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The Campus Mirror
3
Lincoln-Douglass
(Continued from page 1)
the direction of emancipation, when he en
tered upon his duties as President, because
he wished to see hi> way clear and to weigh
the outcome before he made any definite
move. One of his greatest virtues lies in
the fad that he refused to allow sentiment
and moral judgment and personal convic
tions to interfere with his duties of office.
Nor did he take advantage of his position to
procure personal power or to give vent to
his personal feelings, lie was true to the
oath which he took and to the faith which
had been placed in him. Lincoln was de
termined to protect and defend the Consti
tution of the l nitcd States and to preserve
the l nion at any c<’st. Perhaps he has been
considered mild and shy, but he retained
his opinions despite all forms and types of
opposition which constantly confronted him
during his period of responsibility as leader
of the people.
W e do not look upon Lincoln as the sole
instrument in the abolition of slavery and
its consequences; nor do we consider his
procedure a perfect and adequate one; but
we still maintain that he who said that,
alter January 1, 1863, all those slaves in the
parts ot the country which were still in
rebellion against the government of the
I nitcd States should be declared free, did,
by that proclamation, prepare the way for
the abolishing ot every vestige of the diaboli
cal institution ot slavery, also prepared the
way tor the passage of the Fourteenth and
Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution
ot the I uited States and for subsequent
s teps in the development of American citi
zenship in the Negroes of America.
During tin 1 period ot the efforts of Lin
coln and his numerous adherents there arose
in public 1 it<* a person who could support
the cause ot Abolition by showing what a
cultured, inte'ligent slave could do and be.
This was Frederick Ibmglass, an ex-slave
who entered the movement, pleading the
cause of the Negro. 11 is ability as a lec
turer, his marked assurance and self-con
trol have been widely acclaimed. Frederick
Douglass has been referred to as one pos
sessing much originality and unadorned elo
quence rather than as one having a fine
I low of phrases. Ili> dignity of appearance,
polished language, poise, and gentlemanly
manner caused a contemporary to say: ‘‘He
is a man id' lotty reason, natural and with
out pretention; always master of himself;
brilliant in tin* art of exposing and extract
ing ideas." By his appearance, gesture, man
ner, and genuine eloquence, Douglass could
-way any kind of audience. He accepted re
buff- and criticisms calmly and sanely. His
scholarly mind did not take him apart from
the cause he represented, but served to
strengthen it. Hi- clear intellect and pliilo-
-opliic insight, support (id by endurance and
a lofty purpose, made his career a brilliant
one. Frederick Douglass, a free Negro, was
not enlv of service to hi- brothers who con
tinued in bondage, by merely asking for
their rights of freedom, but he showed to
Mr. W. H. Chamberlin
Speaks on Russia
Mr. William Henry Chamberlin, journal
ist, author, traveler and lecturer, who for
ten years has been correspondent for The
Christian Science Monitor, in Russia, spoke
to Spelman, Morehouse and Atlanta Uni
versity students at Spelman College, Febru
ary 14th, on “Ten Years in the Soviet.”
Mr. Chamberlin divided the economic,
social and political conditions of Russia into
two cycles of development. When he ar
rived in Russia in 1922, he found the coun
try just recovering from seven years of civil
war and foreign intervention. He perceived
a new feeling of hope, an aspiration emerg
ing from the people as a whole; at the same
time a new economic policy was developing.
The first cycle, which ended in November,
1932, was characterized by economic, social
and political development and all of these
affected the general life, the psychology and
the working habits of the population.
The objectives of the first five-year plan
were: first, the assumption that the coun
try’s development would be advanced by giv
ing the government power to adjust every
thing; second, to secure a high speed of in
dustrialization by the expansion of national
transportation, plus the building of fac
tories; third, to bring 62 per cent of the
peasant families into collective farms;
fourth, the expansion of an educational
program to suit the plan of the government;
fifth, the adjustment of the amounts of food
stuff for each individual.
The success of this plan will depend on
what can be achieved in the next five years
under the plan which is now in operation.
The first five years have been unmistakably
unsatisfactory, especially for the peasant
class. There is total underproduction of food
stuffs for the large number of peasants; and
another thing facing the peasants is the mat
ter of exchanging their farm products for
manufactured goods. For one dollar’s worth
of farm produce they may obtain about
thirty-five cents’ worth of manufactured
goods.
The bringing of 62 per cent of these peas
ants onto collective fauns and into a joint
community home life has had a tendency
toward the disintegration of the spirit of the
family and home training and culture. Again
the great industrial movement, which has
taken the majority of the mothers from the
homes and placed them in the factories, has
produced a bad effect on the children. At an
early age such, children are taken from their
mothers and placed in a nursery where they
spend tin* most of their waking time. Is it
(Continued on page 7)
those who held the late of the slaves in
their hands, what an emancipated slave,
when he became intelligent, was capable of
doing. As Marshal in the District of Co
lumbia, as Recorder of Deeds and, later
as Ambassador to Haiti, Douglass main
tained an enviable record and was consid
ered an honorable office holder. The Negio
race is justly proud of him.
Dr. Snell Visits Spelman
Dr. Florence M. Snell, Head of the Eng
lish Department of Huguenot University
College, Willingtcn, Cape Province Union
of South Africa was the guest of Miss
Newell the week of January 21st.
Dr. Snell’s chapel talk, during examina
tion week, inspired us to represent well the
best qualities in our ancestors and improve
upon the bad qualities. She set forth the
idea that we are reflections of at least
three institutions with which we are con
nected, the family, the church, and the
school.
Dr. Snell’s way of supporting this fact
was through the story of the wonderful
artist who painted the ancestors of a man
and his wife from having studied those
two persons only. They had come into sud
den wealth and position, only to realize that
they also needed ancestral background. If one
has good qualities in his background, is he
not to live out these qualities? And if
one has bad qualities, can he not cultivate
better ones ?
People are constantly noting in us evi
dences of our ancestors; we look like
father, we talk like aunt Nellie. We our
selves attribute good or bad qualities to
our ancestors. We are honoring our an
cestors when we are proud of their fine
qualities and develop them in ourselves.
Or we may discredit them by our deteriorat
ing in those qualities. It’s unfair to blame our
ancestors for our inability to do something;
we only cheapen ourselves by making such
excuses. It is also unfair not to credit our
ancestors with what they might have done
had they had our advantages.
The Chinese have set good examples of
ancestor worship. Although some of the
features of their system are undesirable,
the practce is still to be favored when
compared with that of the ancient Egyp
tians who credited themselves with every
thing, giving no credit to their ancestors.
This chapel talk shocked each girl into
the realization that she is living out the
influences of her home, her school, and her
church. After all, how much of us is an
cestor, and how much is improvement upon
our ancestors?
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