justice and equality before the law for her own disfranchised sex. Although Miss Anthony was accustomed to the hisses of the mob and the persecution of her enemies, this attitude of her former co-laborers and friends, which literally seemed ingratitude more strong than traitors arms, almost vanquished her. Though Susan B. Anthony was an ardent advocate and an eloquent champion of an oppressed race, she will be known to future generations principally for the prodigious amount of work she accomplished for the amelioration of the condition of her sex. When she was born near Adams Mass., in 1820, not a single college or university in the United States admitted wo- 414 THE VOICE OF THE NEGRO men. Miss Anthony was 13 years old, before the initiative was taken by Oberlin, which was the first college in this country, just, broad and benevolent enough to extend a cordial invitation to the Colored-American and to open its doors to women on an equal footing with men. When Susan B. Anthony was young, if a woman by some fortunate chance had acquired a thorough education it was considered extremely indelicate and decidedly impolitic for her to let the public know she possessed such intellectual attainments. If she did, her chances of getting a husband were exceedingly slim. Sixty years ago, when the agitation for equal rights began, only one occupation, not menial, was open to women, and the pay received by the woman teacher was very small as compared with the salary paid men. The woman who was strong physically, who enjoyed excellent health, who did not faint at the sight of a mouse or some man who precipitated himself unexpectedly in her presence was considered coarse and unrefined. Even in so enlightened a state as Massachusetts before 1855 a woman could not hold her own property, either earned or acquired by inheritance. If unmarried she was obliges to place it in the hands of a trustee, to whose will she was subject. If she contemplated marriage, and desired to call her property her own, she was forces by law to make a contract with her intended husband, by which she gave up all title or claim to it. The common law of Massachusetts held man and wife to be one person, but that person was the husband. By will he could not only deprive her of all his property, but even of the property she herself had owned before her marriage. The husband had the income of his wife's real estate till she died, and if they had a living child, his ownership of the real estate continued to his death. A husband could for- bid a wife n Massachusetts to buy a loaf of bread or a pound of sugar or contract for a load of wood to keep the family warm. A wife did not own a rag of her own clothing. her husband could steal her children, rob her of her clothing and her earnings, neglect to support the family, while she had no legal redress. Not until 1879 was an act passed in Massachusetts which provided that a married woman might own her own clothing to the value of $2,000. Today much of this injustice to women is recalled only as any other relic of the dark ages is mentioned. Not only in Massachusetts, but in nearly all our states, a married woman can hold her own property, if it is held or bought in her own name and can make a will disposing of it. A married woman an make contracts carry on business, invest her own earnings for her own use-and she is also responsible for her debts. Today, thanks to the herculean labor and the heroic sacrifices of Susan B. Anthony and the other noble women who aided her, the best schools, colleges and universities in the country open their doors to women, while in a goodly number of countries across the sea a similar opportunity of cultivating their minds is afforded them. In four States of the Union the elective franchise has been granted to women. In Wyoming, Utah, Colorado and Idaho women go to the polls with their husbands and sons. In addition to the profession of teaching women to preach, practice medicine, plead before the courts as lawyers and engage in nearly as many vocations as do men. In many states the presence of women as members of School Boards, Boards of Visitors to the Penal and Correctional Institutions and other organizations of a similar nature attracts no attention at all and is considered a matter of course. In certain States women still have no legal authority over their children, but there has SUSAN B. ANTHONY 415 been a great gain on this point during the last twenty years. That such a revolution in sentiment concerning the sphere and capacity of women has been wrought that such golden opportunities for self-culture and usefulness in the world are offered women today is due in large measure to Susan B. Anthony, who for nearly sixty years devoted her life to this work. It has always been gratifying to me to know that Frederick Douglass was among the first men in this country to advocate equal rights and equal opportunities for women. It was Frederick Douglas who saved from defeat the resolution urging women to secure for themselves the elective franchise which was offered in Seneca Falls, July 1848, where the first woman's rights convention ever called in the United States or in the world, for that matter was held. Eleven resolutions were presented and all had been unanimously carried except this one to which reference had been made. Frederick Douglass and Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, realizing that the power to choose rulers and make laws was the right by which all others could be secured, advocated this resolution with such eloquence and logic that it was finally carried by a small majority. When Frederick Douglass himself was disfranchised on account of his race, it is gratifying to reflect that he was not so inconsistent and selfish as to wish to deny to woman the rights and privileges withheld form her simply on account of her sex. For the same arguments advanced against the right of women to participate in the affairs of their government and their respective States are used by those enemies of the Colored American who have robbed him of his right of citizenship in 11 States. It was my privilege and pleasure to be entertained by Miss Anthony and her sister Mary in their comfortable and interesting home in Rochester, New York, a year ago last December. The time spent under the roof of those great-souled, progressive hospitable women will always be recalled as red letter days in my life. The two volumes of her own life written by Ida Husted Harper which Miss Anthony presented to my little daughter as a Christmas gift in 1904, and the four volumes of the History of Woman Suffrage which she gave me, each and every one of which contains an inscription written by her own dear hand, together with numerous pamphlets which she sent me from time to time are and will ever remain among the most cherished treasure which I possess. From the moment Susan B. Anthony was capable of thinking for herself till she entered upon her well-earned rest, her life was one long protest against injustice in all its forms toward any of God's creatures, whether man or woman, black or white. So permeated was she herself with a glowing, all-consuming desire for justice that it is no wonder she was able to kindle the sacred flame in the breast of so many with whom she walked and talked. So long as there lives in the United States a single human being through whose veins flows one drop of African blood, so long will Susan B. Anthony be held in grateful remembrance, so long will her name be loved and revered. Although Miss Anthony worked continually and faithfully to secure justice for every American and actually accomplished much to compass this end, a vast amount of work along this line yet remains to be done. May Miss Anthony's prayer for justice, for which she hungered and thirsted 86 years, but for which, to a certain extent at least, she hungered and thirsted in vain soon be answered all over the world. My Justice, absolute, impartial Justice, without regard to race, color, sex or class soon extend her dominions to the uttermost part of the earth. May the spirit of Susan B. Anthony, who was the incarnation of 416 THE VOICE OF THE NEGRO justice, enter the breast of a mighty host of American women and impel them to battle against injustice as fearlessly and valiantly as did our peerless leader who did not know the meaning of compromise or surrender and scorned the suggestion of defeat. But Susan B. Anthony is gone, that friend of the oppressed that champion of right. To the thorny, tear-wet path her weary feet have trod I would not call her back. To her memory has been erected a monument more precious than marble, more enduring than brass or stone. In the heart of a grateful race, in the heart of the womanhood of the world she lives and Susan B. Anthony will never die. A Letter from Texas By Mrs. Vandavell Jones EDITOR VOICE OF THE NEGRO, MY DEAR SIR: Some time ago I sent you er story, writ all by my lone self, erbout er beautiful little yaller hair'd girrul what got the kroup from bein' an' angel, an she dide. An' her stingy old daddy turned good, an' give away some of his money onct a year, to her memory. But, Mr. Editor, you sent it back. Now, says I, that editor would er got mad if I had writ erbout er short haired black girrul playin an angel an' dyin' from it. Then ergin, says I, editors is curis things anyway. Now that's that Silas Floyd what has to put er X right in the middle of his name jest like he could'nt write it his self and has to make his X mark. He's always writin' erbout 'possums and Tom cats an' lazy niggers,-and you, Mr. Editor, printin' every thing he writes. He's stuck up, too, I writ him er letter onct, an' interdoosed myself to him and then caught the neuralgy, er hanging on my front gait while waitin' for the mail-man to bring me er ancer to that letter, but he never did. ENOUGH OF HIM. Now Mr. Editor I'm goin' to exkuse you for sendin' back that story 'cause, since I come to think-I failed to interdoose myself to you beforehand, an' of cou'se you didn't know what er illustr'us person you was snubbin. More'n that-Mr. Kealing said in your last jurnel, that failures is the forunner of success, or something like that. (By the way when you see him er'in, tell him I'm agent for er hair tonick warranted to grow hair on the baldest head.) Whar was I? Oh yes, I started to interdoose- myself to you which brings to my mind some thin' else I saw in your jurnel, an' that was ar kartoon of er interduction. It ware Mr. Vardemun, Mr. Dixon an' Mr. Gormun, being interdoosed to notoriety by walkin' over the nigger's back. It was gre't! it was fine! But, Mr. Editor, one thing was wrong---That nigger should er bin wobblin. True, he was tied, hands and feet, but then he could er wobbled and throw'd em off jest as easy. The thing I've noticed about our people-They aint yet bin tied so tite, they couldn't wobble some. Look at them Ortermobeles in Nashville! Wasn't that er big wobble? Look at we Af'ican Metherdis'---what er big wobble we tries to make! Look at---at---well, I can't think of nothin' else that's wobblin' just now, but that Mason is a smart boy an' show can draw good. Is he married? Say, Mr. Editor, after I interdoose myself to you I want you to interdoose me to that Kelley Miller. He's er man after my own heart. I've got a pianer too, for I always did love musick, and my boy, Jim's got a bass fiddle as big as er hogzet, an er alto horn, an' er kornet, an' er little fiddle too. You ought to hear that boy play! Why-he is a natchel born musikan! When he were er little bit of er chap an' I had him washin' dishes, he would take my chiny cups an' glasses, set 'em in a row, pour water in 'em an' then beat tunes on 'em with tea-spoons. An,' would you bele've it; they made the sweete' musik. It sounded just like er little baby's tears an' lafter mingled together, with jest the faintest echo of a mother's lulliby. But my grashus, I ain't interdoosed myself yet! But befo'e I do, please tell mme who draw'd that picture of Booker T? A LETTER FROM TEXAS 417 I couldn't make out the name 'cause I didn't have my glasses, but who ever he is, you tell him I say that pad-lock will fit more mouths than Booker T's. Bless my soul! It's a quarter to seven' and' amy old man's home for supper an' not a spark of fyer in the kitchen stove. Au-re-voy Mr. Editor, Ill have to interdoose myself some other time. Yours in hast, SISTER JONES. P. S. I send you a poim. Please dont sent it back. The title of it is---"Hitch yo gallus hyer." N. B. This aint persunnal, Mr. E., It doan mean your gallus needs hitchen up. Au-revoy. Dont forgit to print my poim. A PISCATORIAL PARSON By Silas X. Floyd One Sunday morn in summer The folks at All Saint's Church, Because of their pastor's absence, Were left in an awful lurch. Not a single person had seen him, Nor did a member know, What Providential hindrance Detained the parson so. After a spell of waiting, Long past the time to begin, The folks were dismissed by a warden, Whose face was wan and thin. Then searching parties galloped All the wide town around, Hoping some trace of the parson In some way would be found. At length a band of searchers, Some eight or ten miles from town, Stumbled upon the parson Just as the sun went down. Calmly ensconced on a cushion, Close by a babbling brook, There sat the truant parson Quietly baiting his hook. Quickly they told their story--- This band of Christian envoys; And the parson looked up and said, smiling, "Well! I thought this was Saturday, boys!" THE SOUL By Eugene Curry Nelson Perhaps his skin is wholly black, But does that truly show That the man's soul beneath the skin Is not as white as snow? Perhaps the skin is purely white, But can that truly mean That always beneath the whitened skin, The soul is pure and clean? No, 'tis not the skin true manhood shows, Nor brings the soul to view; But our conduct toward our fellow marks The soul as false or true! COMPELLED TO SPEAK By Will H. Hendrickson A dog which met a porcupine Out in the woods one day, Bit at his throat-and then a whine Was heard quite far away. This dog was not of the common breed For he was very sleek; And though he was stuck-up, indeed, He did not fail to speak. The West Indies Islands By R. Archer Tracy PANORAMA OF PORT-OF-SPAIN Despite the proximity of the West Indian Islands to the United States, very little or nothing is known here of the political, social, or economic conditions. Since our arrival in the United States we have been regarded with peculiar interest by many persons, and have been wearied by Quixotic questions. In the mind of the uninformed, particularly the inhabitants of the beautiful islands of the Carribean Sea, are associated with notions of Palm trees, half civilized savages, and continuous revolutions-a dream most difficult to eradicate. From time to time these islands become the happy hunting grounds of unreliable globe trotters who invariably do more harm than good in the end. They bring with them strong prejudices, the outcome of erratic, preconceived notions, and after a visit of a few hours, or at most a day or two, they flatter themselves to be in possession of all information touching the general conditions of the colonies, and furnish tales as fascinating as the stories of The Arabian Nights. This may be a successful attempt to satisfy the lovers of sensational literature, and to secure pecuniary gain, but Truth is thereby thoroughly outraged. Mr. Horace Smith, writing in the "Pittsburg Dispatch" some time ago about Trinidad Trinidad stated some interesting facts anent the up-to-date condition of the island, but introduced into his otherwise instructive article the element of pronounced negrophobia when dealing with the social condition of the people, which we deem it our duty to offset. It was evidently the desire of this writer to convey the impression that in the West Indies, as in the United States, the Negro is a bete noire. He makes no distinction between the several grades of society, and places all members of the race upon the same platform. This is an unpardonable misrepresentation; nay it is a monstrous injustice. There are different strata in the society of the colored people of the West Indies. Professional men of color do not drink cocktails and highballs with grooms and porters, nor does the laborer sit at the social dinner table with the well-to-do merchant and his family. The members of each grade are perfectly satisfied to labor and make themselves happy in their own sphere without grumbling or entertaining the insane idea that their place is somewhere else for which neither Nature nor circumstance has fitted them. For over seven decades the West Indian has been brought in contact with the beneficent influence of British civilization. The blue-blooded sons of fair Albion have always exhibited towards the freedmen a 420 THE VOICE OF THE NEGRO MAIN SQUARE. PORT-OF-SPAIN. remarkable tolerance. The spirit of fair play is evinced on all sides-equitable laws maintain the bond of harmony between the races. The slaves were not merely physically free, they were also morally so. The great Anglo-Norman hearts looked back to the dim and distant past when their ancestors fed on acorns and ran wild in woods, then along the various stages of their progressive development until with pardonable pride they viewed the crowning point of a marvelous civilization. How could they continue to clog the wheels of human progress? The barriers were unconditionally removed and the emancipated son of Ham entered jubilantly the Land of Promise unhampered and unmolested. His quondam masters were not slow to evolve schemes for his education-for drawing out those qualities of mind and heart which would place him on that plane where he would be recognized as a man and a brother. The once helpless exotic has long since overcome the disadvantages incidental to a foreign growth under the baleful influence of slavery; and he now justly considers himself not an alien, but an important integer of a powerful and progressive nation. When Chas. Kingsley, poet, parson, naturalist and philosopher visited Trinidad he found the education question exercising the minds of the then Gov. Sir Arthur Gordon and the legislative council, and he was able to chronicle in his "At Last" the following: "To give the lads as much as possible the same interest, the same views, to make them all alike, feel that they were growing up not merely English subjects but Englishmen was one of the most social problems in Trinidad, and the complete way of solving it was to educate them side by side in the same school on terms of perfect equality." Such a result has been achieved. The colored boy and the white boy have for many years fought side by side at the Queen's Royal College and St. Mary's College for the Gilchrist and several other scholarships of considerable value. They study their professions together in London and Edinburgh, eat their last dinners together and together go out into the world. It is not true that "the West Indian Negro does not regard illegitimacy as a crime," and we can see no reason for this assertion. An unbiased investigation will prove decidely to the contrary. Immorality will exist as long as there are men and women TRINITY CATHEDRAL, PORT-OF-SPAIN. THE WEST INDIES 421 foolish and sensual enough to commit social crimes, but it is a fact as clear as noonday that the spiritual and mental developments of the British W. Indian Negro have attained that plane where their microcosm is surrounded by the healthiest atmosphere, inspiring the purest moral life. Unfaithfulness among married couples is rare, and whenever it does occur THE HARBOR, PORT-OF-SPAIN. (for is not human nature weak?) the effects produced are startling, and hornet's nests disturb the equaninimity of the offender. It is an incontrovertible fact that public opinion is unflinching in its ostracism of immorality at whatever hue or color, and metes out punishment commensurate with the offence. There is no bitter hatred or animosity between the opposite races. Hence there is no Negro problem. There is a union of all for the service of all. Each individual, white or black, realizes that it is his to promote the peace and prosperity of his country. This is of paramount importance, and to this end all petty differences are relegated to the background. This is the result of a wise British policy towards her freedmen. The attitude attitude of this country towards liberated slaves was not characterized by either foresight or good statesmanship, and as a consequence there is now a thorough absence of mutual harmony between the white and colored races. In a review of B. Puttenbury's book, "Ethiopia in Exile," Evelyn Wrench says in a recent number of the "London Daily ST. JAMES BARRACKS News:" "While we Britishers can rightly congratulate ourselves on the absence of inter- racial hatred in our West Indian possessions, we must not minimize the extreme difficulty of the problem which has confronted and still confronts the American people." The great apostle of the Black Race-Booker T. Washington-dispassionately sums up "the white man's burden" of America: "The time is not distant when the world will begin to appreciate the real character of the burden that was imposed upon the South when 4,500,000 ex-slaves, ignorant and impoverished were given the franchise." In the West Indies public sentiment is moulded after an entirely different fashion to the United States. Perseus may win his Andromeda, and fair Desdemona may sigh for her swarthy Othello without any fear of being molested. This is their individual business. The cruelty and inhumanity of Lynch Law are unknown in these climes, because the motives from which they spring have never been born. We could say much more about the social systems of the West Indies in vindication of the calumnies of unscrupulous globe-trotters, but we leave this duty to such distinguished writers as the late Colonial Secretary of Jamaica and others of this class who were not merely birds of passage but long residents in the West Indies. It is a gratifying reality to know that the dissemination of fictitious literature about the West Indies has not scared away the vast number of tourists from all parts of the world who annually flock to these shores in search of health and enjoyment. Apart from the historic importance of these islands the salubrious climate and magnificent sceneries are charming. Who has ever read Kingsley's "At Last" without having an all-absorbing wish to gaze at the beauty and grandeur of these earthly THE WEST INDIES 423 earthly paradises? The larger islands such as Jamaica, Trinidad and St. Lucia can boast of immense natural resources which are being gradually developed. Jamaica with her fruit trade and other agricultural and industrial concerns, is rapidly forging ahead. Trinidad although much younger, has gained a remarkable prominence. Blessed by nature with immense resources, her pilots have put their shoulders to the wheel with the object of developing them, but the work is yet in its incipiency. Last year $4,305,758.40 were received by Trinidad for cocoa and $2,092,800.00 for cane sugar despite the decline in the price of this commodity. Large quantities of coffee, copra and cocoanuts are annually exported to foreign markets, and 2,000 acres of uncultivated lands yet remain to be turned to good account by the enterprising capitalist. Asphalt petroleum and manjack are among the minerals produced, contributing to the island's prosperity. The late Mr. W. Symington, who met his death by a locomotive in Trinidad, was using every possible means to develop a profitable fruit industry, and his successor has not been less energetic. There is a growing desire for the erection of large cocoa factories, and it is hoped that the delicious fruits of the Island will be employed in a prosperous jar trade. One observes little difference between the city of Port-of-Spain and the typical American or European city. It possesses all the adjuncts of an advanced civilization, and its sanitary conditions is faultless. Striking and magnificent structures are to be seen on all sides. The streets run at right angles and are paved with asphalt, the products of the famous pitch lake. There are several large departmental stores which do a vast amount of business with COLUMBUS STATUE, COLUMBUS SQUARE QUEEN'S ROYAL COLLEGE, OPENING CEREMONY Europe and America. The stranger is forcibly reminded of Smithfield or Broadway as he strolls up Frederick Street, Port-of-Spain where the principal commercial houses are situated. There is a good deal of English and American capital at work, but there is room for much more. Nowhere in the British Empire are to be found better opportunities for amassing wealth and living at ease than the West Indies. Their boundless resources must, however, be developed, and England is being brought to the task even by this country for her laissez faire attitude towards the brilliant gems of the Antilles which in the halcyon days, when sugar was king, so magnanimously came to her rescue in the hour of her need. British Guiana, the magnificent province, is yet undeveloped and 82,000 square miles of uncultivated land await the enterprising capitalist to convert them into smiling villages villages "Where health and plenty cheer the neighboring swain.'; Recently there has got abroad an idea in the West Indies that there is a secret understanding between England and the United States relative to the annexation of the islands by the latter, and the following protest, the product of a local poet, appeared in the "Jamaica Times:" Desert the Flag? O Shame! See'st not the flush Rise and o'erspread the brow of Loyalty At mention of a thought so base? O hush! For ever let the whisper silenced be, Springing from hearts of utter littleness! Self-seekers they to whom the name of King, Of Race and Country means but nothingness And sacred only such which profit bring. Cannot their faithless hearts exult with pride To claim that we, sons of a sunnier clime, With the great Mother aye have been allied Through half-forgotten avenues of time? Was it for this that Rodney's cannon boom'd Victorious o'er the wreck-strewn sea whose might Delivered us, by scornful foes predoom'd, THE WEST INDIES 425 And kept us children of the Friend of Right? Children, not Bastards! In that other land To which the traitor's eyes now turn, where found We thy unchanging justice at their hand Where freedom gleaned the fragments from the ground? The voice was not the Country's voice, O King! Loyal thy subjects to the end of Time! Whate'er the years to thee and us may bring Forever cleave we unto thee and thine. Jamaica MANDEVILLE. SPRINGTIME By Sarah S. Stewart The lilacs and the apple trees Are all in lovely bloom; The balmy air is fragrant with The flowers' sweet perfume. The winds breathe softest music Among the flowers and leaves; The hallelujah chorus Is wafted on the breeze; For merry birds are singing Through all the livelong day; All nature thrills with gladness This charming month of May. The orchards and the meadows, The brooks that ripple by, The grasses and the flowers, The lovely deep blue sky. The little insects creeping, All join with glad accord In showing forth the beauty, And praises of the Lord. Shall human tongues be silent While nature's voice doth sing? Ah! no, let every mortal A grateful anthem sing. RECOLLECTIONS OF EASTER. By Azalia E. Martin I heard a sweet and gladsome lay From out the forest deep; 'Twas ere the glory of the day Had kissed the stars to sleep. The organ tones, the chanting choir. Pealed forth on Easter tide; My soul was filled with Heavenly fire The earth was beautified. The gentle breezes catch the strains And bear them all away; Just as a shadow ne'er remains But passes with the day. Ye gentle zephyrs that have heard In fane and greenwood tree, The songs of choir and minstrel bird, Oh! bear them back to me. I shall not hear the music roll On some glad Easter day, For zephyrs soft shall take my soul And bear it far away. A Warning To The South By John D. Swain To the coldly philosophical mind, the recent burning of three Negroes at Springfield, Mo., presents a study of great interest. It is hardly to be expected that any such unemotional scrutiny will be applied in the South, by thinkers of either race; the very elements which prevents dispassionate consideration of the effects prevent adequate measures for repressing the causes. To the man who can entirely dissociate himself from racial feeling, who is too remote to suffer his judgment to be swayed by any affiliation or acquaintance with the actors in the tragedy, the study is one of engrossing interest as viewed in the light of similar acts recorded in history. Our account is from a Southern source, and it is fair to suppose that it was not sentimentally partial to the Negroes. Briefly, it stated that the mob, enraged by a recent assault upon a white woman, sacked the city jail, seized three Negroes and burned them in public, with great eclat. Of the Negroes, none were concerned in the specific outrage which formed the excuse of the mob; the woman who was assaulted positively asserted this before the men were burned; and one Negro was done to death for another crime while the perpetrator was actually escaping from the wrecked jail. But Southern mobs have never been super- sensitive upon this point, and so long as they obtain a victim, and have a holiday, it matters very little whether they secure the right man or not. The main point at issue is "the example." Prominent members of the mob are quoted as saying that their idea being to rid Springfield of Negroes, the burning will be justified by the exodus they confidently hope for. This is the account as it came to us from Southern reporters. To the disciple of Aristophanes, there are many touches of grim humor in the tragedy. There is, for instance, the picture of the mob gleefully wrecking its own property, for which it has paid once in taxes, and for the restoration of which it will pay again. Then there is the scene in the Sheriff's house; we are not to suppose the Sheriff is a negrophile, and we imagine him a man with the usual Southern attitude towards the black race. Otherwise it is difficult for us to conceive of him occupying the position he held. Yet the mob storms through his house, wrecks it, and frightens his wife into convulsions. I trust it may not seem indelicate to recall the fact that the Sheriff's wife is presumably a white woman; and right here we perceive the thin veneer of Southern chivalry rudely scratched indeed! And again it occurs to us, as it has before, that this chivalry smacks strongly of the vaudeville stage. Again, there is the scene where the little children, "on their way to Sunday School" pause to scratch about in the smoking ashes for precious souvenirs; sadly soiling their nice white frocks for the pleasing possibility of a charred finger joint. But with scant success; for the thrifty Southerner did "a brisk trade in relics" we are told, as usual; and already the remains of the burned victims have fetched their thirty pieces of silver. On the whole, considering the damage done by the mob, the wrecking of the jail and Sheriff's house, the serious fright of A WARNING TO THE SOUTH 427 his wife, the effect in general upon youth and men who are held in restraint only by preservation of the law, we are tempted to quote Vergniaud, who remarked, during the French Terror, "the Revolution, like Saturn, is devouring its own children!" And this is the crux of the affair. All revolutions based on cruelty and shocking injustice, do ultimately, devour their own children. But it is too much to expect the Southern white to understand this. It is a fact that when a man, or a race arrives at that point where the cup of misery is full; where no further calamity can befall them; where they have nothing more to lose-then the element of courage is eliminated from the problem; and depraved wretches issue from the caves of darkness and perform what we are pleased to call miracles of intrepidity, but which are merely instinctive acts, called forth not by courage, but despair; by the knowledge that any change must of necessity be a change for the better, that oppression has done its worst, and that they have nothing to lose, and everything to gain! In this sense, the Revolution in France was not a bold uprising, it was a national Forlorn Hope. Yet such an uprising never fails to fill the onlooking world with astonishment. That an oppressed, ignorant, crushed, spiritless, poor and unarmed race should rise against the hands before which it has cringed so long, never fails to elicit universal surprise; for the world does not consider that all question of personal courage has been eliminated. The man who pursues a rat in his cellar, and having finally cornered the squeaking rodent perceives its attitude suddenly change, and faces a desperate little animal which flies straight at his throat; yellow fangs bared-never fails to be amazed. "I didn't think it had the courage!" he exclaims. And it hadn't; it merely met a remorseless condition, governed by a natural law; it had nothing more to lose; death stared it in the face whether it huddled in its corner on or took the forlorn chance of burying its fangs in the white neck, the one vulnerable point of its oppressors. It would be difficult, probably impossible, to convince the Southern white man that by any possibility, however remote, the Negro race could be so oppressed, so abused, driven to such awful lengths of despair, that it might become a menace to existing authority, save in sporadic cases; and the majority would probably argue that the only logical method of "keeping the nigger in his place" is to bring forcibly home to him, by barbarous severity, a sense of what awaits him if he rebels. So thought the aristocrat of France in the Eighteneth Century. He held the power, the money, the arms, the education--all the nine points of possession were his; that the miserable serfs who tilled his fields could ever menace him, could shake off the fear established through centuries of habit, was so preposterous that the man who should have entertained it as a serious proposition would have been considered a lunatic. And the condition of the Fourth Estate of France was far worse than that of the Negro in the South, even in the most lawless sections. Did the Grand Seigneur ride from the hunt and arrive with chilled feet? He seized the first peasant at hand, man, woman or child; with the flash of a knife the peasant was ripped open, and the Seigneur comforted his cold feet in the smoking entrails of his dying victim. Did the frogs annoy his slumber by their clamor? Then at night, after working all day, the peasants stood in the marshes waist high, amid the poisonous vapors and stinging insects and water snakes, and threshed the swamps to silence the batrachian chorus. Unable to keep awake, many slipped 428 THE VOICE OF THE NEGRO down into the ooze and drowned there mercifully. To keep the breath of life in their bodies, they needed food; very well, after sunset, or before sunrise, they tilled the sterile plots allowed them; and when they ground their corn, they paid a tax to the Seigneur for the privilege; if indeed, the huntsman had not, in the mellow Autumn, ridden down their precarious crop ere it was garnered. If from this bent, deformed, toil-wrecked race there sprang occasionally a fair daughter, she belonged to the Seigneur; indeed, every bride was his for the asking, on the night of her wedding, by "droit du Seigniur." So it happened that there coursed many a stream of blue blood through the herdsmen and tillers of the soil; and it often chanced that some loutish fellow knelt in the dust as there passed, surrounded by a swarm of lackeys, his own half sister, powdered and bepatched, lounging in the cumbersome chariot of the day. Presently his hands were to run red with the blood of that sister. Taught their lesson, when the time came that they had nothing more to lose; when their perquisites had been cut to just enough food to keep blood in their veins, just enough rags to keep Winter from sweeping the estate bare of laborers, they obeyed blindly the law of nature, and rose as a man. It was not courage; it was not the education of pamphlets, speeches, the voice of apostles of liberty; it was despair. That their crimes should ape those of their masters, and exceed them if that were indeed possible, was to have been expected. So we see the smoking heart of Berthier borne through the streets of Paris in a bouquet of white carnations; we see patriotic dinner parties with the table decorated with set pieces of severed heads, and silver salvers of viscera. As long as the aristocrats lasted, they served for victims; but the taste of the people for blood and cruelty became easily confirmed; and when at length their natural enemies were used up, they turned upon each other; "the Revolution, like Saturn, devoured its own children!" Men known for their kindliness as officials were sacrificed; De Launay's head is severed with a pen-knife; De Losme, known as the "prisoner's friend" dies with former prisoners weeping and trying to tear his murderers from him. Patriots ascend the guillotine; even men formerly themselves exiled and imprisoned by the aristocrats; hundreds a day they perish to amuse the knitting women, and the unnatural children bred in those days; children who were as eager as those of Springfield for souvenirs, but who, (we say this to their credit) had at least given up the weekly Sunday School. And at last the bloody butchers themselves take their places; Robespierre makes a Parisian holiday. It is significant that the murderers masked themselves in the guise of patriotic and protective associations; they were the "Clansmen" of their day; they were, as Carlyle says, "A Committee ol Public Salvation whereat the world still shrieks and shudders." Nothing can be compared to the era of blood and cruelty which overran France, unless, indeed, we turn to more ancient history and cite the uprising of the Helots in Greece, a people who also arrived at that state where they had nothing further to lose, and who made a deal of trouble even for the Spartans, a race of professional soldiers; or later, the Servile Rebellions of Rome, whose despairing hosts held the Legions at bay so long, and died inflicting terrible carnage. In those days a slave was crucified for sneezing inopportunely; A WARNING TO THE SOUTH 429 and they were fed alive to fatten the lampreys. But as the taste for cruelty became fixed, the upper classes of Rome devoted no little time to one another; and the day came when it was a rare event indeed for a Roman Patrician or a Roman Emperor to die a natural death. Coming to the Terrorists of Russia, we see here a nation going the inexorable way of its predecessors, we see the ruling classes rich, arrogant, supported by a mighty soldiery, crumbling before a race of starved peasants and shopkeepers. Her doom is written on the wall of Nations. All the more so because her taste for blood has become confirmed; and as Coassacks scourge peasants, so peasants in turn crucify Hebrews and the Hebrews themselves plot assassination and anarchy. And how, we ask, can these peasants combat the Coassack, the secret police, the wealth of their oppressors? Each nation has met its problem in its own way. The Roman slaves seized arms, and enrolled the professional gladiators, slaves themselves, and met the Legions man to man, with their own weapons. The French peasants relied on mass; and tore out the hearts of their tyrants with bare hands, and decapitated them with rusty scythes. The Russians invented a method all their own; unable to stand before the frightful weapons of today, too poor to buy them, they have relied on secret associations, terrorism, and the bomb; armed with which one man can disrupt a regiment and wreck a palace; and easily and cheaply made at the price of a good dinner. Cheerfully ignoring the teaching of the past, the South goes on its way driving the Negro into the corner of despair. "The Clansman" (which, we are told, had been as popular in Springfield before the uprising as was the "Marriage de Figaro" in Paris before the Terror) shouts forth its evil councils; forcible deportation of the Negro is advocated; theatres, libraries and decent seats in cars and even churches are not for him; but all these trials are far from driving him into despair. So long as he can live, receive an honest wage, obtain from the law protection from sudden and cruel death on mere suspicion, his good nature and patience can be relied on; his somewhat indolent disposition needs a strong spur to rouse him, as a race, to revolt; but can any fair minded student doubt for a moment that if the South generally were to adopt the teaching of Springfield, the Negro will respond to the natural law of the cornered rat, the starved peasant with nothing more to lose, and make of the pleasant South a hell unspeakable? Will he alone prove a world exception, or will he move in lines as easily demonstrable as a mathematical problem? We see Negroes lynched, burned, tortured for misdemeanors; for barroom fights; for theft. What then is left for really serious crimes? In Mediaeval days, when scores of felonies were punishable with death, many of them with torture, crime was never so prevalent. Robbery was almost invariably accompanied by murder; because the punishment was in most cases death, and it was prudent to destroy the victim lest he bear witness. All sense of right and wrong was clouded and confused by the frightful severity of penalties applied indiscriminately to monstrous crimes. If the South fails to read her problem aright, if she permits lynching and torture to prevail to the debauching of her youth and the desperation of her blacks, her blood will be on her own head. As surely as she sows cruelty, she shall reap horror. Either lynching must die out, or vastly increase. 430 THE VOICE OF THE NEGRO There is a lust for blood, which is almost akin to the lust of the flesh. I well recall an acquaintance once formed with a young Texan, with whom I traveled for a long time, and who was the first to actively arouse my interest in Southern problems. He had attended many lynchings, and participated in some of them. The details as he related them were far worse than any I have ever read in the press. He seemed to delight in the grim recital; and he told me that two thirds of the lynchings were for petty felonies; "the truth is," he said "you cannot understand it; but after you have attended one or two lynchings, nothing else takes their place, and and you have got to see one about once in so often!." He told me that after witnessing the first, it was days before he could cast it out of his mind; but that gradually the desire to see another became a passion he could not resist. But he believed the effect on the Negroes was salutary, as it made them "less sassy;" and that lynchings, however prevalant, could ever rouse the Negroes to anything like an organized resentment, was a dream far outside of his philosophy. And his attitude, as I suppose, is the attitude of the average Southerner who assists in, or passively allows cruelty and horror to seize the scales of Justice, and usurp the law. QUITE DUSTY By Will H. Hendrickson "Oh! mama," spoke up the little boy, "You wash my face each day; But that old clock's face has not been washed Since sometime way last May!" TO-MORROW "TO-MORROW" is a monthly magazine published in Chicago that is worth reading. Its editor is far ahead of the average editor of the day. A League of Southern Americans By Joseph C. Manning It was indeed unfortunate to the South that the compromises on the slave trade were accepted and incorporated in the Constitution of the United States. As a result of the system of bondage there arose everywhere in the South the planter, slave- owning aristocracy. From this distinct class there also, developed the powerful political supremacy of this regime over the States of the South. As a consequence of this peculiar condition, there was a great gulf existing as between the class and the mass of whites in this section. The effect of this situation upon government was most harmful. In the free States of the North the conditions were entirely reverse to those existing in the South. There no distinct class had grown up to exercise its influence and to assert its dominancy in the affairs of society, church or State. The whole people of the North were fully in accord with the fundamental principles of the equality of rights and privileges in the concerns of government. The very spirit of the people was that of democracy. While the son of the planter slave owner basked in the indulgence of the planter aristocracy, the son of the Northern citizen caught the real American spirit from the freedom and independence of his surroundings. It is not strange then that there arose from the hearts and the homes of the plain people of the North a statesmanship that has left notable and enduring impress upon this Republic, while, at the same time, the sons of the poor whites of the South felt the sting of our imaginary inferiority as they were looked down upon by the sons of slave owners from the proud social eminence of the bondage system aristocracy. It is not so wonderful that Lincoln, the rail-splitter of the North, should, in the meantime, become Lincoln, the President of the Nation! The clearly defined class conditions growing out of the slavery system left a marked effect upon government in the South and, even now, there is an element of its leadership which arrogates to itself the expression of alleged public sentiment for all the people of the South. There are now, as there were in the days of slavery, those who would override and oppress the independent. There are those now who, by artful and ingenious appeals to prejudice, seek to subdue the enlightened sense of justice already quickened in the minds of the masses in the South,-fast coming to their own thinking. Frequently the adroit and base employment of low political appeal elevates to position and to notoriety those who engage in this designing subterfuge, but seldom does the influence of the beneficiaries of this political cunning reach beyond misguided localities giving them support. The hurt that comes to the material welfare of the South, by reason of this inflammatory political leadership far overreaches whatever of alleged benefit that might accrue to any locality in the States of the South from the indulgence of such a short-sighted course. These men, here and there over the South, who ride into place by arousing the passions of the people and through misrepresentations of our racial conditions, these men who preach the gospel of hate and intolerance, should not be permitted to impress the whole country that the whole white South believe as they do and that all Negroes in the South are unfit and unworthy citizens. There are true men, true Americans in the South, just as much so as there are men and Americans in the North. Many of the strong white men in the South have hesitated to speak for themselves and in behalf of the fairness of their white neighbors, however, for the HON. JOSEPH C. MANNING He has called for a Conference of Southern Americans. simple reason that they have not cared to engage in controversy with the political extremists who have sought self interest by plunging ahead in their radical careers. Then, too, there has been the distaste that all must feel for the abuse that comes upon all who dare defend the right. It is an encouraging omen that all the good white men of the South have not kept in silent acquiescence to the vaporings of Vardaman and his kind. What a blessed thing it is for Mississippi that there is a Bishop Galloway Galloway in that State to save its good name abroad from absolute degredation! It appears that the time is ripe for a League of Southern Americans, to be composed of white men of the South, organized with the view of fostering the American spirit among the masses of the South and seeking to uproot the dangerous spirit of intolerance wherever it exists in the Southern States. This League, through its Leadership, could give the South of liberalty and of a sense of fairness, a proper LEAGUE OF SOUTHERN AMERICANS 433 hearing both South and North. It could do much to elevate the character of political campaigns in this section and to awaken the people to the consideration of real rather than imaginary issues. There is a vast work the League could undertake. The stirring up of the masses upon the subject of popular education is one channel to which its efforts could be well directed. There are many strong men of the South who could gather together in conference to perfect the details of organization of this kind. In Alabama we have Capt. Charles H. Scott, Hon. Joseph O. Thompson, Hon. O. R. Hindley, Judge L. H. Reynolds, Hon E. J. Parsons, and many other able and active young men who would do powerful service in a cause of this character. Hon. Newell Sanders, Hon. H. Clay Evans and others in Tennessee might enlist in the movement. Georgia could furnish men of the character of Edwards and Judge Speer and Texas could supply such good men as would give standing to any high purpose. From all over the South there are those who could, if they would, bring into effect a League of Southern Americans, the power of which would be immediately recognized. The Middlesex Club of Massachusetts has a splendid feature which popularizes it among its membership, the having of dinners at which all of its members attend and listen to speeches from able men selected from throughout the Nation. It is time for the white men of the various Southern States, who wish to hasten the genuine American political spirit in the South, to fraternize and perfect some organization for the betterment of the conditions which confront us; and from the solution of the problems before us there is no escape. There is, at preesent, enough of brains, enough of energy outside the old regime, to make headway through united effort. This dormant energy should act and speak for itself. Let a League of Southern Americans come into existence. QUATRAIN By Wilson Jefferson Pity him not who in the world-sense fails, Whose aim, truth-seeking, trails a light afar; But rather pity him who still assails Pregnable heights, and never sees a star. Roosevelt and Hayti By Frank Rudolph Steward Simultaneously in Paris and New York appeared a few months ago M. Firmin's book entitled "M. Roosevelt, President des Etats-Unis et La Republique D'Haiti." Unfortunately for American readers, no edition in English of this book has as yet been published, although, such an edition, it is understood, will be forthcoming. M. Firmin is far in the forefront of the Haytian statesmen and publicists of our time. He has been many times in Haytian cabinets, having held the portfolios of State, of Finance and of Commerce; he has represented his country at European courts; more than once has he been an exceedingly prominent and active candidate for the presidency of the black republic and now dwells at St. Thomas in exile because of his political prominence and activity. He was Secretary of State during the negotiations for the cession of the Mole St. Nicholas when Frederick Douglass was our minister at Port-au-Prince and the doughty Admiral Gherardi had an American squadron in Haytian waters as an additional persuasion to the Haytians to yield to American demands. We are sufficiently familiar with the downfall of that attempt to secure Haytian territory, and also with the unstinted praise which even our Secretary Blaine was moved to bestow upon the brilliant black Secretary of State for his success in thwarting our designs. An extract of the official correspondence touching the cession of the Mole St. Nicholas M. Firmin fittingly appends to the present work. He is a man of wide and profound learning and a writer of unquestioned standing. His "De l'Egalite des Races Humaines" (of the Equality of the Human Races) published in Paris in 1885, in part in recognition recognition of his election to membership in the Society of Anthropology as well as a thoroughly scientific vindication