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CRISIS IN CAREER OF CHINA.
WILL FIGHT BEFORE St'HMITTI\G
TO FAHTITIO*.
T>urhnm \V. Steven*. Chancel lor of
the .Inpatient* Donation at \Vlt*l
iimton, the Greateat American
Authority on Chlncae Politic*,
Write* of tlie Advance of the Itn*-
alnn.H, the KiiyMtli and the Ger
man* in the Fur K*t, With the
PtHsihllity of Partition nnd the
Attitude of the Chlncae on the
QucMlnn—How ItiiMain Ahaorh*
Territory—Only One Solution o?
t hinene t|ue*tion —America Vitnlly
Concerned.
Washington, Dec. 2.—Only yesterday' tlo
new* came that China, the sleeping giant I
of the East had at last aroused herself
and was shaking off the shackling super
editions of centuries. Hardly had the news
been published when, by ono of those In
trigues which appear in these modern days
like a page from the Arabian Nights, the
\ v v
THE RECENT EMPEROR OF CHINA. FROM THE ONLY EXISTING PIC
TURE, A PAINTING MADE IN 18<W.
CHINESE. EHPJRE <SHOV/|NG (SPHERE OF FOREIGN JNfI.UE.NGe-.
MAP INDICATING POSSESSIONS OF EUROPEAN POWERS IN EUROPE.
hapless young emperor was dethroned, all
his well-meant efforts at reform were
scattered to the winds, and that remark
able woman, the dowager empress, was
again in control. No one can question
the gravity of the crisis which this event
has created. It is of especial consequence
to countries like the United States and
Japan, whose great interests in China
may at any moment be imperiled.
Yc-t, notwithstanding this crisis, which
seems so like the beginning of the end,
there are optimists who believe thai China
will escape from this ordeal as she has
from others, practically unharmed. There
is a power of passive resistance iu this
Behemoth of nations, they argue, which
offsets its unwieldiness and the apparent
lack of the faculty of coherent action
between Its various parts. China before
this has been in peril of dismemberment
from without and of disruption from with
in, but at the critical moment the danger
has been averted, and no Irreparable dam
age has been inflicted.
Chinese Will Fight.
In the talk of China’s dismemberment
or partition, no account appears to be
taken of any possible action on the part
of tiie Chinese jieeple themselves. It
**ems to be the general understanding
that foreign control will be substituted
for Chinese rule, and that the people
will remain quiescent, offering no ob
jection or resistance. An empire with a
population of over 4C0,003.000 inhabi
tants; with a territory covering several
million square miles, comprising pro
ductive alluvial plains traversed by groat
waterways, fertile valleys and mountains
end hills rich in minerals. It is apparently
thought, will be yielded up without a mur
mur. The idea is preposterous. To gain
i * ven a reasonably complete control of any
j one of China's great productive provinces,
! to make it foreign territory in fact as well
!as in name, lines of railway must be
I built, costly military and civil establisn
j ments must be maintained; in a word,
| many things must be done which cannot
be speedily completed. In the meantime
armed resistance may Ire extracted, and
with it chaos, so far as the poor people
of the coveted regions are concerned.
Of course, we know that strange tilings
fare done by Christian nations in the name
of commerce, but China is not Africa an!
the Chinese are not savage tribes. A for
eign ruler is reported recently to have said
that the extension of his country’s com
merce with China was tantamount to the
spread of the blessings of civilization
among the victims of misruie "unique in
the world’s history." That is the good
o.d way of putting tt. The difficulty is
that when commerce is accompanied by
Maxim guns and repealing rifles the
blessings of civilization are apt to appear
obscur-to the "victims” at a.l events.
Chao* Following; Partition.
The Chinese are a peaceful people, dis
incline! to war, but not cowards. In many
of those rich and populous provinces to
ward which foreign nations arc now look
ing longingly no foreign armed force has
ever set foot. The people, although they
may not care to enter the military ser
vice of their country, where low pay goes
with a degraded position, are not Incapa
ble of bearing arms efficiently. In many
parts of China ihere are brave and hardy
soldiers. The French found it so in Tong
quin, as their loss of 30.000 soldiers shows.