of the inherent equality of the blacks upon which its learned author can well afford to rest his fame. Somewhere in his writings M. Firmin declares himself not to differ in color from the balackest Negro of the Soudan. His picture on the frontispiece of the present volume leaves no doubt of the truth of this proud declaration. That the "American Question" is a live one in the West Indies and among the States of South and Central America we need not the present work to assure us. The groups of extra-territorial questions growing out of the building and safeguarding of the Panama Canal, the expansion of the Monroe Doctrine into a duty on the part of the United States to police the American continent, the specific application of this new duty in the case of our fiscal protectorate over Santo Domingo, the resolution of Senator Heyburn now pending in the Senate for the acquisition of Santo Domingo and Hayti, the announced personal participation of our Secretary Root in the coming Pan-American Congress in Brazil are indications of what the "American Question" means to the States South of us. With this "question" as it concerns Hayti, M. Firmin has to deal. A large part of the present work is devoted to the study of the political history of the United States, of which history M. Firmin displays keen and intimate knowledge. With reference to this portion of the work, he remarks in the preface: "The Haytians do not know the Americans well enough. This neglect to study the life, history and institutions of a great people with whom we have so many points of contact, material and moral ROOSEVELT AND HAYTI 435 M. FIRMIN A Distinguished Haytian Political Writer moral, constitutes a grave defect and a danger even which should be overcome and removed as soon as possible. For this purpose I have been pleased to unfold, perhaps at too great lengths, before the eyes and minds of my fellow citizens, this history in its broad sociological outlines. I do not wish to conceal it! Compelled by my choice of such a plan to make known what is American by setting forth its origin; at the same time I have also desired to show how a people renders itself worthy of liberty and equality by displaying constant energy to conquer the one and the other one under the reign of enlightened justice, seeing in such striving the source of all social happiness and progress." What should prove of great interest to American readers is M. Firmin's critical discussion of the political history of Hayti, including an account of the Haytian governments down to the close of the presidency Boisroud-Canol in 1879, with a discussion of Haytian politics in general, out of which one may read the rise and development of Haytian nationality, the play of political forces in the black republic and their enlightenment, the sway and overthrow of administrations, and above all the baneful and sinister domination of teh color question in all things Haytian In a chapter on the needs and interests of Hayti, the author advocates some sane and salutary reforms in finance and administration, which, if taken to heart by his countrymen, should advance the unhappy island on the highway of progress. M. Firmin is an ardent admirer of Theodore Roosevelt and in the warmth of his admiration is not surpassed by such eulogists as Riis, Leupp, or Dr. Shaw. His chapter on Theodore Roosevelt glows with copious extracts from the speeches, messages and writings of our strenuous president. At the close of a thoroughly Rooseveltian quotation from "The Strenuous Life," wherein its author exhorts us all to face resolutely the difficulties of life, to wrestle with them and overcome them, M. Firmin observes: "After having read all these thoughts, all these maxims, whose moral and philosophical elevation, as well as their happiness of expression denote such a powerful intellectual organization, we may draw a general impression of the personality of Mr. Roosevelt which would permit us to see in him only a man of meditation, always facing some ideal, some such person as Kant, Fichte, Stuart-Mill or Auguste Compte, leaving to other mortals the work of acting and realizing the facts and concepts of which they indicate the high political and moral importance or furnish the undisputed prescription. But how deceived we should be! This dogmatic philosopher is a man of action. He practices strenuousness, even better than he teaches it." We shall of course not be surprised to find this Negro statesman warmly praising the President for the Booker Washington dinner episode, for the "Square Deal" doctrine, and for his staunch declaration against closing the Door of Hope-and of opportunity to the aspiration of his colored fellow-citizens. Such doctrines and declarations make a very natural and congenial 436 THE VOICE OF THE NEGRO appeal to the admiration of Negroes the world over. Where the West Indian's admiration travels faster than that of many of the President's fellow-citizens is in his warm commendation of Roosevelt's large interpretation of the Monroe Doctrine and of the new duties devolving upon the United States in fulfillment of this interpretation. Fortified by Roosevelt's repeated declarations and assurances that the United States desires none of the territory of its American neighbors and meditates no disturbances of their autonomies, but seeks only that these American governments be stable and orderly, observing their just obligations, M. Firmin warmly avows his complete adherence to the President's policy. "In fact" he declares, "no one can deny that the Monroe Doctrine, thus interpreted by Mr. Roosevelt, tends to take on a character of positive international law. One has only to observe the tacit adherence, but manifested more and more, which all the great European powers are giving to it. What must come out of it in the future? This question troubles monarchs as well as mere individuals whose happiness consists in their power to continue to work their sweet will with young, and as yet poorly organized countries in which the fear of might overpowering right causes them to undergo such hurtful depressions in their national development. But I can see for these feeble and poorly equipped countries, of which the majority of Central and Southern American countries are examples, only a tutelary guaranty, only a necessary counter-support. Having no longer that stupefying fear of losing their autonomy, which fear those high classed players with their letters-patent on our much-abused independence employs as a specific scarecrow against the claims of justice and liberty; these young peoples who lack neither intelligence intelligence nor moral energy, would strive to establish civilization among them, the rational aim of every national organization worthy of respect and sympathy. Therefore, I will repeat the words of the President of the United States: I believe in the Monroe Doctrine with all my soul." Speaking elsewhere of the Roosevelt doctrine of international police, he continues: "This doctrine of international police which seems to be a menace to the little republics, which is, however, a security as well as a warning, is thus Mr. Roosevelt's own conception. It is a corollary required by the Monroe Doctrine, as he understands it and expands it. For my part, I must repeat that I find nothing in it that I cannot approve of in my reason as in my patriotism. To protect the feeble against the violence of the strong without obliging the power to observe the laws of right and the rules of duty would be only injustice and immorality under the color of humanity." The foregoing has prepared us to find Firmin in the last chapter of his work confidently affirming that Hayti has nothing to fear from Roosevelt and frankly urging his countrymen to enlist American aid in developing their unmeasured natural resources, believing that the advent of Roosevelt and his policy mean the dawn of a new life for the black republic. His enthusiasm, however, does not prevent him from sounding this significant warning to American imperialists: "Besides, what prudent and wise American statesmen would desrie to undertake to seize by force the territory of Hayti, or any part of that territory, when he compares the benefits of such acquisition with the efforts and considerable outlay in human lives and in money which must be sacrificed and expended to bring such an enterprise to a successful termination? - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - -- - - - -That to preserve its independence Hayti is determined to fight to the last breath of its last citizen no one has any doubt. In that determination, calm and strong, firm and confident, we should seek our safety in case our republic be seriously menaced, and not in a sickly and unenlightened disquietude. It suffices that no one knows to what lengths we would be ready to go for the preservation of our sacred patrimony of 1804 in order that he may look twice ROOSEVELT AND HAYTI 437 before he disputes its possession with us. The history of the independence of Hayti, so atrocious, so bloody, but so full of lessons in its epic grandeur is still quite fresh in our memories, standing as a noble inspiration and a constant invitation to us to live it over again...............................................All our social plagues, all our individual selfishness would be neutralized and would disappear in a common emulation. The more unequal and desperate the struggle, the more audacious in the face of peril would we become, recalling the strenuous verse of the poet of Mantua: Una salus victis, nullam separate salutem. "Driven to the last extremity of resistance, we would still keep up the fight, the old setting the example for the young, showing them how beautiful beautiful it is to be buried beneath the ruins of one's country rather than survive its ruins." And further along: "The undertaking to impose upon us a protectorate would be nothing else than the cold and premeditated determination to exterminate us. The invader, after all the horrors of savage warfare would have only to sit himself down upon some piled up ruins on the field of his sterile conquest." A host of competent observers, both European and American, who have visited Hayti, from Frederick Douglass to a recent correspondent of the London Times, have told the world the same story. TO PAUL LAWRENCE DUNBAR By Waldo H. Dunn Dunbar, they harp-strings now are silent all, And only sadness and a gloom remain, Which fill my heart with truest, deepest, pain, To know thou'rt gone. forever past recall; And yet tis best that from the harsh world's thrall Thou'rt past; Earth left, how much of Heav'n they gain, Who knew life's sorrow and its hopes how vain; God's glory now doth on thy vision fall! Thou sang'st the joys and pains, the hopes and fears Of all thy race's hard and bitter past, With such a sweetness that thy songs will last, And brighten all the path of future years: I, of an alien race, am mov'd to tears, And on thy grave do all my garlands cast. "GENTLE SPRING." By Jasper Tappan Phillips, Fisk University. The wintry days have passed away, Beneath the mild approach of Spring, The blithesome birds from leafy boughs Paeans of love and pleasure sing. The meadows are with verdue clad, While roses sweet and lilies fair From distant fields and shady glens Pour out their fragrance through the air. The cattle leave the gloomy stalls To browse upon the pasture green; With eagerness the farmers plough And so their seed with jolly mein. Anon the earth will busy be; The insects, plants and everything Will from their sloth and sleep awake To hear the gladsome lays of Spring. 'Tis Springtime in our happy land, The season that invites us all From school and home and irksome tasks To go and list to Nature's call. In The Sanctum A NEW SIGN OF PROGRESS Word comes that Prof. John Hope, A. M., of the Atlanta Baptist College, has been elected acting President of that College for the year 1906-7. This position has been held for many years with great acceptance by the Rev. George Sale, D. D. Dr. Sale has been elected by the Baptist Home Mission Board as General Superintendent of their educational work in the South. Prof. Hope has been a professor in the Atlanta Baptist College for a number of years, having been transferred from a professorship from the Roger Williams University in Nashville, Tenn. The Baptist denomination is noted for its conservatism, but soundness of faith in all matters appertaining to the welfare of the race. Its thoroughly evangelistic spirit and unquestioned orthodoxy upon all the great questions of the Bible and its marvelous power in getting at the masses and in setting all of its members to work, give it a standing among us unsurpassed by that of any other denomination. Hitherto it had not been thought opportune to place a Negro at the head of one of its great schools. The appointment of Prof. Hope gives entire satisfaction to the race and the promise of new life in that great College. In the appointment of Negroes to the presidency of colleges and to other large positions of influence in the church and nation, the Methodist Episcopal Church has led the way is still far in the lead. Prof. Hope brings to his position culture, experience and conservatism. Atlanta now stands in the lead with Negro presidents, with Dr. Flipper at Morris Brown College, President Crogman at Clark University and President Hope at the Atlanta Baptist College College. The race takes heart again and renews its hold upon the plow of life. We congratulate the American Baptist Home Mission Society upon giving recognition to a worthy man and we pray for Prof. Hope's success. SENATORS BACON AND TILLMAN; SOME NEW FRIENDS Fate is sometimes grim and tragical, and sometimes absurd and comical, but history is justified of her children, wise and otherwise. It is necessary to have the otherwise as a background to the wise. Senator Tillman and Senator Bacon appeared recently in a new role in the Senate. Senator Bacon lamented in a pathetic speech any agitation of the race question that would work detriment to the Negroes. He, whose whole life and latest political vamperings are against according to the sons and daughters of the men and women who tilled his farm and made it possible for him to become rich and who gave utterance to bitter speech against the Negroe in the last campaign, now stands up and cries, "Don't hurt the Negro." Senator Tillman, whose tongue is a pitchfork dipped in the gall and heated by the flames of the place he speaks of so frequently and joyfully, cries out that he is opposed to any discrimination against the Negroes. Think of it, Tillman and Bacon pleading for fair treatment to the Negro! Roosevelt is at last outclassed! Fate, thou art cruel to mock us in our fears, but thy light is a jack-o-lantern phantom. MATERIAL AND POLITICAL PROGRESS AND CULTURE The advocates of the largest education and development of the Negro race have IN THE SANCTUM 439 much reason to congratulate themselves upon the steady increase of sentiment among the race and of all sound thinkers as to the true content of educational progress. From the first of the agitation, even to the unclear light of reconstruction days, this class of men plead for the education of brain, hand and heart, and they also faltered not in asserting that the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States which cost the blood of their fathers on the farms and before the cannon, must be respected and that the Negro has a right to vote. This same class of men have not changed their note. A thoughtless people is a race of fools; a craftless people is a race of heathen; a ballotless people is a race of serfs; a conscienceless people is a race of devils. We have contended for a full education, education, and education with a brush, with a pen, with a Bible and with a ballot. We want all, we surrender nothing. The recent advice; "Stay out of politics," "don't contend for rights etc." is the quintescence of ignorance and the deceptive song of the sirens of death. That advice, if followed, would chuck the wheels of progress and remand us to barbarism. The educators of the race, the men and women who study the philosophy of history and who understand the psychological process in the evolution of the mind and races, repudiate this foxy counsel by timeservers. These educators are in the business of making a race and neither unpopularity, nor anything else shall change their course. We shall "fight it out on this line if it takes us all summer." Twenty-Fifth Annual Session of The Alabama State Teachers Association By R. D. Hunt Mobile, Ala. April 11, 1905. The twenty-fifth anniversary session of the State Alabama Teachers' Association was one of the largest attended in its history and brought together a vast array of distinguished men and women from all sections to enjoy the hospitality of the historic city of Mobile and share the benefits of the meeting. At the opening session Wednesday night the spacious State street church was crowded to overflowing with an appreciative and fashionable audience characteristic of this metropolitan city. Devotions by Rev. Dr. H. N. Newsome. Anthem-State Street choir. Mrs. Joesphine B. Allen delivered a beautiful and classic address of welcome in behalf of private schools. Mr. C. F. Johnson, in well chosen words, expressed a hearty and heartfelt welcome in the behalf of the citizens. Hon. Mr. A. N. Johnson welcomed in behalf of the press. Response. Editor R. D. Hunt in an eloquent address expressed the supreme supreme pleasure of the association for the cordial welcome and paid a glowing tribute to the hospitality, progress and prosperty of the historic city of Mobile, and her chivalrous people. Prof. J. R. Winfield made an appropriate response and Prof. U.S. Jones proved his readiness as a speaker by his prompt and witty response as a substitute. The music by Broad Street Academy class was a special feature. Thursday morning the association opened at the magnificent Metropolitan A. M. E. church. Devotions by Rev. P. G. Goins. Miss Hattie Gibbs, of Mobile public schools, introduced a model class in numbers. The blackboard demonstration and work involved the late methods. Miss Gibbs handled her class skillfully and evoked a likely discussion. Fundamental Operations in Arithmetic, by Prof. S. R. W. Smith, of Selma University, who made some novel blackboard demonstrations. His treatise on "Saving the Equation" was very interesting. 440 THE VOICE OF THE NEGRO The genial Prof. E. C. Silsby, secretary of Talladega college, infused new life in the subject by his witty discussion. Prof. J. R. E. Lee always proves himself at home in treating fractions, common and decimal, and his pleasing manner awakened enthusiasm in the subject. An excellent paper on instrumental music was read by Miss Annie E. Jones, of Montgomery, who is the soul of music, and had she demonstrated with instrument would have been enjoyed. Miss Marie F. Frazier opened discussion very charmingly. The afternoon was spent in a boat ride. Thursday night, devotions, Rev. A. N. McEwen. Relation of Parent and teacher was discussed by Miss Cornelia Bowen, Mrs. Booker T. Washington and Mrs. R. T. Pollard. Address By Dr. R. D. Pollard, president Selma university. Dr. L. L. Burrell, of Selma, and Dr. R. T. Kennedy of Tuskegee, brought fraternal greetings from the Medical Association. The annual address by President A. H. Parker was teeming with wholesome advice. Friday a. m. Devotions by Rev. S. Snell. Model class in reading was introduced by Miss Pauline Huggar, of Mobile public schools. Discussion opened by Miss Lela Pitts, Uniontown Manual Training, Mr. J. Franklin Smith, Mobile. Writing, Prof. W. B. Paterson, Montgomery. Discussion, Prof. A. H. Mitchell, Greenesboro, Ala. County school education was discussed by Prof. J. R. Williams, N. Y. of general education board. Reports of Mobile county schools were read by Mrs. L. H. Cook and Miss F. A. Bryant. Friday Night. Devotions by Rev. J. W. Walker, D. D. Music by local talent. Address, Prof. W. B. Paterson, of Montgomery Normal school. Address, Pres. W. R. A. Palmer, New Methodist college, Mason City, Ala. The election of officers brought forth a spirited but friendly contest for the honors of president between Birmingham and Mobile which resulted in the election of Prof. W. A. Caldwell, of Mobile President; Miss Cornelia Bowen, vice president; Prof. J. R. Savage secretary; Miss M. F. Terrell, Treasurer. President-elect Prof. W. A. Caldwell has been long identified with the State Teachers' Association. He has risen through force of his own merit. He is a graduate of the Emerson Normal Institute, one of the A. M. A. Schools. His name is indissolubly linked with the history of Mobile schools. He is the pioneer teacher, being the first Negro elected to the Mobile city schools at a time when white teachers had charge of Negro schools and the success of his work demonstrated the wisdom of employing Negro teachers for colored schools. Ever on the alert to better prepare himself, he spent two years after his graduation at Talladega college, and one year at Meharry Medical college. The Broad Street Academy, which has trained all the colored teachers of Mobile, stands as a monument to his energy and perseverance. Modest and unassuming, but dignified with cultured mind, keen foresight and deep devotion to the cause of education, he brings to the association those exalted qualities that will lift it to the pinnacle of success. Wayside By Silas X. Floyd. The Apostle of the Second Coming Many different kinds of "sharks," "fakirs," or "grafters," as they are variously named, found rich harvest among the 700 or 800 ignorant and superstitious colored people in the Pepper Row settlement. The patent-medicine man, with a mixture guaranteed to cure consumption, rheumatism, pneumonia, small-pox, chills and fever, chilblains, and what not; the book-agent with large red-covered books, which contained red, white and blue pictures, but which were otherwise worthless; the Jew with a pack on his back, ready to furnish bed spreads, quilts, sheets, table cloths, rugs, and all manner of wearing apparel on the installment plan; the "Doctor," with some kind of a lotion guaranteed to bleach the face and straighten the hair -- all of these and many other fakers could be found in Pepper Row any day during a bargain counter business. Nancy Anne an aged tho conspicuous resident of Pepper Row stood out from the rest of the neighbors on account of the fact that for fakirs in general she seemed to have the utmost contempt. Nevertheless, in the course of time, it so happened that a certain faker turned up in Pepper Row whom even Nancy Annie was willing to give a second hearing. He announced himself as the Herald of Full Salvation and First Apostle of the Second Coming. He wore his hair long like Buffalo Bill, and invariably dressed in the style of the time of George Washington, including the knickerbockers, silk stockings, gay colors, and everything. He was heralded as a teacher of a new religion. Now, Nancy Annie was, to be sure, a very religious, if not a very Christlike individual; hence it may easily be guessed how she came to be in sympathy with the Apostle of the Second Coming. The Apostle held daily meetings under a huge tent, and his colored disciples were called "Enochs." Daily for several weeks the Herald of full Salvation and First Apostle of the Second Coming told his followers that the world would come speedily and suddenly to an end at midnight on a certain day. For weeks and weeks, he proclaimed this doctrine with such fervor and with such adroitness that it is possible that nine out of every ten colored people in Pepper Row, guided by superstitious fear and emotionalism, became his eager and frantic admirers and advocates, and, in accordance with the Apostle's instructions, began seriously to prepare for "the great and terrible day of the Lord." One week before the time appointed, two men, with a two-horse wagon load of ten wings, fancifully constructed and painted red and green, drove up in front of the Apostle's tent. Nancy Annie was present on that particular afternoon, and, it must be confessed, up to that time she had been halting between two opinions. Under the spell of wild, religious fancy that had consumed the Dwellers in Pepper Row, it is not to be wondered at that Nancy Annie was herself caught in the maelstrom of fear and fury. But when the Herald of Full Salvation and First Apostle of the Second Coming stood up behind his little pulpit and told the people that the wagon-load of wings had been sent from heaven, and commanded all his hearers to go at once and purchase them at $1.50 a pair, at the same time stating that there was barely enough to go around, and that those who did not have wings would not be able to fly to Heaven on Judgment Day, although the majority of the Enochs rushed pell-mell to the wagon, thus enabling the confederates of the Apostle of the Second Coming to do a land-office business during the next few hours, Nancy Annie rushed out of the tent, exclaiming, -- "It's a trick, people; it's all a trick -- I done seen thoo it! Dey'll nevah git Nancy Annie's money, an' all o' you folks dat's buyin' dem ten wings is fools. I wuz a fool mase'f fo' evah stoppin' mah work to come an' listen at dat low-down w'ite man preach!" But Nancy Annie was powerless to deter any large number of the Enochs from making preparations to meet the Lord. On the night appointed for the trumpet to sound, Nancy Annie went to bed as usual, but the majority of the Pepper Row people put on their wings, and got up on top of fences and houses, and some of them climbed up to the tops of tall trees, waiting in eager expectation to hear Gabriel blow at 12 o'clock. In spite of their prayers, their weird and distracting groans, their primitive and heart-searching songs, the trumpet didn't blow -- of course not! Next morning the sun was up as usual, and the bitterly disappointed Enochs went to look for the Apostle of the Second Coming; but the Apostle and his assistants, with some twelve or fifteen hundred dollars to the good, had been "caught up out of sight"? 442 THE VOICE OF THE NEGRO A TALE OF WOE W'en de thundah-stohm is ragin', An' a rootin' up de trees, An' de big black clouds is risin'--- Den it's time to hunt yo'r knees! Alluz looks ter me like Judgment, An'---I'm tell' yo' fo' true--- I jes' hides berneaf de bedstid, An' I prays like forty-two! Pears ter me hell's done brook loose W'en de ragin! stohm I sees; An' it seems de Lawd's a-sayin': "Eph'um! Time ter hunt yo'r knees!" Ef I'm kotch out fu'm de cabin, Den I goes down in de hole, Dat I dug behine de hen-house, An' I prays fo' mah po' soul! So, I wants ter tell yo' bruddahs, Ef it's stohmy w'en I leaves, Don't you fret 'bout Uncle Eph'um--- Deff's gwine fine him on his knees! PLAYING WITH FIRE She thought he was void of backbone, And betimes she would toss him about Like as a fisherman, smiling, Tosses a lusty trout. She thought that to rule him and nag him Superior strength she would show; And was pleased when her friends declared She was the boss of her beau. The man with no backbone was humble, And humored her every whim--- To all appearance not knowing What a fool she made of him. At last, on a fateful evening, He popped the question outright, And, instead of accepting, she answered, "I'll tell you to-morrow night." Alas! the poor girl was still thinking That no backbone her lover possessed; But, when he turned quickly and left her, A cold wave smote on her breast. She turned and she called to him sweetly, "I'll be home to-morrow night, Si!" And, without a single look backward, He answered, "And so will I!" SWIFT-WINGED LOVE Because you love me not, you say, We two must walk apart; But, though you may not know, Jerome, I'm ever where thou art. Love unreturned is love the same As when at first 'tis born And where'er you go, to you Jerome, I shall fly on the wings of the morn! There is no place you can hide But my love shall find the spot, For I love you still and will, Jerome, Although you love me not! Peonage---VI. The Remedy FOURTH AND CONCLUDING PAPER By T. H. Malone There has been but little heard in the daily press here of late of outrages arising from this modern species of slavery. This fact is due equally to two causes. The vigorous prosecutions against offenders in several of the Federal Courts in the South, notably in those tribunals presided over by such judges as Hon. Emory Speer, of Macon, Ga., and Hon. Thos. G. Jones, of Alabama, furnish one fruitful cause of the partial abolition of the system, while a strong public sentiment furnishes another. The two judges mentioned have shown a spirit of fearless determination to place punishment where it belongs when peonage cases have been up for trial before them. It matters not how high socially or financially a defendant stood in the community or how humble and poor the peon was these two United States Judges have not hesitated to see that proper punishment was meted out whenever a jury had decided that a defendant was guilty. The effect of the bold stand taken by these two judges has been almost magical, resulting in the open renunciation of the practice by scores of men who formerly engaged in it. When once it has been known that there was to be no temporizing on the part of the officials with the accused peon-holder and that prosecutions would not be hushed up in the office of the District Attorney or in the Grand Jury room there has been a steady decrease in the ranks of followers of the pernicious practice and the end of the prosecutions is not yet in sight, if reports from the various District Attorneys' offices in the infected localities be true. If Judge Jones in Alabama and Judge Speer in Georgia never make any other notable decisions their opinions handed down in the trial of this class of cases must of themselves bring to these eminent jurists a deserved degree of fame. Not all of the judges who have had peon cases brought before them for adjudication have been as outspoken against the infamy as the two above named while one of them has gone to the extent, in a labored opinion, to hold that the United States statutes prohibiting peonage have no reference or bearing on the practice of holding persons to servitude in payment of a debt but that these statutes only refer to the system once in vogue in New Mexico. In other words the dictum is to the purport that the statutes were not intended to and do not cover the ordinary transactions known in every day parlance as peonage. Sentiment, too, as has been intimated, is another powerful factor in reducing the number of peon-holders. So strong has it grown in certain quarters where the institution formerly flourished that today it has been practically eradicated from those sections. The propaganda, though carried on on quietly, has been none the less effective, and no peon-holder in those sections has the temerity to ply the nefarious business in the face of such determined public disapproval. The light thrown on the contracts and agreements entered into between landlord and tenant, the helpless condition of the tenant when once in the grasp of the landlord, the working of free people under armed guards to liquidate a debt, and the whipping with the lash of men and women whose only offence is that they are in debt, have all served to focus public attention on the system with the consequent very general, public condemnation. And yet peonage has a very stronghold in many parts of 444 THE VOICE OF THE NEGRO the South today and will have until both the courts and sentiment have gone deeper in the matter than they have at present, creditable as their work has been. There is no earthly reason for the existence of peonage today. The prosperity of the South within the past few years has been unprecedented and especially has this been true of the farming interests. In the ordinary course of making crops, without any coercion whatever on the part of of the landlord toward his help, returns have been ample and profits gratifying. there has been entire satisfaction on the part of both landlord and tenant. The peon-holder, by reason of his failure to properly pay, feed or clothe his laborers and by the unusual labor required of them, may have reaped more in dollars than his honest neighbors who would have none of the iniquitous business, but he nevertheless, while gaining in dollars, has lost in the respect and confidence of those neighbors, which in the end proves a greater loss to him than can be compensated for by the blood mony he has received. There is no reason to believe that his hands would not stay with him as cheerfully without the five year contract as they would bound down under it or would not work just as hard provided they were given just treatment. The peon-holder has decided that the best way to deal with the Negro tenant is the hardest way. This is demonstrably an erroneous conclusion, for of all races the Negro race is lead most easily by kindness and cheerful encouragement. It will be a brighter day for the South when the blight of the peonage which hangs over certain portions of it like a pall will be completely eradicated. Then Indeed will a stronger sense of trustfulness exist between employer and employee and then too, will the black laborer show that he was as much to be trusted working for the peon-holder as a free man as under quasi slavery conditions. It is an end earnestly looked forward to by all people black and white alike who have the best interest of the South at heart, and who are mindful of the things that impede the entire section in its progress. These are the people who show no quarter to the peon-holder and it will be to their efforts coupled with that of the strong and firm hand of the law that the unrighteous system will fall in the whole South as it is now toppling in certain sections. The courts are punishing offenders with clock-like regularity when the evidence seems to warrant it, and public sentiment is slowly but surely crystallizing against the South's modern slavery. The peon-holder sees through it all that though his doom may be delayed it is nevertheless certain, and the day is not so far in the future when is brutal overseer will make his last call in the gray-hours of the early dawn to the cabins for every man, woman and child to "hide out" and will draw his last whelp across the backs of his defenceless victim with his monstrous bull-whip. The courts of justice and the great arbiter--public sentiment-- are working out a noble victory for the South. Would Racial Immigration Be Most Beneficial To The American Negro By Clarence O. L. Garrett If I were to say the condition of the Negro in America is better than it could be in some other country, there would be many to dispute me. If I were to make the brave statement that the Negro should immigrate to the land from whence he came, the majority of you would pronounce me a fanatic. Did I possess the power of eloquence to paint a vivid a picture before you as could Booker T. Washington himself, I could not portray for you too beautifully the future of the Negro in America. Surrounded as we are by enemies on every side, handicapped as a race by the stigma which the ban of slavery has left upon us ; our rights, social and moral and political all disregarded, I am told the Negro can do naught but rise, for as many have said, oppression is the motive power of success. Often, oh how often, have I regarded the Negro as some gigantic spring which, under the weight of oppression, has been crushed below the level of suffering humanity, and which spring by the relaxation of weight caused by the civil war sprang forth into its wonted state of activity! And so strong has the race been in the glory of its strength that it has never been forced back to a comparative degree of servitude, though the weight has been increased many fold. Truly, the future of the Negro in America, as viewed from this standpoint, is most beautiful, and great are the heights to which he would attain if this were only true. But has the Negro thus cast off his burden? Has he really arisen to the height to which this picture places him? Answer it fairly and impartially, and despite your unwillingness, you will be compelled to answer that it is not true. True, the Negro has arisen from the degredation of slavery ; but can he look back upon that river of blood whose only banks are the bodies of heroes fallen in a fiercely-waged contest ; can the Negro, I say, look back upon that river and say : "There flows untainted the blood of my brethren who have won a good fight and who have died that I might live?" In answer, I may be referred to the far-famed Black Regiment, a gallant, great and glorious body of men, I must admit ; but a single regiment savors of the individual and I am speaking of a race. Can any man show me a spot of this land of ours and say here was a victory won by a Negro army led by Negro generals? Can any man point me to a successful military or national campaign planned throughout by Negro officers? Lives there a man with so little foresight who would venture that in the next decade that we should have a Negro commanding officer of the Union forces with no superior? Literally, there is none. That the Negro could make unlimited progress in other countries, not even the most sanguine can doubt. For though many express the belief that the black man cannot prosper in any other country than this, there is undeniable truth to the contrary. The fact that Tanner, the colored artist, has won such wonderous success in Paris ; the numberless instances sighted us by Bishop Turner where the Negro has both fame and fortune ; the knowledge handed down to us by history and tradition proving beyond a reasonable [doubt that the lordly Egyptians who were African in their fibre were the founders of that commercial spirit 446 THE VOICE OF THE NEGRO which dominates the world today ; all this tends to show that the Negro can and has made a most brilliant success in other countries, from the days of Noah even to the present time. Immigrate the Negro of today; cast him upon his own resources; allow him to exercise and develop those resources unrestrained and the Negro of tomorrow will be the associate, if not the superior of any nation of the earth. Let us follow in our imagination the progress of a party of American Negroes after their immigration to the mother clime. They land upon a shore uninhabited save by a number of ignorant savages and a few unscrupulous traders. The climate is a salubrious one. The gentle stir of the sea breeze as it wafts inland the smell of the salt sea water and rustles gently among the leaves ; the sweet song of birds as they skip from bough to bough, making the forest echo with the melody of their song ; the brilliant hues of the surrounding vegetation, and the odorous perfume of tropical flowers which permeate the air, all unite to present to the tourist, the botanist, the naturalist, a paradise sublime. But to these poor wanderers it is no paradise It is a place of refuge, a place of rest, yet such rest as shall require toil and privation. A rest requiring practice, perseverance and patience. Practice of economy, financial, social and physical. A perseverance that will surmount all obstacles and that will cause them to adhere to their project with bulldog tenacity. Such as will give ultimate success, though death itself betide. A patience that will await complete developments. Not a patience that will allow the first budding of success to sweep away their mental equilibrium, but one that will be a paragon for the world in the future. There is no shelter here for these people except for the bark that brought them. When the little supply of food stored away in her hull is exhausted there is no way of replenishing it save by their own ingenuity. Having been accustomed all the days of their existence to be lead and directed by members of a so-called superior race, they are for the moment handicapped when they are left without one. But for the moment only. Then comes forward one who, although unknown in America, soon proves himself to be a leader of men, capable of coping with the most efficient. Under the direction of this leader a few huts of boughs and clay, are first built, to be rapidly replaced by better, stronger and more attractive buildings. Thoroughfares are planned, divisions of land are staked out, a corps of officials are selected and soon a crude but thriving village stands where a few minutes before Nature unadorned reigned supreme. 'Tis needless to follow them as they toil, but let us leave them for a score of years and return on a visit. We have learned many strange stories about these people whom we left some twenty years ago, regarding them as little more than savages. Yes, we have learned that they are a great nation occupying not only the little village in which we left them, but all of the surrounding country of which the village is the capital. And now we shall test for ourselves the truth of these stories which have sounded to our ears as wondrous tales of fiction. As we cross the borderline of this country-- for it is a great country, we perceive on either side of us well-regulated farms laden with the season's produce--here and there we see an humble but well-kept cottage with an occasional flock of barnyard fowls strutting proudly about. Further on is a substantial country residence giving forth proof that its owner has been more successful as the world goes than his fellow-man. While the rare exotic plants and flowers which require the utmost care and RACIAL IMMIGRATION 447 attention even in a tropical climate prove that the young mistress whom we see flitting about among them must be a person of culture and refinement to appreciate the delicate radiance of love which they shed about the home. And now as we approach the city and hear the hum and roar of machinery, the shriek of the locomotive, the puffing and hissing of some giant steamer as she is leaving the wharves laden with merchandise, the hustle and clatter accompanying all business centres, the harsh clang of the fire alarm in the distance, and the subdued tolling funeral bells near us, we are struck with the likeness of this African capital to some of our own great American cities. Threading our way through the streets, we are astonished, yes even appalled, by the grandeur and magnificence of their architecture. We at length arrive at the office of the city's highest official, who shows us the record of the great people from the time of their immigration. He shows us their business enterprises, their schools, their colleges, their churches, their homes. He tells us that financially this nation stands second to none. He also tells us that in these later days it ranks as one of the world's seven greatest powers. And this, yes all this, was accomplished by Negro brain and brawn. And now as Old Sol sinks slowly beneath yon western skies, and bathes in living glory this African land of the free and home of the brave, as the dying sunlight glints and scintillates on the window of yon towering structure rising above its fellows ; as it rests for a moment on the spire of the cathedral and as it is flashed back from the dome of the capitol, we are convinced that racial immigration was the Negro's most beneficial step. To leave the opposite side of this question undiscussed would be an injustice to the Negro, for it is possible for the Negro to establish for himself here in America a future more brilliant, aye a thousand times more brilliant, than the world's greatest nation of today. We are told that the Negro of America shall never be the social companion of the Anglo-Saxon. We are told that between the Negro and his fellow-man there exists an unsurmountable barrier. We admit that the iron heel of oppression is grounding us into the dust of the earth. We know that the serpent of prejudice is in our midst. Yet I am hopeful. I am hopeful because of the progress the Negro has made and is making in intelligence and wealth. Take the matter of wealth. Since freedom hundreds and thousands of our people have become property owners in the South. Today the American Negro is paying taxes upon millions of dollars worth of property, which, when you compare the thirty-nine years in which we have acquired it, to the centuries spent by the Anglo-Saxon in accumulating his possessions, even the most pessimistic must admit that the comparison is most favorable. Was social equality the Negro's highest ambition, his greatest desire would soon be satisfied, and the Negro of tomorrow would be but little better than the Negro of today. But social equality is not the height of the Negro's ambition, it is a mere trifle, a bagatelle as compared with the whale. That ambition that caused John Brown to rise up in his might at Harper's Ferry and throw off the fetters of slavery for a crown of glory ; that ambition which led Frederick Douglass to become a leader of his race ; that ambition which cause Toussaint L'Overture to attempt and succeed in forging a thunderbolt out of that mixed and, as you say, despicable mass of Negroes ; that ambition which upheld Antonio Maceo in his great struggle for Cuba Libre ; that 448 THE VOICE OF THE NEGRO ambition which led William Pickens to win the Ten Eyck prize at Yale; that same ambition shall spur the Negro on, causing him to surpass race after race, nation after nation, until, like the world's greatest general, he shall weep that there are no more nations to surpass. True the iron heel of oppression is grinding down upon him, but like Israel of old, the more he is oppressed, the more he prospers. I am hopeful for the Negro because I have faith in the ultimate triumph of right. Wrong and unjust treatment of the Negro may truimph for the moment, but in that very triumph is its death knell. Necessity is not only the mother of invention but the soul of progress, the genius of civilization. Necessity has reached forth her hand, and the Negro must obey her mandates. There is no alternative save total annihilation. The Negro is said to be poor, degraded, ignorant. He is surrounded on all sides by those who are inimical to him and his designs. It would seem to an observer that one so low could never hope to rise, but for "A' that and for a' that, a man's a man for a' that," and it is not a man who will meekly bow his head and yield to circumstances. Necessity, the mother of progress, the soul and genius of civilization, bids him come, and he hastens in her direction. His limbs may tire, his feet may blister, his strength may ever fail, but he will not pause until round by round he shall have climbed the ladder she has placed before him, at the top of which is emblazoned the word success. Yesterday the monarch of injustice and prejudice reigned supreme. Today the reign of justice and right has begun. Fear not the outcome; look ye upon the strength, not upon the weakness of the Negro. Experience and strength are not gained by inactivity; it took the civil war to make Grant, and it will take opposition to make the Negro. Let some great towering strength of Negro manhood point the youth to the star of redemption. Help to lift the men and women of your race. Trust the Negro now and the future will take care of itself. When asked why Antipater was not clothed in purple, Alexander replied : "These men wear purple on the outside, Antipater is royal within." So it is with the Negro. The Negro is not that animal of the brute creation which some picture him to be, but he is an intellectual human being endowed with reasoning powers and capable of respecting those powers in others. The Negro of yesterday feared to even gaze upon the vintage of this world; the Negro of today reaches out his hand and plucks the best fruitage of the highest and grandest age of men. Even liberty, yes true liberty a plant that grows luxuriantly only when watered with human blood and rooted in the hearts and affections of a free people, is is within the very grasp of the American Negro. And now as we recount the appreciation of the bravery shown by the American Negro at San Juan hill, the liberal concessions of wondrous oratorical talent of Pickens at Yale, the universal acknowledgement of Booker T. Washington's worth as a leader, and the renown given Clarence Matthews as an athlete at Harvard, we are left in the quandary, whether racial immigration would be most beneficial. But as by mutual instinct a hive of honeybees follows the common leader, as at all trying and critical moments does nature put forth one of her noblemen to take the lead, so has the Negro learned that in unity there is strength, and so in the near future will he put forth one of his own race who like a mariner guiding a tempost-tossed vessel, shall take hold of the helm of events and guide them past danger after danger, surmount obstacles after obstacles, until at length he shall guide them into a harbor of safety. OUR ADVERTISING SECTION. The following pages are devoted wholly to the interests of our advertisers. Advertising in these columns PAYS. R. W. Johnson of Chicago says: "My advertisement has only appeared one time, and I have received replies from the following states: New Jersey, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, and Indian Territory." Mr. Charles Ford of the Ozonized Ox Marrow Company of Chicago says: "We have been advertising in your Journal for the last six months, and wish to tell you that we are having excellent results from it from all parts of the country. Your Magazine is a splendid periodical and we wish it continued success. Mr. L. C. Collins of the Metropolitan Mercantile and Realty Company, home office, New York City, says: "We are receiving numerous letters from all over the country in answer to our advertisement. We feel that it is the best medium for reaching all the people that is being published in this country." These testimonials bespeak for themselves and we have many others of the same kind in the office. WILLIS MURPHY. WM. OSCAR MURPHY. Willis Murphy & Son. Wholesale and Retail Dealers In Groceries, Grain and General Merchandise. 514 DECATUR ST. ATLANTA, GA. TELEPHONE 1818 HOW TO START A MAGAZINE on a capital of $1.00. Particulars Free. W. A. WALTER & CO., 35-37 Dean St., Brooklyn, N. Y. "ADOLOGY" A Magazine of Money Coining Propositions for Everybody. (Issued Monthly.) SUBSCRIPTIONS: 3 months, 10c. 1 Year 25c ADVERTISEMENTS: 10c a Line. $1.20 an Inch. Want Ads One Cent a Word. WM. A. WALTER & CO. Publishers 35 & 37 Dean St., Brooklyn N. Y. MILLINERY! Do you wish a beautiful new hat? Do you want your last year's hat to be made over equal to new? Call on me. I guarantee all work. MDME. J. P. HAWKES, 204 Clark Street, Atlanta, Ga. The Walker House 19 and 21 WEST 135th St. Near 5th Ave. Handsomely Furnished Rooms for Permanent or Transient Guests. We cater to the travelling public. First-class service. Finely Appointed Restaurant. Meals Served at all Hours. MRS. HANNAH C. WALKER, Proprietress. IRON FENCE LOW PRICE HIGH GRADE -- CATALOGUE FREE. DOW WIRE & IRON WKS. LOUISVILLE, KY. PICTURES Stop working for others. Be your own Boss. We are willing to help you. Are you not willing to help your own self? Let us start you on the road to success by selling our beautiful pictures. Send 10 cents (silver) for sample (16x20) and terms to agents KNOX-HOWARD CO Box 509, Atlantic City, N. J. WANT AGENTS TO SELL GREAT SPEECH IN PAMPHLET FORM. Tribute to Dr. Booker T. Washington. A stalwart defense of his work and his worth. The greatest tribute ever paid to a negro. By Atty. A. H. Roberts, of Chicago. Special terms to Agents. Price 1 5 cts. Address Dr. M. A. Majors, 163 State St., Chicago, Ill. Subscribe for The Voice of the Negro Only $1.00 per year. Mrs. IDA-WHITE DUNCAN 19 Prescott St., Jersey City, N. J, HAIR WORKER Wigs, Braids, Bangs, Pompadour and Combings, made up in the latest styles. Scalp Treatment, Shampooing, Hairdressing, Face Massage, Manicuring. Colored People's Combings bought. Mail orders promptly attended to. Branch Office, 268 Bloomfield Avenue, Montclair, N. J. The Tuskegee Student Edited by EMMETT J. SCOTT and Published by The TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE, Tuskegee Institute, Alabama Subscription Price, 50 Cents per Year The Student, published weekly during the school term and bi-weekly during the summer vacation in the interest of the graduates of the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, contains full information regarding the work of the school, and, in addition, valuable articles bearing upon the moral, material and educational advancement of the Negro people of America. Sample copies sent on application. Address all communications to The Tuskegee Student, Tuskegee Institute, Tuskegee, Ala. WRIGLEY ENG CO DESIGNERS ENGRAVERS ELECTROTYPERS STEREOTYPERS ATLANTA, GA. LARGEST AND BEST EQUIPPED PLANT SOUTH COR ALA & FORSYTH STS 176 Warren Avenue CHICAGO, ILL., Oct. 22, 1902. For nearly four years I suffered from ovarian troubles. The doctor insisted on an operation as the only way to get well. I, however, strongly objected to an operation. My husband felt disheartened as well as I, for home with a sick women is a disconsolate place at best. A friendly druggist advised him to get a bottle of Wine of Cardui for me to try, and he did so. I began to improve in a few days and my recovery was very rapid. Within eighteen weeks I was another being. CECELIA STOWE. Mrs. Stowe's letter shows every woman how a home is saddened by female weakness and how completely Wine of Cardui cures that sickness again. Do not go on suffering. Go to your druggist today and secure a $1.00 bottle of Wine of Cardui. WINE of CARDUI THE Colored Teachers AGENCY Prompt Reliable Efficient It recommends teachers and graduates for every line of instruction in the public school system and higher institutions. Its orders come directly from superintendents, principals, presidents and boards. It operates throughout the South, Middle West and West. Circulars and blanks sent on request. Now is the time to register. C. W. REYNOLDS, Mgr. Box 265, Springfield, Ohio. Two Notable Features for July. "Boston's Inheritance," by Rev. Reverdy C. Ransom, will be a notable and attractive paper in the greatest city of ideas in America--Boston. Mr. Ransom has given us a concise history of our leading city of culture. Boston has been a positive moral fence in the land, and everybody will benefit by reading this great paper. In the "Fortieth Anniversary of Rust University" Mr. N. R. Clay has given us a vivid pen picture of the struggles of the Negro in upper Mississippi for intellectual and spiritual development. He pronounces the progress made by the Negro as "the marvel of the age." Educators will read this article and take heart for the great work before them. A Matter of the Utmost Importance To those who suffer with diseases of the scalp. I have made a wonderful discovery of a tonic that I will guarantee to be a Complete Cure for all scalp diseases. It will clean the scalp and give new life and vigor to the hair, causing a full rich growth of soft and silky hair. Thousands of testimonials as to the merits of this wonderful new remedy. Write at ONCE concerning it to Mrs. Martha Nobles, 24 M. Street - - Colton, Cal. When writing advertisers, please mention this Magazine. HOTEL MACEO 213 West 53d Street NEW YORK CITY First-class accommodations only. Located one door from Broadway. Cars for all parts of the city and depots pass the door. Illuminated throughout with electricity. Handsomely furnished rooms Dining room service unsurpassed. Headquarters for the clergy and business men. Prices moderate. Telephone 803 Columbus. BEN F. THOMAS, Proprietor. RESIDENCE 273 Auburn Ave. OFFICE HOURS 8:30 a.m. to 12 m; 1 to 5:30 p.m. Dr. James R. Porter DENTIST 50 1-2 N. Broad St. :: Atlanta, Ga Over Woodside's Renting Agency. A. E. EDWARDS HIGH GRADE HAIR GOODS STYLISH POMPADOURS, CURLS AND SWITCHES. PERFECT WIGS FOR LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. Agent for Nelson's Hair Dressing, which promotes the growth, removes dandruff and makes the hair Soft, Glossy and Luxurious. PRICE BY MAIL, 30 CENTS. A. E. EDWARDS - Atlantic, N. J. TYPEWRITERS All Makes Second Hand BARGAINS Olivers $35.00 to $65.00 Remingtons 25.00 to 55.00 Smith Premiers 30.00 to 60.00 Hammonds, Bar Locks, Underwoods, Blicks, Chicago, Rem-Sho, Caligraphs from $18.00 up FIELDER & ALLEN CO. The Largest Office Outfitters South ATLANTA, GA. Address "Bargain Department." CORNS, WARTS, BUNIONS AND MOLES Permanently and Safely removed, without pain or cutting with our peerless formulas ; a boon to suffering humanity Price, 35 cents each. Order today for your lifetime benefit. Address: W. L. JOHNSON & COMPANY Dept. 10, CINCINNATI, OHIO. Lady Agents Fine selling remedies of unusual merit. Satisfaction guaranteed. One sample free. Good pay. Write. DR. KESSMER REMEDY CO. 521 West 9th St. - - - Oklahoma City, Okla A GREAT DISCOVERY. DROPSY CURED with vegetable remedies ; entirely harmless; removes all symptoms of dropsy in 8 to 10 days ; 30 to 60 days effects permanent cure. Trial treatment furnished free to every sufferer ; nothing fairer. For circulars, testimonials, etc., apply to DR. H. H. GREEN'S SONS Atlanta, Ga. Mrs. Bessie Mays Mrs. Alberta Ogletree Mays Millinery Co. 158 Auburn Ave. ATLANTA, GA. The only colored Millinery Store in the city. Trims Hats equal to other high class milliners. Polite attention to all. We invite your patronage and guarantee satisfaction. Makes the Skin Clear Dr. Fred Palmer's SKIN WHITENER Is an ideal face bleach ; perfectly cleansing and whitening the skin, removing pimples, blemishes, etc., and keeping the skin soft, velvety and in healthy condition. Price 25 cents a box. sold only by JACOBS' PHARMACY 6-8-10 Mrietta 23 Whitehall } Atlanta, Ga. Educational Instruction Broadway Hair Dressing School 1278 Broadway, near 33d St. Start Right! Start Now! Best Instructors. Best Methods. Best School. Positions Guaranteed. Ladies, if you are earning less that $30 to $50 weekly, call on or write to the Broadway Hairdressing School, 1278 Broadway; the oldest and largest school in America. Incorporated under the laws of the State of New York. Learn manicuring, hairdressing, facial massage, scalp treatment, chiropody and dematology. Correspondence Course. WRITE FOR BOOKLET. ALL SERVICE RESUMED. The SOUTHEREN PACIFIC and UNION PACIFIC Lines reach nearly every State in the West, with Steamship Lines to China, Japan, Hawaian Islands, Australia and India. Round trip Homeseekers rates to Louisiana, Texas Oklahoma and Old Mexico, each first and third Tuesday. Through Pullman Tourist Cars three days each week from Washington, D. C. to San Francisco, via Atlanta, Montgomery, Mobile and New Orleans and Southern Pacific "Sunset Route." Cheap one-way Colonist Rates from all points to California and Northwest, from February 15, until April 7, 1906. Requests for information cheerfully answered. J. F. VAN RENSELAER, General Agent. 124 Peachtree St. ATLANTA, GA. P. O. BEAN, T. P. A. ONWARD This group picture of President Lincoln, Booker T. Washington and Frederick Douglas, with side scenes made up in black and white; size 24x28 inces; framed under a glass, only 95 cents, prepaid. At the bottom of the picture there is given the history of Tuskegee Institute; short sketches of Booker T. Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglas. This picture framed is well worth twice the money. AGENTS WANTED.--Send 95 cts. for complete picture and outfit, and begin work at once. Agents now making $8.00 to $10.00 per day. Remember, it is an ornament for the best of homes. Circulars and terms free. Address Binder Frame Co. 83 S. Forsyth St., Atlanta, Ga. THE TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE BOOKER T. WASHINGTON ABRAHAM LINCOLN FREDERICK DOUGLASS LET YOUR MONEY WORK FOR YOU WHY ACCEPT 3% and 4% from SAVINGS BANKS, when we are paying 6% and 7% on GUARANTEED Investments? BEGIN NOW. Investments may be made on the INSTALLMENT Plan. We have the best proposition on the market. Write for particulars. ADDRESS MAXWELL, 150 NASSAU ST., N. Y. CITY. ROOM 1335. THE LORD'S PRAYER. In the Benn Pitman System of Phonography--Reporting Style. BROWN'S CORRESPONDENCE SCHOOL OF SHORT-HAND. The Best, the Easiest, and Most Reliable. A system that can be learned during spare moments and thereby increase your salary from 50 to 100 per cent. A thorough knowledge of Short-hand makes the position sure ant the one so skilled in great demand. You pay as you learn. Terms reasonable. Write for particulars. BROWN'S CORRESPONDENCE SCHOOL OF SHORT-HAND. 1006 Broadway Place. East St. Louis, Ill. Ford's Hair Pomade, formerly known as "Ozonized Ox Marrow," Makes the Hair Long, Soft and Easy to Comb. READ WHAT THE PEOPLE SAY Key West, Fla., Aug. 28, 1904. I used only one bottle of your pomade and my hair has stopped breaking off and has greatly improved. When I started using this wonderful preparation my hair was seven inches long and now it is ten inches or more. I beg to remain yours truly, MINNIE FOASTER. 314 Southhard St. Atlanta, Ga., June 6, 1900. Gentlemen: I have used your pomade and have found it to do more than it is recommended to do. It stops the hair from falling out and breaking off, and cleans the scalp and makes the hair soft, pliable and glossy. MISS MAGGIE REND. Milwaukee, Wis., June 23, 1893. Gentlemen: Please send me two bottles of your pomade. I think it is one of the best hair preparations made. MRS. JOHN GRAF. West Chester, Pa., Mch. 30 1905. I had typhoid fever and my hair all came out. I used three bottles of your pomade, and now my hair is nine inches long and very thick and nice and straight. Most every one seeing how good your pomade did my hair, they too are anxious for it. My hair is an example to every one. Yours respectfully, ELLA BYE. Colvert, Tex., Mch. 31, 1905. I have used one bottle of your pomade and my hair is now perfectly straight, soft and black as silk. I will not be without it. RHODA EDWARDS Paris, Mo., July 15, 1899. Gentlemen: When I began using your pomade my head was so bald I was ashamed of myself, but now my hair has grown three inches all over my head and I have been using it only two months. IDA PRETER. I have seen the original letters and testify to the genuineness of the statements. A. N. JENKINS, Vice-President Hertel, Jenkins & Co. FORD'S HAIR POMADE was formerly known as "OZONIZED OX MARROW," and is the only saf preparation know to us that makes kinky or curly hair straight. Its use makes the most stubborn harsh, kinky or curly hair soft, pliable and easy to comb. These results may be obtained from one treatment: 2 to 4 bottles are usually sufficient for a year. The use of FORD'S HAIR POMADE ("OZONIZED OX MARROW") removes and prevents dandruff, relieves itching, invigorates the scalp, stops the hair from falling out or breaking off, makes it grow, and by nourishing the roots, gives it new life and vigor. Being elegantly perfumed and harmless, it is a toilet for ladies, gentlemen and children. FORD'S HAIR POMADE ("OZONIZED OX MARROW,") has been made and sold continuously since about 1858, and the label, "OZONIZED OX MARROW" was registered in the United States Patent Office in 1874. In all that long period of time there has never been a bottle returned from the hundreds of thousands we have sold. FORD'S HAIR POMADE remains sweet and effective, no matter how long you keep it. Be sure to get Ford's, as its use makes the hair STRAIGHT, SOFT and PLIABLE. Beware of imitations. Remember that FORD'S HAIR POMADE ("OZONIZED OX MARROW") is put up only in 50c. size and is made only in Chicago and by us. The genuine has the signature, Charles Ford, Prest., on each package. Refuse all others. Full directions with every bottle. Price only 50c. Sold by druggists and dealers. If your druggist or dealer cannot supply you, he can procure it from his jobber or wholesale dealer, or sen us 50c. for one bottle, postpaid, or $1.40 for three bottles, or $2.50 for six bottles, express paid. We pay postage and express charges to all points in the U. S. A. When ordering send postal or express money order, and mention this paper. Write your name and address plainly to OZONIZED OX MARROW CO. (None genuine without my signature) Fourth Floor, 76 Wabash Ave., Chicago, Ill. Agents Wanted everywhere. Charles Ford, Prest AGENTS, LOOK HERE! $1.00 PER HOUR IS WHAT YOU MAKE HANDLING OUR HOUSEHOLD ARTICLES THE FRUIT JAR HOLDER AND OPENER. Best Seller Out. Holds hot jars and insures tight sealing when canning. Nor more spoiled fruit. Opens easily tightly-sealed jars. Never breaks jar or injuries cover. Saves { The FRUIT The HANDS The JARS The PATIENCE THE "HOLDER" HOW IT IS USED THE "OPENER" The Squeeze-Ezie Mop. Scrubbing is a back-breaking job. The hardest work is wringing the cloth. Hot water scalds and blisters the hands. The old-fashioned mop slops around and dirties the wood-work. Our Mop overcomes all this. The frame holds the cloth square, wrings the cloth dryer than by hand and without effort. Keeps the hands out of the hot and dirty water. A household necessity; appeals to every woman. Wrings perfectly dry. Easily demonstrated. Big Seller, Big Commissions. Write for agents' terms on both articles. Only reliable people wanted. THE SELWELL CO. ATLANTA TERRITORY ASSIGNED FOR HOLDER. 108 West Jackson Boulevard CHICAGO, ILL. The Newest Thing in the Publishing World 101 Prominent Colored People A group picture 20x28 inches, of One Hundred and One of the most Prominent Colored People. A picture that makes the heart of every race-lover beat faster. Workmanship and Material the Very Best. A BOOK OF THEIR HISTORIES GOES WITH IT IT IS WITHIN THE REACH OF ALL. ONLY ONE DOLLAR BY MAIL POSTPAID, and satisfaction guaranteed. Agents Wanted.--Here is a chance for the hustler. The people are sending in their dollars direct to us for the picture. Send 15 cents in stamps at once for Canvassing Outfit. Be first in your section, and make $5.00 to $10.00 per day. HERTEL, JENKINS & CO. 920 Austell Building Atlanta, Ga. [*Mary Church Terrell*] The Nineteenth Century and After Edited by James Knowles Published Monthly. No. 353. July, 1906. I. The House of Lords. By the Right Hon. Sir Herbert Maxwell, Bart. II. The Story of the Capitulations. By Edward Dicky, C.B. III. The Absorption of Holland by Germany. By J. Ellis-Barker. IV. German Trade in SOuth America. By Major-General Sir Alexander B. Tulloch, K. C.B., C.M.G. V. Disarmament. By Colonel the EARL or ERROLL. VI. Wireless Telegraphy. By Lieut.-Colonel Sir HENRY M. HOZIER, K.C.B. VII. 'Soft Siena' and her Children. By Miss ROSE M. BRADLEY. VIII. A Plea for the White South by a Coloured Woman. By MARY CHURCH TERRELL. IX. Timber Planting on Waste Land. By John NISEET (late Indian Forest Service.) X. Mrs. Atkyns and 'the Dauphin.' By RALPH NEVILL. XI. Letters of Lord Acton to Mary Gladstone. By the Right Hon. ALFRED LYTTELTON, M.P. XII. The Marriage Ritual of Toledo. By the Rev. HERBERT THURSTON, S.J. XIII. Conservative Organization and the Agricultural Labourers. By T. E. KEBBEL. XIV. Conflict or Compromise? By D. C. LATHBURY. XV. The Prospects of the Bill. By HERBERT PAUL, M.P. XVI. International Art: A Duologue. By Miss F. P. SEELEY. XVII. The Revival of Sculpture. By H. HAMILTON FYFE. XVIII. Improved Shop Architecture for London: The New Regent's Quadrant. By Sir ASTON WEBB, R.A., F.R.I.B.A. New York LEONARD SCOTT PUBLICATION COMPANY, 7 & 9 WARREN STREET. Publishers of CONTEMPORARY REVIEW NINETEENTH CENTURY AND AFTER FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE, EDINBURG, QUARTERLY, AND WESTMINSTER REVIEWS. $4.50 per Annum Single Copies 40 cents. Registered at New York Post Office as Second Class Matter. London: SPOTTISWOODE & COMPANY, LIMITED. PENNSYLVANIA: A PRIMER A NEW HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA by BARR FERREE Secretary of the Pennsylvania Society. A book of facts. The whole history of Pennsylvania admirably condensed and conveniently arranged. It containus more information than many larger books and is intended at once as a book of reference and a book that will tell the reader every essential fact in the history of Pennsylvania. "Every reader will learn much that he cannot find as easily elsewhere." -The Athenaeum (London).- "The best and most concise story of the origin, progress and development of our Commonwealth that has so far been written. Its value as a book of reference can hardly be over-estimated." -New Era (Lancaster, Pa).- "We can only wish that every State in the Union had its merits described with so much fullness and details." -The Sun (New York).- "Remarkably valuable." -Public Ledger (Philadelphia.)- "It would be difficult to find its equal for compactness, clarity, completeness of information and reliability as a ready reference work." -Post (Boston).- "Unusually comprehensive." -North American (Philadelphia)- "Remarkably interesting and valuable-contains a vast amount of information to be found in no other single volume." -Transcript (Boston).- "The essential facts of Pennsylvania affairs and history." -Pittsburg Gazette.- "Contains primary facts in a way that meets the approval of those who want to get at the meat of the subject." -Philadelphia Inquirer.- "A handy book of reference." -The Nation (New York).- "It covers a a much broader field than many larger histories." -Wilkes- Barre Record.- "Concise and authoritative and well adapted for practical general use." -Book News (Philadelphia). -Governor Pennypacker says:- "You have done good work : I congratulate you upon its success." 164 ILLUSTRATIONS PRICE, CLOTH, GILT TOPS, $3.00 LEONARD SCOTT PUBLICATION COMPANY 7 and 9 Warren Street New York 1906 'SOFT SIENA' AND HER CHILDREN. 69 those who long ago helped in the fashioning of Siena's history and of Siena's treasures. For it is not only in her art, in the churches, the museums, and the palaces, but also in the life of her people, that is to be found that element of the eternal which is essential to all greatness. ROSE M. BRADLEY. 70 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY JULY A PLEA FOR THE WHITE SOUTH BY A COLOURED WOMAN THE indifference manifested by the whole American nation to the obstacles to progress which now confront the best white people in the South is as amazing as it is painful. Occasionally one hears about the cruel yoke of bondage under which coloured people in the South groan at the present time. It is safe to assert that few if any words either spoken or written on this subject are untrue, since it is well nigh impossible to exaggerate the facts. But the coloured American is not the only slave in the South to-day. There are hundreds of white men who have been blessed with splendid intellects, who are kind and tender of heart and who yearn to be true to their higher, better natures, who dare not follow the dictates of their conscience and be just, because they languish in the chains forged by a tyrannical public opinion and a cruel vindictive intolerance of those who dare dissent from prevailing views. If the South were a Sodom and Gomorrah in which no justice-loving, law-abiding white men could be found, as one is tempted to describe it when he thinks how frequently crime is committed in that section and how seldom the criminal, if he be white, gets his just deserts, the prospects for the white man's future would be far gloomier than are those of the race which he so cruelly wrongs. It cannot be denied that the majority of white people in the South acquiesce in the crimes committed by the lynchers, the white caps, and the Constitution- smashers, who have violently snatched the right of citizenship from more than an a million men, for if they did not, these particular varieties of lawlessness would disappear in a very short time. But the tacit consent given to lawlessness by the just and upright white men in the South is the result of intimidation, rather than a deliberate purpose on their part to sanction wrong. For this reason it is plainly the duty of the North, East, and West to protect the South from itself. It matters not that the South spurns the advice and declines the assistance of other sections in the United States. If a good citizen or a consistent Christian should see a man committing suicide by plunging a dagger into his heart or jumping into a river, would he stand still and let him take his life, 1906 A PLEA FOR THE WHITE SOUTH 71 because his desperate brother did not want him to interfere? When one section of this country is reverting to barbarism by adopting methods common to the dark ages, such as excluding the children of a certain race of class from the public schools, first on one pretext and then another, and thereby forcing future American citizens to grow up in ignorance as dense and as dark as that with which the Russian peasants are cursed to-day; when one section of this country is resorting to such antediluvian, anti-Christian measures as the Ameer of Afghanistan would be ashamed to approve, shall the wiser, saner members of the national family stand still and see their rash and wicked brother toboggan to his ruin? There are at least three reasons why the nation as a whole should give prevailing conditions in the South their careful and conscientious consideration. The weightiest argument which could be advanced in behalf of this proposition is that it is the country's duty to the South itself. A great deal is written and spoken about the New South to-day. Orators from all sections wax eloquent about the phenomenal change of heart toward the North and the great breadth of view toward the freedmen manifested by the 'New South.' One need only study conditions which obtain in the South to-day, however, to be convinced that the people of that section were never more deeply rooted and grounded in the opinions which they have always held, were never more determined to be governed by them in everything affecting both public and private affairs, and were never more bent upon enacting these views into law, so far as in them lies, than they are to-day. By deeds as well as by words the South is daily proving how resolute and unshaken it is in its purpose to deg even the constitution of the United States, whenever it runs counter to its opinions and offends its prejudices. So frequently and persistently does the South display the Confederate flag, for instance, that the Department of the Potomac G.A.R. has recently passed resolutions expressing 'the regret and sorry with which it views the public display of an emblem which tends to keep alive the bitterness and animosity engendered by the war.' It was also resolved that' such a course tends to instill into the minds of coming generations aversion, if not hostility, to our national emblem, and is not in accord with the oft-repeated professions made by the Southern people of their love for the national emblem and their devotion to the Union.' It cannot be too strongly emphasised, nor too often repeated that there is a class of white people in the South who are irrevocably opposed to injustice and lawlessness as human beings can possibly be. It would be as unjust to charge the whole white South with wilful, malicious violation of the Constitution, because the citizens generally countenance its infraction by their silence, as it would be to accuse the whole North of approving disfranchisement of coloured 72 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY July men because northerners do not protest. It would be as absurd to say that all white people in the South sanction the injustice and barbarity of which coloured men, women, and children are so often the unfortunate victims in that section, as it would be to claim that everybody in the North disapproves of these crimes against the coloured man and is willing to accord him his rights. Before the term 'White South,' as used in this article, is defined, it is cheerfully admitted that there are exceptional white men in the South, whose ideals and standards are as high as are those of the purest, best citizens anywhere in the United States. But when the 'South' or the 'White South' is referred to in this article, those people are designated who mould the public opinion which manifests itself through the laws enacted by the legislatures of the respective southern States, and through the customs which are generally observed and which amount to an unwritten law. If the laws recently enacted in nearly every State in the South are an index of the mind and the heart of the people of that section, and if actions speak louder than words, the South was never more hostile to the coloured man, as well as to his friends, and was never more determined to keep him as near the level of the brute as possible than it is to-day. Reduced to the lowest terms, the test put to every question which arises for discussion in the South, no matter to what it may directly pertain, is its possible bearing upon the race problem. To the South's inability to forget the results of the Civil War, and to its attitude toward the emancipated race, may be attributed its inability to make the mental, spiritual, and material progress which it might otherwise easily attain. The mind cannot (certainly the mind does not) flourish in an atmosphere which is close and impure, and which is neither recharged nor purified by fresh currents and revivifying draughts of new thoughts. That there have been comparatively few contributions made by southern writers to the best literature of the country is an indisputable fact. Nothing but the enforced narrowness of view and the imperious bigotry which hang like a pall over the mind can explain this dearth of literary talent in the South. Not long ago, in discussing the place occupied by the South in American letters, Professor George Edward Woodberry, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, New York City, expressed himself as follows: The South is uncritical. The power of criticism, which is one of the prime forces of modern thought in the last century, never penetrated the South. There was never a place there, nor is there now, for minorities of opinion and still less for individual protest, for germinating reforms, for frank expression of a view differing from that of a community. In this respect the South has been as much cut off from the modern world, and still is, as Ireland from England in other ways. It lies outside the current of the age, and this is one reason why there has been such an absence of ideas in its life. It is curious to observe that what the South has afforded to general literature, in the main was given into 1906 A PLEA FOR THE WHITE SOUTH 73 the hands of strangers. The Virginian record was written by Thackeray's imagination. The theme of slavery was written in Uncle Tom's Cabin, the one book by which the South survives in literature, for better or for worse. With scarcely a single exception the inventors of labour-saving machines and appliances, for which this country has become so famous, hail from the North. The report of the Civil Service Commission recently issued shows that Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansaw, Texas, Georgia, South Carolina, and Tennessee have not their share of Federal appointments, because the applicants for positions from those States are not qualified to receive them. The failure of the southern States to furnish eligibles for registers from which appointments are chiefly made is shown by the fact that of the 383 appointments from technical registers, only 35 went to the South. On the 5th of October, when these figures were compiled for the report, there remained on all the registers of a technical character only fifty southern eligibles, many with such low ratings as to preclude the likelihood of their being reach for certification. The report of the Civil Service Commission proves conclusively that the South is greatly in arrears in securing the plums to which it is entitled by an equitable distribution of government jobs on the basis of one in every 10,000 citizens, because there are so few applicants for positions living in that section who have the proper technical qualifications. Most every southern applicant wants to be a clerk, and as a matter of fact the South has furnished 58.21 per cent. of all clerk appointments; but the demand is for men with technical qualifications, scarcely any for clerks. When, therefore, the Commission desires to give the South the preference, it finds itself without eligibles and must fall back on those States which have already received their full share. This tangible proof of the intellectual inertia of the South, as revealed by the report of the Civil Service Commission, tallies with a statement made in the Atlantic Constitution just three years ago. In lamenting the mental inertia and backwardness of the South, this newspaper, which is one of the largest and most reliable journals in this section, expressed itself as follows: 'We have as many illiterate white men in the South to-day over twenty-one years as there were fifty-two years ago, when the census of 1850 was taken.' This barrenness of brain and this dearth of intellectual activity, in a section inhabited by men and women in whose innate mental inferiority nobody believes, can be accounted for on one hypothesis alone. It is due to the brain blight, superinduced by the ban placed upon the freedom of thought. And this freedom of thought will always be a mental impossibility in the South, until the white people of that section cease to make their coloured brother the subject of paramount importance, cease to insist that there shall be but a single, solitary opinion, both concerning his rights and privileges as a citizen and the treatment which must be accorded him by all members of the VOL. LX - No. 353 G 74 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY July dominant race, whether they concur in the opinion of the majority or not. As the intellectual faculties of the southern white people have been dwarfed, because they have placed consideration of the coloured man and his status among them above everything else, because they have allowed nobody, no matter whence he hailed nor how competent he was to judge, to dissent from the generally accepted view without paying a heavy penalty for defying public sentiment, so progress along financial and commercial lines has been impeded, because the white people of the South have been busier raising huge barriers in the coloured man's path to knowledge and achievements, along various lines which he might have otherwise attained, than they have been developing the wonderful natural resources of their rich and fertile land. The South has greatly prospered since the war. It is tilling its fields, working its mines of coal and ore, and filling its coffers with gold. But there is no doubt that much greater commercial prosperity would have been attained by the South if the same attention had been bestowed upon improving its agricultural facilities as has been given to devising ways and means of handicapping a struggling, backward race. Southern States like South Carolina and Georgia, for instance, which formed a part of the original thirteen, are poor and backward indeed compared with some of their younger sisters in the West, like Iowa and Illinois. Some of the eastern and western States that were admitted into the Union long after the Revolutionary War are not so rich in natural resources as are some of the southern States among the original thirteen. And yet these younger children in the national family have progressed far more rapidly along intellectual and financial lines than their elders in the South, because the inhabitants of the former have expended all their powers of body and mind building up a strong, substantial commonwealth and developing their resources to the fullest extent. None of their precious energy has been dissipated in frantic, hysterical efforts to hold in perpetual subjection a heavily handicapped race and to coerce others into adopting their standard of conduct and accepting their views. Gratifying, therefore, as has been the development of the South's agricultural and mineral resources, there is no doubt that the progress along these lines might have been greater if so much strength of the best white people in the South had not been expended manufacturing expedients for keeping their coloured brother in what they call 'his place.' The fear manifested by the southern white people that their coloured brother might, if not prevented, soar to heights which they are determined he shall never scale appears all the more groundless and inconsistent when it is recalled how strenuously they insist that he belongs to a naturally inferior race. But this is only one of the many illogical, irrational positions into which the South is trapped, and is only one of the many points on which it is obliged to stultify 1906 A PLEA FOR THE WHITE SOUTH 75 itself, because of its misguided, fanatical loyalty to the fetish of race prejudice, before which every knee must bow. Thus many a southern white man, possessing those qualities of intellect and those graces of heart which would have admirably fitted him to be a leader in affairs of high and noble emprise, has contented himself with being a mere policeman, whose only ambition in life was to keep a close watch upon the coloured man's aspirations, strike him upon the head with a bludgeon and arrest him, either when he aspired too high or tried to escape from the narrow intellectual, political, and social inclosure into which each and every member of his race, without regard to individual merit or capacity, had been forcibly corralled. In being deprived of the service of men who have thus prostituted their talents, not only the South but the whole nation has sustained an irreparable loss. If there were any sign of improvement among southern white people as a whole, so far as concerns their attitude toward every subject which bears, even remotely, upon the race problem, their prospects, as well as those of the people who are oppressed, would be far brighter than they are. But no microscope now on the market is sufficiently powerful to enable even the lynx-eyed to detect the slightest change for the better. Legislatures in the southern States are never more enthusiastic and industrious than when they are bent upon enacting measures for the purpose of repressing the coloured man's aspirations by law. To-day one State legislature will exhaust Webster's Unabridged trying to find language sufficiently strong and lurid to express the necessity of dividing the taxes so that coloured children shall have no more schools than taxes paid by their parents will support. To-morrow another State will actually pass a law, as Louisiana has done, prohibiting the public schools for coloured children from instructing them beyond the fourth and fifth grades, with the understanding that what they get in the five grades shall be none too good. All the southern States, with the exception of Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, and Arkansaw, have robbed coloured men of their right of citizenship, and have thus reduced more than 1,000,000 Americans to the level of serfs and slaves. So pernicious has been the influence of the far South that a border State like Virginia, only a stone's throw from the district in which the national capital is located, has disfranchised coloured men. Maryland, encouraged by Virginia's success in violating the amendments to the Constitution, tried with all her might and main just a few months ago to emulate her neighbour's unworthy example. Jim Crow cars enter and leave the National Capital filled with indignant, humiliated coloured citizens every hour in the day. Under such circumstances neither the most sanguine citizen in the North nor the most optimistic member of the oppressed race in the United States can lay the flattering unction to his soul that the South has accepted the result of the Civil War and is G 2 76 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY July willing to grant coloured men the rights, privileges, and immunities of citizenship guaranteed them by the Constitution. No truer statement of the South's position to-day could possibly be made than that expressed by General Lee in his address to the Confederate Veterans at their reunion in Louisville last summer. Without mincing matters, or making unnecessary apologies, he declared that the South had accomplished, by peaceful revolution, what it had been unable to effect by means of war. One might go on indefinitely supplying evidence to prove that, as a whole, the South is as implacable and unreconstructed, so far as concerns its attitude toward that part of the Constitution which guarantees the freedman his rights as well as towards those who insist that these rights be respected, as it was at the close of the war. There is a law - call it human, divine, retributive justice or what you will, but there is an inexorable law which decrees that those who persistently and cold-bloodedly oppress the weak shall not for ever escape the consequences of their guilt. Therefore, those who love the South and who have its interests at heart should never cease to labour and remonstrate with it, till it has been turned from its evil way. It is plainly the nation's duty, therefore, to do everything in its power to emancipate the South from the thraldom of its own prejudices; release it from the slavery of the brain-blighting, soul-crushing intolerance of other people's views; teach it the difference between the highest, purest patriotism and a narrow, sectional pride; instill into it a sense of justice which will prevent it either from inflicting or withholding penalties for wrong-doing and crime on account of the colour of a man's skin; and finally breathe into the hearts of the people as a whole a broad, Christian charity which will extend even to their former slaves. Secondly, the South should be rescued from its follies and sins, not only because it will work its own destruction if it continues to pursue its present course, but because the spiritual and moral welfare of the American people as a whole is greatly imperilled thereby. What with its shameful record on lynching, what with its crimes committed by desperadoes belonging to various bands of organized violence, what with its Convict Lease system, that new form of slavery which obtains in nearly every State in the South and is in some respects more cruel and more crushing than the old; what with its Contract Labour system, designed and practised for the purpose of deceiving and defrauding ignorant, defenceless coloured labourers; what with the shocking number of murders and homicides committed in so many instances with impunity, the South is in an unfortunate and alarming condition indeed. In Governor Hayward's message to the General Assembly of South Carolina in January of the current year he admits with sorrow and regret the reign of lawlessness in the State, and deplores the fact that although an appropriation to apprehend 1906 A PLEA FOR THE WHITE SOUTH 77 lynchers had been set aside at his request, no convictions had been made. With great intensity of feeling he declared that such outrages as those which so frequently occur in his State lead to all disregard of law, the cheapening of human life, and undermines our very civilisation. In discussing the blood-guiltiness in Governor Hayward's State a short time ago, the Nashville American, one of the fairest and most reliable newspapers in the South, stated that if the killing in other States had been in the same ration to population as in South Carolina, a larger number of people would have been murdered in the United States during 1902 than fell on the American side in the Spanish and Philippine wars. Although coloured men are usually the victims of the lawlessness and cruelty committed with the knowledge and consent of some of the Southern Commonwealths, white men from the North have occasionally suffered too. Only last December a sickening story of this cruel suffering was related by two white boys from Seymour, Ind., who had escaped from a Convict Lease camp in Mississippi, whose Governor, by the way, recently kicked a coloured convict nearly to death, because while blacking this high State official's shoes, the unfortunate convict said something to which the Governor took exception. These boys declared they found white men in the convict camps of Mississippi who had been held as slaves for ten years. The experience of the Indiana boys tallies with that of two New York boys who together with 200 others were lured to Florida last fall by promises of work at good pay. When they reached their service place, however, they were partly starved, flogged, shot, and finally placed in a chain gang and compelled to work until they fainted, when they were whipped for the weakness. According to official statistics a coloured man was lynched in Mississippi every eighteen days in 1905, and of this number only two were even charged with what is so falsely and maliciously called the 'usual crime.' One was shot because he was accused of writing an insulting letter, and one because he was charged with making threats. Crimes heinous enough occur in the North, it is true, but it is inconceivable that an institution so diabolical as the Convict Lease system could flourish anywhere in the North, East, or West with the knowledge and consent of either the citizens or the officials of the respective States. A short time ago the Grand Jury of Ware Co., Georgia, declared that at least twenty citizens of that county were held as slaves in a camp owned by one of the leading members of the Georgia legislature. The witnesses who were called testified that brutalities practised in this camp were too revolting to be described. Thus the white youth of the South are being hardened and brutalised by the shocking spectacles they are forced to witness on every hand. Truly the South is sowing seeds of lawlessness and cruelty which in the very nature of the case will spring up armed men in the 78 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY July years to come. Accounts of deeds of violence recently perpetrated by white students upon coloured people amply prove this fact. Last December the cadets of Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Va., made a revengeful raid on the house of a coloured man, beat him unmercifully and marched him, half dead, to jail, simply because it was rumoured that he either fired a shot at a cadet himself, or knew the man who did. Not only by examples of cruelty and lawlessness, but also by social and political demarcations based exclusively upon race and class, the white youth of this country are being tainted in every conceivable way. 'Resolved, That a Jim Crow Car Law should be Adopted and Enforced in the District of Columbia' was the subject of a discussion engaged in in January of the present year by the Columbian Debating Society of the George Washington University, which is situated in the National Capital, and the decision was rendered in favour of the Jim Crow car. In discussing questions bearing upon national, State, or municipal affairs, or touching matters of private concerns, the South never fails to interject its view on the race problem and render a decision accordingly, no matter how remotely connected with the subject these views may be nor how great may be the advantages accruing to the South if it will temporarily sink these extraneous opinions out of sight. For instance, there is no doubt that southern white women would be greatly benefited by joining the General Federation of Women's Clubs and thereby coming into contact with some of the brightest minds in the United States. But only a few months ago the Alabama Federation of Women's Clubs voted down a resolution favouring such a union, because a coloured woman was admitted as a delegate in Milwaukee a long time ago, and that, too, in spite of the fact that the General Federation has since then adopted rules, so as to atone for thus offending their southern sisters, which practically exclude colouring women from the Federation altogether. And so one fact after another might be cited to prove that the South's present attitude of mind and state of heart preclude the possibility of progress. Stagnation of an individual or a collection of individuals invariably means retrogression in the end. That one section of this union cannot retrograde without dragging down all the others is an axiom. If, therefore, the North, East, and West feel they are not their brother's keeper, and are not moved by the missionary spirit to lift the South out of the slough of stagnation in which it now lies, surely the second point urged as a reason for making a plea in its behalf will appeal to every patriot in the land. To all who give the subject careful consideration it must be clear that self-preservation and an intelligent concern for the nation as a whole command all true patriots to act, and act at once. If one section of this country is permitted to trample with impunity upon any provision of the Constitution with which it takes issue, another will surely resort to the same expedient 1906 A PLEA FOR THE WHITE SOUTH 79 to render null and void any section or clause to which it is opposed. It does not require a great amount of profundity or perspicacity to see that the violation of one fundamental law invariably leads to the infraction of another. If general observance of the law by the citizens of a country is a test of a nation's civilisation, and if statistics on this subject count for anything, then the United States of America belongs at the very foot of the civilised nations' class. Quite recently ex-Ambassador Andrew White declared that with the single exception of Sicily more murders are committed in the United States than in any other civilised country in the world. Not long ago a well-known white clergyman in Louisville, Ky., startled his congregation one Sunday morning by declaring that home life is safer in the dominions of the Ameer of Afghanistan than it is in Kentucky. There are more murders [said he] in Louisville, Ky., with 200,000 people than there are in London with nearly 7,000,000. There are more murders in Kentucky with its 2,000,000 people than in Great Britain with a population of 40,000,000. Finally there are more murders in the United States than in the whole of Europe, with Italy and Turkey left out and Russia included. This statement was made, of course, before the wholesale slaughter of the Russian Jews. No other civilised nation [said this Louisville clergyman] approaches this in the matter of murders, and those which come nearest to it are Italy and Turkey, where the assassin's knife is freely used and where men allow their anger and hatred and disgraceful passions to rule their conduct. Several distinguished men in the congregation where so shocked at these statistics that they determined to study the subject themselves, but after a careful investigation had been instituted, they admitted these figures could not be truthfully denied. At the annual dinner of the Authors' Club, given in honour of the Lord Chief Justice of England in December 1904, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle devoted a part of his remarks to the laxity with which the law against murder is administered in the United States. During the Boer War, he said, Great Britain had lost 22,000 lives. But during the same three years the United States had lost 10,000 more, that is 32,000 lives, by murder and homicide in a time of peace. Many of these crimes, he said, had gone unpunished. The Lord Chief Justice took occasion to corroborate what Sir Arthur had said. It is painful to every true American, of course, to know that lawlessness prevails to such an extent in the country he loves. It is the duty of true patriots, however, to stare disagreeable facts in the face, for in no other way will it be possible to remedy some of the evils which exist. And no matter how seriously the coloured American may be handicapped to-day, nor how grievously he was oppressed in the past, there are no true patriots in the United Sates to-day 80 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY July than are the 10,000,000 coloured people who know and love no fatherland but this. In every war which this country has waged in the past, coloured men have fought and died with a courage and a patriotism surpassed by none. Is it not true that this country's red record, which can neither be concealed nor denied, may be accounted for in large measure by the impunity with which crimes are committed against coloured people in the South? Coloured men, women, and children are being shot to death, flayed alive, and burned at the stake, while the murderers not only escape punishment as a rule, but are rarely, if ever, called to account. So rapidly has the crime of lynching spread that now it is confined to no one particular section, but we see it breaking out here and there in places where we would least expect to find it. During the riot which occurred in New York City a few years ago, an eye- witness declared that poor old coloured men who were returning peacefully and unsuspectingly home from their work, were cruelly set upon and brutally beaten by ruffians for no reason whatsoever, except that they were coloured. If, therefore, the North, East, and West are not moved by a sense of duty to save the South from itself and protect coloured men in their rights, the sooner those sections realise that self-preservation demands immediate and vigorous action on their part, the more surely will they be able to avert national tragedies which sanctioned lawlessness invariably precipitates. If the events which transpired before the Civil War teach one lesson more than another, it is that tolerating wrong, temporising with injustice, and long forbearance with evildoers are sure to bring shame, disgrace, and sorrow upon the nation that makes the fatal mistake. Putting off till to-morrow the correction of national evils which should be made to-day simply delays for a little the hour of wrath which is sure to strike. And when the day of retribution finally dawns, then the difficulty of throttling evils, grown great and strong by time, is increased a thousandfold. Delay is wicked; delay is dangerous; delay means death, are the words of warning written upon every page of United States history from the day the Declaration of Independence was signed till Fort Sumter was fired upon by rebel guns. The French Revolution taught France the danger of delay in redressing the wrongs of the oppressed. Russia is learning the same lesson, to her sorrow and cost, to-day. God grant that our own beloved land may not be forced to atone a second time in a nation's blood and tears for tacitly consenting to cruel wrongs heaped upon the oppressed. But if the first two reasons for making a plea in behalf of the South are not sufficient to arouse those who love their country, surely the third will appeal to all who love their fellow men. It is useless to talk about elevating the masses of a backward, struggling race until the scales of prejudice fall from the eyes of the stronger people, 1906 A PLEA FOR THE WHITE SOUTH 81 by whom the progress of the weaker is retarded, and without whose consent and support it will be impossible for the weaker to rise. In the South to-day an intelligent coloured man or woman suffers a veritable martyrdom. From the books they have read, and from the speeches of the Revolutionary fathers, which breathe forth hatred of oppression in every line, the intelligent coloured people in this country have learned to love liberty more than they love life. The love of freedom with which the very air in this country is heavily charged is inhaled by coloured Americans at every breath, and yet they know they are not free. They see they are not free to develop their God- given faculties and engage in any pursuit to which both their capacity and inclination lead them, and on account of which they might brilliantly succeed, although this is the privilege enjoyed by the representatives of every other race who land on American shores. Although it cannot be truthfully asserted that coloured people are free anywhere in the United States in the same sense as are all other Americans, whether indigenous or adopted, their yoke of bondage is heaviest in the South. In that section there are nearly 8,000,000 human beings, some of whom have very little, others a larger proportion of