Japan did not find victory so difficult, but
here was a war against the mandarine who
represented and controlled an obsolete and
worthless system. A war of resistance to
the partition of the country would be a
different thing. It might not be success
ful, nor even protracted, but it would en
tail consequences which even the most ar
dent advocate of the extension of com
merce by the acquisition of territory could
not view with indifference. Every ves
tige of law and order would disappear,
and no man's life or property would be
safe. The secret societies, the bane of
China, would not be slow to take control,
and the ’’braves,” of whom they are large
ly composed, would hold high revel. Even
the Anal restoration of order, with wfiat
ever of profit or of power It might bring.
THE MORNING NEWS: SUNDAY, DECEMBER 4. 1395.
could not make this overture to the intro
duction of the "blessing of civilization" a
pleasant memory.
Partition Practically Ini|<**ihle.
If I may venture the op'nion, however,
prophecies regarding the partition of Chi
na. whether immediate or in the remote
future, must betaken with a certain grain
of allowance. In the first place, how could
such a partition be practically effected?
Who would deliminate th" mtos and
bounds, anti how would mutual Jealousies
he reconciled and satisfied? So, also, as
regards "spheres of influence,” except
where the term is used in the broadest ■
sense. How can such spheres be detet
mlned exactly in a country like China and |
how can infringement, or the appearance
of infringement, be prevented? The pow- j
ers which have obtained a foothold on
Chinese soil will exercise a certain In
fluence in those immediate neighborhoods,
no doubt, but does that necessarily mean
that all other foreign commerce can be
rigidly excluded? To buy in the cheapest
market and lo sell in the dearest Is the
soul and essence of successful trade. Can
Chinese, even within the "spheres of in
fluence,” hecompelhd to violate that law?
The Chinese, as I have said before, are
a practical people and good merchants, and
it is not likely that the artificial restraints
of a "spin re of influence” would long suf
fice to force them to do violence to their
instincts as traders.
It should not be understood from what
precedes that I intend to belittle either the
importance or the significance of the re
cent movements of certain European pow
ers regarding China. To me they appear
as ominous as they doubtless do to others.
My only object, as will appear later on,
Is not so much to minimize the danger, as
to draw attention to certain considerations
which will enable It to be met successfully
should it ever come.
Mysterious Hussion Bear.
There is an element of mystery about
Russia’s recent course In China. So far as
we know officially Russia lias obtained no
cession of territory. Her officials have de
nied the story of a secret treaty, and main
tain that the only object of the Casainl
convention was the grant of a railway con
cession from a certain point on the Amoor
through Manchuria to Vladivostock, con
necting witli the Siberian line and shorten
ing it several hundred miles. This railway
was to be connected with another through
Manchuria to some seaboard point, pre
sumably on the Gulf of PeehllS. This lat
ter line was to be under joint Russian and
Chinese control. Subsequently, apparently
as a set-off to Germany’s seizure of Kiao-
Chow, Russia obtained control of Tallen-
Wan and Port Arthur, Here a curious
question arises: Was Russia aware of Ger
many’s intention to seize Kiao-Chow be
fore it occurred? The general belief is that
she was, but, on the other hand, It has
been stal'd on the highest authority that
Germany's action was as much of a sur
prise to Russia ns it was to every one else.
The fact is important, if it is a fact, be
cause it marks a very definite separation
between interests which the world hitherto
supposed were, If not Identical, at any rate
harmonious.
The Ox nnd the llnll.
Another curious circumstance Is the fol
lowing. Only two years after Germany and
Russia, in company with France, had
forced Japan to re-cede the Liao-Tung pen
insula to Chirm, on the ground that tt was
not right for a foreign power to occupy
territory controlling the approaches to
Pekin and Korea, one of them had Kiao-
Chow and the other Port Arthur, the most
important strategic points as regards the
control of those approaches. This will serve
very well as the diplomatic version of the
fable of the ox and the bull.