African blood coursing through their veins, who virtually occupy the position of serfs, when they are not actually held as slaves, in this Government founded upon liberty and equality before the law of all. The tortures endured by Tantalus, famished with hunger and parched with thirst, as he gazed upon food and water placed within his sight but out of reach, were not more terrible than are those suffered by coloured people in the United States who see all other races and nationalities enjoying opportunities of various kinds which they, too, long to possess, but of which they are systematically and continually deprived. The pity of it is that the just and generous hearted sons and daughters of the South who would gladly rescue, so far as in them lies, the deserving members of the downtrodden and handicapped race from their cruel fate are deterred from following the dictates of humanity, because they know what a heavy penalty for their deeds of kindness they will be obliged to pay. Of the discouraging phases of the coloured man's status in the South is the persistency with which his strong and powerful brothers criticise and condemn the whole race for the mistakes made and the crimes committed by the few. For this reason no greater service could be rendered the coloured people of this country by those who have their interests at heart than to show the white South how rash and wicked is its course toward the freedmen in its midst, and what an irreparable injury it is doing them by the misrepresentations which it constantly circulates against the whole race. Even by southerners who are supposed to be broad-minded and just, the coloured man's vices are constantly exaggerated beyond a semblance of truth, in spite of the fact that his accusers are themselves responsible 82 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY July for most of them, his defects are emphasised in every possible way, and his mental ability either underestimated or scoffed at. In many instances these misrepresentations are not the result of deliberate malice. There is no doubt that many southerners do not realise how unjust and untruthful they are in their tirades against the oppressed race. By looking continually and exclusively at one side of the race problem, and by a misguided loyalty to the sophistries and traditions of the past, their intellect is stunted, so far as concerns their ability to grasp any subject touching the coloured American, their reasoning faculties are dwarfed, and they are literally seduced from the truth. By a continual exaggeration of the coloured man's vices, by a studied suppression of the proofs of his marvellous advancement, by a judicious though malicious use of epithets, such as social equality, negro domination, and others which poison and mislead the public mind; by a watchful, searching scepticism with respect to evidence in the coloured man's favor, and a convenient credulity with respect to every report or tradition which can be used to prove the coloured man's depravity, the South has almost succeeded in persuading the whole world that it is a martyr and the coloured American is a brute. When a race or class is marked in any community, when its vices and defects are upon everybody's tongue and its depravity is conceded by all, it requires an amount of courage, goodness, and grit such as few human beings possess, for a single individual in that underestimated or slandered class to live down the opprobrium of which he is a vicarious victim. It is an axiom that whatever the hardships and misfortunes of a race may be, they fall with greatest severity upon women. The treatment accorded coloured women in the United States is but another proof of this well-established rule. A minister of the Gospel hailing from the South stood in the pulpit of New York Church, and declared, not long ago, that virtue in coloured women is so rare that any consideration of it is futile. There are very few men of any race, no matter how long in the social scale they may be, who can be induced to give damaging evidence against the character of a woman, no matter how frail or friendless she may be nor how urgent the necessity that her unsavoury record be exposed. But this rule of chivalry usually observed by all men towards all women, and to which the South insists it is pledged, has not always protected coloured women in the United States. In 1895 the President of the Missouri Press Association sent an open letter to Miss Balgarnie of England, well known for her interest in the coloured people of the United States, which, with the exception of the slander recently uttered by the minister to whom reference has just been made, is probably the most unjustifiable and venomous attack ever made upon the womanhood of any race by a man. After painting in the most lurid colours possible the depth of the coloured 1906 A PLEA FOR THE WHITE SOUTH 83 American's degradation, he cites an example to prove his case against coloured women, which for coarse vulgarity and malicious mendacity cannot be surpassed in the bewildering confusion of false charges preferred against the victims of oppression and degradation by those who are responsible for their ruin. More than that. Southern white women who shine brilliantly in the galaxy of letters are not ashamed to prostitute their talent by publicly proclaiming their coloured sister's immorality to the world in both the newspapers and leading periodicals of the North, while they gloat in ghoulish glee over her shame. It is difficult to understand how the women of any race, under any circumstances and for any reason whatever, could bring themselves to slander in so wanton, so wholesale, and so cold- blooded a manner the womanhood of another race, particularly if those who wield the withering, blighting, character-assassinating pens are the daughters of parents responsible in the sight of God and men for the heredity and environment of the very women whose moral delinquencies they expose and assail. And so it happens that the very air which a coloured girl breathes in that section where the majority live is heavy with traditions and accusations of the frailty of both her race and her sex. Statistics, however, which have been compiled by white men themselves, show that in spite of the fateful heritage of slavery, in spite of the numerous pitfalls laid to entrap coloured girls, and though the safeguards usually thrown around maidenly youth and innocence are, in at least one section of this country, withheld from coloured girls, immorality among coloured women in the United States is not so great as among women similarly situated in at least five foreign lands. As a preparation for the war of the Rebellion, Mr. Lincoln declared that the ringleaders in the conspiracy against this government had been assiduously debauching the public mind for thirty years. Ingenious sophisms were invented, he said, by which the right-thinking people of that section were deceived and misled. In the war which the professional negro-haters (not the whole South) have made upon the liberty of coloured people ever since their emancipation was proclaimed, precisely the same base methods have been pursued. The rapidity with which the South has poisoned the mind of the North against coloured people, and has succeeded in withdrawing from them the sympathy and assistance of those who were once known to be their best friends, is a splendid tribute to the persuasiveness, the persistency, the plausability and the power of the South, while it resembles nothing so much as a skilful trick of legerdemain. View the conditions which now obtain in the South from any standpoint one may, he must inevitability reach the conclusion that for the sake of the South itself, for the sake of the nation as a whole, and for the sake of 8,000,000 human beings crying for justice and a fair chance, strenuous efforts should be made by the North, East, and THE NINETEENTH CENTURY West to instill into the Southern people a wholesome reverence for the law. Failure to inflict upon an individual, or a collection of individuals, the penalty for wrongdoing and crime is simply to encourage still further defiance of the law. Therefore the men in the North, East, and West who are aiding and abetting political corruption and crime wherever it may exist, by allowing those who commit it to go unpunished and unreduced are equal in guilt with those who flagrantly violate the law. MARY CHURCH TERRELL. Washington, D.C. 10 Cents a Copy Page 554 [Dec 1906] $1.00 a Year THE VOICE December, 1906 The Negro in the President's Message By Edward E. Wilson Published Monthly by THE VOICE PUBLISHING COMPANY 415 Dearborn Street, Chicago, Ill. Application made for entry as second-class matter, November 1906, at the Post Office at Chicago, Ill., under Act of Congress of March 3, 1879. AGENTS Selling Good Books Means Money and Education at the Same Time. Had You Thought of it That Way? Safe Methods or How to Do Business Is an Up-to-Date Business Manual By E. T. ROE, LL. B. COMMERCE CONTAINS: Legal and business forms. Laws governing all business transactions and contracts. Twenty pages on banking. Exposition of swindling schemes. Business and social correspondence, with tables and rules and a fund of useful information valuable to everyone. Size of book 5 1/4 x 7 inches. 480 pages, about which the "Herald and Presbyter" of Cincinnati says: "it is one of those invaluable encyclopedic treasure-houses of facts and suggestions, that makes one wonder how so much can be crowded within the compass of its dimension." Strongly bound in cloth, silk finish, stamped in black and gold, price only $1.00. The Planter's Guide And Complete Cotton Calculator By Prof. E. T. ROE, LL. B. A Neat, New, Practical, Reliable Guide with a Complete Cotton Calculator CONTAINS: Book-keeping by singe and double entry. Forms of every kind of business letters. Forms of orders. How to write deeds, notes, drafts, checks, receipts, contracts, leases, mortgages, acknowledgments, bills of sale, affidavits, bills of lading, etc., etc. How to write all the different forms of endorsements of notes, checks and other negotiable business papers. Size, 5 1/4 x 7 1/2, 400 Pages, Illustrated. Strongly Bound in Cloth. 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Gentlemen: When I began using your pomade my head was so bald I was ashamed of myself, but now my hair has grown three inches all over my head and I have been using it only two months. IDE PRATER. I have seen the original letters and testify to the genuineness of the statements. A. N. JENKINS, Vice-President Hertel, Jenkins & Co. Ford's Hair Pomade was formerly known as "OZONIZED OX MARROW," and is the only safe preparation know to us that makes kinky of curly hair straight. Its use makes the most stubborn, harsh, kinky or curly hair soft, pliable and easy to comb. These results may be obtained from one treatment; 2 to 4 bottles are usually sufficient for a year. The use of Ford's Hair Pomade ("OZONIZED OX MARROW") removes and prevents dandruff, relieves itching, invigorates the scalp, stops the hair from falling out or breaking off, makes it grow, and by nourishing the roots, gives it new life and vigor. 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FACTS AND FORMS ET ROE A HAND BOOK OF READY REFERENCE Reduced cut of book Full size, 4 3/4 x 7 inches A SAVER of TIME and MONEY for the busy man of whatever calling in fees for advice and legal forms, in correctly estimating the amount of material required for building, the weight or contents of bins, boxes or tanks; in measuring land, lumber, longs, wood, etc., and in computing interest, wages, or the value of anything at any given price. SOME OF WHAT 'FACTS AND FORMS' CONTAINS Book-keeping by Single and Double Entry. Forms of every kind of Business Letter. Forms of Orders. How to write Deeds, Notes, Drafts, Checks, Receipts, Contracts, leases, Mortgages, Acknowledgments, Bills of Sale, Affidavits Bills of Lading, etc., etc. How to write all the different forms of Endorsements of Notes, Checks, and other Negotiable Business Papers. 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MAX BARBER, Editor WM. P. HAMILTON, Circulation Mgr Contents for December, 1906 FRONTISPIECE.--Full page portrait of Mayor Edward F. Dunne of Chicago. THE WORLD'S HIGHWAY-- France and the Vatican The President's Message to Congress The Negro in the Message Class Education An Omission in the Message Congress The Bellamy-Storer Incident Tillman in Chicago The Congo Infamy Zamenhof's La Vojo The Colored Soldiers again A Reasonable Theory WORCENSTER PROHIBITS THE CLANSMAN. --John D. Swain THE UPPER BERTH. --J. C. Diamond A SOLDIER'S OPINION OF THE RECENT EXCITEMENT AT BROWNSVILLE, TEXAS. --Vance H. Marchbanks LA VOJO--ZAMENHOF'S POEM IN ESPERANTO. --Wm. Pickens A PROTEST.--Poem. --Azalia E. Martin THE PRESIDENT AND THE SOLDIERS. --W. E. Burghardt Dubois LINES TO THE NEW CONGRESSIONAL LIBRARY.--Poem. --Maxwell Hayson THE DISBANDING OF THE COLORED SOLDIERS. --Mary Church Terrell PROVIDENT HOSPITAL AND TRAINING SCHOOL.. --Harry Lemat A PAGE FROM THE PAST--Illustrations showing cotton cultivation in the 40's. THE DEMAND FOR RACE INTEGRITY. --Frank Grant Lewis NOT WHY, O LORD, BUT HELP.--Poem --Ann Melody THE NEGRO IN THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE. --Edward E. Wilson BOOKS AND ART. --Florence L. Bentley KERNELS AND KEYNOTES. Yule Song: A Memory. --Wm. Stanley Braithwaite On Women --Maurice Maeterlinck The Song of the Sea --Joe Lincoln TO THE DISCHARGED SOLDIERS.--Poem --Margaret P. Lorick PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT IN PORTO RICO. --Florence Lee Thomas JUDGE SULZBERGER AND THE CLANSMAN. WAYSIDE. --Silas X. Floyd THE VOICE is an illustrated Monthly Magazine devoted to the unravelling of the world's ethnic snarl and is published for people who believe that there is virtue neither in color not the lack of it. 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It is advisable that articles sent to the editor should be typewritten. LETTERS should be addressed: THE VOICE PUBLISHING CO., 415 Dearborn St., CHICAGO, ILL. Second-class rates applied for. MAYOR EDWARD F. DUNNE Tho a Democrat, he refused to preside or to even be present at a meeting where Tillman spoke THE VOICE VOLUME III DECEMBER, 1906 NUMBER XII THE WORLD'S HIGHWAY France and the Vatican All the world is watching the progress of the separation of Church and State in France. A long and memorable contest has suddenly come to a crisis. December the 10th was the date set as the utmost limit of time allowed the Catholic clergy of the country to fulfill the requirements of the new law of separation. This meant that by that time all Catholic clergymen must have consented to turn their schools, hospitals, churches and other Catholic institutions over to the State-appointed boards of laymen. These boards are to exercise very largely the control of said property. The Pope at Rome gave orders to his followers in France to refuse to comply with the law. The French Catholics have obeyed the Pope and thus the crisis. It is hard for one to know where to place his sympathies in this struggle. Church and State are so entirely separate here in America that it is hard for us to appreciate the situation in France. France has been accounted a Catholic nation for nearly a thousand years. But respect for the Church along with everything else sacred to old France was swallowed up in the red gulf of revolution of a hundred years ago. When the nation finally got settled enough to take its bearings and to re-adjust itself to the new order of things, though the church property was confiscated, still an annual budget was granted to the Catholics because of this confiscation. This budget was one of the articles in the historic concordat. For a long time it seemed as if the question was settled for good. The agitation which has finally culminated in the present situation dates its beginning from 1 880, since which time a gradual separation has been going on. This separation question has made and unmade several French ministries. Waldeck-Rosseau resigned the French premiership in 1902 rather than enforce the Religious Associations' Law. The law had his sympathy, but he feared its enforcement. He was followed by Emile Combes, than whom there has never been a more fearless republican in France. Combes set about abolishing the religious orders in earnest. Much of his work was done in the teeth of hissing mobs. He laid a relentless hand on the riots that tried to frustrate his work and doggedly pursued his course. He it was who moved the practical abrogation of the concordat, that century-old 536 THE VOICE agreement with the Vatican. When he fell, he had already closed more than 14,500 of the religious establishments and introduced secular institutions instead. Then followed Mr. Rouvier-calm, moderate, sagacious, but none the less a strong anti-clerical. Rouvier yielded to Clemanceau and Clemanceau is as relentless as Combes was. Because the Catholics obeyed the Pope and refused to vacate property or take the new oath, many have been arrested and some banished. A kind of passive resistance has been adopted with the hope that the offensive law will be repealed by the next Parliament. As stated above, it is hard for an American protestant to know where to place his sympathies. Undoubtedly we all want Church and State separate. A religious hierarchy twining itself around the life of a modern state is altogether undesirable. Yet, the French Government has adopted a policy of spoilation which can hardly appeal to a good conscience as highly moral. It may be that France again trembles on the verge of a mighty cataclysm. Knowing to what depth France can plunge, the world hopes and prays that another death-grapple is not at hand. The President's Message to Congress Mr. Roosevelt possesses an easy flow of economic theory and sermonizes on a great variety of economic and sciologic topics in his annual message to congress. All must yield to the president the place of superiority in volubility. He evidently assumes that he and he alone is the champion and arbiter of public morals, for in his message he seems to try to cover every subject, national or local, that vexes the people. In most questions we believe he takes a proper position. We totally disagree with some of his preachments. On certain phases of the Negro question he has a very clumsy and erroneous conception. But of that we shall speak later. The thing which is probably most alarming to conservative citizens in the nation is Roosevelt's fitful fever for power. he seems to chafe under the restraints of the Constitution. He wants more power. Already he has more power than any first-rate monarch of Europe; and he has used the power he has to set in motion a centripetal tendency which must inevitably make for the weakening of the forces which advance popular liberties. He desires too heartily to govern this nation by executive order, and his in- ordinate thirst for power runs almost the entire gamut of national social regulation from the changing of a language to the discharge of an army. The nation must check this Caesarism and overcentralization and save itself from the blight of a horde of shallow and posturing adventurers. Mr. Roosevelt evidently felt the force of the entirely justifiable public criticism of his attempt last year to dictate to the judiciary of the country. At great length he defends, or attempts to defend, his course. But he misses the point. The press and people did not say that the judiciary was above criticism. What they did say was that it ill became one of the co-ordinate branches of the government to use the intemperate language towards any other co-ordinate branch that Mr. Roosevelt used toward the judiciary. Because he does not criticise does not mean that bad judges will not be criticised. There is a host of thinkers in this country who are as good judges of right and wrong as the president, who are not hemmed in by presidential proprieties and who will call a halt not only to judicial blunders but also to presidential aggressions. The Negro in the Message Elsewhere in this number of THE VOICE will be found an article by Mr. Edward E. Wilson on "The Negro in the President's Message." Here it is our purpose merely to outline editorially our own view of that part of the message which deals with the American Negro. We do not hesitate to say that this portion of the message is clearly a straddle and a straddle which is transparently ingenuous. While Mr. Roosevelt is anxious to condemn lynching, he is really afraid to offend the South. Therefore, he prefaces his remarks with one of our old Southern pleas of extenuation. He reasons that there are faults in all sections of the country and therefore each section is immune from criticism from the other. That statement will surely prove delicious to the South which is a hundred years behind any other section of the country, spite of Mr. Roosevelt's statement. The president's statement that "the greatest existing cause of lynching is the perpetration, especially by black men of the hideous crimes of rape," shows, to say the lease, an amazing ignorance of the facts about the subject he undertakes to discuss. Every investigation that has been made by newspaper and magazine THE VOICE 537 writers for the last quarter of a century contradicts this statement. And indeed, every man who knows anything at all about the situation knows that only a very small proportion of the men lynched are ever accused of rape. Most people considered this poisonous falsehood interred for more than a decade. We had supposed that there was no man now living who was so uninformed as to restate this musty untruth; and yet here comes Mr. Roosevelt boldly making such an assertion just as if he was entirely unconscious of any anachronism. Investigations made from year to year by the Chicago Tribune and other reliable newspapers and always republished in the Literary Digest have shown conclusively that the greatest existing cause of lynchings is the white South's mistaken idea that slavery still exists and the black man's disregard of that idea. Black men are lynched for so-called "insolence" and for righteous self-defense more than anything else. Statistics will prove that the black man has no corner on rapes and the inference by Mr. Roosevelt that such is the case is received with an amazement closely akin to indignation by the Negro. There is absolutely no excuse for such an ignorant and harmful statement. The president proposes an absurdity when he says that decent black people must join the officers in a hunt for criminals. That kind of advice could come only out of the repertoire of a Southerner and here Mr. Roosevelt has plainly plagiarized from John Temple Graves. We lay it down as a sound fact that no good, but only harm comes from citizens promiscuously engaging in man-hunts. We would have fewer lynchings and a condition of society more nearly approaching civilization in the South if fewer white men usurped authority as officers and engaged in their zestful man-hunts. And more, if the president means to infer that the whites hunt up their own criminals, then we must respectfully and mournfully decline to agree with him. Where are all the lynchers the South has furnished for the last forty years? They are all murderers and yet many of them are among the men highest in authority in that section. Class Education In discussing the question of education for the blacks, Mr. Roosevelt again plumes himself in the garb of fairness and sweet moderation, but his smooth and guarded phrases will deceive no one. As if we should all take it for granted he says: "Of course the best type of education for the Colored man, taken as a whole, is such education as is conferred in schools like Hampton and Tuskegee." And why "of course?" How can the president use the words "of course" in recommending anything that tends to class and caste in America? Why must the Negro race "as a whole" acquire only industrial education? That one recommendation is probably the most considerable slap at equal opportunity the colored race has had in a decade. The millenium is not going to be ushered in by the mere conversion of the world into a corn and potato patch; and a very grave responsibility, to use no harsher phrase, is incurred by a man so high in authority who rashly indorses such a specious quackery. Here we recognize two bad influences: the tremendous and sinister influence of the white South and the self-stultifying propoganda of a school of Negro leaders in the nation. Mr. Roosevelt has not advised purely industrial education for the Negro without advice along this line from Negroes prominent in racial affairs. "The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hand is the hand of Esau." A being more supine never invited oppression than the Negro who says that in a republic like ours he is willing for the present to ask for less than is granted any other citizen of the land. Theoretically this is not a country of classes and the black man ought to be the last to advocate class doctrines in anything. There is a wide difference between slavish submission to wrongs and impositions and stoic patience. Civility is not servility. The will-o-the-wisp of Negro industrial supremacy leads to the bogs and quicksands of a very narrow and fettered life. Greed for gain-sordid materialism -lies on the open pages of history as the cause of the decadence of most ancient races and nations. This is ever the fatal penalty that befalls wealth-chasers. Always Hippomenes outdistances Atalanta as she stops to pick up the golden apples. We have-and the race has-no objections whatever to the application of the highest sciences to the simplest industries. But history suggests awkward doubts of the wisdom of a class of people preparing themselves to do mainly the coarser parts of the world's work. The United States is not built in compartments that are to be kept intact. We are all citizens here and we are all 538 THE VOICE striving for the highest there is in American citizenship. If that be true, then neither Hampton nor Tuskegee can describe the limits of the ideals of the black man. That part of the message which deals with the Negro is regretable and unsatisfactory and the multiplying murmur is to the effect that Booker Washington, in his delirium of ambition, has overshot the mark in urging Theodore Roosevelt to this unAmerican thing. An Omission in the Message Far be it from us to charge the president with glozing and hypocrisy; far be it from us of accusing this massive genius of using the cheap rhetoric of the doctrinaire to befuddle the real issue; far be it from us of saying that this tragic declaiming against lynching comes periously near to mere posing in the limelight. If we believed such a thing, the president is sheltered by his position and we should impose proper restraints in our language. But-and here is the secret of the strange pregnant doubt that haunts the Negro's mind-why did Mr. Roosevelt shirk the most serious knot in our whole ethnic,, ethic snarl? To stop rape will not stop the consuming hate of the Southerner towards the Negro. To stop lynchings will do very little towards solving the race problem. Industrial education will not save us from the criminal negligence of governors, the cowardice of sheriffs and policemen, the knavery of school boards, or the amazing corruption of courts. The ballot will. The white race respects and treats decently those it has to respect and treat decently. That accounts for Mr. Roosevelt's fervor in behalf of the Japanese. Nothing will compel respect from Southern officers but a ballot. That is history regardless of what improvident optimists say. The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the Unites States Constitution have been rendered entirely nurgatory throughout the South. The Constitution has been whittled down until almost our entire Southern Negro population has been disfranchised. The canker of dishonesty and trickery in government has eaten into the life of that section to such an extent as to seriously threaten the very existence of a republican form of government down there. If Mr. Roosevelt really desired to help the cause of honest government, he would have rebuked this demagogy. Rather he saw fit to lend himself to cliquism in Negro education, to fly in the face of the deliberate judgment of the nation's best sociologists and criminologists on the greatest cause of lynchings and to join the South in urging the decent black man to constitute himself a criminal-hunter without being allowed to be clothed with official power. There is no statesmanship in all of this wilderness of wasted words and this part of the message is greeted by colored people with something that is far from a paen of exultation. Congress The last session of the 59th Congress, which convened in Washington on the 4th of the present month, bids fair to become one of the most notable sessions in the history of the country. There are many new and serious problems pressing upon the country for solution-problems that can hardly wait for another presidential election. Some of them were mentioned in the president's message; others were not. The most notable omissions are tariffs reform and the curtailment of Southern power in Congress where that power is based on a disfranchised citizenry. Both of these subjects need urgent attention and it is to be hoped that Congress will be braver than the president on these questions. The House of Representatives deserves credit for its stand on the simplified spelling question. Mr. Roosevelt had assumed entirely too much when he undertook to change the English language by executive order. The House voted to stand by the old-fashioned orthography of Webster and the men of literature. Mr. Roosevelt had given orders to the public printer to print all department documents in the simplified way. Many of the department documents are afterwards used by Congress. Consequently many of the plates used by the departments can be used by Congress afterwards, provided the spelling is the same. Thus when the House passed its bill it put it up to Mr. Roosevelt to either have his department documents printed in the old orthography or be responsible for the extravagance that would come from having extra plates made. The president climbed down. True it was neither a courageous nor an ingenuous back-down to make-believe that he only surrendered to facilitate legislation. The order was one of Mr. Roosevelt's limelight poses which provoked a storm of public THE VOICE 539 indignation and we venture the assertion that the president was glad Congress furnished him this way of escape. Real moral courage would have prevented a man from trying to clothe a back-down in the garb of a compromise. A confession of rash and thoughtless action and an acknowledgement of repentance of error would have been more manly. The Senate has also taught Mr. Roosevelt a lesson. On the opening day of Congress all previous precedents were violated when Mr. Roosevelt sent a long list of nominations to the Senate before the joint committee of Congress had waited on him for his message, and what was a serious blunder was the fact that new cabinet officers were nominated for positions that are to be held by the present incumbents until Spring. The Senate refused to ratify the nominations. According to the Constitution, in case of the death of the president and vice-president, certain cabinet members in their order would become president. It was shown that should a new man be confirmed for a cabinet position while another one is still to hold the position for several months, in case of the death of the president and vice-president, serious complications might arise. Indeed, civil war might follow to determine who is to be president. Senators Foraker and Penrose have introduced bills calling for the facts about the discharge of the three companies of colored soldiers. We have faith in Mr. Foraker and his bill which was passed. The Bellamy Storer Incident Impartial critics will be inclined to give Mr. Roosevelt credit for getting the best of the controversy with Ex-Ambassador Bellamy Storer and his wife. The correspondence published both by Mr. Storer and Mr. Roosevelt seems to clearly establish the fact that Mr. Roosevelt did, after his elevation to the presidency, use proper discretion in refusing to have anything to do with the shaping of appointments at the Vatican. Not a single letter published contradicts this fact. And the only other evidence offered is what Mr. Storer claims is a memorandum of a private conversation with the president. The facts seem to be there: Influence was brought to bear on McKinley to appoint Bellamy Storer to a prominent position under the government. The best McKinley was able to give him was a European am- bassadorship. If we mistake not, McKinley sent Storer to Austria-Hungary. The Storers are Catholics and as members of that church they were interested in Vatican politics. They wanted Archbishop Ireland, their friend, appointed as a cardinal. To that end they began work. Mr. Roosevelt was then governor of New York. The Storers and the Roosevelts were intimate friends and Mrs. Storer easily secured Mr. Roosevelt's aid in helping to promote Mgr. Ireland to the red hat. He went so far as to write President McKinley, asking him to do what he could in the matter. He, as well as the Storers, were interested in the promotion of the archbishop. But President McKinley answered properly that he had nothing to do with affairs at Rome and could not properly have as an American president. When Mr. Roosevelt came to the presidency he realized the gravity of what he had been doing and at once changed his course. The Storers presumed on his friendship and persistently sought his influence for Mgr. Ireland. No thoughtful friend will embarass a friend in office as Mrs. Storer did President Roosevelt. She was undoubtedly an inveterate wire-puller. She could not understand Mrs. Roosevelt's new and proper attitude and persisted until she lost her husband his job. Most fair-minded people will say that Storer's pre-emptory dismissal and consequent humiliation was unnecessary and that this final harshness toward Mrs. Storere was uncalled for. Indeed, if Mr. Roosevelt were accustomed to the use of sober and moderate speech, we should be amazed at his language. He harshly excoriates Mrs. Storer for going just a little farther with him than he went with Mr. McKinley. He failed to remember that his attitude then, now served as an example for Mrs. Storer. In the main, however, the Storers seem to have been at fault. President Roosevelt did call a halt to what Governor Roosevelt had set agoing. Tillman in Chicago The country has been so thoroughly posted by the newspapers on what might be called the Tillman episode that it is hardly necessary for us to do more than to give the bare facts in the case. To say anything at all to a high-minded class of readers about this chief blusterer, chief buffoon, chief bully, chief bluffer and chief blackguard is of 540 THE VOICE doubtful wisdom. Tillman tastes nasty even to a halfway decent mouth. Our only excuse for mentioning him at all is for the sake of contrast. Never before in the history of the nation has a public man been so thoroughly repudiated because of a public utterance as Tillman was because of the speech he delivered in Chicago. From the gulf to the lakes and from ocean to ocean have come emphatic protests against the anarchy preached here by a United States senator. An effort was made to have Mr. Tillman's engagement to speak here canceled. This was long before the public took not of the fact that Mr. Tillman was coming. When the first notice went out that Tillman was coming, Dr. Charles E. Bentley, in company with others, went to see Mrs. Keeler, the financial agent for the charity in whose interest this man was to speak. Mrs. Keeler was not even cautious and tentative. She made an unconditional promise that though the engagement could not canceled, she would see to it that the "Race Problem" would be omitted in the discussion and that Mr. Tillman would discuss the "Annexation of Cuba." Later events REBEL YELL ANNEXATION OF CUBA LECTURE TO-NIGHT THE HON. BEN TILLMAN OF SHOT GUN - FAME- WILL TALK ON THE [ANNEXATION OF CUBA] NEGRO ???? FOSTER MCGOWAN SPECIAL THE SENATOR'S SHOT GUN IS [?] [?] [?] [?] IN THE LOBBY Foster McGowan's Idea of Tillman's Lecture. THE VOICE 541 proved that Mrs. Keeler was unfaithful to her word and that she is, as Tillman told her, a very smart press agent. When the time drew near for the Tillman lecture, the Broad Ax, a Chicago Negro weekly, called upon the colored people to assemble before the lecture hall in a mass the evening of the lecture and to protest against Mr. Tillman. This call caused strange uneasiness in the city. It gave Mrs. Keeler her opportunity to advertise Tillman, and she seized it with avidity. Tillman's coming lecture became the daily topic in Chicago. It was feared that the senator would be assassinated. A committee of colored people waited on Mayor Dunne, who was booked to preside at the lecture, and asked that he do what could be done against Tillman's appearing here. The mayor stated that he had no authority to stop free speech but that he himself would refuse to preside at the lecture. The mayor's position was perfectly proper and he deserves great credit for doing what he could to discountenance Tillmanism. Many prominent patronesses returned their tickets and refused to attend the lecture. Nevertheless, Tillman came. At no time while in Chicago was he without a heavy guard. Smarting under the public castigation Mayor Dunne gave him, sizzling and spluttering, he uncorked the vials of his wrath. The substance of his whole address might be embodies in his one retort when some one asked him about the law prohibiting the disfranchisement of Negroes. His answer was: "To Hell with the law!" There was absolutely nothing in his speech which bore the earmarks of statesmanship. His speech was properly characterized when Isador Gordon, a Russian Jew, arose in the audience and shouted to Tillman: "You are not stating facts, you coward! Every one here knows that you lie!" It is hardly likely that Benjamin Tillman will be invited by anybody soon to speak again in Chicago. The Congo Infamy At last the world is waking to the shocking truth that King Leopold's pretended philanthrophy in the Congo is in reality a ghastly lie. The whole Congo country is recklessly exploited for private gain by this human monster. The report of a commission appointed by the Belgian Chamber of Deputies showed that the natives had been flagrantly robbed of their rights, that shock- ing and revolting cruelties were practiced in forcing the natives to gather rubber for the government and that whenever prosecutions were begun against white men for crimes against natives, the proceedings were always quashed. The Berlin Conference of 1885 intrusted the Congo to Leopold's keeping. Then, as now, he pretended to be a philanthropist and said he wanted to improve the country for the natives. His whole course in the matter has belied his words. Today there is discernable the rising of an international indignation at Leopold's indecencies. A resolution has been introduced in Congress calling for action by the United States in promoting an international investigation of the Congo. Of course, the first thing Congress ought to do is to appoint a commission to investigate the Southern part of this country. But still the Congo question deserves attention from Congress. The newspapers have discovered that Leopold has a paid lobby in Washington to prevent the adoption of the resolution introduced. The Congo Reform Association of Boston is doing great work in promoting the investigation. Leopold in the Congo is a stench in the nostrils of modern civilization. Zamenhof's "La Vojo" Esperanto must be pronounced as a success when it can produce such an inspiring little poem as Zamenhof's "La Vojo." The poem is heroic in its sentiments and thoroughly musical in its construction. Dr. Zamenhof, the founder of Esperanto, bids fair to be ranked by posterity as the most distinguished linguist that ever lived. It is actually true that all nations and tongues are beginning to turn to Esperanto. The translation of "La Vojo," with comments on the poem by Professor William Pickens, of Taladega College, which appears elsewhere in this number of THE VOICE, is worthy of special notice. Prof. Pickens himself is quite a linguist, speaking French, German and Spanish almost as fluently as he does English. Within the last year he has become an Esperantist. He has now earned the most advanced diploma of the British Esperantist Association. His examination for the diploma, including 101 questions, an original essay and the translation of a standard English work, all had to be done in Esperanto. The 101 questions were submitted in Esperanto. So far as we 542 THE VOICE GEORGE W. WEBSTER President of the Chicago Savings Bank and one of the strong supports of Provident Hospital: Spoken of among the colored people as "One of God's Noblemen." have been able to learn, Prof. Pickens is the only black man with an Esperanto diploma. Prof. Pickens now has correspondence in this new language with French, Russians, Scotch, Africans, Japanese, Germans, Scandinavians and the islands of the sea. He will give to our readers some accounts of this correspondence during the year. The Colored Soldiers Again The president's message to Congress, December 19, in which he undertakes to defend his extraordinary course in summarily discharging without honor a whole battalion of colored soldiers contains a world of assertion with less than a mustard seed of proof. All of his harsh adjectives and noisy declarations fail to convince one of either the justice or reasonableness of his course. He bases his message on the reports by Generals Garlington, Blocksom, Lovering and Nettleton and also the annual report of Secretary Taft. In none of their reports is there a shred of evidence that goes to establish the guilt of men in the black battalion. Let us see what all of these reports go to establish. It is thoroughly established that there was shooting in Brownsville on the night of August 13. It seems to be thoroughly established that one man was killed and another wounded. Absolutely nothing else has been established. Suspicion points to the colored THE VOICE 543 soldiers as the men who did the shooting. First, white men of Brownsville had mistreated and insulted black soldiers repeatedly. The a priori theory would be that resentment was bound to follow. Second, white men of Brownsville declare that the men who did the shooting were colored men in khaki suits and blue shirts. Third, the bullets that were taken out of the walls of houses and cartridge shells picked up roundabout were of the type of the army ammunition. Fourth, no soldier admitted guilt when questioned and no soldier admitted of any knowledge of who did the rioting. The remarkable conclusion of the president and his inspectors is that therefore the colored soldiers are guilty of the shooting. They are guilty of the shooting because of the first three statements and are guilty of a conspiracy of silence because of the fourth statement;--that is, because none of the soldiers admitted guilt or pointed out a guilty man, therefore, there was a conspiracy. This is the weakest piece of reasoning we have seen in many a moon. The Constitution League and others interested have made investigations. If they have not proved their case, they have at least advanced arguments which outweigh anything which Mr. Roosevelt has said. First, it is clearly established that Garlington's report was obscured in the fogs of race prejudice. The president's loud assertions that race did not count seems unreasonable when we know that Garlington based his recommendations mainly on the alleged fact that it is a racial trait for Negroes to conceal crime and therefore there "appeared to be" "a conspiracy of silence" among these soldiers. Mr. Roosevelt based his message mainly on this narrow Southerner's report, and his loud protestations of the absence of race prejudices in the matter vanishes to the doubtful point when we consider that fact. Second, General Nettleton, of Illinois, made his investigation and report upon the invitation of the white citizens of Brownsville and not by the orders of the government. Reasonable people reserve the right to believe that Nettleton would not have been thus invited to investigate had not the Brownsville people known aforetime his predilections on the rioting. Third, immediately after the shooting began the sentry fired his piece three times in order to arouse the garrison. A roll call showed that every man was in his place and an examination of the rifles showed that all were clean and loaded. The sergeants all testify that all the guns were in the racks when unlocked. One of the superior officers declared that these men were "the best disciplined, best behaved and best regulated battalion in the United States army." In the face of these facts we respectfully submit that there is doubt that anybody in this battalion is guilty of murder, spite of the president's cocksure assertions. A Reasonable Theory A far more reasonable theory is advanced by the colored man who was interviewed by Raymond, of the Chicago Tribune. This colored man of national fame says that khaki garb is common among the colored population of Brownsville, as many of the men buy the discarded clothes of the soldiers. It is also true that many of the townspeople had army cartridges, the soldiers having given them to them as souvenirs. The persistent discriminations practiced against the colored soldier in white saloons had led to the establishment of a colored saloon. The soldiers, who always spent their money freely, now boycotted the white saloons and patronized the colored saloon exclusively. This angered the white saloonkeepers. Southern white people want the money of the black people, but they want him to accept humiliations as a part of the value of his money. The whites, so says this colored man, decided to break up this Negro saloon. The colored people got on to the plan and were prepared. On August 13 a riot, begun by whites, was participated in by black townspeople who wore soldiers' clothes and used army ammunition, or at least enough of it to save the Brownsville blacks from suspicion. This sounds reasonable. The other theory is utterly unreasonable in the light of facts so far disclosed. Nobody objects to drastic action against crime. We all say, if there are guilty men in the colored companies, bring them to judgment. But it is altogether un-American to hold that a man is guilty of a crime because he denies knowledge of it. Nothing shows so plainly beggardliness of principle as Mr. Roosevelt's strong adjectives. They prove nothing. He has never had the hardihood to explain to the country that the reason he refrained from discharging these soldiers until after the election was over was for 544 THE VOICE fear he would arouse public antagonism. That was exceedingly brave. Apart altogether from the merits of this case, the manner of the dismissal is hardly defensible. If this is constitutional, then at his whim or caprice steps vitally affecting the whole army can be taken by the president. We are on the verge of government by presidential ukase. The reason given for this drastic action is not a reason, but a subterfuge. To Our Friends Again we counsel patience. Many of you who are reading this note received your November VOICE very late in December. We sent you a letter explaining the cause of the delay. But we wish now to apologize to you publicly. By some queer mistake a package of mailing cards containing almost a thousand names of new subscribers was overlooked in making up the mailing list for November. Of course those people received no magazine at the time when everybody else was reading THE VOICE. For a few days this office was fairly bombarded with complaints. We became convinced that something was wrong and set up an investigation. The result was the discovery that those who addressed wraps for the November VOICE had unintentionally omitted nearly a thousand names. At once our whole office force was put to work on these names and nobody ate or slept until a magazine with a letter of explanation had been sent to every one of those people. Please pardon us for this one mistake. Don't blame your agent. He sent your name in all right. While we never intentionally neglect our subscribers, occasionally all offices have mistakes. Don't tell your friends that we are careless. Drop us a card and tell us of our negligence. Tell your friends of the good qualities of THE VOICE. We need 5,000 new subscribers within the next ninety days to enable us to make certain improvements. Friends, can't we have them? You rallied nobly to our appeal in October. Again we call on you for your sympathy and co-operation. Let each reader constitute himself an agent to get a half dozen of his friends to take THE VOICE. In answer to the many inquiries about stock in the publishing company, we beg to state that we shall be prepared to take care of that proposition within thirty days. A new charter has been secured from Springfield and we shall announce in full our plans in the next number of THE VOICE. Wait. Important Notice In the last number of THE VOICE, we said that this issue would be a double number covering the months of December and January. Afterthought convinced us that this was not best. It is altogether desirable that we complete our files for the year 1906 with a single number. We shall begin the new year with a double number. The next issue of THE VOICE will be mailed during the last days of January. That will be a double number covering the months of January and February, 1907. After that THE VOICE will be issued as usual during the last of the month preceding date of publication. Agents and subscribers take notice. Worcester Prohibits The Clansman By JOHN E. SWAIN "The Clansman" was billed to appear in Worcester, Mass., on the evening of December 10. As soon as the bills were posted, a mass meeting of local colored people was called at one of their churches, on Belmont street. About one hundred and fifty prominent members of the race were in attendance, and listened to stirring addresses from Dr. MacKerrow, president of the local Afro-American League, the three Negro clergymen of Worcester, and others prominent in public life. There were present also some white men, all of whom spoke in denunciation of "The Clansman" and its purposes; notable among the remarks of the evening being the eloquent appeal of Dr. Alexander F. Chamberlain, a professor of Clark university, and a strong Democrat. A petition was drawn up, signed by about 300, and forwarded to Mayor Duggan, stating why, in the judgment of the petitioners, the appearance of the play in Worcester would tend to disturb the cordial relations which have always existed between the races here. No attempt was made to prepare a monster petition; nor even to secure a solid Negro signature. The petition contained the names of all the prominent professional and business men in the Negro population, and many white names well known in clerical and educational circles. A special effort was made to divorce the petition and the mass meeting from any political trend; all references to politics being sedulously avoided. Nevertheless, the fact that the day following the advertised appearance of "The Clansman" chanced to be a municipal election day, somewhat complicated affairs. Mayor Duggan was a Democrat, serving in a strong Republican city. Many reasons were advanced tending to prove that he would refuse to grant the petition, and as many tending to prove the contrary. The representatives of Dixon's "Clansman" appeared before him, setting forth their side of the case with much circumstance, and making several offers; one to take him to New York at their expense, and allow him to see the play before deciding; another to select a mixed black and white committee, give them the best seats in the house, allow them to confer immediately after the play, and if they decided it to be objectionable, the receipts were to be turned over to charity. Ultimately Mayor Duggan, refusing all these suggestions, forbade its local appearance, in the following letter to the theatrical management: "Gentlemen: A delegation of representative colored people, citizens of Worcester, called upon me yesterday, and left a petition, bearing nearly 300 names protesting against the production of the play known as "The Clansman" at the Franklin Square Theatre, Monday, December 10, 1906. "The petition contains not only the names of colored people, but the signatures of many of Worcester's white citizens. The colored people of Worcester are interested in the growth and prosperity of our city. They are law-abiding citizens and are educating their children in the public schools. They have comfortable homes and labor for the success and happiness of the members of their families. We do not think it wise that their happiness should be disturbed by the presentation of a play that is distasteful to them. "I recognize the fact that you have made preparation and have gone to considerable expense for the staging of "The Clansman," and I am exceedingly sorry that this action has to be taken, but my promise that I would be mayor of all the people of the city of Worcester is a sacred obligation and must be fulfilled. "Having given the matter very careful consideration, I have come to the decision that the play entitled "The Clansman" and billed for the Franklin Square Theatre, Monday, December 10, be not produced. "Yours very respectfully, (Signed) "JOHN T. DUGGAN, "Mayor." The Worcester (evening) Gazette (Ind. Rep.) came out in a strong editorial under the caption "An Un-American Play," in which the following words are used: "Those who seek to arouse the passions of the white man against the black man, or the passions of the black man against the white man are enemies of the Republic. The days of the Red Shirt in the South are over. The Negro is not represented truly by the criminal type. Any play which pictures the colored man as one to be detested and abhorred is an offense, not only against the race it so blackly paints, but against the whole people." "The Clansman" has been used in many cities of the country to pointedly and deliberately arouse the passions of the colored race. Their protests 546 THE VOICE against the play have been utilized by the vulgar irresponsibility of a press agent to advertise the show and attract the curiosity of the general public. The Gazette believes in the equality of all citizens, of whatever race or class or creed. The Gazette believes "The Clansman" offensively holds up the Negro to the hatred of mankind and in so doing its public production serves only to falsely excite the savage hatred of man. The Gazette is opposed to the maligning or assailing or caricaturing or lampooning of any race upon the stage." Several letters condemning the play were printed in local papers, and none that I saw appeared championing it. The Post (Dem.) contented itself with impartially printing all news items, while the Telegram, (Rep.) of issue of Monday, Dec. 11, contained on its front page a "Coon Song" attributed to Mayor Duggan, with a caricature of him as a Negro waiter, bearing aloft a tray filled with "Negro votes." The next day Dr. Duggan was re-elected by nearly 2,000, or some 500 more than his margin of last year. Springfield, to which city "The Clansman" next turned, also repudiated it. No racial feeling was evident in Worcester during the few days when the performance was in abeyance, and the best sentiment everywhere sanctioned Mayor Duggan's stand. The Upper Berth By J. C. DIAMOND It was while I was reporting for one of the big Chicago dailies that one day our special news agent in New York City wired for immediate assistance in an important case. The message came during the noon hour, when most of the force were out to lunch, and it happened that I was the only available man in sight; so the managing editor ordered me to pack my things and take the two forty-five special for New York. I hastened out and caught the west side express and was soon at my boarding house. Throwing a few things into a suit case, I was back just in time to catch the special as it glided out of the station. It was my first trip on this pet of a great railroad corporation, and I made up my mind to thoroughly enjoy every minute. I was struck with the absence of jar or jolt; we slipped along as easily as though we were on rubber tires. Soon we were moving at the rate of ninety miles per hour over the finest road-bed in the world. I went in to dinner at the first call, requesting the porter not to make my berth until I returned, as I wanted to get at some things in it. After dinner I sat down to enjoy a cigar and a paper in the smoker, and stayed longer than I intended. When I returned to my car, I found that every one had retired, and that the porter was waiting to make my berth. I got out what things I wanted, and, taking a seat in a vacant section opposite, was soon lost in my paper again. I was startled by hearing a thud, something like a person's head coming in contact with hard wood, followed by some one swearing softly but pointedly under their breath. I looked up immediately to find the usually urbane and smiling porter rubbing the back of his head and scowling angrily. "What's the matter? I inquired, "get a bump?" He eyed me a moment, swallowing hard to keep down his desire to smash somebody or something, but finally he got the better of himself, "I am so tall," he explained, "that I usually leave the safety cords unfastened until the last thing, then by shoving up the upper berth a little, I have more room to work underneath. The springs in this are wound so tight that it will not stay down unless fastened, hence the bump. I ought not to complain though," he continued, "because once just such a set of springs were instrumental in saving my life." Scenting a story, I waited until he had finished my berth, then motioning him to a seat beside me bade him tell me the story. And when he finished, I was more than ever impressed with the axiom, "One half of the world knows not how the other half lives." "I have not been running over here very long," the porter began; "I used to run on the Florida Limited and it was there that the following events befell me. During the THE VOICE 547 yellow fever epidemic, our line was cut off at a little town in southern Georgia. We used to get into N- at three fifty p. m., and leave at five. On this my last and long to be remembered trip, we got in on time and after we had discharged our passengers, the car was backed in on a siding near the station; a hasty cleaning and fumigating process by the cleaning force, and it was after four o'clock. I wondered whether I would have time to shave or not, and finally decided that I had. I lowered the shades on the sunny side and opened the ventilators to let out the sulphur fumes, then I went into the smoker, opened the window to get a little air and divesting myself of my top shirt, proceeded to shave. I had not more than gotten started before I was interrupted by a sudden piercing scream. I had noticed a row of houses on the opposite side of the track about thirty feet away, but the blinds were all closed and I had concluded that they were unoccupied. Hastily glancing out of the window in that direction I was surprised to see at one of the windows a woman's flushed and angry face. I could not hear what she said, but from the way she shook her doubled fists in my direction, I was somehow convinced that I was the cause of her rage. I drew the curtain quickly and reconnoitered from behind it. The face left the window and a few moments later the woman appeared in the street where a small crowd had already collected, evidently springing up from the ground, as there was not a human being in sight before. A few men gathered around her, pushing back the crowd, and to these she talked excitedly, pointing in the direction of the car the while. I was at a complete loss what to make of it until I remembered that I was in the South, and then like a flash it dawned upon me that the lady had been offended by my appearance at the car window without a shirt. Peeping again from behind the curtain, I saw some of the men moving towards the car while one or two others made off in the direction of the town at a rapid gait. I was thoroughly frightened. Hastily letting down the window, I then closed and locked both doors. Returning to the smoker I again peeped out and was just in time to see one of those that had left returning with a coil of new rope in his hand. Cries of "Lynch the Nigger," "Lynch the Nigger," "Insulting white women, eh, we'll fix him," removed all doubt as to their intentions. I could almost feel that new cord tightening around my throat. Then they began pounding on the door. As I did not answer, there was a call for an axe. They seemed not to think of the windows, due to the fact, I suppose that the track at that point was elevated a little, thus bringing the windows above their heads. I heard the call "An axe," "An axe," and still I stood rooted to the spot. Oh! the agony of those few moments! Cold shivers chased themselves up and down my spinal column, while great beads of perspiration stood out on my forehead. My knees seemed about to give way, and my teeth were chattering. All the stories I had ever heard or read of men being burned at the stake and torn limb from limb passed rapidly through my mind. The blows of an axe on the door brought the necessity for action of some sort. Suddenly a fierce anger seized me at the awful injustice of the whole thing. My grip lay open before me. In it I always carried a revolver. I picked up the revolver and threw it down again as its utter uselessness against the mob became evident. The pounding at the door continued, but the standard cars are well built and resisted. Seizing the revolver again, I determined to sell my life as dearly as possible, well knowing what the end would be. One man against hundreds. All this had happened in much less time than it takes to tell. These thoughts flashed through my mind as I went quickly from the locked doors to the smoker and out again with the revolver in my trembling fingers. Then as the crashing blows of the axe told that the door could hardly withstand much longer, like an inspiration came the thought of that self closing upper berth. To think was to act, seizing the berth key I rushed to the other end of the car, and hastily opening the berth and the one opposite, I threw into the opposite one everything but the pillows and blankets. Hastily closing it, I threw myself into the other just as the door gave way, when horror of horrors, my weight was too much for the springs and it would not close. I heard the roar of the mob as it surged through the door and turning over my my face to the wall, I gave up all hope. Then the unexpected happened. When I rolled over towards the wall this took my weight off the springs and the berth went up with a vicious 548 THE VOICE snap, just as the mob surged out of the smoking room where they had first gone. With a howl of disappointment, they rushed through the car. Finding the drawing room door locked, they soon battered it down. the locked toilet rooms shared the same fate, then they attacked the seats, literally tearing them from their places to make sure no one was under them. As I lay there I could hear every move. What if some one should find the key and open the berths! Then I was relieved to find that I still clutched it in my fingers. But no one seemed to think of the upper berths. Having thoroughly searched the car, they paused a moment and held a hurried consultation. "He ain't here, that's certain," said one. "Perhaps he got out the back way as we came in," said another. "That's so, by gum," said the first speaker, who seemed to be directing the mob. "Get Hicks and his dawgs, we will soon have him." Then havin nothing else to do for the moment they began smashing the windows. Never have I heard such a rumpus-men swearing, women shouting, and children shrieking at the top of their voices, the whole world seemed going mad. The dogs were soon brought. As luck would have it, that morning while they were fumigating the cars, I had walked down to a little stream near the station and amused myself skipping pebbles on it muddy surface. Using some of my clothing, they gave the dogs scent. The blood-hounds were soon away towards the river in full cry. They brought up on its bank and could go no further, hundreds of trampling feet soon obliterated all traces of my returning steps if there were any. Up and down the river they rushed, the mob yelling frantically, "Find him, Bill," "Find him." Then seizing a boat they ferried the dogs across, and for miles up and down the opposite side they hunted with like results. I had been too frightened to think of my own surroundings, but now that the immediate crisis seemed over, I suddenly realized that I was suffocating. I did not dare move as I was fearful lest some one was still on watch in the car. At last, when I could stand it no longer, I felt for and found my pocket knife, and began to dig at the side of the car. The inside finish was soft wood and I was soon able to cut through it, but when I struck the hard outer shell I could do nothing. But this way was air and life and I attacked the hard wood desperately. I had not worked long before the knife blade broke off short in my hand, then I grew frantic, and with all my remaining strength pounded fiercely on the side of the car. Throwing down the knife handle after a while I seized the heavy berth key, which I still had in my other hand and pounded away with it until I fell back unconscious. How long I lay there I do not know, but the first thing I noticed when I regained consciousness was the fact that the car was in motion. I jumped, thinking that I had been asleep on duty and wondering at the total darkness, but my head came in contact with the sharp edge of something, and I fell back again. Suddenly the whole thing came over me with startling clearness. I remembered my desperate fight for air, and was surprised to find that now there was plenty of it. I t seems that about the last blow I struck before I became unconscious, broke through the outside and thus saved me from suffocation. I was conscious of a cramping stiffness of my arms and legs, and my fingers seemed sore. Not knowing where I was or who was around, I was still afraid to make any outcry. So making myself as comfortable as possible, I lay back and waited. Through the little hole in the wall I could tell by the lights that it was night, I watched the light of the new day as it came on and still I lay there. All that day and all the next night I waited. I must have slept some the last night because I awoke to find the car standing still. Peeping out, I at once recognized the familiar surroundings of the Chicago station. Shouting and pounding on the sides of the car, I tried to attract some one's attention, but amid all the noise and bustle of the station no one heard me. There was nothing for me to do but wait. I was weak from lack of food and from my great exertion and soon became unconscious again. I awoke sore and stiff in the hospital, with my hands a mass of white bandages while the nurse with a spoon was feeding me some sort of hot broth. The yardmen found me when they went to take an inventory of the car before sending it to the shops. Great was their surprise on opening that upper berth to find me there. THE VOICE 549 They pulled me out more dead than alive, and called an ambulance. The conductor told me afterwards that when he came down to the care there at N- that it looked as though a charge of dynamite had been set off in the middle of it. It was completely wrecked and had to be rebuilt. He also told me that the whole country had turned out to the "man hunt." Men with little children on the saddle in front of them, women with babies in their arms all joined in, "and," he added significantly, "It was a mighty good thing for you that they did not find you." He had no trouble in getting me to agree with him. A Soldier's Opinion of the Recent Excitement at Brownsville, Tex. Mr. Editor: One full grown wolf will stampede 10,000 sheep, while if the same herd should have come in contact with the wolf while it was in its infancy they would had disdainfully trampled it under their feet. Such seems to have been the situation at Brownsville, Texas, during the recent excitement, which resulted in the killing of one white man, and the wounding of another which was supposed to have been done by some unknown member of the 25th infantry, stationed at Fort Brown, Texas. I have before me clippings of the San Antonio Daily Express, from the 15th to the 20th of August, inclusive, all of which contain appeals from the citizens of Brownsville, to everybody, from the president of the United States to the town "cop," saying: "Our women and children are terrorized, and our men in constant alarm and fearfulness; please remove Negro troops and replace them by white troops; send state troops; do something right away, for we are scared to death," or words to that effect. Now, Mr. Editor, no one not a true hearted American colored soldier can realize the situation of affairs at Brownsville. The writer was stationed down there about ten months in 1899, and is well acquainted with the sentiment of its people. The majority of the inhabitants of that section, are a class that think a colored man is not good enough to wear the uniform of a United States soldier-yea not good enough even to wear the skin of a dog. They sneer at a colored soldier on the sidewalk and bar him from their saloons, resorts, and places of amusement. Why, when I was down there, one Sunday I thought I would go down to Point Isabella, on the Bay, to spend the day. So in company with a young lady I went down to the depot and purchased two tickets (taking advantage of the excursion rates then offered), boarded the train (which was only a little better than walking), went into the car and took a seat. When the train started, one of the so-called "Texas Rangers" came up to me and told me I was in the wrong place. I said "No, I guess not; I just read your law, and it says the Negro and white passengers will not ride in the same coach except on excursions." He replied, "Don't make any difference, you get out of her; you are too smart any way; I will break this gun over your head if you say much," the meantime menacing me with a six-shooter, of the most improved villainous pattern and caliber. Well I obeyed his orders because I was alone and could not help myself. I knew that I was being treated wrong, but he held a "Royal flush," and I only had a "four-card bob," and I knew I could not "bluff" him. A colored man who has the disposition of a toad frog (I mean one who can stand to be beaten on the back and puff up and take it), is all right; he can stay in that country. But those who feel hot blood running through their veins, and who are proudly and creditably wearing the uniform of a United States soldier; standing ready to protect and defend the American flag, against any enemy whomsoever, to obey the orders of the president of the United States and the orders of the officer appointed over them (which they have always done with pride and honor), cannot stay down there in peace with honor. The people do not want them either because they will probably not be able to carry out their favorite sport, hanging a colored man to a limb, or tarring and feathering him and burning him at the stake without trial, while the colored soldiers are stationed there. The majority of the old-settlers in southwest Texas are bandits, original member of the Ku-Klux-Klan, murderers and thieves who have sneaked down in that almost uncivilized part of the United States in the early days and mixed up with the Mexicans in order to escape the eagle talons of a pursuing and outraged justice. Very respectfully, VANCE H. MARCHBANKS, Squadron Sergeant Major 10th Cavalry. FORT WASHAKIE, WYOMING. "La Vojo" -- Zamenhof's Poem in Esperanto By WILLIAM PICKENS To express thought in any way requires effort; for words must be fitted to ideas and ideas to words. But to express thought in verse, one own's thought even, requires still greater effort. And the greatness of the task varies with the subtlety or profundity of the thought and the intricacy and complexness of the verse. Thought here has the task of adjusting itself to a more or less rigid physical and formal mold. And there is another task even a degree more difficult than the latter; i. e., to put the thoughts of another person into verse. For here two things are to be served,--the original thought and the style or form of the verse. In many cases it is like forcing a square body into a round hole; and the mind here must be more a thing of ingenuity than of genius. In his own original thinking it could have modified the thought and accommodated it to the mold, but here both the foreign thought and the inflexible mold must be preserved. In some instances this task approaches the impossible. But hard as is that task, there is another far more difficult; i. e., to translate poetry expressed in one language into poetry of another language. Here the number of interests to be served are almost too many for the mind to grasp simultaneously. The thought and "poetic spirit" of the old must be preserved in the new. It loses soul. It is a thing of nature, and translation is a rather artificial process. The poetic conception is like the snow-drop; it is fascinating and lovely in its original form, but if we melt it down and try to freeze it into another shape we get only ice. It is like anything that can be torn into any kinds of fragments, but cannot then be rendered as it was in the original form. "Pope's Iliad is strictly Pope's and not Homer's." But the TASK of tasks is encountered when one endeavors not merely to translate the poetry of one language into the poetry of another, but at the same time to preserve the rhythm and even the rhyme of the original. This greatest task of translation, in which we confess failure, is what we have undertaken with Dr. Zamenhof's beautiful verses, "La Vojo," given below. This little poem is written in the international language, Esperanto, of which Dr. Louis Zamenhof is the founder. It is by all means the most marvellously flexible speech that the tongue of man has ever known. He is the only singer that has both literally and figuratively created the language of his song. It is a brave little poem and can only be DR. L. ZAMENHOF The Founder of Esperanto fully appreciated where it was born, in Esperanto. Like all good poetry it is universal in spirit, and is the sentiment of every brave man's heart; and yet it is a little history of the beginning, the struggle and the final triumph of Dr. Zamenhof in conceiving, constructing and fathering a language that is now being used by men in all parts of the world. Our English version, which follows the Esperanto, might serve to give the non-Esperantist reader some little idea thereof. THE VOICE 551 "La Vojo" By L. Zamenhof, Founder of Esperanto Tra densa mallumo briletas la celo Al kiu kuraghe ni iras. Simile al stelo en nokta chielo Al ni la direkton ghi diras. Kaj nin ne timigas la noktaj fantomoj, Nek batoj de l' sorto, nek mokoj de l' homoj, Char klara, kaj rekta, kaj tre difinita Chi estas, la voj' elektita. Ni semas kaj semas, neniam lacighas, Pri tempoj estontaj pensante. Cent semoj perdighas, mil semoj perdighas,- Ni semas kaj semas konstante. "Ho chesu!" mokant la homoj admonas, "Ne chesu, ne chise!" en kor' al ni sonas: "Obstine antauen! La nepoj vin benos. "Se vi pacience eltenos." Se longa sekeco au ventoj subitaj Velkantajn foliojn deshiras, Ni dankas la venton, kaj, repurigitaj, Ni forton, pli freshan akiras. Ne mortos jam nia bravega anaro, Ghin jam ne timigas la vento nek staro: Obstine ghi pashas, provita, hardita, Al cel' unu fojon signita! Nur rekte, kuraghe kaj ne flankighante Ni iru la vojon celitan! Ech guto malgranda, konstante frapante, Traboras la monton granitan. L' espero, l' obstino kaj la pacienco- Jen estas la signoj, per kies potenco Ni pasho post pasho, post longo laboro, Atingos la celon en gloro. Below is our translation of "La Vojo." The reader will at once get an idea of the beauty and richness of a language that can furnish a poem like this: Our goal thru dense darkness is lightly aglimmer, T'ward which we with courage are going. And like the small star that in the night-sky doth shimmer, To us the direction 'tis showing. Nor night with its phantoms nor fate with her knocking Shall ever affright us, nor men with their mocking, For clearly, and straightly, and plainly directed The way is that we have elected. We sow and we sow, and our task ever cherish, To hopes in the future we're going. One sowing will perish, a thousand may perish,- And still we will bravely keep sowing. "Ho, stop there!" with scornful advice men assail us, "Cease never, cease never!" our brave hearts then hail us: "On boldly! In future you will be rewarded "If patience her duty has guarded." If storm-laden winds or a dryness infestuous Our withering foliage scatter, We turn with a "thanks" to the weather tempestuous, And get fresher strength for the matter Our brave band, the power of death cannot cheat her: And no storm opposing can ever defeat her: She stubbornly marches on, proven and tested, To the goal that was first manifested! Right onward, with courage, ne'er from the way slipping, Let's stick to the way we are braving! The small drop of water, by constantly dripping, Will bore thru the mountain's rock-paving. 'Tis hope, and 'tis obstinacy and endurance- These three are the banners, and by their assurance We, step by step, passing a way long and gory, Attain the goal lastly in glory TALLADEGA COLLEGE. Talladega, Alabama. A Protest By AZALIA E. MARTIN Ye who would stop the progress of a race, Give ear; that race would question thee. So base A deed as thine belies the name of man. this bickering that comes 'twixt clan and clan, Let Justice rule and prejudice erase. Ye call us enemies of thine to-day, But when the cannon sounded far away Calling thy fathers to the battle's din, This enemy upon thy threshold lay The watch dog, lest a foe should enter in. A friend or foe was he to thee and thine? This upward movement of a mighty host Is ever onward still. Like Banquo's ghost They will not down, whatever you design To bruise and crush it with thy tyrant heel. The day is past when we knew but to kneel. Lost is thy purpose, as the wild bird's cry Within a storm. It's shriek is never heard Above the mutterings of the thunder's roar, Though Truth and Right upon the altar lie- To see them cricified our hearts are stirred This sacrifice but makes Ambition soar To loftier heights, and we commit our plan To Him who better knows each struggling clan, To Him who rightly judges man and man. The President and the Soldiers By W. E. BURGHARDT DUBOIS It is a curious fact that in matters concerning the Negro-American opinion-and bitter and almost vindictive opinion-usually precedes any careful knowledge of the facts. For instance, in the recent matters of the dismissal of certain companies of Negro soldiers I find myself very much unsettled in mind as to just what real facts are. Nor is this altogether my fault. Instead of giving to the country a careful statement of the facts the administration has been willing to let the country know simply the punishment with a general and rather hazy statement of what really took place. I am therefore not sure at all what I ought to say about the trouble. If, however, the facts as I gather them are true, then I and every other American must condemn the president's act. I understand that out of 170 soldiers, twenty or fewer have been guilty of serious misdemeanor and in punishment for this all of the 170 are dismissed without honor from the army. Now if this is true, then the first thought of any American is that those 170 soldiers must contain three distinct sets of man; twenty guilty men, some number of men who know who the guilty men are and certainly some number who do not know. The twenty guilty men should be punished; the men who know who those guilty men are and refuse to tell ought to receive some less severe punishment. But out of that 170 men there must be a considerable number, fifty, perhaps a hundred, who do not even know the guilty ones. Certainly that they should be punished, is absolutely wrong. Moreover, civilians understand that soldiers are under strict discipline, that there are certain persons who are responsible for what they do. If this is so, then the officers and under officers, who are responsible for the government and for the actions of these soldiers, also deserve punishment, even though they happen to be white. Especially ought the punishment ot fall upon them if they are unable to give an account of their men. So much for the situation if the facts are as stated. But, and here comes the more puzzling part of the whole story, there is alleged with certainly an appearance of truth, long continued abuse and even disgraceful treatment of these soldiers by their fellow citizens in this Texas town. The country already knows how ready Mr. Roosevelt has been to defend the uniform of the United States when it is simply a matter of skating rinks. It is rather surprising therefore that something has not been done to punish the disgrace put upon the uniform in the matter of ordinary civil and personal rights. Certainly it would look as though the United States uniform might protect a man even though he were colored. If it is true that these soldiers were treated in the public streets of this Texas town with the sort of indignities that are reported, then retaliation, even though riotous and wrong, is not completely without excuse. How far then the outbreak was retaliation depends of course upon the facts of the case of which again I am largely ignorant. But further than this there comes a story, with how much truth back of it, I am unable to say, which alleges that it is not certain that the outrages committed, were committed by these soldiers at all. It is alleged with some appearance of truth that the soldiers had nothing to do with the shooting and that it has never been proven to the satisfaction of any ordinary court of law that any of these 170 soldiers did the shooting. Now even at this, if this story is not proven, yet the very doubt in the case makes the action of the president all the more extraordinary and makes the demand on the part of the Negro-Americans and on the part of the whole American people for a thorough investigation of the affair imperative and not lightly to be passed by. This affair like others will soon be a matter of history; justice or injustice will be done the soldiers. But the net result, even if the facts are as first related, will leave in the minds of fair Americans an unpleasant estimate of Mr. Roosevelt. My impression of Theodore Roosevelt first when he came to the presidential chair was that of an honest man determined to do his duty in spite of all opposition. I have striven to hold that estimate- but I must say that as things go on I find it more and more difficult. I find myself more and more coming to look upon the man as impulsive, not only in bravery but also in cowardice; as a man who will stand up for a thing when he is right and will stand just as stubbornly when he is wrong. Moreover, so far as my own people are concerned, I am asking myself what after all have we to thank THE VOICE 553 Theodore Roosevelt for? So far as I see we have to thank him for three things: for asking a man to dine with him, for appointing another man, quite worthy of the position, as collector of the port of Charleston, and for saying, publicly, that the door of opportunity ought to be held open to colored men. On the other hand we have growing and serious charges against him. The door once declared open, Mr. Roosevelt by his word and deed since, has slammed most emphatically in the black man's face; we have effort, plain and almost frantic effort, to show the South in later years that the dinner and appointment did not in any way show that Theodore Roosevelt differed in his estimation of black men from most people in the white South; representatives of some of the worst elements in the South have had effusive welcome at the White House. He has written letters expressing great sympathy with the South and great friendship and very little to show that that friendship was extended to the black South. Above all we have had repeated presidential messages which stated and reiterated two things which colored people regard as untrue, libellous and dangerous: first, that in some indirect way the best class of Negroes were responsible for Negro crime, a thing which the Negroes emphatically and repeatedly deny, and second, that a restricted sort of education is best for black people. No public person in the Unites States for years has played upon these two allegations more frequently and more generally than Theodore Roosevelt, and in return for it he has earned the distrust and disapprobation of the best class of black men. It is no excuse for these shameful utterances to allege that they were edited and approved by certain Negroes. They are not approved by the black race- they are bitterly resented. That this opposition is going to injure Mr. Roosevelt is doubtful; undoubtedly he could be re-elected to the presidency without the help of black folk or he can reach other goals in his ambition; but certainly it cannot be to the credit of any man who at bottom wants to do the right thing or desires in any degree the approbation of his fellowmen and of a good conscience to go from high office with the consciousness that he has deliberately and repeatedly wronged the most helpless eighth of his country. Under such injustice, we as black men have but one duty; to insist continually upon the doing of justice to the soldiers. If this is not done, to punish with our vote, so far as we can, those men who refuse to do it and always and ever in a quiet and manly and insistent way to insist that the responsibility for Negro crime lies primarily upon the injustice done black men in the South and that no nation or race can righteously or justly be restricted to the career of making themselves footstools for their enemies. Lines to the New Congressional Library By MAXWELL HAYSON Oh! mighty edifice of quarried stone, What sacred treasures numberless are thine. there seeks his level on the sheeted dome, The lavished glory of a nation strong, The golden sun in central lucent bloom. In simple wonder in his fertile fields Along suburban banks of flowing streams, And driving cityward his laboring team, The farmer this majestic structures sees Abundant with the toil of vanished years. Those men who wrote, unconscious of their fame, In this new world review the home of man Again in peaceful bust on honored throng; Lo! Dante from a quiet granite nook His silent glance cast on the open world, As if to breathe upon his slumbering time, The life and spirit of these alien days;- Amid impressive chimes of noonday bells, Which bring melodiously on iron tongues An incantation as the thoughts rove back. Huge Neptune, stern in mythological calm, The towering symbol to the fountain place, And everywhere displayed by hand of art, The emblematic good of knowledge great, Too, all the lovely forms of fabled realms. Within the reader's marble-circled room, The vivid light from heaven soften'd is, And in the lucid mellowness is seen, Complacent in the burnished tranquil bronze, The peerless image of the old Shakespeare wise, With all his lofty compeers gathered 'round. A splendid palace for the living dead! Ah! but the period now distant will exist, When the owl's doubly melancholy song Among the mellow archives shall resound Prolific with the notes of grand decay And through the darksome passages shall flow In many a silent beam, the silver flood From Cynthia's high roving ancient keep. Ah! now for some enchanted Byron's pen On this as on the Coliseum scene, To trace another few immortal lines; Then generations, yet unborn will view In mouldering and gray magnificence The crowning labor of a sleeping age. The Disbanding of the Colored Soldiers By MARY CHURCH TERRELL Three companies of Colored soldiers have been disbanded, it is true. The order has actually been executed and the men who have valiantly fought the country's battles in both the Spanish-American and the Philippine wars and had many a hard fight with the Indians besides are scattered to the four winds of the earth, dismissed from the army of the United States in disgrace,-discharged without honor, which deprives them of the right of retirement after thirty years service on three quarters pay, and deprives them of the privilege of ending their days in the Soldiers Home, to the support of which at least one has been contributing for twenty-six years and many of them for more than twenty years. Not only are the dismissed soldiers deprived of these privileges which mean so much to all who have served in the army, in their later years, but they are forever debarred from any civil or military employment under the government. It is said to be the first time in the history of the United States that the president has personally or officially ordered the discharge of an enlisted man in either the army or the navy. The reason for disbanding companies B, C and D, which formed the battalion just dismissed in disgrace, are so well known as to need no repetition in this article. On August 13, when the colored soldiers had been stationed at Fort Brown near Brownsville, Texas, only two weeks, people were suddenly aroused about midnight by the firing of guns, which is said to have proceeded from each barrack of the three colored companies. In the general confusion which followed, one man was killed and the arm of the chief of police was so badly wounded that it had to be amputated. Immediately after the first shots were heard, it is said, a number of men variously estimated from nine to twenty, climbed over the wall between the fort and the town. Since these men were dressed in khaki uniform and wore blue shirts, it is claimed that they must have been colored soldiers, although a man who was sent by the Constitution League to investigate the affair, declares that it is a common thing for civilians to wear khaki uniforms in Brownsville. In Major Penrose's report of the melee, however, he declares that within five minutes after the shooting occurred, the entire command paraded and all men were found present or accounted for and rifles in racks closed. That is to say, if the nine or fifteen men who climbed over the wall which separates the fort from the town were soldiers belonging to the Twenty Fifth Infantry, they performed the remarkable feat of shooting up the town, returning to their barracks, cleaning their rifles and locking them in the racks in the short space of five minutes and at the most, eight minutes. In the annual report made by the Secretary of War, the following comment upon this phase of the matter occurs: "The evidence makes it clear that the firing had not ceased when the men began to form in line and therefore that all the guns with which the firing was done could not have been in the racks when the sergeants in charge of quarters went to unlock the racks, although they testified that they were there. It is also certain that during the formation of the companies, or immediately after, the men who had done the shooting must have returned to their places so as to respond to the roll call or that some one answered for them." In order to remove the affair from the realm of the fantastical and mythical, it is necessary to believe that the sergeants told a deliberate falsehood, when they declared that all the guns were in the racks and that the men who did the shooting were able to slip in unseen by the guards and take their places without detection. In his report to Secretary Taft, Brigadier Gen. McCaskey called the attention of the War Department to the men for whom warrants were issued and who were then in confinement at Fort Sam Houston in the following manner: "It is noted that most of these men were on duty as members of the guard or in charge of barracks at Fort Brown during the hours of the disturbance. The reason for selecting these men, or the manner in which their names were pro- THE VOICE 555 cured is a mystery. As far as known," he writes, "there is no evidence that the majority of them were in any way directly connected with the affair. It seems to have been a dragnet proceeding." The men who were victims of this "dragnet proceeding," as Gen. McCaskey calls it, were the non-commissioned officers holding the keys of the arm racks of the respective companies, the sergeant of the guard and the sentinel on post in rear of the company barracks on the night of the melee; an enlisted man, whose cap is said to have been found in the city, though the charge was not substantiated, and two men who had been assaulted by white men in Brownsville, together with the men who were with them at the time. Speaking of the soldiers who were imprisoned reminds me of a very interesting little bit of Major Blockson's report which shows how the officers of the law do things down in Texas. Although there was absolutely no reason why the men who were arrested should have been so humiliated and degraded, according to the opinion of Gen. McCaskey, nevertheless Captain McDonald of the Texas State Rangers, to whom the committee of Brownsville citizens invited by Major Penrose to investigate the affair, delegated their authority, demanded that these suspected men be turned over to himself. Major Penrose, however, declined to give them to him, knowing, of course, what would probably be the result of surrendering to the tender mercies of Texas justice, colored men who had been accused of murdering one white man and wounding another. But McDonald of Texas insisted upon having them and had to be threatened with arrest for contempt before he desisted from his attempt to take them, the orders from the war department and a Texas judge to the contrary notwithstanding. Major Blockson who reported this circumstance to his superiors could not refrain from paying the gallant captain of the Texas Rangers a glowing compliment for the impetuous and imperious manner in which he behaved, when the colored soldiers were not surrendered to him by Major Penrose. "It is possible," says Major Blockson, "that McDonald might have fought the entire battalion (referring to the three colored companies) with his four or five rangers, were their obedience as blind as his obstinacy. It is said here he is so brave he would not hesitate to charge hell with one bucket of water." Surely the South cannot complain that its many virtues are not fully appreciated and magnanimously recognized by their countrymen in other sections, for they seem to have sort of an idolatrous worship for the dare devil spirit which the gallant southerner delights so to exhibit in season and out. One shudders to think what might have been the fate of the colored men whom McDonald insisted upon taking, if he had succeeded in forcing the military authorities to accede to his demand. Leaving the charges against the soldiers and the alleged evidence against them, let us glance for a moment at the causes which led to the disturbance, August 13. Secretary Taft says that in June, objection was made to the stationing of this battalion at Fort Brown, by a resident of Brownsville, in a letter transmitted through Senator Culberson, to which the secretary sent the following reply. "My Dear Senator: I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your letter from Mr. Sam P. Wrenford, of Brownsville, Texas, stating certain objections to the stationing of Negro troops at Fort Brown, and in reply to say that the matter of possible objections of this character was very carefully considered, before the order was made. I regret that I cannot see my way clear to rescind it. The fact is that a certain amount of race prejudice between white and black seems to have become almost universal throughout the country, and no matter where colored troops are sent there are always some who make objection to their coming. It is a fact, however, as shown by our records, that colored troops are quite as well disciplined and behaved as the average of other troops, and it does not seem logical to anticipate any greater trouble from them than from the rest. Friction occasionally arises with intemperate soldiers, wherever they are stationed, but the records of the Army also tend to show that white soldiers average a greater degree of intemperance than colored one. It has sometimes happened that communities which objected to the coming of colored soldiers, have, on account of their good conduct, entirely changed their view and commended their good behavior to the War Department. A change of station was necessary for these colored troops and one third of the regiment, (a battalion) had already been sent to Fort Bliss, Tex., more than six months ago. Since that time no complaint concern- 556 THE VOICE in their conduct has reached the War Department, so far as I know. It was also necessary to send the entire regiment to the same locality, and to have sent it anywhere else would have involved two moves for the battalion now at Fort Bliss within about six months. This would have been an injustice to the troops concerned, and would, in addition, have entailed considerable extra expense upon the Government. Trusting this explanation may be satisfactory to your constituents, I remain, Very truly yours, Wm. H. Taft, Sec. of War. This letter shows that the white citizens of Texas began to protest against having the colored soldiers stationed at Fort Brown as soon as they learned it was the government's plan to quarter them in that state. It was to be expected, therefore, that the soldiers would meet with a very chilling reception- and they did. In the report which Major Penrose made two days after the Brownsville affair, he admits that the enlisted men were subjected to all sorts of indignities as soon as they reached Fort Brown. Major Blockson also wrote to Secretary Taft that many white people in Brownsville "think the colored soldier should be treated like the Negro laborer of the South." And then Major Blockson took occasion to remark that it "had to be confessed that the colored soldier is much more aggressive in his attitude on the social equality question than he used to be." All of which goes to prove that this PiCTuRE of A SQuARE DeAL DrAWD By BuStER RooSEveLT sign in the background: RESOLVED. THAT JUST WHEN THERE IS A LOT OF HARD FEELING AGAINST THE COLORED RACE IT IS A GOOD TIME TO DISMISS A COLORED REGIMENT. THAT IT IS WISE AND PATRIOTIC TO INFLICT THIS DISGRACE IN A HIGH-HANDED AND UNJUST MANNER. THAT SUCH AN ACT IS CONSISTENT WITH THE REPUBLICAN POLICY OF JUSTICE TO THE NEGRO. THAT I DON'T HAVE TO BE CONSISTENT BECAUSE I AM THE WHOLE TIP. BUSTER ROOSEVELT. (On the table:) WHITE TROOPS IS DIFFERENT -BUSTER (On his club:) DESPOTISM (The dog named Tige seems to symbolize race prejudice and is saying:) Bully for you, Buster! Down with 'em! You're a hero! BUSTER BROWN IN A NEW ROLE - Courtesy of the Chicago Republic Columbia - I consider it most unjust and unworthy of you, Buster, to treat your colored soldiers in that way. Buster - But, you see, mother, it pleases Tige, - that's the point. everlasting social equality question must be injected into everything which affects the colored people, no matter whether it bears directly upon the point at issue or not. In less than a week after the colored soldiers reached the inhospitable atmosphere of Fort Brown, one of them was knocked down by a white man who was talking on the street with some women, because the colored soldiers dared to pass on the sidewalk where the white women were standing, instead of going into the street. In the affidavit which the assaulted soldier made, he claimed he did not touch one of the women in passing, but walked between them and the fence. When the two soldiers were opposite the white man, (Tate, by name, who is still employed in the customs service, by the way), the latter drew a revolver from his hip pocket, struck the colored soldier on the side of the head and knocked him down, saying as he did so with an oath, "I'll learn you to get off the sidewalk when there is a party of ladies on the walk." Another colored soldier was pushed off a ferry, landing into mud and water, because the white man who told him to move on thought he did not go as fast as he should. As was to be expected under the circumstances, the charge which the South so delights to prefer against colored men was not long deferred. On the afternoon of the night that Brownsville was "shot up" a certain Mr. Evans came to Major Penrose and complained that his wife had been seized from behind by a colored man, who she was positive was a soldier, because he was in khaki uniform, but whom she could not identify. In commenting upon this particular charge, Major Penrose declares in his report to the Secretary of War: "His (Evans) statement that his wife was seized by a soldier I was inclined to doubt, as prostitutes are too common in the town." Major Penrose also called attention to the fact that the aforesaid Mr. Evans was "unfortunate in living very near the Tenderloin." Considering the well known attitude of the white people of the town toward the colored soldiers, it is not at all surprising that something happened to disgrace them in the public eye nor can we doubt the truth of Major Blockson's statement that "the differences between the soldiers and citizens are irreconcilable." We can readily understand also how this same officer was forced to reach the conclusion that while "the suspected men might get a fair trial here at hands of civil authorities, they could not properly be protected from mob violence." But now that the soldiers have been disgraced and dismissed, what can be done about it? So long as the public is deeply interested and genuinely sympathetic and so long as men of powerful influence in national affairs are determined to sift the matter to the bottom and if possible, to bring relief to the disgraced soldiers, there is reason to hope for the best. One of the strongest and surest foundation upon which to build our hopes is the attitude of the president himself. The day after the Foraker and Penrose resolution which called for information regarding the discharge of the three companies of the Twenty-fifth Infantry, were introduced into the Senate, President Roosevelt is said to have stated at a Cabinet meeting, that he wished none of his friends to oppose them. In his reply to the cable sent by the Constitution League, the president also intimated that if new facts in the soldiers' favor were presented to him, he would certainly give them respectful consideration. Through its representatives who went to Fort Reno to hear from the lips of the soldiers themselves, the whole story of the Brownsville disturbance, the Constitution League believes it has secured evidence sufficient to induce the president to reopen the case. One of the most encouraging phases of the question as it now stands is the position taken by two of the strongest men in the United States Senate. Senator Foraker of Ohio is determined to know just why the order to dismiss the colored soldiers without honor was given and executed. In the resolution introduced by him the first day the Senate met, he asked for all the information on the subject which it is possible to secure. It also calls for precedents for the president's course. "Resolved by the Senate," reads the resolution presented by Senator Foraker, "That the Secretary of War be and hereby is directed to furnish the Senate copies of all official letters, telegrams, reports, orders, etc., filed in the War Department in connection with the recent discharge of the enlisted men of Companies B, C and D, Twenty-fifth United States