The position of Russia In Tallen-Wan
and Port Arthur is peculiar. The under
standing is that the territory has not been
ceded lo her absolutely, but merely the
usufruct for a term of years. That leaves
Chinese ownership Intact, and, coincident
ly, the extra territorial rights which for
eign nations have under their treaties with
China.
How Russia Absorb* Territory.
To the minds of many Intelligent observ
ers the problem of Russia’s designs pre
sents the most serious feature of the pres
ent situation tn China. Manchuria Is uni
versally conceded to be hers; although, as
already pointed out, It Is not actually
known whether or not she has received the
cession of one foot of territory. Neverthe
less, the general impression remains that
she is only biding her lime, and that she
will absorb one strip of Chinese territory
after another, until she has it all, or all
save what she concedes to her ally, France,
on the south, and something, possibly, to
her other ally, Germany. This forecast is
accurate In one respect, that is, if we
can judge the future by the past, that is
to say in so far as it represents Russia’s
advances as probably being slow and grad
ual. That has always been her mode of
progression tn her acquisition of territory
in Asia. She moves toward her chosen goal
deliberately, not suddenly or violently, ab
staining from arousing animosities among
the tribes and peoples whom she brings un
der her sway, and being careful even to
respect their foibles and prejudices. It is
true that her territorial acquisitions hith
erto have consisted largely of vast tracts
of country sparsely Inhabited as a rule,
and It may be that she will change her
methods as she approaches the densely in
habited regions of populous China, but, tf
the past is any criterion of the future, no
immediate act of aggression on her part
toward China is probable. Or, to put rt
upon even surer ground, no effective act of
Aggression is possibly just at present, for
Russia is not ready, and cannot be pre
pared to begin this onward march of ab
sorption, admitting that she contemplates
it, until the Siberian and the Manchurian
railways are completed, and that will not
be for some years to come.
In the meantime it is only right and just
that we should credit her assurances that
she has no ultimate designs against the in
tegrity of China in what she has already
done, and no ulterior object beyond the le
gitimate development of her territories.
Then she, on her part, can have no right to
complain if <fther nation*, having as valid
i an interest as herself in the commercial
and industrial progress of China, do what
they can to safeguard their Interests.
tine Solution of Chinese Problem.
There Is one solution of this question
which would be as advantageous to Chi
na as it would be to every power having
commercial relations with her, and that
would be the opening of the whole em
pire, without restrictions and under prop
er conditions, to foreign trade, and resi
dence. There would be difficulties regard
ing the system of consular, or extra ter
ritorial. Jurisdiction, but they are not in
superable. Unfortunately, it Is too much,
especially since the recent palace revolu
tion at Pekin, to expect this concession
from Chinese conservatism, even though
It offers one of the strongest safeguards
which, under present circumstances, Chi
na could possibly obtain. But. happily,
palace revolutions, even in China, cannot
continue indefinitely the obstacles to rea
sonable and sensible progress. China is
coming closer and closer to the parting
of the ways, when the dormant forces of
progress must arouse themselves, perhaps
through the sense of Impending danger
from without the empire, perhaps from
the hopelessness of existing conditions
within. The awakening may be to dlsas.
ter and ruin, but It may be, let us hoj>,
to national regeneration.
America I Hally Concerned,
It Is hardly necessary for me to call at- I
tention to the deep concern which all that
affects China should have for the people
of this country. Hitherto our Interest in
the affairs of the far East, especially in
-those of China, has been but languid at
best. If during recent years that Interest
has increased at all, it lias not been, I
fear, because the possible fate of the Chi
nese empire seemed u matter of practi
cal concern to us, but rather because the
migratory habits of its inhabitants threat
ened to create a troublesome domestic
problem In the United States. Now, how
ever, all that is changed. Recent events
have brought home, even to the most
thoughtless of us, a vivid realization of the
fact that we ore, in truth, a world pow
er, having Interests on many seas and
in many lands, where goes the commerce
that is to make us even more prosperous
than we already are, but nowhere greater
interests than in our ancient neighbor,
that vast but help , ss empire across the
brood expanse of the Pacific.