Infantry, together with a complete list of the men discharged, showing the record of each, the amount of retained pay (under section 1281 et seq., Revised Statutes), if any, to the credit of each man at the time of his 55 THE VOICE charge, the ruling of the War Department, if any has been made in this or any similar case, as to the effect upon his right to such retained pay, and also the ruling of the War Department, if any has been made in this or any similar case, as to the effect of such discharge upon the right of an enlisted man to retire on three quarters pay, with an allowance for subsistence and clothing (under Section 1260 et seq. of the Revised Statutes), and his right to enter a national soldiers' home (under Section 4821 et seq. of the Revised Statutes): his right to be buried in a national cemetery (under Section 4878 et seq. of the Revised Statutes) and his right to receive transportation and subsistence from the place of discharge to his home, as provided for in section 1290 et seq. of the Revised Statutes: also a complete official record of the Twenty-fifth Regiment, United States Infantry, from the time of its muster in to the date of the discharge of Companies B, C, and D." Before Senator Foraker presented his resolution, however, Senator Penrose of Pennsylvania had offered one, simply providing that the president be requested to communicate to the Senate, "if not incompatible with the public interests, full information bearing upon the recent order dismissing from the military service of the United States three companies of the Twenty-fifth Infantry, United States troops (colored)." But Senator Spooner objected most strenuously to Senator Penrose's resolution on the ground that the clause "if not incompatible with the public interests" is entirely unnecessary. According to Senator Spooner, Senator Penrose's resolution leaves it to the discretion of the president to send as much or as little information as he sees fit, whereas the Senator from Wisconsin insists that the Senate has a perfect right to know the whole story from A to Izzard. In his speech on the Penrose resolution he told his brother Senators that he would be very much disappointed indeed, if it passed instead of the one offered by Senator Foraker. The fact that both the Penrose and the Foraker resolution passed without a single dissenting voice, speaks volumes for the Senate of the United States. With such tremendous forces at work in their behalf, there is every reason for the soldiers and their friends to take on fresh courage and new hopes. In concluding his report on the discharge of the Colored soldiers, Secretary Taft himself holds out a ray of hope. "It is possible possible," says he, "that evidence may be adduced in future which will tend to exculpate some of the men now discharged, both from participation in the crime and assistance in the conspiracy of silence to prevent the detection of the offenders: and whenever such facts are shown in respect to anyone affected by the order, they will be brought to your (the president's) attention, and I understand, will render such persons eligible to re-enlistment." After my interview with Secretary Taft, when he promised me he would suspend the president's order till he returned, I felt that whatever he might say or do in the future, he sympathized deeply with the soldiers who had been disgraced. It is certainly the first time in the history of the country that a cabinet officers has ever consented to suspend an order issued by the president of the United States, and Secretary Taft would never have flung defiance at precedent, if he had not believed there was good and sufficient reason for taking such an unusual, if not dangerous step. As disheartening as is the fate of nearly 200 colored soldiers who were dismissed from the army in disgrace, although the record of the majority was brilliant and clean, still the tragedy is not without its blessings to the race. In spite of General Garlington's charge that we hold together in crime, we who know conditions exactly as they exist, realize that this lack of unity in everything which affects us as a race has been the greatest stumbling block in our path. We have been able to hang together in nothing. When I poured forth my woe into the ear of Col. Thomas Wentworth Higginson, immediately after the order to disband the colored battalion had been issued, he could not think or talk about the terrible disgrace of the soldiers for rejoicing that at last colored people could stand together on some one thing. Today the hearts of the 10,000,000 colored people of this country, beat as one. The catastrophe has united us for a time at least. Union even for a short time and one issue will do a bit of good at least. It will surely establish a precedent and set a good example at one and the same time. Moreover the fearful fate which has overtaken the colored battalion has opened the lips of former friends who have been silent in spite of the awful atrocities perpetrated upon the race for many years. And so for the time being, at least, let us regard the terrible catastrophe which his filled the whole race with grief as an evil out of which good will eventually come. Provident Hospital and Training School By HARRY LEMAT The history of Provident Hospital is the history of its training school for nurses. As long ago as 1891 a number of earnest colored men living in Chicago, perceiving how difficult it was for a colored woman to obtain scientific instruction as a trained nurse, determined to establish a training school which should be open to colored women exclusively. To accomplish this result it was necessary to found a hospital. So it is that Provident Hospital, now of national reputation, was in fact merely a means to an end. At first the hospital facilities were very limited and the funds still more so; in fact there were many days when absolute personal self-denial on the part of the nurses was essential to the success of the entire venture. At one time it was problematical whether funds sufficient even to provide proper food could be gathered together, and at another time the auctioneers flag floated temporarily over the enterprise. But out of the privation of these first few years come a corresponding strengthening of character in the nurses. One of the graduates in the first class studied medicine, was admitted to practice in 1896, and has continued in her profession to the present day. A little later another graduate installed the school for nursing at Dr. Washington's School, and continued her work there for five years. Still another took a full course in a leading medical college, won her degree, and has practiced continuously since her graduation, having been upon the dispensary staff of the hospital for two years. And yet another left constant employment among wealthy residents of the East at a full nurses' salary and founded the Hope Day Nursery for Colored Children in New York City. Since the founding of the training school and including the present class, 74 nurses have graduated. Of these, 16 have held institutional positions, two at intervals, having had entire charge of Provident Hospital with marked success for months at a time. The graduates have come from twenty-one different states and four of them from Canada. Over one-half of them have entered from the South. In 1900 the Esther Freer Home for the nurses was built, adjoining the then new hospital building, and at the time it was the equal of any home for nurses in Chicago. Since then the accommodations have become insufficient, owing to an increase of the nursing force which now numbers about twenty- five, the hope and aim being with suitable applicants to increase the number to thirty. A few years ago the course was increased from two years to three and the standards have steadily been advanced along with the improved standards elsewhere. It is gratifying to note that the graduates are admitted to full membership in the Illinois State Nurses Association and also in the National Association of Associated Alumnae, no question having been made or even thought of with respect to the standing of the training school. Three years ago the school was favored with a visit from Miss Sophie P. Palmer, the editress of the American Journal of Nursing, who spent a month within the walls of the institution. Her impressions were subsequently published in the Journal, from which the following quotation is taken: "From the standpoint of order, dignity, and technical skill, the nursing service of this hospital Provident Hospital and Training School hospital would seem to compare more than favorably with hospitals of the same size and 560 THE VOICE class in other cities, where the nursing service is composed of white women." Applicants are obliged to have a high school education or its equivalent, must be unmarried, from twenty to thirty years old and of approved character and adaptability. No charge is made for tuition. Pupils receive board, lodging, laundry work and indoor and outdoor uniforms. In sickness they are cared for gratuitously. During the three years each nurse is allowed a vacation of two weeks annually. Before leaving the hospital, each graduate is assigned to a case, the returns from which are sufficient to start her on her career. In view of these facts it is apparent that the training school is not for Chicago alone, nor for any section of the country, but is national in character and deserving of support from every quarter of the country. A feature of the nurses' training is an important charity in itself. They make daily visits to the homes in the more neglected sections of the city, ministering to the poor and sick of both races. They give practical instruction in the care of the sick, in house ventilation, in the preparation of food, in cleanliness of home and body, all in a gentle and effective manner. Over a thousand families have been thus visited and over 5,000 visits made. One of the graduates from the training school is now regularly upon the staff of the Chicago Visiting Nurses' Association and each senior nurse receives two months' training in scientific district work under the supervision of the Association. An allied or kindred charity as well as source of training has been opened within the last few years. A station of the Chicago Lying-in Hospital has been established at Provident Hospital. The nurses care for about thirty patients a year, making numerous calls upon each patient and gaining a most valuable experience. The hospital proper has accommodations for sixty-five patients. Nine thousand patients have been treated, sixty-five per cent of them white. A large proportion of the patients have been cared for without charge or for a nominal fee. The hospital is noted for the amount of its operative work, last year over 1,000 operations being performed. Consequently A Graduating Class THE VOICE 561 Consequently house doctors or interns get an unusual experience in surgery. One of the internes is always a colored man. At the last examination of applicants for the position of interne, twenty-six competed on an even basis and the colored applicant led all his competitors. The present hospital building is located at the north-east corner of 36th and Dearborn streets, in the heart of the colored population of the city. It fronts south for an entire half block so that all its private rooms are favored with direct sunlight during the whole day. It was built in 1895, added to in 1900, and is of modern hospital construction. In 1896 a dispensary was established in connection with the hospital. About 5,000 patients a year are treated - about 65,000 to In the Children's Ward the present date. A small fee is charged to each patient who can afford to pay, this system being considered to be upon the basis of real charity; this department is practically self-supporting. Within the last year a laboratory has been installed in connection with the dispensary in which pure milk is modified to suit the requirements of sick babies and this has proved a boon to many a mother in the vicinity. The hospital, dispensary, training school and their appurtenances, all connected under one room, represent with the ground, an investment of $100,000. The property is entirely free from any debt, although there is constantly a floating debt, as the annual deficit is about $3,500, which has been raised by voluntary contributions, mainly from persons living in Chicago. It costs $25,000 a year to operate the institution; its growth may be realized from the fact that the early operating expense was about $4,000 annually. Early in its career, the institution was fortunate in enlisting the services of George H. Webster, whose lively sympathy, extended influence and constant generosity has been a notable factor in saving as well as sustaining this important work. It is not clear that the institution could have been maintained at so high a standard had it not fortunately secured an endownment, which, though entirely inadequate, came when most needed. The history of the fund is interesting. Some years ago a colored women just before her death called a friend to her bedside, gave her all she had in the world and told her when she should go to divide her possessions between Provident Hospital and the Colored Old People's Home. The hospital's share of the fund was $25. This was the beginning of the endownment fund. Shortly afterward the institution came into possession of $45,000 from a resident of a neighboring city, a colored physician, and shortly afterwards of enough more to make the total endowment at the present time, $50,000. It is imperative, if the institution is to keep up to the constantly advancing standard, that this be increased to at least $100,000. To this end a permanent rule has been established that all legacies and moneys which come to the institution by will, shall be placed in the endowment fund and it is also provided that only so much of the income of the endowment fund shall be used as shall be determined from time to time. The institution is incorporated under the name of Provident Hospital and Training School Association, and is managed by a mixed board of eighteen members. The Superintendent is a graduate of one of the foremost training schools of the country and of Columbia University in its post-graduate hospital course. She makes her home in the institution and devotes all her time to its interests and especially to training the nurses, so that they shall not only be fitted for private duty but to take charge of other institutions throughout the country. The officers of the corporation at the present time are as follows: President, George H. Webster, a former partner of P. D. Armour, now President of the Chicago Savings Bank; Vice President, Dr. Allen A. Wesley, one of the founders; Treasurer, James S. Madden, also one of the founders; Secretary, Dr. Charles E. Bentley. A Page From the Past-Cotton Cultivation in the Forties An Overseer Giving Orders Cotton Pickers A Consultation Between Overseers and a Plantation Owner The Old Way of Hoeing Cotton The Overseer and the Slave The Old Way of Pressing Loading Ships for Liverpool in the 40's What Vardaman, Tillman, Dixon and Hoke Smith long to see again. -From an old print. The Demand for Race Integrity By FRANK GRANT LEWIS In the current discussions of the race question no note is more often sounded than that of the necessity for race integrity. Such a demand is manifestly worthy of careful consideration. Accordingly, the following expressions of opinion are brought together and some attention is given to their significance. I Ernest Hamlin Abbott, in an address delivered at the Eighth Annual Conference for Education in the South, at Columbia, S. C., April 28, 1905, and later published in The Outlook (80:237), said, "Race integrity is to be assumed in any discussion of the problems affecting our country." The statement is the more worthy of attention because its author assumes to speak from the point of view of the "New North" and to represent "at least one other Northener" besides himself, and because he was endeavoring to present a view of the question which would tend to remove "sectional misapprehension." That this was not in any proper sense the sentiment of merely "one other Northener" besides Mr. Abbott is to be seen from an editorial in a succeeding number of The Outlook (80: 795), where the comprehensive assertion is made, by so well recognized journalistic authority, that "race distinctions are not in every case unjust. Whatever distinctions are necessary for race integrity may properly be maintained." A less prominent, but probably hardly less common northern view of the question, is to be gained from an editorial in The Times-Dispatch of Richmond, Va., for Nov. 3, 1904. From this editorial one learns that a gentleman from the North chanced to fall in conversation with some Southern gentleman when the familiar topic was brought up and discussed to the point where the Northener was asked whether he would be willing for an educated, respectable and well behaved Negro to marry into his family. To this he gave a negative reply and later admitted that he would be unwilling for such a Negro even to make a social call upon his sister. If the opinion of one who has recently been called "the first citizen of the world" is desired, we have only to turn to the published reports of his address which President Roosevelt made in New York at the Lincoln birthday dinner of 1905 to find these words: "Full recognition of the fact that all men should stand on an equal footing, as regards civil privileges, in no way interferes with the recognition of the further fact that all reflecting men of both races are united in feeling that race purity must be maintained." It will be noticed that the president not only speaks for himself with the weight that his position and his well-known personality give to the assertion, but that he assumes to speak for "all reflecting men of both races." Even a man of his independence and vigor must be firmly assured of his position to use language of so sweeping significance. This significance is intensified, if it is remembered that the president has the most favorable opportunities to know the thought of representative and influential citizens and thus to make his language accord with generally received views. It is manifestly unnecessary to quote an extreme Southern opinion concerning the question. A conservative one, probably, and at the same time a calm and normal one, because it was called forth incidentally, may be found in the following from Senator Newlands, of Nevada, a native of Mississippi, but who was educated in the North and has spent most of his life in the northern section of our country. In discussing "The San Domingo Question," in The North American Review for June, 1905, he argues: "Would it not be to the advantage of both countries if Cuba could absorb our Negro population? The population of this country would then be homogeneous, and the grave disaster likely to come to us from the juxtaposition of two races would be averted....The imminent danger to this country is that, as the black race becomes stronger in numbers, the prejudice against it will increase. The lines between the two races are becoming more and more distinct every day, and there is the danger, in the future, either of a race massacre or of the inferior race being subjected to a condition approaching slavery." The Senator does not specify race integrity, but his language makes it clear enough that any other idea would be nothing less than abhorrent to him. Turning now to one of those who have THE VOICE 565 been most insistent, in season and out of season, for giving the Negro all the rights and privileges enjoyed by any citizen, even the editor of The Independent, in response to the direct question of a Southern correspondent, writes: "In the case of people having a distinct color, black, red, yellow, or brown, we would prefer that there should be no such (race) inter-marriage, because the editor prefers the color in which he was born to any other, but does not quarrel with the preference of other people for their own" (59: 106). For an expression from the Negro himself, perhaps no better can be found, from the point of view of intelligence and the breadth of mind which comes from scholarly attainments and their concomitants in the life of a great university, together with that knowledge of life which comes from familiarity with the various classes of people in different parts of the country, than this from Prof. William Pickens, of Talladega College, who recently made an excellent record for himself in Yale. In the August, 1905, number of THE VOICE OF THE NEGRO, replying to criticism of an article by him in an earlier number of the same magazine, he asserts vigorously: "I dislike 'Jim-crowing' for the purpose of representing one side as heartily as any Puritan on the Merrimac; but I am as ardent a believer in race integrity as any Cavalier on the lower Mississippi." There can hardly be any doubt that this language is as decisive from the colored point of view as any I have been able to bring forward from the white. How representative of Negro sentiment it is, may not be so easy to say with certainty; but it shows that the fear of race intermarriage, from a desire on the part of the Negro, is without foundation, as far as some of the most cultured are concerned. With such decided opinion available from every quarter against intermarriage between colored and white, it might be expected that advocates to the contrary would be equally available. This is hardly the case. In fact, as far as current discussion is concerned, it appears practically impossible to find an out and out advocate of race intermarriage. Those who are not opposed to marriage between the races can be found, and the opinions of some who take this position have appeared in print. Among these is an article by Prof. Willis Boughton, of Ohio State University, in The Arena, for September, 1896, who says: "Two races have never yet dwelt together for any length of time without commingling; and fusion will no doubt be the final solution of the race problem in our country. . . . There is no occasion, however, for sounding the alarm. Fusion has thus far gone on simply at the will of those parties who have found pleasure in such mingling. . . . In this matter of fusion there is no compulsion;" and he quotes approvingly from The Spectator, concerning "some of the southern states," that, "there still exists an immoral and absurd law making penal the marriage of a white man with a colored woman - immoral, because it encourages concubinage; absurd, because it utterly fails to hinder that mixture of races which it is designed to prevent." Even this opinion, as will be observed from the date, is not strictly current, but is about as nearly so as any statement to that effect which may be found from a prominent man. Passing from opinions which are recent to those which are somewhat earlier, the following from Races and Peoples, by D. G. Brinton, written in 1890, is expressive: "There can be no doubt but that any white mixed race is lower in the scale of intelligence than the pure white race. A white man entails indelible degradation on his descendants who takes in marriage a woman of a darker race. . . . . Still more to be deplored is the woman of the white race who unites herself with a man of a lower ethnic type. . . . . That philanthropy is false, that religion is rotten, which would sanction a white woman enduring the embrace of a colored man." After reading such language from a man who had attained to considerable prominence in the field of ethnology, one need not be surprised at this from the New Orleans De Bow's Commercial Magazine, published in 1860: "We think that every humane man, who will carefully examine the subject for himself, will arrive at the same conclusion as the writer of these few suggestions and facts - viz., that to encourage amalgamation is to encourage commission of crime and cruelty, the increase of ignorance and misery, and to insure the destruction of two races in attempting to elevate one." It may be surprising to some at least, however, to find the following words attributed to Abraham Lincoln, in his speech delivered on September 18, 1858, during the great debates between him and Douglas, and appealed to by Wade Hampton in an article in The Forum for June, 1888: 566 THE VOICE "While at the hotel today, an elderly gentleman called upon me to know whether I really was in favor of producing a perfect equality between the Negroes and white people. . . . I will say then, that I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races; that I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of making voters or jurors of Negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people; and I will say, in addition to this, that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which, I believe, will forever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality." The inquiry which brought out that statement from Lincoln, suggests, indirectly, that there were, in 1858, those who expressed themselves favorably toward intermarriage of black and white. Various ones of those who worked for the abolition of slavery took that stand. The article in De Bow's Magazine, quoted above, grew out of such expressions of opinion, and some of these opinions may there be found. But the belief in the amalgamation of black and white was hardly any more general in the fifties than it is at the present day; those who have been willing to see the black and white races in this country unite, either as a whole, or as individuals, have been few, at least as far as serious expression of opinion can show, and the sentiments which they have expressed have not found any wide acceptance. II It is worth while to note that this demand for race integrity is nothing new as a matter of principle. The demand has been made in America concerning the whites and blacks for a comparatively short time, but it has existed, as a racial idea, wherever races have come into contact in different parts of the world. Direct statements in support of this position are not so easily to be secured, it is true; the evidence is often only of an indirect character; but, even in those cases, it is no less decisive. It is to be seen in the mutual racial jealousies, struggles, and resulting exclusiveness which are so constantly to be found among the races and nations of early times. In matters of this kind men have not been greatly modified by the lapse of centuries. Where supposed social or political interests have led to endless rivalry between races and nations, as has regularly been the case, we may be sure that intermarriage, one of the things most certain to defeat such commercial and political separation, has not been quietly permitted, even in cases where no mention of the rule is made; instead, the denial of this closest of relationship would rather be taken for granted when lesser reasons against intermingling had been stated. The argument from silence is well known to be a precarious one. In addition to such general indirect evidence, we know that, in some instances from the more or less distant past, the demand for race integrity was made in exceedingly stringent form. Sometimes the regulation did not stop by restricting marriage to those of the same race. Among the Romans, for example, we know that senators "were forbidden to marry freedwomen or women of inferior rank, and the husband of a freedwoman becoming a senator was set free from his marriage" (En. Brit., XV. 568). In a similar way, the rules of the early Christians forbade marriage outside of the recognized lines of Christian faith. Among the Jews such rules were exceedingly stringent, as may be seen from the legislation of Deuteronomy (7:1-3), and the narratives in Exra (chap. 10) and Nehemiah (13:23-31). The marriage regulations of the caste system, show this same tendency, since the requirement of marriage outside of one's race. Not to attempt to introduce further references concerning particular peoples, the substance of what has probably been the common demand is no doubt well summed up by Bevan, in the article "Marriage," in Smith's Dictionary of the Bible, when he says concerning the Jews: "The prohibitions relating to foreigners were based on that instinctive feeling of exclusiveness, which forms one of the bonds of every social body, and which prevails with peculiar strength in a rude state of society." Even when individuals deliberately choose to disregard the demand for themselves, whether one reason or another, the majority of those who make up the racial or social community have usually maintained the demand. Too many times, no doubt, if the truth could be known, some of those who have been loudest in making the demand have been among the ones to disregard it for the gratification of their personal desires, though outside the marriage relation, of course; but this does not invalidate the postion that the demand THE VOICE 567 demand has been made. The demand may be most insistent where the racial characteristics show that it is least observed, as the further discussion of this paper will show. III The above inferences and testimony of authorities concerning the demand for race integrity have been offered as indicating what is probably the least which ought to be said to do justice to the customs which have prevailed among races and peoples. But, whether such demand has usually been made or not, it is now to the point, in view of the demand which is so general at the present day, to observe how well such demand has been obeyed in cases where it is definitely known. The significance of the demand as we hear it today will have value in on small degree according to what past and present customs have to teach concerning its observance. At least it will be worth while to discover, as well as brief inquiry may permit, what appear to be the facts concerning race integrity and to note, on that as a foundation, what are the prospects for the realization of the demand of the present time. If it has been possible to quote Brinton's personal view as one strongly deprecating race mingling, it is equally possible to quote him on the phase of the question now under discussion, as the following further selections from Races and Peoples will show: "This (intermarriage) has taken place from distantly remote epochs, especially along the line where two races come into contact. In such regions we always find numerous mixed breeds, leading to a shading of one race into another by imperceptible dgrees" (pp. 45, 46). "All these (the Syrians and Arameans, the later Assyrians and Babylonians, the Israelites, Samaritans and Jews) were from early times deeply tinged with other blood" (pp. 137, 138). "All these (the numerous Slavonic peoples of the present day), and some smaller communities, speak today Slavic dialects, though they are by no means all of pure Slavic descent. There has been a constant intermingling with the Mongolians, easily recognizable in physical traits and mental character" (p. 165). With such authority for the racial standing of some of the Asiatic and East Europe peoples, it will be of interest to consider the following following concerning some of the same and also those farther to the west of the European continent, which has the authority of Thomas Wright, in The Celt, the Roman, and the Saxon: "It was the policy henceforth (from the conquest of Britain) pursued with great steadiness by the Roman conquerors to transplant, under the name of auxiliaries, colonies from one nation to another, and they thus not only made a gradual amalgamation of the different peoples who composed the empire, but they established effective defences without exhausting the central force. Gradually, however, while destroying the nationalities of other peoples, Rome lost its own nationality in the mass. Men from those very nations upon whom ancient Rome had trampled as barbarians, were made commanders in its armies, nobles in its senate, and emperors on its throne" (chap. IX). Such a statement concerning the peoples of the Roman empire, and intended to show the race standing of the people of England especially, does not lose its force either for the Anglo-Saxon or for other peoples when it is recalled that Wright uses the term "amalgamation" in a broader sense than that of Brinton; no one would attempt to maintain that all the peoples of the empire would be found to belong to Brinton's "Eurafrican" race, though most of them probably did. Brinton's statements quoted above would be sufficient to show that the people of the empire had already, many of them at least, been tinged with Mongolian blood, if not with "Austafrican" some of them almost certainly with the latter. With what has just been said, the following, on the authority of Alexander Winchell, the palaeontologist, published in The North American Review, for September, 1884, is worthy of attention: "Later than the advent (in northern Europe) of these races (cave-dwellers) appeared the Neolithic, with round heads and a style of civilization distinctly imporved. They warred for a long time with the long heads descended from the early Quaternary, especially the Cro-Magnon people; but ultimately there was a fusion, and we find in the Neolithic dolmens a mixture of the two cranial types, with the superior Neolithic industries predominant. Thus, no ancient European race became extinct. The principal races, at least, were merged in situ with the successive invading and superior races, and modern European populations are the outcome of this mixture. . . . . Clearly there does not exist in Europe a nation of tolerably pure ethnic character, nor do national boundaries mark the limits of such ethnic strains as remain discoverable. The figment of a German nationality, or a French, in any ethnic sense, is as baseless as that of an Austrian, a British, or an American." 568 THE VOICE Even more striking, at least from the point of view of comprehensiveness, is this, from the pen of John Reade, particularly significant because of the quotation which it contains from so high an authority as M. de Quatrefages: "If starting from that meeting-place of nations and tongues, the Nile Delta, we traverse the adjacent continents to their utmost limits, everywhere on the route, from Aino-peopled Japan to the Pillars of Hercules, we shall be confronted by the testimonies of interfusion of blood. Even races that seem most homogenous, like the Chinese, or that have taken pride in avoiding the taint of alien mixture, like the Aryan Hindoos, or, like the Israelites, deemed themselves interdicted by the Divine command from intercourse with foreigners, have been proved beyond a doubt to be of composite origin. To deal separately with those various families of mankind as the dawn of history discloses them to us, or as the centuries of its short range have left them, would take up much time. The general result is, however, well set forth in a passage which I may be permitted to quote from The Human Species of M. de Quatrefages. 'In China, and especially in Japan,' says that distinguished ethnologist, 'the white allophylian is mixed with the yellow blood in different proportions; the white Semitic blood has penetrated into the heart of Africa; the Negro and Houzouana types have mutually penetrated each other and produced all the Caffre populations situated west of the Zooloos of Arabian origin; the Malay races are the result of the amalgamation, in different proportions, of whites, yellows, and blacks; the Malays proper, far from constituting a species, as polygenists consider them, are only one population, in which, under the influence of Islamism, these various elements have been completely fused. I have quoted at random the various preceding examples, to show how the most extreme types of mankind have contributed to form a certain number of races. Need I insist upon the mixtures which have been accomplished between the secondary types derived from the first? In Europe what population can pretend to purity of blood? The Basques themselves, who apparently ought to be well protected by their country, institutions, and language, against the invasion of foreign blood, show upon certain points, in the heart of their mountains the evident traces of the juxtaposition and fusion of very different races. As for other races, ranging from Lapland to the Mediterranean, classical history, although it does not go back for a great distance in point of time, is a significant proof that crossings are the inevitable result of invasions, wars, and political and social events. Asia presents, as we know, the same spectacle; and, in the heart of Africa, the Gagas, playing the part of the horde of Genghis-Khan, have mixed together the African tribes from one ocean to the other.' " (Popular Science Monthly, Jan., 1887.) For lack of space, further similar testimony from this exceedingly interesting article must be omitted. Turning again to the unwilling testimony of Brinton, these further selections from Races and Peoples, having more especially to do with existing conditions, indicate how much he is compelled to admit: "In the Himalyan valleys . . . are several nations in which the Asian blood dominates. . . . They are generally mixed with Dravidian or Aryac blood, but speak dialects of the Sinitic type" (p. 205). "The Cambodians are a mixed people, descended partly from Mongolian ancestry, partly Dravidian and Aryac conquerors who occupied their country about the third century" (p. 206). "At the period of the migration of nations which accompanied the dismemberment and fall of the Roman empire, the Tartars appeared appeared frequently in Europe, always as ruthless devastators. . . . It is needless to say that in these rovings they have undergone much admixture. The modern Turk has more of the blood of the Semite and the Circassian in his veins than of his Tatar ancestors" (p. 210). "The physical type of the members of the Finnic group has given rise to much discussion. Many individuals are blondes, with light hair and eyes, and with dolichocephalic skulls. Such are especially numerous among the Esthonians, Karelians, and Tavastes. But it must be remembered that for two or three thousand years these tribes have been in contact with the blonde and dolichocephalic type of the Aryans represented by the ancient Teutonic and Slavonic groups. . . . It is not the least surprising therefore to find the Finnic group everywhere deeply infused with Aryac blood. Even the remote Lapps are no exception. . . . and when this is true of that isolated people, how much more is it of the tribes in closer proximity to the Eurafrican race?" (p. 213). The evidence so far introduced has to do chiefly with the endless fusion of the races which compose the present Asiatic and Eruopean nations. One further quotation from Brinton, this time from the article "Man" in Johnson's Universal Cyclopedia, will be sufficient to show how complex and utterly hopeless is the task of drawing racial lines so as to mark off each people by itself. After reviewing the various schemes which ethnologists have adopted as bases for classifying mankind, Brinton concludes: "It is safe to say that none of these schemes has given satisfaction, and, indeed, owing to the extensive intermixture which has taken place between races, it is impossible to frame any which does not reveal incompleteness in some directions." If we turn now to see what are the facts that obtain more specifically as to the relations between the African peoples and those from Europe and Asia, the discoveries are hardly less striking. The evidence from de Quatrefages given above makes it clear that the Africans as a whole not only manifest the black race in widely varying types but also THE VOICE 569 have been endlessly tinged with the lighter blood of people from Asia and Europe. As the Houzouana movement had its beginning before the days of American slavery and Africans from that part of the continent furnished a large contingent for the slave market, it is readily observed that the people brought to America to supply the slave interests were already under the influence of the non-African blood which the invaders had brought them, providing a basis for the white fusion which was to be continued everywhere on American soil - a fusion which it is customary to speak of as a destruction of the black race, probably because the whites have been the aggressors in the fusion, but one which would just as correctly be described as a destruction of the whites. To attempt a proof of the extent of this fusion, for those who are familiar with the people of the United States as they are, would be superfluous. For the sake of those readers who have not had the privilege of seeing conditions in the South at first hand, however, the testimony of some who have studied the situation and put the results of their investigation into print will not be amiss. As long as 1864 (Feb. 25), in an editorial in The Independent, Theodore Tilton wrote: "Already three-fourths of the colored people of the United States have white blood in their veins. The two bloods have been gradually intermingling ever since there were whites and blacks among our population." In a similar strain and only slightly more conservative is the admission of Brinton, when he says: "Though they (the 'American citizens of African descent') have been in contact with the white race for but three of four generations, the majority of those now living are related to it by blood" (Races and Peoples, p. 66). By what calculation he arrived at a contact of "three or four generations" in 1890, is not very clear. Whatever it may have been, his conclusion as to the intermingling of the two races is sufficiently definite and is the item of importance in this discussion. A more conservative estimate is that of Dr. W. E. B. DuBois, of Atlanta University, in his article "The Negro in America," in The Encyclopedia Americana. His statement is: "The Negroes of America are not of pure Negro blood. There has gone on in the country first an intermingling of the various African tribes transported and secondly a large infusion of white blood. The census reports of this latter intermingling are admittedly far below the truth. . . . As a matter of fact, probably a third of the Negroes of the United States . . . have traces of white blood." It is probably almost if not altogether impossible to know the exact facts, both because -- strange as it may seem to the unitiated - there are Negroes who do not know their own standing, and because there are others who believe they are pure when they are not, and still others who, being able to pass for pure, prefer, for obvious reasons, to do so. My own conclusion, after an almost daily contact with representatives from various classes of Negroes, during the large part of four years, is, that the estimate of Dr. DuBois is certainly too conservative. A white man who has worked constantly among the Negroes for a quarter of a century once gave it as his opinion that nine-tenths of those who are classed as Negroes had white blood in their veins. But this is almost certainly too large to accord with the facts. If not only the general results of race mixture but also the present status of the process as well is sought, intensely interesting material like the following is to be had. On January 31, 1887, Rev. P. H. A. Braxton, pastor of the Calvary Baptist church, Baltimore, Md., read a paper before the Baptist Ministers' Conference of that city on "Southern Law vs. the Sanctity of Marriage." The address is declared to have been the first one by a colored man ever to have been put "in the first news column of The Baltimore American." In that address Mr. Braxton said: "In sight of the capitol at Richmond, white men and not a few, cohabit with colored women daily; they build fine houses for them, and stay with them, and get children by them. It is said that there are hundreds of colored women in Richmond, saying nothing of the other part of the state, who are kept and supported by white men for their lascivious purposes. I visited a house in Virginia last summer where a white Virginia lawyer was the father of nineteen children by one poor ignorant colored woman. He had a house built away from his, on the farm, while he lived at the 'Great House,' with the children of his white wife. . . . I could cite you fifty cases of this kind from my own knowledge that I have seen in Virginia alone. . . . Thus thousands of these illegitimate . . . colored fatherless children are yearly turned out as Negroes. . . . Go where you may in this country, and especially in the South, and you will find that two-thirds of the so-called Negroes are Negroes only in name; many of them are as white as the children of their father by his white wife." 570 THE VOICE By the side of the quotation just given, it will be timely to place a few more words from The Independent, taken from the same editorial quoted above. In further reply to the correspondent there mentioned, the editor said: "We think the laws which . . forbid intermarriage of the races are wicked, and that they tend to create many illegitimate unions. Doubtless our correspondent has known many such. We know what sad difficulty teachers of the better colored schools have in preventing their educated and cultivated girls from being snapped up by white men in respectable society and introduced into an irregular relation, which in New York would be a common law marriage, or which is a virtual polygamy. And with no visible sense of shame, indeed with a sense of duty, the fathers bring their children, still lighter than their mothers, to these best Negro schools for education. We know of what we affirm, and can specify the instances." One of the interesting aspects of such statements is that they do not appear to call forth tangible denials or to give those who make them any trouble to prove their correctness. With conditions such as the foregoing statements indicate existing among those who are regarded as the better class of both races, it would probably be surprising not to find at least as large a degree of intermixture occurring in the lower grades of society. Altogether, on the part of those who know the situation with any degree of accuracy or fullness, it is admitted without controversy that there has not only been a fusion in the past which makes a very large proportion of those who are called Negroes partake of white blood, but also that the fusion is being continued without intermission. Many of the cases, for fairly obvious reasons, could not easily be proved in court, but those who know the facts are well aware that the cases exist. IV It will now be in place to gather inferences from the evidence which has been presented. Some of these instances have doubtless been reached already by the reader, since the testimony is ample and tolerably clear. I. Perhaps the most obvious conclusion is, that there seems never to have been any race integrity, unless it be on the part of such individuals as have been careful to mingle their blood with those other individuals only who gave as good evidence as could be had of possessing the same strains, whatever those chanced to be. Even in those cases, and on the part of individuals who were most proud of the purity of their lineage, it might be difficult to secure the evidence to establish real race integrity; for, if the evidence from the ethnologists quoted above is worth anything, it would be no easy task for any one of European descent to show that he was absolutely free from all trace of Mongolian or African blood. This is the case if one adheres to the technical race distinctions, as Brinton, e.g., does, recognizing only three, or five, races and classing the Semites and all the original inhabitants of northern Africa as belonging to the white race. If, instead of that, one takes a practical view of the question, recognizing, as he probably would, that the Slavs are, on this basis, perhaps as far from the Anglo-Saxon as were the followers of Genghis-Khan, he will find it still more difficult to satisfy himself that his ancestors were all of one race. it is hardly too much to say that race integrity is a fetish, before which otherwise enlightened people constantly bow down. Instead of cringing before this powerless relic, it would be well to recognize the conclusion recently stated by the late President William R. Harper concerning the Jews. His intimate knowledge of the history of Oriental peoples and conditions led him to write that he "has long been of the opinion that the best explanation of the supreme position occupied by the Jews of today is to be found in the fact that no nation of antiquity absorbed from other nations to such an extent, or for so long a period, as did the Jews" (Biblical World, 25:380). While this statement was made concerning the Jews only, it could be shown to be true concerning other peoples as well, without difference unless it be in degree. For, if the word race is used in the practical sense proposed, and perhaps if it is used in the narrower sense, the Anglo-Saxon would easily come forward as evidence of fusion and his commanding position today be thereby explained. As an individual example of the same principle, in another direction, it may be noted that one of the most resourceful, at least, of southern Americans today, a man who, in a few years and on the basis of a comparatively meagre training, has built up a great educational institution, one which is said to be the richest in the South and which this man has brought to the point of international recognition - it is well to recognize, I say, that Mr. Booker T. Washington is a mulatto, and, at the same time, to remember THE VOICE 571 that the mulatto has had only a short time in America, comparatively speaking, in which to demonstrate to the world his real power and capacity to achieve. 2. The figment of race integrity may be recognized more fully when it is remembered that "the unity of the (human) race is now generally accepted" (Encyclopedia Americana, article "Ethnology"); a doctrine which is agreeable to both theology and science. Accordingly, since man sprang from a single ancestry, it matters little how much variety has developed during the long course of his experience on the earth; at foundation he is one race. For present convenience, it may be well to show the more marked characteristics, by geographic or color names, but an immense waste of time will be avoided, and the bad odor of hard names will be escaped, if it is kept in mind that these terms are only matters of convenience and cannot mark off any individual, or community of individuals, as surely having only a pure white, or pure black, or pure yellow, stream of blood coursing through its veins. And to do this does not in any way belittle the science of ethnology, or suggest that the facts of the human race must be left in confusion. Instead, it may be taken to simplify the task of the ethnologist - leaving him free to discover such facts as he can, without any feeling that either a people, or so-called race, is to have its standing affected thereby; relieving a man like Brinton, e.g., of the feeling that he must show the superiority of the white race at all points. Then perhaps, if, at some distant date, the material of ethnology should be come so complete as to make a more detailed classification of mankind possible, one of the results would be to show, even more clearly than is possible today, how all the manifold peoples of the world are variant individuals and varying groups of the one great family and the one common blood, manifesting, because of the varied experiences of its several parts, the many characteristics which we now behold. 3. As a practical consideration, the thoughful person seems certain to ask himself whether, in view of all the facts, he is justified in making a demand for race integrity. Probably the most he can do is to insist that race mixture shall not go farther than it has; and no doubt this is all that the current demand is intended to mean. But, can even this position be successfully maintained? If the history of the race up to the present teaches anything, it probably teaches that such a demand will not be heeded, certainly not within any portion of the immediate future. Even if the mingling of those peoples which we now call races could be stopped entirely at the present hour, or at any future assignable date, would that mean anything for race integrity or offer any gain in matters of ethnology? If harm has come from the mingling of varied strains of blood, no possible expedient, except the extinction of every individual who cannot prove an alibi against the charge of admixture - a practically impossible task for any one, as has already been seen - can now stop the process and give the world "race purity." In fact, to stop the process at the present, or any similar stage, would serve only to help prolong whatever caste feeling and jealousies now exist as the result of race characteristics, giving them permanence in their present form; and for this state of affairs probably no intelligent person has any desire. 4. The demand for race integrity must finally resolve itself into the question whether the mingling of variant strains of human blood is a moral wrong in itself, in the offspring of such union entirely apart from the motives or desires of the father and mother who produced it. If it can be shown that such offspring bears in himself the evidence of moral guilt, entirely apart from the manner of life which he may present, then surely it may be maintained that race integrity is not only necessary but capable of the most intelligent demands. The fact that moral desideratum has neither existed in the past nor is likely to exist in any portion of the future which can be discerned, is not sufficient to silence the demand for that moral idea; the mere striving for its attainment, however long it may be unrealized, may indicate the highest type of morality. Is race integrity such a moral desideratum? Most certainly it is not. If it were, then every offspring of race mingling carries in himself the evidence of moral guilt, no matter how noble the morality of his living. But this is a doctrine which few, probably, will wish to assert. It would be, in effect, to announce a new doctrine of inborn depravity, and to hang a millstone about the neck of humanity that it might be drowned in the depths of THE VOICE 572 despair. If the person of mixed blood lives immorally, he is immoral; but, if he lives a moral life, let no man attempt to damn him. And, if he is not immoral in himself, then the begetting of him, if it was virtuous and therefore moral, cannot have been a source of guilt, and the marriage union of the father and mother which led to his birth could not have been wrong. Morality cannot be immorality; virtue cannot be sin. Race mixture, like all other questions, must finally be brought to the judgment bar of ethics, and there the verdict on the demand for race integrity can be only one verdict - a sentence of death. 5. The demand for race integrity is probably a vestige of a comparatively primitive type of thinking. Bevan, in the quotation from Smith's Dictionary of the Bible used above, states suggestively that the "feeling of exclusiveness" which prevails among social groups "prevails with a peculiar strength in a rude state of society." His opinion is not likely to be disputed by those who are in a position to do so intelligently, since it is in accord with all we know of primitive conditions. If one thinks of mankind in accordance with the biblical account, he finds that the earliest stages of development manifested exactly the condition of "exclusiveness" which is here maintained, an exclusiveness which has lessened very slowly, it is true, but which has perceptibly yielded. If he thinks of mankind from the evolutionary point of view, the upward progress from an early condition of exclusiveness is at least as well assured. The goal of humanity is a condition in which these primitive ideas shall have given place entirely to those of moral and racial brotherhood in the fullest sense. The change is beginning to appear in the movements for arbitration and world peace; the racial aspect will be seen in due time, a younger child of the same family of Right. 6. It would naturally be expected that those who plead for race integrity would make the plea for all races; but here is one of the curious phases of the race question appears, namely, that one who most insists on race integrity for the whites repudiates the principle entirely for others. Brinton did both these things in the same breath and thereby showed the white prejudice which lay at the basis of his whole discussion: "The two problems we have now discussed," he wrote, seem to present a dilemma. The pure races do not flourish out of their physiological surroundings; and yet some of them are not adequate for the work required by modern culture. What resource have we? The answer is, in the union of the lower races among themselves, especially the Mongolian and the African. Thus we may expect a blending capable of resisting the heat of the tropics, and intelligent enough to carry out the directions of that race which will ever and everywhere maintain its supremacy so long as it maintains its ethnic purity -- the Eurafrican" (Races and Peoples, p. 288). Intentionally or otherwise, the last phrase of the above was put there in such a way as to make it impossible, from this passage, to prove him a false prophet; for, in view of his own testimony, he could hardly have thought the white race very pure at the time he wrote, and, if he could see anything of the signs of the times, he could hardly have expected anything different in the days to come. As to whether a race possesses the superiority which he assumes for the white race, or not, only time and achievment can tell; and how false a prophet he was on this point may be seen by a still further quotation from the oft named work. After reviewing the achievements and characteristics of the other races except the white, he proceeds: "Widely different is the vista which appears before us when we contemplate the Eurafrican race. It goes forth conquering and to conquer. . . Every navy and every army of any fighting capacity belong to the European whites and their descendants. No nation and no race of other lineage dare withstand an attack or disobey an order from a leading European power. Africa and Asia are dismembered and parceled out at London, Berlin, and St. Petersburg, and no one dreams of asking the consent of the inhabitants of these continents" (p. 298). If he had written in 1905 instead of 1890, he would doubtless have used somewhat different language and would have attempted to support his idea of Eurafrican superiority with some other line of argument. The test of superiority is accomplishment, whether in the field of physical, mental, or moral struggle; and the best men agree that the grandeur of the accomplishment increases in worth from the physical to the moral. When this test is applied to men and nations, only surprises adn discomfiture await the one who has decided that the sphere of honor can be marked by racial lines, even if he were to succeed in drawing these to the satisfaction of all whose judgment must be taken into account. Whether Japan achieved a moral victory at Portsmouth after she had proved herself a conqueror by force of arms, or not, THE VOICE 573 she has shown that a despised nation of an "inferior' race can perform that which secures the respect of all and gains an alliance with one of the first world powers. Thus the roll of achievement must be ready to receive new names at very unexpected seasons; and the courses which lead to the world's honors have different racial favorites in different eras and generations. Asia was in cap and gown when Europe was still in the lower grades. Now Europe wears senior vestments. But the dignity of the fathers is not of necessity to pass to the scions yet unborn; only time, long time can tell that. The children of Africa as well as Asia are showing splendid work in the junior grades -- for those who have eyes to see -- and those who celebrate some later world's academic festal season may awake to learn that the honors have been awarded to the sons and daughters of the despised. 7. This paper, it will be observed, does not advocate race amalgamation or even limited intermarriage. In fact, effort spent in such advocacy would be largely wasted, since there is no occasion for it. For those who see only good in such race mixture, a much more fruitful course of labor is simply to point out the unity of the human race, show how membership in any particular race is not a matter of moral importance, show instead that moral character and attainment are factors of real significance, teach, as the result of the best experience, how marriage accomplishes the high purpose for which it has become the basis of family life, whether between individuals of one race or two, and leave the matter of race in the question of marriage to those who are to make the home -- recognizing, as any degree of unbiased observation will make evident, that marriage within one race does not in itself guarantee any of the fruits which matrimony ought to produce and that intelligent marriage between two races may offer to the world the true home; and assuming, as moral minds doubtless should, that a real home composed of two races is a human asset but that a so-called home within one race, devoid of the home realities, is a human loss. I should hardly suggest that the point of view presented in this now somewhat extended discussion is anything particularly new, though the practical application is manifestly outside of common experience and the idea is very likely to be received, as far as it is considered at all, merely as a dream. Accordingly, I cannot better close the paper than by asking The Outlook and all others to apply to the demand for race integrity the same wise principles which The Outlook has so eloquently voiced in warning against the seductions of a similar siren song: "There is a wisdom born of long experience in the ways that are right and in the paths that are sweet which all men honor and reverence, for there is something that comes to age which neither youth nor maturity can command. But there is another and so-called wisdom of age which has its roots in the weaknesses of men, not in their strength, in the failure of their endeavors, and in their doubts; the wisdom of prudence, which hugs the shore of comfort and holds back from the great adventures of the spirit, which doubts the realities of the higher life because no longer in touch with them, which challenges every generous impulse and chivalrous experiment; which sometimes recognizes the beauty of high aims, but always questions the possibility of realizing them; which sees the long line of failures, infelicities, disappointments, and says to ardent Youth, 'Be sensible, give up your dreams, take life as you find it; be content to be the average man and the average woman in morals, efficiency, and aims; the others are only dreamers!' 'Behold, this dreamer cometh!' has been the cry of men and women who content themselves with this wisdom, since the beginning of time. But the dreamer comes, and once more the morning of hope dawns on the world. A few months ago in all parts of the English as in the German speaking world there were commemorations of the hundredth anniversary of the death of a man who was scorned as a dreamer in his time, so beautiful were his visions and so impracticable; but the men who scorned him are forgotten, and all the world loves Schiller, not because he did things with his hands, but because he was content to walk through life dreaming the noble things that are possible to men. "This miscalled wisdom of experience is the old siren song of "race integrity" sung in the ears of the dwellers in Mesopotamia before there were sails on the Mediterranean. It is the philosophy of men and women who have exchanged their ideals for their comfort, and, because their ideals no longer live with them, believe that ideals have ceased to exist for everybody else. Such a man looks out from the window of his well-furnished and comfortable room and shrugs his shoulders as he sees youth storm past, ardent, impetuous, filled with great hopes; and goes back to his fire and thinks himself wise, and does not know that he is the typical fool of whom the Bible tells us, who said, 'There is no God!' This prudent, calculating, doubtful attitude toward life would be sound if it were not based on the fundamental error that there is no God. In 'Hamlet' the cautious, prudent, careful Polonius, warning his son against all manner of danger and counseling him to keep away from life, but never telling him how to meet and master it, would be right, George MacDonald once said, if the devil were God. But, because the devil is not God it is the most short-sighted policy in the 574 THE VOICE world. The wisdom of youth, faith, hope enthusiasm, is based on the fundamental fact that there is a God, that therefore the best things are true, and that the best things belong to men and are within their reach if not their grasp. There is no dream which does not fall short of the reality, because there is a God. Youth trusts instinctively the hidden forces instead of fearing them, marches boldly into life instead of intrenching itself against life, risks years, life, talent, heart, as great souls have always risked these things, in believing that there are few things in life worth getting but a host of things worth being and a host of things worth doing; that it is better to meet with shipwreck seeking worlds than to rot in harbor-safety! Where is safety, except in doing the highest things possible to us and going to the ultimate harbor where we can cast anchor at last? (August 12, 1905). So toward the harbor of human brotherhood and fellowship the dreamer looks, knowing that the only secure attitude toward the demand for race integrity, as toward any other low demand, is, to cease from the demand, recognize manhood and womanhood wherever they are found, and accord to those who possess them all the privileges which they involve, even the most sacred of the home, without regard to race or clime. __________ Not Why, O Lord, But Help By ANN MELODY Not why a few black men in bondage sold, Did multiply like Israel did of old, When pressed by lash and toil; Nor why their children, who are slaves no more, By prejudice are bound in bondage sore And ground down to the soil; Not why Thy will didst carve in ebony Thy same great Image blessed by Trinity, As Thou in marble white; Nor why man's will by laws and creeds decree The lowest grade our blest estate to be; His mandates, our delight; Not why one father's children are close kin; Nor why the fruitage of a father's sin Set children's teeth on edge; Nor why God given rights of Liberty For sons of Ham an awful curse should be, But Japhreth's privilege; Not why, O Lord, we do not ask Thee why; We humbly seek thy aid or else we die. Not why, O Lord, but help. The surging tide of prejudice is strong And sweeps our stanchest earthly friends along. Not why, O Lord, but help. O'erhead the inky clouds obscure the sun, And angry winds doth drive the tempest on, And heavy runs the sea; O Christ! if we but scan the troubled sea, We sink as Peter did in Galilee: O bid us come to Thee! Speak Thou unto the turbid waves of strife, Wrath-crowned and swift to stifle out our life; O bid the sea be still! Bid Thou the winds to rein their chargers in And cease their raids which aid the cause of sin; O bid them do Thy will! All power is Thine in Heaven and Earth; The wrath and might of men is but Thy mirth, For Thou has made them all. Therefore we trust not human help nor creeds, We humbly see the mighty power that heeds The smallest sparrow's fall. Not why, O Lord, we would not ask of Thee For Thou who bared Thine arm to make us free Wilt not Thine own forsake; But help, we plead, O Lord and that Thy might Wilt lead us through this wilderness and night And cause our day to break. The Negro in the President's Message By EDWARD E. WILSON On reading the President's message one might, if so inclined, write an interesting essay on the change which the message as contemplated EDWARD E. WILSON by the framers of the constitution has undergone in these latter days. From a recommendation to Congress concerning legislation and a communication on the state of the Union, the message has developed or deteriorated--according to the point of view --into a discourse none too well-proportioned; a discourse, indeed, which is a cross between a lecture and a sermon and in which not only subjects to be legislated on are set forth at length, but numerous questions which other chief magistrates thought could well be, and ought to be, left to the church, schoolroom, chautauqua and lecture hall, are dwelt upon with engaging earnestness. Still one cannot complain of this as the moral force of the President is great and Virtue no doubt welcomes with open arms so doughty a champion of her cause. Throughout the message there is a cry for more power. The President appears to feel cramped--too closely cooped up in a constitution made in other days and under different conditions; he seems to feel that in himself a man abreast of the times is at hand, waiting anxiously for the barriers to be removed that stand in the way of his leading a march to greater national glory. Certainly none should welcome centralization in government with greater zeal than Negroes; provided, of course, that they are sure that there is a sense of justice in the whole country which under centralized government would redound to their benefit. At the same time they ought to remember that the country has not done for them the few things it might have done under the constitution; which is no very good guarantee that with more power the federal government would better protect them. They have been taught, moreover, by their recent experience in the discharge of the colored soldiers how dangerous a thing is arbitrary power even in the hands of an over-virtuous person. So tense has become the race question in the last few years, so wide-spread race hostility, that Negroes have never failed to look forward (though heretofore in vain) with eagerness and hope for what would be said about them in a President's message. In this instance, their anxiety was sharpened by the announcement of certain journalistic acolytes who let it be known that something startling was coming on the Negro question. One was led to believe that some novel recommendation would be made to congress which would put us in the way of a fair settlement of the black man's status in the country. Those that harbored these expectations were doomed to disappointment. They found, to use the words of Daniel Webster, "that this was not the first time in the history of human affairs that the vigor and success of the war did not come up to the lofty and sounding phrase of the manifesto." Yet the Negro may at least congratulate himself that among the multifarious subjects 576 THE VOICE subjects which engaged the President's attention, the black man's case was not forgotten. This cause for congratulation lies, however, merely in the fact that he was not forgotten. Whatever advantage he got from the message was of a negative kind ; it was chastening and disillusioning. After a long official silence the words of the President are not altogether grateful to the self-respecting Negroes. Looked at in any light they can get but small comfort from it. The wounds received at the discharge of the colored troops are but poorly salved, if not irritated, by the utterances of the President on the subjects of lynching and education. There is ointment, it is true in his condemnation of mob violence; there is a fly in the ointment when he adopts the Southern theory that Negroes lynched are largely rapists, and that the blacks are much more given to the loathsome crime of rape than whites. The President has also adopted the Southern idea as to just what sort of education the Negro should have. Evidently, the President has no accurate information on this subject and after reading what he says, one is forced to the conclusion that though the President may be long on big sticks, he, on this question at least, is short on logic. Indeed, there is a strange shiftiness in this late message or that part of it which discusses the race question. In one breath the President says that rape is the greatest existing cause of lynching ; in the next, that two-thirds of the lynchings are for other crimes than rape. He holds forth nobly for the common school system and seems to see in it a panacea for race troubles. On the other hand he says "of course' the education best suited to the Negro is such as is dispensed at Hampton and Tuskegee institutes. He would have every citizen treated as an individual; yet he would put the burden of criminality on all Afro-Americans by requiring that they become voluntary catchers of malefactors. These inconsistences among many others justified a noted Chicago judge in characterizing the whole message as a crazy quilt. On the Negro question the President seemed beset by fear lest he offend the South; he was evidently trying to say something statesman-like and at the same time not lose the recently gained good will of that sensitive and fiery section. The difficulty of doing such a thing is apparent to the most obtuse, and perhaps the President made as good job of it as any one could, when trying to perform the impossible and to reconcile mutually irreconcilable things. Yet the President said some notably good things; though the good and bad are so intertwined as to make it rather difficult to loosen and separate them and exhibit them, each in its proper light. To be specific one can give the President credit (1) For denouncing lynching. (2) For denouncing yellow journalism and demagogy that tend to stir up race strife. (3) For speaking for the common school and a fair division of the school fund. (4) For asking that all men be treated as individuals--each on his individual merit. For none of these things, however, should there be uproarous applause, as they come long after the friends of justice have demanded them again and again; and though the President went out of his way to speak of them and should be given praise for throwing his great influence as president in favor of them; yet he went out of his way to speak of other matters of less importance and as remote from the fields of national legislation. On the question of lynching the President quotes three Southerners, and might have quoted many more who have denounced lynching. For him or his friends to lay claim to any special credit under these circumstances would be like Falstaff claiming a reward for the death of Hotspur at the battle of Shrewsbury. Against the President may be specifically charged the following: (1) His implied charge that Negroes far more than others are given to the crime of rape and that lynching grew out of this fact. (2) His adoption of the Southern theory that the respectable Negro conceals criminals of his own race and that Negroes should become spies to hunt out and bloodhounds to run down such of their own race as are charged with crime. (3) His evident attempt to bend all things to suit the South. (4) His attempt to advertise two schools at the expense of scores of others whose work for race elevation is equally effective and from which most of the best men of the race have come. (5) His silence on the question of suffrage which he and his party are pledged to inquire THE VOICE 577 into an on which legislation is possible under the constitution. The subject of lynching has been so often and so exhaustively discussed that one is struck with surprise when the president says-- "The greatest existing cause of lynching is the perpetration, especially by black men, of the hideous crime of rape." This statement has been so often refuted that it would not have engaged even passing notice from a well-informed man, had it come from one less exalted than the President of the United States. It is unfortunate that he chief magistrate of the nation was not fully informed on this subject when statistics on it were printed everywhere, so that even he who ran might read. It is equally unfortunate that he had lent so ready an ear to the long exploded Southern theory that he passed over plain facts and ample figures, gathered often by those none too friendly to the Negro, which prove that taking Americans all in all the Negro is not so peculiarly given to rape as to justify singling him out and putting a brand of infamy on his brow. The Chicago Tribune year after year has printed figures too widely quoted to have escaped any one desirous of being informed on the subject; which figures show the utter baselessness of the President's assertion. It is now know by all fair-minded men that this cry of rape raised by Southerners has been indulged in less because of their respect for women than to advance a propaganda against the whole black race. It is also known to those who have gone to the heart of the subject that many things are called rape which are no rape at all. Letting alone certain voluntary cohabitations which are proved by the number of runaways that come from the South to the North where they may co-habit lawfully, cases are sent out by press reports and set down as assaults and interpreted by the public as rapes which have no single element of that crime in them. To be burglarizing a house where white women are; to snatch a purse from a white woman; to frighten white women by meeting them on a lonely road; to jostle rudely a white woman --these offenses, some of which would be punished in a civilized community by a slight fine, find their way into the public press as assaults and hence as rapes. Were the President as omniscient as he is said to be by his admirers, he would have known that some of the most famous, or rather most infamous, outbreaks of mob violence in the country were not incited by rape. The truth of the matter is that lynchings seldom arise from virtuous passion as the people who indulge in them--since the "best citizens" left off participating--are not of a virtuous stripe; nor do lynchings often occur from the fear that a black prisoner will escape the speedy penalty of the law. Race prejudice and deliberate malignancy, crude, twilight intelligences and minds careless of suffering and long used to brutality, account for what some people, the President included, would have the world believe are outbursts of noble passion and manly indignation at the commission of crimes against women. Respectable Negroes deplore as much as any one the crimes, especially those of the basest sort, that are committed by a certain class of Negroes; this has been a constant and grievous care to the better sort; but they appeal to the President's theory of the treatment of individuals to be relieved from the burden of carrying the sins of others. There will always be Negro criminals as there are white criminals, but the Negro of respectability suggests that the properly constituted authorities deal with all criminals. That the president should quote and adopt Governor Jelk'a idea that respectable Negroes shield criminals shows what meagre knowledge he has of the better Negro life. Decent colored people know no more of their criminals than decent white people know of theirs. Those best acquainted with conditions know that in most instances the doings of Negroes lawful or unlawful are betrayed by some abject creature of their own race. The whites would have no difficulty in finding out whatever they sought from such Negroes as Jerry Letlow as portrayed in Mr. Chestnut's Marrow of Tradition or the Negro Preach in Miss Rayner's Handicapped Among the Free. Respectable Afro-Americans resent with indignation the suggestion--though coming from the President--that they must resolve themselves into spies the moment a black man is charged with a crime, and become catchpolls without authority, to join in a hue and cry for the benefit of the constituted authorities of, as too often happens in the South, for the satisfaction of a mob thirsting for blood. Moreover, when the ruling classes in the South rise to that plane of public-spiritedness and fairness where they will restrain their lawless whites and will establish courts where 578 THE VOICE justice is administered and not mocked when a Negro comes into them, there might be some complaint should Negroes not step forward with sufficient alacrity to assist in upholding the law. While the president was lecturing the colored people about their crimes against white women, he might have spoken a word to white men abut their crimes against colored women. These crimes are more frequent than all the charges against Negroes, and the outraged have no redress. No press reports arouse sympathy for the throughout the country and the violators of their person in almost every instance go unwhipped of justice. The President intimates that lynchings in the South had their beginning because of rape and that they have now spread until they are resorted to for many other offenses. This is the position taken by many Southerners of the higher class, who faintly damn mob violence that they may maintain a reputation for standing by the law and yet palliate the doings of the mob to some extent that they may not lose caste with their more truculent fellow citizens. Mr. Thomas Nelson Page, in his book on the Negro and in the North American Review for January, 1904, and Mr. Clarence A. Poe, in the Atlantic Monthly of the same month, earnestly took this stand; and it has been set forth by nearly every Southerner of prominence who has had occasion to discuss the questions. Rape was not the first cause of lynching and mob violence in the South. let one plow through the thirteen volumes printed by the committee that investigated the Kuklux or let him read the report made by Mr. Schurz to President Johnson and he will find that since the war hundreds of men were killed and outraged in the South before the cry of rape became a convenient excuse for lawlessness. One author, Judge Tourgee, estimates that more human beings were slain violently and unlawfully in these dark days than fell on any battle field during the Civil War. The President's evident leaning to the South has been adverted before in this article. Most of what he said adversely to the Negro might be found at any time on the editorial page of any Southern daily. The Atlanta Constitution heartily commends the President's words which brand the Negro as a rapist and which call upon Negroes to turn out and search for black criminals. The questions cannot but arise - What caused the President to array him so ostentatiously on the side of the South? Were it not for his solemn renunciation of a third term which admiring friends and anxious camp-followers would force upon him, one might be led to believe that he had hopes of some votes from the South if the moneyed people of some northern states should concluded that their properties and accumulations should not be jeapordized by his vagaries. It is true that the fact that Mr. Thomas Nelson Page was at one time a trusted advisor of the President on the Negro question, and that a member of his cabinet was an advocate of lynching, may account for his attitude. Parts of Mr. Roosevelt's lecture to Negroes sound much like Mr. Page's theories as set forth in his book -The Negro: The Southerner's Problem. Even if the President should, under the pressure of friends and office holders and under a belief that the country could not survive without him, be compelled to break the precedent set by the first and greatest president of the United States and adhered to up to this time, he, first of all a politician, is too wise not to know that, whatever favors he may bestow upon Southerners, - even to the extent of destroying the prosperity of the North and utterly putting down the Negro for them - so long as he is labelled republican he will get no votes out of the Solid South. One must, therefore, find an explanation of the President's attitude in the fact that aggressive as he is he does not like such fiery opposition as comes from the South: in the fact that the plan to curb northern wealth will require southern votes in congress; and most of all in the fact that, though ten million people will be outraged, he desires to be put down in history as the destroyer of sectionalism. When the President came to the question of education he discussed with praiseworthy fairness the common school system. But he could not let well enough alone. The common school for the Negro masses was not the thing. "Of course," he says. "the best type of education for the colored man, taken as a whole, is such an education as is conferred in schools like Hampton and Tuskegee." Persons who, without personal profit, have spent their lives in Negro education and 579 THE VOICE hence made a careful study of the subject know that this is not true " on the whole" or on the half. IF what those say who are most enthusiastic about these industrial schools is true then they largely exist for preparing its student for certain special work. These schools need as a foundation, the common school everywhere. Every Negro will not be a mechanic or a trained artisan; nor will the majority of them. The great mass of the Negroes no more than the great mass of the whites will, or can be, skilled artisans, but will ultimately get their livelihood by the commonest talents, improved somewhat by the common school. The President's cocksureness leads one to believe that it springs rather from a desire which he always generously shows to help his friends than from any deeper than superficial knowledge on the subject of education for Negroes. In fact, experience has shown that sometimes the President speaks most magisterially on subjects with which he is least acquainted. A notable instance of this was his letter during his last campaign for the presidency on the subject of corporate contributions to his campaign fund. Again the people on the Pacific coast say that the President not only did not understand the situation there in relation to their schools, but that he was not fully informed as to the nature and purport of the treaty which he threatened to enforce vi et armis. If he had not sufficient knowledge in a matter so much importance to the state, what shall we say when he undertakes to speak ex cathedra of a subject outside the pale of state affairs and of which those who have investigated most speak with caution? With due respect to the President and his utterance one cannot refrain from saying that he has picked up a large part of his information about Negroes from partisans. He gives not the slightest evidence of knowing anything about healthful Negro aspiration or of being in sympathy with the Negro who has the ability and the desire to escape from the bondage of the earth. Of course one cannot question the right of any individual to praise any institution he chooses, but when the President of the United States elects to discuss a subject officially in which ten million people are interested, he ought not allow his zeal for his friends to turn a state paper into an advertisement such as will do injustice to scores of other schools which can show, at least, as good results as the schools whose interests he seeks to promote. We have heard these words of the President elsewhere. They did not originate with him. We might easily guess who inspired them. The hand is the hand of Esau; the voice is the voice of Jacob. This theory in respect to all pervasive benefits of industrial education for Negroes is echoed and re-echoed by every southern newspaper and politician. Its popularity in certain quarters is based upon the belief that the Negro is different from the rest of the people and that it assigns the Negro to an inferior place and keeps him there. This is the interpretation put upon it in every section of the country, and it must appear to be altogether different from the scientific and industrial training advocated for a certain class of whites; as the President carefully seperated the two and discussed the latter in an altogether different vein. No one doubts the efficacy of the training given at Hampton and Tuskegee, and no one should grudge any praise or encouragement given to these schools. But it ought not go out by implication officially to the country that these are the only schools that send out graduates who refrain from crime and become good citizens. Scores of other schools located in every southern state have done the same thing in a larger proportion. In fact the President does not seem to know that in proportion to the money spent, the industrial school shows far less tangible results among Negroes than other schools show. Of course, for obvious reasons, industrial education has been cried up with zeal, but most of the effective work has been done by the schools planted in the South and nourished by the American Missionary Association and the various church denominations. The Negro certainly needs trained teachers and preachers. These schools ignored and by implication condemned by the President, have sent out such by the hundreds. The struggles of some of the teachers to uplift their people under adverse circumstances would make a story of pathos and heroism equal to any that might be told of the foreign missionary in the midst of China or Africa. These schools too have sent out men who have done notable work in every walk of life. Thorough investigation showed that quite ninety-five per cent of despised college graduates 580 THE VOICE uates were men of worth and merit and are leaders of their people in various communities. So overwhelming was this evidence that the foremost advocate of industrial education left off ridiculing Negro college men and now admits their usefulness. It is true that some of these "literary schools"-as they have been derisively dubbed -may produce a class of men who probably have no place in American life as Negroes; a class of men who stand for all that men should ask for and who cannot be cheated and bullied; men who have become disillusioned as to the white American's infallibility; and worst of all from the standpoint of Aryans, men who can see without erring and point out without fear the short-comings of these self-styled potential conquerors of Heaven and earth. This offense, perhaps, ought to be forgiven these schools in view of the excellent work they have done along other lines The Podsnappian posture of the President can serve but to injure such schools by causing the public to believe that they are unworthy of mention, and to withhold from them the charitable support without which they cannot exist. We may be sure, however, that the President does this unwittingly and because on this Negro question he sees as through a glass darkly. It is significant that in the discussion of lynching and education for Negroes that the President appeals merely to sentiment and has no recommendation to congress; nor does he say what he will do himself in these matters. Of course both questions under our system of government belong to the states. So, in a large measure, does the question of the Japanese in the California schools. One cannot but admire the President's fine impetuosity in asserting that no power at his command will be left unused to give the Japanese all their rights; while one, at the same time, must wonder at the exercise of self control that he shows on the Negro question. The President, while asking for an enlargement of powers, might have recommended that the constitution be so amended as to give the federal government power to punish lynchers. He certainly could, with some show of remaining within constitutional limits, have asked that, under the general welfare clause, this rich and prosperous government turn over to the states in proportion to their illiteracy a number of millions of dollars; requiring of the states only that the money be distributed impartially to the illiterates within their respective borders. More significant yet than the President's failure to do anything other than lecture on lynching and education, was his silence on the subject on which (if there are any morals in politics) he was morally bound to speak; a subject, moreover, upon which he could have made a recommendation to Congress without asking them to break the shell of the constitution whereby he and they are so closely cabined. The last platform of the republican party upon which Mr. Roosevelt ran without dissent pledged the party and its candidate to look into the suppression of Negro Suffrage in the South. On this question the President remained strangely silent; though it must have been known to him that at each general election the constitution is contravened by certain state laws and the administration thereof. Senator Tillman not long since in Chicago, gloatingly and gratuitously told how intelligent Negroes are kept from voting, while at the same time, ignorant white men are allowed that privilege. One should not despair, however; one cannot tell what the future will bring. The President seems to like surprises-even sensations. Some day before March, 1909, the President may suddenly take a notion that the time is ripe to do justice on this suffrage question and may send a special message to congress urging immediate constitutional action. But let Negroes above all things hope and pray that he will not send this message until he has full information on the subject and that evil guides and advisers may not lead him from the path of truth and justice. Help Solve The Problem In these days of riots and lynchings, of lectures and press discussions of the subject one is liable to become nauseated with the "race problem." I, like everyone else, am sick of the agitation as such but bitter as is the medicine it must be administered in ever increasing doses until it begins its wholesome work of correcting the abuses complained of. I think the trouble lies in too much discussion and too little work at solving the so-called problem-too much of diagnosis and not enough of remedy. Take the phrase of the subject which I have chosen for this article. It has been so thoroughly discussed from one end to the other of this broad land that it is needless for me to discuss it here, and yet no one, so far as I know, has offered a remedy. Everyone is agreed that if the two races understood each other better they would get along better together and especially that if the whites could learn as much about our many great men, our progressive institutions and forward movements as they learn through the daily press about our few brutes and criminals, they would be compelled to modify their opinion that "all niggers are bad." Yet no one had undertaken to show the whites our better side or to help the two races to a better understanding of each other. It is not only an injustice but an outrage, that while in the nature of things the daily papers must need publish all our misdeeds, they deliberately overlook every event with an upward tendency among our people. To illustrate I will take the case of a local church. About two years ago this church was rent asunder by the action of its old pastor, who, instead of accepting the new charge to which he was appointed by the bishop, contended that undue influence was used in his removal, and refused to make way for the new pastor. Part of the congregation and some of the officer's supported him and the others remained loyal to the conference. Charges and counter-charges were bandied between the two factions, of graft and other scandals, until the fight reached the courts, and finally the deposed pastor took his supporters and founded an independent church. A Pittsburg newspaper took the matter up and had a reporter at every important meeting. But since then both churches have grown wonderfully and are now engaged in building new structures. The old church-which is, by the way, the oldest west of the Alleghenies among our people,-having out- grown its old edifice, is now building a larger and finer one on the same site, and making such marvellous progress on the work as to win the admiration of all who see it. Several weeks ago, in the presence of about eight thousand people, with the bishop officiating, this congregation laid the corner stone of its new edifice and never a word was said of it in one Pittsburg paper, after all that had been published about their unfortunate strife. Can't we find a remedy for such conditions? Can't we have a volunteer "press agent" in every city and community of the land? White people as a rule don't read our own magazines and newspapers so we must get at them through the same channel which has given them a bad opinion of us. Select the most influential newspaper in your community as I have done in Pittsburg. Write, or better, call upon the editor and show him the injustice the newspapers are doing us daily, at the same time offering your service in reporting all events of interest among your people, and paying- if you feel like it-a year's subscription for him to some strong magazine like the VOICE. Try to get him to say something editorially in his paper about the injustice being done us by the newspapers. It is my experience that the whites wont read a regular race column in any newspaper, so try to have your articles published as ordinary news and that it may carry the desired force ask the editor to let it appear as something undertaken by the paper itself instead of publishing your name. After you have done this and anything else which may suggest itself, send your name and address to the editor of the VOICE, who has promised to publish each month a list of such names if the plan works. By doing this we can all know of each other and exchange ideas and reports of any event likely to be of national interest. Don't be discouraged if refused by one paper, but try another until you shall have tried all within your reach. After promising to publish my articles, this editor has failed to publish my first two reports, but I intend to see him again and if he refuses, I will try another, for I think the time has come when some such work must be undertaken everywhere. Anyone wishing to communicate with the present writer may address LEONARD RANDOLPH. 3365 Madison Ave., Pittsburg, Pa. BOOKS AND ART By FLORENCE L. BENTLEY "-Wise books-as much as possible good books." An excellent Christmas story by Harry Stillwell Edwards, in the December Century, is concerning a Negro convict who, through the intercession of three little white girls, was liberated on Christmas morning. The story is drawn on conventional Christmas lines- suffering, sorrow, on the Great Birthday, relieved and comforted by that love and good will which we mortals seem to keep so successfully in check during the rest of the year. One reads and feels that pleasant sense of reflected goodness which stories of this kind sometimes provoke, and in our gladness that poor "Shadow" was made free at last, we trust ourselves to read again the picture of him lying awake on Christmas Eve in the log barracks. "That which kept the boy awake was necessarily something novel. It was not pain. Had he not felt the lash and the crush of falling coal? Nor sorrow! for behind him among the far away Georgian hills was a certain cabin about which as a child he had played, as all children play, and the sad, undying memory of it shut out all other sorrows. Nor was it a mere yearning for freedom, that had long since given place to a dull unlifting despair. All these -sorrow, pain and despair-had been the companions of his solitude in many a night of gloom, keeping watch as he slept. The strange new companion of his solitude, from whose divine presence this night all others withdrew, was Hope." We breathe a sigh of relief that hope was realized and that this boy, imprisoned when a mere child for a crime, "an error of ignorance and lack of moral training," was at last able to leave that life which "for him had been fierce and full of agony." While still complacent over the happy ending of the Christmas story, take up a recent book "Undistinguished Americans," edited by Hamilton Holt of the "Independent," and turn to the chapter "The Life Story of a Negro Peon." There you confront a real "Shadow" from whose life tragedy, Hope is forever excluded and the horrid impress of whose dread environment it will take many, many birthdays to obliterate. The story, told in the words of the convict, is a most terrible human document, showing as it does how in the very midst of our boasted civilization, men for greed, will main the spirit and torture the bodies of fellow human beings-how a great state manufactures criminals and then uses its victims to increase its revenues. A little orphan Negro, who never knew who his father was, is bound out to work by his uncle, who draws the pay. When the boy reaches manhood he leaves the place and hires himself independently to a neighboring farmer. That night he is caught, brought back to his home and given thirty lashed with a buggy whip over his bare shoulders, after that he was kept on the place night and day. "I was a man nearly grown before I knew how to count from one to one hundred," he says. "I was nearly grown before I ever saw a colored school-teacher. I never went to school a day in my life. To-day I can't write my own name, though I can read a little. I was a man nearly grown before I ever rode on a railroad train, and then I went on an excur- THE VOICE 583 sion from Elberton to Athens. What was true of me was true of hundreds of other Negroes around me-way off there in the country, fifteen or twenty miles from the nearest town." When he reached twenty-one years, the captain, his employer told him he was free and urged him to stay. "The captain's son and I were about the same age, and the captain said that, as he had owned by mother and uncle during slavery, and as his son didn't want me to leave them (since I had been with them so long) he wanted me to stay with the old family. And I stayed. I signed a contract -that is, I made my mark-for one year. The captain was to give me $3.50 a week and furnish me a little house on the plantation-a one-room log cabin similar to those used by his other laborers." Then he married Mandy, who had been house-servant up at the "big house" and went to house keeping in a little two-room shanty. One likes to pause here in the simple narrative and contemplate the short span of life's happiness that came to this poor unfortunate. With Mandy in his little cabin he thought himsely "the biggest man in Georgia," and when the little son came these two people rejoiced in their home building and in laying the foundation of that family life, which is so precious to the Negro in spite of all the untoward circumstances which have conspired to crush it out. In the meantime the captain died and his son, who had become a senator, assumed control. At the end of the fifth year the senator suggested that he sign a contract for ten years, to do away with the bother of fixing papers every year. He consulted with his wife and as things were going so happily, she consented and he signed the contract and in doing so signed away his happiness, his home and all things that manhood holds most dear -as the sequel shows. But hear it in his words: "Not long afterwards the senator had a long low shanty built on his place. A great big chimney, with a wide open fire-place, was built at one end of it, and on each side of the house, running lengthwise, there was a row of frames or stalls just large enough to hold a single mattress. The places for these mattresses were fixed one above the other; so that there was a double row of these stalls or pens on each side. They looked for all the world like stalls for horses. Since then I have seen cabooses similarly arranged as sleeping quarters for railroad laborers. Nobody seemed to know what the senator was fixing for. All doubts were put aside one bright day in April when about forty able-bodied Negroes, bound in iron chains, and some of them hand cuffed, were brought out to the senator's farm in three big wagons. They were quartered in a long low shanty, and it was afterward called the Stockade. This was the beginning of the senator's convict camp. These men were prisoners who had been leased by the senator from the state of Georgia at about $200 each per year, the state agreeing to pay for guards and physicians, for necessary inspection, for inquests, all rewards for escaped convicts, the cost of litigation and all other incidental camp expenses. When I saw these men in shackles, and the guards with their guns, I was scared nearly to death. I felt like running away, but I didn't know where to go. And if there had been any place to go to, I would have had to leave my wife and child behind." All the free laborers wanted to quit and then they found out that in the contracts which they had in their ignorance, signed, they had agreed to be locked in the stockade day or night as their employer saw fit; that they could not leave and go elsewhere without the consent of their employers; that if they ran away they could be run down by blood-hounds, arrested without process of law, returned to their employers, who, according to contract, might brutally beat them or administer any other kind of punishment. In fact they had sold themselves into slavery. "And what could we do about it?" the poor fellow miserably asks, "the white folks had all the courts, all the guns, all the hounds; all the railroads, all the telegraph wires, all the newspapers, all the money, and nearly all the land- and we had only our ignorance, our poverty and our empty hands." So every one of them went back and worked by those convicts for ten years. Soon the senator, who was flourishing like the bay tree (or the upas plant) in his worldly affairs, buying a thousand more acres, building new saw mills and such-built other stockades and among the new convicts sent down were several women. Within two years he had 200 Negroes working on his plantation, half free (!) laborers and half convicts. 