Durham W. Stevens.
CLeVKUAD \\ IH CHAMPION.
He Carried Off the Prize for Eating
More ml Hotter Egg* Than Any
Other Chap.
New York, Dee. 2—" Grover Cleveland
was a fat boy—fat even to the degree of
chubbirtoss, when first I saw him," a vet
eran said the other day. "It was up Onon
daga way, In the little village of Fayette
ville. His father, Dr. Cleveland, had retired
from the ministry, and was living there
with his family. He had little else—in fact
he was even poorer than the average re
tired minister. But that was nothing
against the Cleveland standing. I think
the whole village rejoiced when Mary, the
eldest daughter, a real mother’s girl, and
most lovely young woman, married one of
the Hoyts, who were at the very head of
the village aristocracy.
“As to Grover, nobody called him Gro
ver then. To everybody he was Stephen,
ojf more familiarly, Steve. He was by no
ffieans so bright as his elder brothers,
Neal and Cecil. Neal, whose full name was
William Neal, was as tall and spare as
Stephen was thick and squat. Cecil, who
died young, was my particular chum. Our
homes were hut a little way apart. Almost
every morning on my way to school I ran
by the Cleveland house in order to go with
the hoys there. One morning I missed them
—either I was late or they early. Some
how, I had crossed a particularly stiff
fence on my way; result, a big rent in the
side of my roundabout. Mrs. Cleveland,
good soul, spied It. ‘Come in here, Char
ley. I cannot let you go to school that
way,’ she called. So I went in the sitting
room and watched her while she mended
my coat, her foot the while rocking the
cradle in which lay a young person des
tined to be Ihe lady of the White House,
Miss Rose Elisabeth Cleveland. In those
days she was ‘Lib’ or ’Dibble’—in fact, I
think her brother still calls her by that
familiar name.
"Stephen was p. rhaps the last boy In
school for whom anybody would have pre
dicted a career out of the common. Yet,
looking book at it now', 1 can recall certain
traits In the boy that have'made for the
man’s advancement. He was selfish—not in
the loose amateur fashion of ordinary lads,
but with a massive, dogged selfishness
that has, 1 fancy. In later days often serv
ed as a fulcrum for the levee of his politi
cal advancement. He knew what he want
ed. took astounding chances to get It, and
once he got it did not know how to let go.
“But there was one person to whom
Steve was always tenderly and obedient
ly devoted. That was his mother. A bet
ter son never lived, and I am satisfied
that one of the greatest pleasures ad
vancement gave him was that it enabled
him to make her last days her best. Once
when I had gone to him
In the White House upon
a matter of business, after It had
been dispatched our talk fell accidentally
upon old times. I recalled some incidents
that brought his mother prominently for
ward. Glancing at him, 1 w’as amazed
to see him, the man who was called an
Iceberg, a jelly fish, with tears rolling over
his cheeks—tears evoked solely by that
dear memory.
In my first winter, when Stephen was
rising 9, his brothers, myself and several
others of tho bigger lads had a sled that
was the delight of our hearts. Perhaps
we didn't give Stephen a fair share in the
rides, though I think we had gone down
only three times without saying a word to
him. I recall his look—the set of his
mouth, the square brace of the shoulders,
as we made ready to go down again, and
still there was no place for him. He did
not say a word, only ran a little lower
than the starting point, and as we set the
sled in motion, jumped, caught it regard
less of who he bruised, and went down
with it in triumph. Of course we could
have tumbled him off, hut we wore not
malevolent—besides I really think his
pluck impressed us.
“In his books Steve was neither better
nor worse than the average. So much I
know—because none of us were anything
out of the common. He.did not stay at
them very long, any more than myself. I
think he cannot have been much beyond 15
when he was clerk in one of the village’s
general stores that sold pretty well every
thing from silks to hardware. I myself
was clerk in another, and in a way. had a
hand in admitting Stephen to tlie ranks of
the real big boys.