584 THE VOICE The real trouble began when the ten years contract had expired and the free laborers sought to leave for other employment. Then these poor fellows found that they were in debt to the store run by the senator They had been compelled to buy food, clothing, everything at this store, using no money, but tickets or orders in the settlements which took place once a year. The things were priced so high that they rarely had anything coming to them at the end of the year. The laborers were made to sign an acknowledgement of their debts. They signed willingly because they were told that if they did so they might go- they would have signed anything just to get away. That very night they were rounded up by a constable and some white men who were helping him, and locked up in the senator's stockades. Next morning they were told that in the papers which they had signed, they had not only acknowledged their debts, but had agreed to work for the senator until the debts were paid by hard labor. From than day forward they were treated as convicts. Thus does a sovereign state, in this day and time, lend its aid to the making of a slavery system as terrible as any which has cursed American society. But let the peon take up his story: "I lived in that camp as a peon for nearly three years. My wife fared better than I did, as did the wives of some of the other Negroes because the white men about the camp used these unfortunate creatures as mistresses. * * * but my little boy, who was only nine years old, was given to a Negro family across the river and I never saw or heard of him after that. When I left the camp my wife had two children by some one of the white bosses, and she was living in fairly good shape in a little house off by herself. But the poor Negro women, who were not in a class with my wife, fared about as badly as the helpless Negro men. Most of the time the women who were peons or convicts, were compelled to wear men's clothes. Sometimes when I have seen them dressed like men, and plowing or hoeing and hauling logs, or working at the blacksmith's trade, just the same as men, my heart would bleed and my blood would boil, but I was powerless to raise a hand. It would have meant death on the spot to have said a word. Of the first six women brought to the camp, two of them gave birth to children after they had been there more than twelve months-and the babies had white men for their fathers!" Poor little babies with the yellow stain across their innocent brows. He who was once a Blessed Infant must look with pity on their terrible wrongs and surely He must avenge them in the fullness of his chosen time! His description of conditions in the stockade are almost unprintable. He calls them "cesspools of nastiness" and believes them the filthiest places in the world. During the thirteen years he lived there the mattresses were never moved except to turn once or twice a month. The men slept at night in their clothing worn through the day and the place generally was like a cow shed for hog pen. "It was a hard school that peon camp was, but I learned more there in a few months by contact with those poor fellows from the outside world than ever I had known before. Most of what I learned was evil, and I now know that I should have been better off without the knowledge, but much of what I learned was helpful to me. Barring two or three brutal whippings which I received, I got along very well, all things considered, but the system was damnable. A favorite way of whipping a man was to strap him down to a log, flat on his back, and spank him fifty or sixty times on his bare feet with a shingle or a huge piece of plank. When a man would get up with sore and blistered feet and a aching body, if he could not then keep up with the other men at work, he would be strapped to the log again, this time his face downward, and would be lashed with a buggy trace on his bare back. When a woman had to be whipped it was usually done in private, though they would be compelled to fall down across a barrel or something of the kind and receive the licks on their back-sides." After serving three years as peon, the white man who was living with his wife came one day, gave him a new suit of overalls, and taking him in a buggy across the river, set him down and told him to "git." He wandered off, begging his way from day to day until he ran across a man looking for laborers to carry to Birmingham and he joined the gang. He closes his story with the pathetic words: "I have been here in Birmingham district since they released me, and I reckon I'll die THE VOICE 585 either in a coal mine or an iron furnace. It dont make much difference which. Either is better than a Georgia peon camp. And a Georgia peon camp is hell itself." No mere review can reproduce the effect of this fearful life history-the story should be read in its entirety for that. In fact it is a tale that could not have too wide a circulation in these days when the criminality of the Negro is the favorite theme chanted by southern voices with sometimes a northern accompaniment. It is a fearful accusation against the whole fabric of southern society- for nearly every southern state has its convict gang and many conduct a system of peonage under the shadow of their laws. It is at once the explanation of the southern convict, and his excuse. Human nature has its limits for development even in most favored environments, but take a human being, destroy his home, steal his child, debauch his wife, then chain him up like an animal in a noisome pest house by night and work him like a beast of the field by day-then turn him loose on the world. If things go wrong who is to blame- the creature, stunted, disabled, blinded-or the ruthless power which made him so? This story of the Georgia peon is one of sixteen most interesting life histories which have been put into book form by Hamilton Holt. During the last four years the Independent has published seventy-five of these autobiographies, and these sixteen are selected as being most representative of the humble classes in the nation, and of individuals whose training and work have been most diverse. There is the story of the butcher, the sweat shop worker, the nurse girl, the cook, etc., and nearly all the nations of Europe are represented. The work is of great sociological importance and from a human standpoint of intense interest. KERNELS AND KEYNOTES Yule-Song: A Memory By WILLIAM STANLELY BRAITHWAITE From "Lyrics of Life and Love" December comes, snows come, Comes the wintry weather; Faces from away come- Hearts must be together. Down the stair-steps of the hours Yule leaps the hills and towers- Fill the bowl and hang the holly, Let the times be jolly. Day comes, and night comes And the guests assemble- Once again the old dream comes That I would dissemble, Falls a shadow 'cross the floor, Seen!-and is seen no more. O that memory would forego The hanging of the mistletoe. On Women By MAURICE MAETERLINCK From "The Treasure of The Humble." In these domains also are the laws unknown. Far above our heads, in the very centre of the sky, shines the star of our destined love; and it is in the atmosphere of that star, and illumined by its rays, that every passion that stirs us will come to life, even to the end. And though we choose to right or to left of us, on the heights or in the shallows; though, in our struggle to break through the enchanted circle that is drawn around all the acts of our life, we do violence to the instinct that moves us, and try our hardest to choose against the choice of destiny, yet shall the women we elect always have come to us straight from the unvarying star. And if, like Don Juan, we take a thousand and three to our embraces, still shall we find, on that evening when arms fall asunder and lips disunite, that it is always the same women, good or bad, tender or cruel, loving or faithless, that is standing before us. For indeed we can never emerge from a little circle of light that destiny traces about our footsteps; and one might almost believe that the extent and the hue of this impassable ring are known even to the men who are furthest from us. It is the tinge of its spiritual rays that they perceive first of all, and therefore will it come about that they will either smilingly bold out their hand to us or draw it back in fear. . . . The kingdom of love is, before all else, the great kingdom of certitude, for it is within its bounds that the soul is possessed of the utmost leisure. There, truly, they have naught to do but to recognize each other, offer deepest admiration, and ask their questions-tearfully, like the maid who has found the sister she had lost-while, far away from them, arm links itself in arm and breaths are mingling. . . . At last has a moment come when they can smile and live their own life-for a truce has been called in the stern routine of daily existence -and it is perhaps from the heights of this smile and these ineffable glances that springs the mysterious perfume that pervades love's dreariest moments, that preserves forever the memory of the time when the lips first met. . . . Of the true, predestines love alone, do I speak here. When Fate sends forth the woman it has chosen for us-sends her forth from the fastness of the great spiritual cities in which we, all unconsciously, dwell, and she awaits us at the crossing of the road we have to traverse when the hour is come-we are warned at the first glance. Some there are who attempt to force the hand of Fate. Wildly pressing down their eyelids, so as not to see that which had to be seen-struggling with all their puny strength against the eternal forces-they will contrive perhaps to cross the road and go towards another, sent thither but not for them. But, strive as they may, they will not succeed in 'stir- THE VOICE 587 ring up the dead waters that lie in the great tarn of the future.' Nothing will happen: the pure force will not descend from the heights, and those wasted hours and kisses will never become part of the real hours and kisses of their life. . . . There are times when destiny shuts her eyes, but she knows full well that, when evening falls, we shall return to her, and that the last word must be hers. She may shut her eyes, but the time till she re-open them is time that is lost. . . . It would seem that women are more largely swayed by destiny than ourselves. They submit to its decrees with far more simplicity; nor is there sincerety in the resistance they offer. They are still nearer to God, and yield themselves with less reserve to the pure workings of the mystery. And therefore is it, doubtless, that all the incidents in our life in which they take part seem to bring us nearer to what might almost be the very fountainhead of destiny. It is above all when by their side that moments come, unexpectedly, when a 'clear presentiment' flashes across us, a presentiment of a life that does not always parallel to the life we know of. They lead us close to the gates of our being. May it not be during one of those profound moments, when his head is pillowed on a woman's breast, that the hero learns to know the strength and steadfastness of his star? And indeed will any true sentiment of the future ever come to the man who has not had his resting place in a women's heart? Yet again do we enter the troubled circles of the higher conscience. Ah! how true it is that, here, too, 'the so-called psychology is a hobgoblin that has usurped, in the sanctuary itself, the place reserved for the veritable images of the gods.' For it is not always the surface that always concerns us-nay, nor is it the deepest of hidden thoughts. Do you imagine that love knows only of thoughts, and acts, and words, and that the soul never emerges from its dungeon? Do I need to be told whether she whom I take in my arms today ois jealous or faithful, gay or sad, sincere or treacherous? Do you think that these wretched words can attain the heights whereon our souls repose and where our destiny fulfills itself in silence? What care I whether she speak of rain or jewels, of pins or feathers; what care I though she appear not to understand? Do you think that it is for a sublime word I thirst when I feel that a soul is gazing into my soul? Do I not know that the most beautiful of thoughts dare not raise their heads when the mysteries confront them? I am ever standing at the sea-shore; and, were I Plato, Pascal, or Michael Angelo, and the woman I loved merely telling me of her ear rings, the words I would say would appear but the same as they floated on the waves of the fathomless inner sea, that each of us would be contemplating in the other. Let but my very loftiest thought be weighed in the scale of love, it will not turn the balance against the three little words that the maid who loves me shall have whispers of her silver bangles, her pearl necklace, or her trinkets of glass. . . . It is we who do not understand, for that we never rise above the earth-level of our intellect. Let us but ascend to the first snows of the mountain, and all inequalities are levelled by the purifying hand of the horizon that opens before us. What difference then between a pronouncement of Marcus Aurelius and the words of the child complaining of the cold? Let us be humble, and learn to distinguish between accident and essence. Let not 'sticks that float' cause us to forget the progidies of the gulf. The most glorious thoughts and the most degraded ideas can no more ruffle the eternal surface of our soul than, amidst the stars of Heaven, Himalaya or precipice can alter the surface of the earth. A look, a kiss, and the certainty of a great invisible presence: all is said; and I know that she who is by my side is my equal. . . . Some of Nature's strangest secrets are often revealed, at sacred momets to these maidens who love, and ingenuously and unconsciously will they declare them. The sage follows in their footsteps to gather up the jewels, that in their innocence and joy they scatter along the path. The poet, who feels what they feel, offers homage to their love, that is the germ of the age of gold, to other times and other countries.' For what has been said of the mystics applies above all to women, since it is they who have preserved the sense of the mystic in our earth to this day. . . . The Song of The Sea By JOE LINCOLN Oh, the song of the sea, The wonderful song of the sea! Like the far-off hum of a throbbing drum It steals through the night to me; And my fancy wanders free To a little seaport town, And a spot I knew, where the roses grew, By a cottage small and brown, And a child strayed up and down O'er hillock and beach and lea, And crept at dark to his bed, to hark To the wonderful song of the sea. Oh, the song of the sea, The mystical song of the sea! What strains of joy to a dreaming boy That music was wont to be! And the night wind through the tree Was a perfumed breath that told Of the spicy gales that filled the sails Where the tropic billows rolled, And the rovers hid their gold By the lone palm on the key- But the whispering wave their secret gave In the mystical song of the sea. Oh, the song of the sea, The beautiful song of the sea! The mighty note from the ocean's throat, The laugh of the wild in glee! And, swift as the ripples flee With the surges down the shore, It bears me back, o'er life's long track, To home and its love once more; I stand at the open door, Dear mother, again, with thee, And hear afar on the booming bar The beautiful song of the sea. -From L. A. W. Bulletin. To the Discharged Soldiers By MARGARET P. LORICK The winter winds are blowing, Soldiers true, soldiers true, And the angry sea is flowing Soldiers true; They are telling of your pride; There is naught for you to hide, For the right is on your side,- Soldiers true! The stars are shining brightly, Soldiers true, soldiers true, They are dancing rather sprightly, Soldiers true; And they say you are not to blame If you did not know the name, And they love you just the same,- Soldiers true! The moonbeams now are dancing, Soldiers true, soldiers true, They are darting and a-glancing, Soldiers true; They are watching now to see What your final fate will be, When the truth gains potency,- Soldiers true! I hear dry leaves rushing, Soldiers true, soldiers true, And the winds again are rushing, Soldiers true; They know you've done no wrong And they sing a joyous song, And they sing it loud and long,- Soldiers true! If you've done no sinful deed, Soldiers true, soldiers true, To grieve, you have no need, Soldiers true; So you must not hide your face, Although you've lost your place, You are not in deep disgrace, Soldiers true. The "Christmas Bells" are ringing, Soldiers true, soldiers true, And the angels softly singing, Soldiers true; They seem to call your name, Saying "Is'nt it a shame, That all should bear the blame,"- Soldiers true. The clouds are drifting high, Soldiers true, soldiers true, They seem to touch the sky, Soldiers true; And they tell it o'er and o'er That you will go back once more To the place you had of yore, Soldiers true. God's great Flag of Truth is flying, Soldiers true, soldiers true, High above the white man's lying, Soldiers true; Lift your eyes and see it there, Waving in the upper air; Up and throw away despair,- Soldiers true! President Roosevelt in Porto Rico By FLORENCE LEE THOMAS [Miss Thomas is one of the American teachers in th[e] Island of Porto Rico and saw Mr. Roosevelt at Ponce.-The Editor.] About 8 o'clock of Wednesday, November 23, President Roosevelt accompanied by Mrs. Roosevelt arrived at Ponce, Porto Rico, on the steamer Louisiana. At the wharf they were met by Governor and Mrs. Winthrop and members of the executive council, as well as a vast crowd assembled from all parts of the island hoping to have an opportunity to do honor to our nation's chief executive. The party composed of President, Mrs. Roosevelt and escorts was borne in automobiles to the city hall where the President delivered a short address. He was received with enthusiastic cheers by the immense crowd assembled in the plaza opposite. They then proceeded to the Roosevelt school. Here they were greeted by several thousand school children singing our national airs. After a few words from the President the party left the city by the military road-said to be the finest highway in the West Indies. Getting, here and there, a glimpse of the rich can fields, the extensive plantations of tobacco, mountains covered with miniature coffee trees shaded by immense banana plants, the rich valleys adorned with the stately palms, they continued their journey toward San Juan. At Coamo, noted for its hot springs, at Aibonito, famous for its altitude and beauty of scenery, and at many other towns along the route they were greeted by songs from the school children and vivas from the admiring throngs. THE VOICE 589 Glimpse of the Military Road which Connects San Juan with Ponce. The Presidential Party at Ponce, Porto Rico. From a Photograph by a Moscioni, San Juan, P. R. 590 THE VOICE At Cayey, the party stopped for breakfast. Here, as in Caguas, our distinguished guest addressed the people,-congratulating them on the beauty and progress of their island home and promising to do all in his power for their education and government. Early in the afternoon they again set forth arriving at Rio Piedras about three o'clock. Passing into the grounds of the insular Normal School, they were greeted by the students. President Roosevelt responded to the greeting and the journey was continued. As soon as the party had crossed the old bridge at Martin Pena which touches the outermost borders of San Juan, their coming was announced by salutes from Fort San Cristobal, Morro Castle and war vessels lying in harbor At the old city gates known as "Puerta de Tierra" they were met by the Porto Rican infantry accompanied by the military band. Thus escorted they reached the foot of Fortaleza Street where a triumphal arch, bearing aloft a huge eagle, had been erected. Here President Roosevelt arose to his feet and remained standing as the carriages moved slowly along the gaily decorated thoroughfare. Bowing to the throngs, he was greeted with cries of welcome which reverberated throughout the city until he entered the Palace, formerly known as the "Fortaleza." It was the first fortification in Porto Rico, having been built in 1533. Here, too, a reception was held during the evening; while the crowds thronging the city were amused by displays of fireworks and band concerts in various plazas. The following morning, the presidential party left San Juan for Ponce by rail and this completed a circuit of the island. On the whole, President Roosevelt gave evidence of being greatly pleased with his visit and spoke on several occasions of his abiding interest in the welfare of Porto Rico and its people. Judge Sulzberger and The Clansman COURT OF COMMON PLEAS NO. 2, PHILADELPHIA, PA. Decision of Judge P. J. Sulzberger, sustaining action of Hon. John Weaver in suppressing "The Clansman" at Philadelphia, October 23, 1906. SULZBERGER, P. J. The prayer for an injunction is based upon the contention that the mayor of the city of Philadelphia has exceeded his powers in preventing the exhibition of a show or play called "The Clansman" at the Walnut Street Theatre and the complaint seems to be based upon the theory that the power of the mayor is a statutory power conferred by the Act of 1879 and by it alone. This is a confusion in the mind between two sources of power possessed by the mayor of the city of Philadelphia. He has a power which is derived from old times to see that no improper performances of any kind are given in Philadelphia. The profession of showman, or playwright, or theatre exhibitor was not recognized as lawful by the common law of Pennsylvania. Indeed its exercise was prohibited from the Declaration of Independence to the passage of the Act of March 2, 1789 (2 Dallas' Laws 647). By the third section of that Act, the president of the supreme executive council, the chief justice of the supreme court of Pennsylvania, or the president of the court of common pleas for the county of Philadelphia, or any or either of them, were empowered during three years from the passing of the Act, to license such theatrical exhibitions only "as shall in the opinion of him who shall grant such license, be unexceptionable." Presenting plays without a license was punished by fine and imprisonment. This general right of supervision has continued to exist and is now exercisable in Philadelphia by the mayor. The Act of May 22, 1879 (P. L. 73) makes it the mayor's duty to satisfy himself that the exhibition, performance or entertainment "shall not be immoral in its nature or tendencies, or otherwise unlawful or hurtful to the community," and he is authorized to vacate or annul the license if he be satisfied that any of the performances have been immoral or unlawful. It has never been supposed that by this supervision any constitutional right of the citizen is violated or impaired. The great men who framed the constitution of 1776 penned the Declaration of Rights therein contained, the salient parts of which THE VOICE 591 have been preserved in our subsequent constitutions. Yet none of them ever supposed that the legislation concerning theatre licenses violated or infringed any rights thereby granted. They mayor's power in the matter does not, however, rest on the right of censorship merely. He is the officer especially charged with the duty of preserving the peace of the city. And in exercising this function he is not the officer of a mere municipality with a charter partly or wholly irrevocable. Our municipalities are mere delegations of power by the only sovereign, to wit, the Commonwealth. It is as the representative of the Commonwealth's police power that the mayor with his police force preserves the peace of the city. The objection has been urged that the mayor's right of censorship can be exercised in no other way than by refusing or revoking the license, and that the mere prohibition of a particular play is beyond his power. The question is one on which much may be urged on either side. We are not, however, called upon to decide it in this proceeding, because the mayor has based his action solely on his duty to preserve the peace. From the decision of the mayor on such a question no appeal lies to any court. The plaintiff is not here by virtue of a right of appeal, but as a suitor in equity who claims that the mayor has in violation of common right, exercised a function of his office unduly and oppressively. This limits the question we are called upon to decide. If the mayor has in good faith exercised a power belonging to his office, the mere fact that we are not in entire accord with the wisdom of his conclusions, would not authorize us to enjoin him. The law has conferred upon him the powers and imposed upon him the duties of his office and we are not invested with the power to give affirmative direction to his administration. In matters of discretion pertaining to his office, it is his judgment which the law calls for, not ours. Only when he is shown to have abused his discretion are we called on to interfere. No evidence has been produced showing or tending to show that the mayor acted with any purpose other than the preservation of the public peace. A number of citizens complained to him that a play called "The Clansman" was to be enacted and that the probably result of the exhibition was to arouse a strong and hateful antagonism between two large groups of citizens assembled in and about a limited space, a great part of them in one building. Moreover leaders of one group had issued a paper which could not be otherwise interpreted than as a call to lawlessness and violence. In these facts he discerned the elements of a riot with probably deplorable consequences to many persons innocent and guilty. Confronted thus by a condition he did that which seemed to him best to avoid a breach of the peace. He forbade and prevented an assemblage, which, in his judgment, would necessarily become riotous. In forming this judgment he had the advise of his director of public safety who testified that while he could easily have controlled or suppressed a riot, he was wholly unable to control or foresee the result of a panic within a crowded theatre, and that the suppression of a riot outside, would be likely to produce a panic within the building. The action of the mayor seems to us to have been the exercise of the discretion vested in him by law and we see no reason to hold that he abused his discretion. A mere error of judgment, if error it was, is no ground for interference by the court. We are, however, not prepared to say that the mayor's judgment was erroneous. The author of the play was called as a witness. Parts of the play were read and he was asked concerning them. A commentary on the play explaining its purpose was also in evidence and he admitted that he had written it. From all the evidence, we are satisfied that the play is a malicious libel upon a class of citizens and in effect advocates their enslavement or destruction despite of constitutions and laws, and common humanity. While the good sense of the community may in general be relied on to appraise such fustian at its real value, and while we might have been skeptical as tot he power of such a piece of work to produce a permanent impression, yet these circumstances do not give the author of a libel the right to invoke the aid of Chancery to secure its publication. If he has suffered injury, it is at law that he must seek redress. The injunction is refused. Wayside By SILAS X. FLOYD Fishing A fisherman sat by a quiet stream, Baiting his hook, Listless and silent like one in a dream, Baiting his hook; And-though in his vision rich fancies did dwell- When into the water the fish-hook fell, Just what he would catch he could not tell, Baiting his hook. Alone in his study the preacher wrote, Baiting his hook, Consulting Josephus and others of note, Baiting his hook; And-though every page with much fervor did glow- When he entered the pulpit the drag-net to throw, Just what he would catch he did not know, Baiting his hook. A young man once stood in a jewelry store, Baiting his hook, Exploring the trinkets that women wore, Baiting his hook; And-though the large diamond dazzled his eyes- When he sent it forth to the lovely Elize, Just what she would say he couldn't surmise Baiting his hook. And there was a banker who pace in his room, Baiting his hook, As heartless and silent and cold as the tomb, Baiting his hook; And-though he believed the collateral rare- When the time should arrive the account to square, Just what he would gain he could not swear, Baiting his hook. A poet wrote by the light of the moon, Baiting his hook, Believing success would o'ershadow him soon, Baiting his hook; And-though the old poem received a new dress- When 'twas sent to the Post with a fervent "God Bless," How much he would get he could not guess, Baiting his hook. And so is each mortal the world around Baiting his hook,- Wherever on earth a mortal is found- Baiting his hook; And no one can tell as he strives and sweats If 'twill be joy or vain regrets As every day new lines he sets, Baiting his hook. True Greatness Full many a path to greatness is untrod Because men seek the far-off and the odd, Forgetting that in common things each day Is ample scope true greatness to display. Chris'mus-Time In Georgy 'Possum meat an' 'simon beer, Chris'mus-time in Georgy! Lif' yo'r hats an' give a cheer, Chris'mus-time in Georgy! I'm gwine down in Lovah's Lane, Gwine to see Miss 'Liza Jane, Car'y long some sugah-cane,- Chris'mus-time in Georgy! Don't you know Miss 'Liza, man?- Chris'mus-time in Georgy! Sweetes' gal in all de lan',- Chris'mus-time in Georgy! What I want de cane fo'? Gee! Goodness, fellah, can't you see? Cane is sweet an' so is she- Chris'mus-time in Georgy! W'en Miss 'Liza 'gins to eat, Chris'mus-time in Georgy! She gwine say de cane am sweet, Chris'mus-time in Georgy! Den I'll say, "you's sweetah, deah; Like to mar'y you dis yeah." Den she 'spon,' "Well, I dont' keerh!" Chris'mus-time in Georgy! When Birdie Sings Oh, Birdie, when you come and sing High in the apple tree, Your little carols always bring Thoughts of my love to me! And do you wonder, Birdie dear, Who sings so sweet and low, That glad am I when you appear, And gloomy when you go? Old Friends Old friends who have been parted long will meet With pleasant smiles and long and fond embrace, And in their care-worn faces oft they trace The lines of many an ancient memory sweet And what care they for drawing-room or street When first each sees again the olt-time face? Like the swift athlete bent to win the race, Their thoughtlessness of others is complete. So when a book-some friend of early days- Falls unexpected in our hands once more. We straight forget the world and all its ways And spend our time and all of love's full store,- Unthinking of the passing blame or praise,- In sweet communion with the friend of yore. SONGS ONE CENT EACH 2 HANDSOME PRESENTS FREE This elegant Gold plated Ring, guaranteed to stand acid,and this Beautiful Pin which looks exactly like a real Diamond, FREE with every 75 [cents] order for songs. 7 Old Black Joe 8 Home Sweet Home 12 See my grave's kept green 22 Old Folks at Home 28 You'll remember me 30 Kathleen Mavourneen 33 When you and I were young 34 Cottage by the sea (Maggie 48 Take this letter to Mother 56 Old Log Cabin in the Lane 58 Marching through Georgia 77 My Old Kentucky Home 84 I'll be all smiles to-night 95 Gypsy's Warning 104 Girl I left behind me 107 Back to Old Virginny 112 Old Man's Drunk Again 113 Two Orphans (touch 146 You may look, but mustn't 158 Mass's in the cold ground 169 Jennie, flower of Kildare 171 Drunkard's Lone Child 172 Tenting Old Camp Ground 211 Will you love me when old 222 Sherman's March to the Sea 240 Pretty Maid Milking Cow 243 Oh, dem Golden Slippers 244 Morning by the bright light 252 Darling Nellie Gray 254 I Left Ireland and Mother 283 Come Home, Father 305 I'se gwine Back to Dixie 313 Old Oaken Bucket (to Live 331 Remember Poor Tramp has 338 Answer to Gypsy's Warning 359 Old and only in the way 362 Yellow Rose of Texas 409 Boys, keep away from Girls 422 I had but Fifty Cents 454 Drunkard's Dream 459 Stolen Kisses are Sweetest 465 Arkansaw Traveler 477 Evening by the Moonlight 495 Spanish Cavalier (dow? 518 Who's at my bedroom win- 569 Bring Back the one I love 585 Dying for some one to Love 592 Good-by, My Lover, Good-by 599 Ten Thousand Miles Away 631 I'll meet her when sundown 659 John Brown (Glory, Glory) 664 Bring back my bonnie to me 687 New Coon in Town 701 Climbing up golden stairs 703 How married woman sleep 713 Why dig Ma's Grave 748 Texas Ranger 761 Dying Girl's Message 771 Key-hole in the door (some 880 It's naughty, but it's nice 897 You'll never miss mother 936 Lips that touch liquor 952 Dying Cowboy's Lament 977 Poverty's Tears 988 Lost on the Lady Elgin 1044 Jesse James 1070 I could tell if I felt it in the 1074 Ten thousand miles away 1107 Whistling Coon (on bank 1114 Johnstown Flood 1127 Three Leaves of Shamrock 1141 Dying Cowboy 1160 Down on the farm 1170 Song that breaks my heart 1195 Where's my boy 1260 pardon came too Late 1304 In Old Madrid 1324 After the Ball (up 1336 Kiss, and let's make 1340 Two Little Girls in Blue 1374 The Fatal Wedding 1392 I'll take you home, Kathleen 1397 The Pride of the Ball 1470 What could the Poor Girl Do? 1504 Pat Malone forgot he was dead 1540 A Hot Time in the Old Town 1561 I Love Her just the same 1602 The Mick who Threw the Brick 1603 I Don't care to be Your Lady 1604 The Story of the Rose (Friend 1605 Good-bye Dolly Gray (Life 1606 I'm Certainly Living Rag-time 1607 A little bit off the top 1608 Kate Riley took it in her hand 1609 I Got Yo' Money 1610 Not with My Money 1612 he Took it up to Mary's Room 1613 My Little Zulu Babe (Lose 1615 I could'nt stand to see my Baby Any 10 Songs postpaid for 10c; 30 for 25c; 50 for 40c; 100 for 75c. A beautiful finger ring and scarf pin FREE with every 75c order. Not less than 10 songs sold. Order by number. Stamps taken. Address STAR MUSIC CO., Dept. B, 417 Dearborn St., Chicago, Ill. TO ATLANTA READERS Our Atlanta Friends will find The Voice on sale each month at Tobe Pughley's Cigar Stand, 4 Central Avenue. Call on him and get a copy. $50.00 REWARD GREAT MAGIC REMEDIES $50.OO Reward as a guarantee that the remedies herein mentioned will accomplish the cures as they are represented. If you desire to look well, feel well and BE well, apply to Doctor Sadie F. Porter, who works directly with the blood. When the blood is pure there is no possibility of bodilly suffereing. Lemoleone, the Great Magic Blood and Nerve Tonic, purifies the blood, builds up the system, cures Scrofula, Syphilis, Catarrh, Bilious Headache, Indigestion, Piles, Diseases of the Heart, Rheumatism, Cancer, Tumor, Epileptic Fits and other diseases too numerous to mention. Lemoleone per bottle $1.00 Hair Grower .50 Lung Balsam 1.00 Hair Oil .25 Beauty Wash .25 DR. SADIE F. PORTER 359 BEAL STREET MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE Funny Post Cards Free I'M LAYING FOR YOU Don't miss 'em! All the rage! Get s set quick and mail them to all your friends. We send 50 MOST COMIC CARDS on earth, in colors, on fine card board, all illustrated, with titles such as: I've Seen All the Big Bugs of This Place; Everybody Works But Father; I Miss the Babies; You Can Put Your Shoes in My Trunk; Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder; Papa Keeps a Bull-dog Now; I'm Laying for You; I got Mine; You Make Me Tired; Just Arrived; etc. REMEMBER: You get 50 CARDS FREE by mail postpaid if you sen only 10 CENTS for our 16 page-story magazine one year. This great offer is made to get 100,000 new subscribers quick. Address HOME SWEET HOME, PostCard 4, Chicago, Ill. I'VE SEEN ALL THE BIG BUGS OF THIS PLACE. DO YOU WANT YOUR MONEY TO MAKE MONEY? If so, stop worrying about the future and invest in the largest company of its kind in the world. Your money is worth more than 3 per cent. and 4 per cent. Are you getting it? This is the best and biggest proposition in the world. Try it now. Six per cent. and seven per cent. guaranteed. Our plan is easy, this is your opportunity. Don't wait. Investigate at once. Address I. L. MOORMAN 4 & 5 Court Square, Jefferson Bldg. Room 53 BROOKLYN, NEW YORK AGENTS, LOOK HERE! $1.00 PER HOUR IS WHAT YOU MAKE HANDLING OUR HOUSEHOLD ARTICLES THE FRUIT JAR HOLDER AND OPENER. Best Seller Out. Holds hot jars and insures tigh sealing when canning. No more spoiled fruit. Opens easily tightly sealed jars. Never breaks jar or injures cover. Saves The FRUIT The HANDS The JARS The PATIENCE THE "HOLDER" THE "OPENER" THE SQUEEZE-EZIE MOP. Scrubbing is a back-breaking job. The hardest work is wringing the cloth. Hot water scalds and blisters the hands. The old-fashioned mop slops around and dirties the wood-work. OUR MOP overcomes all this. The frame holds the cloth square, wrings the cloth dryer than by hand and without effort. Keeps the hands out of the hot and dirty water. A household necessity; appeals to every women. Wrings perfectly dry. Easily demonstrated. Big Seller, Big Commissions. Write for agents' terms on both articles. Only reliable people wanted. The SELWELL CO. ATLANTA TERRITORY ASSIGNED FOR HOLDER. 108 West Jackson Boulevard CHICAGO, ILL., U. S. A. Books for Holiday Presents "The Planter's Guide." PERHAPS you are wondering what to send as a present to some friend in the South. We have an ideal book that will be just the thing you want. "THE PLANTER'S GUIDE" contains 256 pages of interesting matter besides over 150 pages of "Cotton Seller's Table" This book has not been sold for less than $1.75 before. It has just been revised and to those who need a hand book to assist in the daily routine of business we recommend "THE PLANTER'S GUIDE." How is money sent by telegraph Page 184 How do you find the height of a tree " 194 Is a husband bound to pay for necessaries furnished his wife without his orders " 142 Is a laborer bound to work on holidays " 149 What is a negotiable note? How is it negotiated " 14 THE PLANTER'S GUIDE is neatly bound in cloth, stamped on front cover and back, illustrated, contains 400 pages. Size 5 1/4 x 7 1/2 in. Price $1.00 We want agents everywhere to handle this little work and will pay them big commission. Full particulars FREE. Voice Publishing Co. 415 DEARBORN ST CHICAGO, ILLINOIS Department B. A STRONG, INDEPENDENT WEEKLY NEWSPAPER FOR THE HOME Sixteen Broad Pages FOR $1.00 A YEAR 50 CENTS FOR SIX MONTHS 25 CENTS FOR THREE MONTHS The Weekly Edition of the SPRINGFIELD REPUBLICAN (Massachusetts) The Leading New England Newspaper, a faithful recorder of the news of that region, and giving as well a comprehensive, intelligent summary of the news of the world. Expressions of continued satisfaction from old friends, and appreciative words from many new subscribers, are evidence that The Weekly Republican is fulfilling its mission-to give for a small price an excellent newspaper, elevating in its tone, democratic in the spirit of its editorials, and rich and varied in all its departments. The Weekly Republican presents in each issue a carefully edited review of all the news of the week, special attention being always paid to New England happenings. The system of grouping news, which makes The Daily Republican so highly prized by its readers, is followed in the preparation of the Weekly, and the result is seen in its handsome typographical appearance. The literary features of The Weekly Republican are of exceptional quality and breadth. Subscribe for The Weekly republican if you want a newspaper that gives a full, free and impartial discussion of political questions, that treats all subjects from the broad platform of the people's rights, and preaches a sane, healthy gospel of right living. The Weekly Republican was established in 1824, The Daily in 1844 and The Sunday in 1878, by Samuel Bowles. The subscription rates are, for the Weekly $1 a year, Daily $8, Sunday $2. Send for free specimen copies and address THE REPUBLICAN: Springfield, Mass. The Light of the World Louisville's New Monthly Its fundamental principles are Christianity - Education - Business It stand for all that is good and progressive for the Negro. A single copy should convince you of its fearlessness. Special offer until April 1st. For a tr[i]al subscription three months., 10 cents. We pay for live a[r]ticles. The Light of the World 214 First St. between Main and Market Sts. Louisville, Ky. The Atlanta Race Riots A True and Thrilling History of the Cause, the Course and the Aftermath of The September Atlanta Tragedy By J. MAX BARBER This is a little pamphlet of absorbing interest on a horror as bloody as any that was ever perpetrated on a pirate's deck. Pamphlet is 3 cents a copy. Two cents wholesale. A copy free with 60 cents for a 6 months' subscription to the Voice. Address The Voice, 415 Dearborn St., Chicago. Allen THE MAIL MAN BIG MAIL FREE YOUR NAME and address PRINTED 10000 times in the Mail Buyers' Directory and sent to 10000 firms all over the world so they can send you Free Samples, Catalogs, Magazines, Books, Papers, etc., etc. We invented this and have satisfied 200000 customers. Send 20c at once to be in 1907 BIG issue and get a BIG MAIL FREE. ALLEN The Mail Man, Dept. E66, Kennedy, N. Y. JOLLY JOKER'S JOKE BOOK New jokes and stories; side-splitting, rib-tickling, button-bursting jokes and witticisms; FUNNY PICTURES, enough to make a horse laugh and break up school for weeks. Regular price is 25 cents, but we give 'em away for 10 cents, stamps or silver. P. Sheridan Ball, President Capital Stock L. C. COLLINS, Secretary J. H. ATKINS, Treasurer $1,000,000 REMARKABLE! Over One Hundred Thousand Dollars in Profits. Do you want to better your condition? Is it your aim to Make Your Future Better than Your Past? If you are not satisfied with your income, position or condition, read this: Over $100,000 clear profit made by the first investors in the Metropolitan Mercantile & Realty Company. You could have been one. This company has been a favorite with investors since its incorporation. Why? Because it is a high grad corporation, with stock at reasonable prices. Because stock was offered in small blocks, so that the investor of limited means could acquire it. Because stockholders' money was invested largely in real estate, thus giving them absolute security for their money. Because it has assisted many worthy people in getting decent homes, may organizations in getting halls, and congregations in getting churches. Because the increased operations have caused the stock to advance steadily from $5.00 per share to double that sum, or $15.00. Thus those who purchased the first $100,000 worth of stock have made in profits $100,000, besides $7,000 a year in dividends for four years. The capital stock will soon be increased to one million dollars, and the ever enlarging scope of the company's operations and the increased assets will force the price of stock to not less that $20.00 per share within the next two years. Can't you see that the holders of the present one-half million dollars stock will make more than one-half million dollars on the transaction in two years? What are the figures in the case? The Metropolitan Mercantile & Realty Company has nearly four thousand stockholders in seventeen states and one hundred cities; has bond holders of $50,000 ten year bonds that pay 6% interest semi-annually and mature in 1915; has over 175,000 policy holders; owns nearly $150,000 in first mortgages on improved real estate in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and other States; is doing a banking business of over $100,000 yearly; has a department store that clears over $7,000 yearly; is erecting buildings from $500 residences up to $17,500 apartment houses; is employing 1,200 men and women as agents, superintendents, managers, stenographers, book-keepers, mechanics, messengers, tellers and cashiers. What do those figures stand for if they don't mean that the Metropolitan is the most progressive, most substantial, most helpful, and in short is the leading company among Negroes in the United States? Will you wait until stock reaches $20.00 per share, or will you buy now and be one of those to make one-half million dollars? For further information address METROPOLITAN MERCANTILE & REALTY COMPANY Home Office, 150 Nassau St., New York PRINCIPAL BRANCHES BOSTON, MASS. SPRINGFIELD, MASS. NEW HAVEN, CONN. PROVIDENCE, R. I. NEWARK, N. J. BALTIMORE MD. PHILADELPHIA, PA. WASHINGTON, D. C. CHARLESTON, S. C. SAVANNAH, GA. MACON, GA. BIRMINGHAM, ALA. COLUMBIA, S. C. AUGUSTA, GA. MONTGOMERY, ALA. ALBANY, GA. Or Metropolitan Mercantile and Realty Company SOUTHERN HEADQUARTERS, 69 E. Alabama St., Atlanta, Ga. BOOKS for HOLIDAY PRESENTS "Floyd's Flowers" By Silas X. Floyd Illustrated by John Henry Adams Will make a beautiful holiday present for any child. It has the unique distinction of being the first and only book written exclusively for Colored children. It is superbly illustrated with drawings that will inspire the youth. This book is universally endorsed by the press and pulpit. This book is furnished in three bindings: Cloth and stamped with red roses, half morocco and full morocco. The price is very reasonable, $1. for cloth Binding $1.50 for half morocco $2. for full morocco binding Remember that there is going to be a great demand for FLOYD'S FLOWERS during the holidays and it will pay you to get your order in at once. Write to-day. All orders filled the same day as received. Voice Publishing Co. Dept. B. 415 Dearborn St., CHICAGO, ILL. BY FAR THE GREATEST AND BEST PUBLICATION OF THE YEAR FIRST EDITION, 20,000 LIFE AND SAYINGS OF SAM JONES By MRS. JONES Assisted by REV. WALT. HOLCOMB, the great Evangelist's Co-worker ONLY AUTHORIZED EDITION TEN REASONS Why Sam Jones, appealed to the masses with whom he came in contact. 1. He hated the sin, but he helped the sinner. 2. He thought an ounce of mirth was worth a pound of sighs in any market place. 3. He had no mercy for the Pecksniffs of this world, and punctured sham and hypocrisy with his keen wit. 4. He was himself a living exemplar of the truths he preached. From a member of the "Down-and-Out Club" he raised himself to a prophet of light. 5. He preached and proved the optimistic lesson that life is livable; for he foresaw the day when Death, the slayer, shall himself lie slain. 6. He never forgot that Christianity was a religion of joy and laughter, not one of tears and sorrow; a living help for this earth, now and her, and not a bundle of dried and moldy dogmas. 7. He was a man of and for the people. 8. He was a humanitarian in every sense that the word implies. 9. Will all his firmness and steadfastness of purpose and conviction he was gentle, tender and kind in the truest sense. 10. Above all, he was a man. Agents Coin Money. Handsome Outfits for 50c. Circulars Free. TEN REASONS Why you should have a copy of "Life and Sayings of Sam Jones." 1. There is more real life and light in one of his quaint and homely tales than in a hundred thousand words of musty, dusty, formal sermons. 2. His sayings and doings are pertinent to every man who struggles and slips and falls and strives to rise again. 3. You cannot escape the lesson that what Sam Jones did you can do, and Sam Jones, dead, will help you, living, to do it. 4. Your boy and girl will gain inspiration for a better life by having access to the mighty doings of this great teacher of things good. 5. You will be better for having read it and you many accomplish much for the cause of Christianity by placing it within reach of your friends. 6. Though his voice be hushed in death, his matchless eloquence in behalf of God's laws and decrees becomes imperishable by means of this volume. 7. It will be helpful to you every day in the year and will make every obstacle easier to surmount. 8. If you ever heard him speak, you will be gladdened by preserving for future generations his Christian teachings. 9. His teachings are of the kind you want impressed upon your children. 10. It will accomplish more real good than the combined publications of the whole year. The full volume will contain over 50 full pages of illustrations, all appropriately selected to illustrate the life-story, embracing pictures of his place of birth, his conversion, his first "home of his own," his death, funeral train, lying in state, floral offerings, etc. This volume is well printed from new type on the best selected antique paper. The illustrations are all half-tones on an excellent grade of enamel paper. BIG BOOK, 9X2X7, OVER 400 PAGES! Half Morocco, $3.50; Cloth, $2.50; Postpaid. ORDER TODAY. J. L. NICHOLS & CO., 920 Austell Bldg., Atlanta, Ga. OVER Dear Friend:- It is with great pleasure that we announce that we were the lucky ones to secure that "Valuable plum" the authentic edition of the "Life and Sayings of Sam Jones" compiled from clippings and lectures gotten together and saved by himself and his good wife for the last thirty-five years. This book is indeed a rare piece of literature. The sayings are greatly sought by everybody. Although we have only offered the book for sale a very few days, the results are most satisfactory. It is actually selling five times as fast as any book we have ever before handled. Over a million copies of the "Life of President McKinley" were sold. In sections of this great country where Mr. Jones has lectured and held revivals he was as popular as President McKinley or any other man who every lived. AGENTS meet with great success. Before the prospectus was issued, agents had made from one to two dollars per hour with the circular. One good lady told an agent that she wanted five for Christmas presents. Mrs. Jones was awake to the fact that she had a good thing in this work. Although we are paying her the biggest royalty ever paid on a subscription book, we will offer the following liberal TERMS to Agents: Cloth Binding $2.50. Half Morocco $3.50; by mail prepaid, satisfaction guaranteed or money refunded. This is a great opportunity for agents. J. L. Nichols & Co. Atlanta, Ga. OVER Transcribed and reviewed by contributors participating in the By The People project at crowd.loc.gov.