"Somehow there grew up a great stir in
the village founded on fear of burglars.
Several stores in neighboring towns had
been robbed, so my employer decided that
I and his bookkeper had better sleep in
the store every night. We did not mind—
not at all. The fear of burglars was
something dim and remote —not to be
named against having the counting room
all to ourselves, when the day’s work was
done. The counting room boasted a big
stove, and we were free to keep up the
fire as late as we chose—also to receive
visits from whoever we pleased.
"That of course led lo egg suppers. I
don’t know if the egg supper has gone out
of fashion-tn those days It was a pretty
jolly affair. We contributed the stove,
some crackers, cheese, maybe some canned
oysters. The boys outside brought the
eggs. How they acquired them we never
asked. There was a sort of superstition
though that a lad lost caste If he was
suspected of buying them. To cook them
we made the stove hissing hot, then spread
smooth brown paper upon top. and broke
egg* thickly upon It. Of oourse the pa
per in between caught lire, and burned up
—equally of course the eggs themselves of
ten scotched. But that made them all the
better. Every boy keep* somewhere
about him a tang of barbarism—though
wc did not say so. I fancy we Imgalned
we felt like big bold savages at a hunting
feast. He who ato most eggs, and ute
them hottest, was a sort of champion. If
1 recollect aright Stephen Cleveland won
that distinction at the first time of try
ing.
"I know he came bulging all over with
eggo—wo counted up to five ikwen, and
there were many more. How he came
by them nobody asked. It was not the
thing to do, you understand. But next
day there wore various and sundry com
plaints afloat— complaints of rifled hen-
I coops, and mtosiag eggs. Tin* complaints,
however, could not spoil the euvor of
those we had swallowed. R* V- 8.
ELUOTT
“ I am a faithful believer in
johann Herrs
MALT EXTRACT \r/W ftTOpr
It improves my appetite and
digestion, and gives a
healthy color to the skin.”
IIIMMIC M HAI I M n Inspector, Chicago Board of Health, writes: “I have been acquainted with the
JUINIUO Iris 11/ALL, ItlsLfs, JOHANN HOFF'S MALT EXTRACT lor some time and hove prescribed it frequently
in my practice. In slow convalescence, alter acute diseases, 1 have fo and It especially valuable, and have been well
pleased with the results.” EISMER A MENDELSON CO., Sola Agants, Maw Yofk
THE RACE PROBLEM.
TWO PROMINENT SOITHEHXEKS
DISCUSS CAISES AVI) CURES.
Bunker T. \\ c.xliington. Hie Uvst
1\ noAvn Xejtro of the South, the
President of the Ta*keee Insti
tute of Alnlianu, Write* From the
Point of View of the Xeßto, and
Ex-Gov. W. A. McCorkle of West
Virginia Tell* Why the White* Are
Aggrieved, How Rnee Riot* Are
Caused, mill SnsitMt Remedies.
Both 'lake for Their Text the Re
cent Outruiios in Wilmington.
N. C.
New York, Dee. 2.—According to ex-Gov.
McCorkle of West Virginia and many
other prominent Southerners, both white
and black, negTo suffrage is now the most
serious problem before the American peo
ple. In the article which follows, he
speaks with fiery earnestness of the race
troubles In the Carolinas. He says that
it is folly to believe that the Southern
negroes vote as they desire, or that they
ever will be allowed to control elections,
no matter how great their numerical ma
jority.
In answering him, Booker T. Washing
ton, the best known negro in the South,
president of the Tuskegee Institute of Al
abama, makes the surprising statement
that he believes it was a mistake to give
the ballot to the negro originally and sug
gests that the right of suffrage be subject
to educational and property tests.
These two men represent the most ad
vanced thought in the South on the race
problem. W. A. McCorkle Is an ex-Gov
ernor of West Virginia, a lawyer by pro
fession, and he probably will be a United
States senator in the near future. His
knowledge of the race problem is the re
sult of generations of experience. His an
cestors were the first people to settle in
the valley of the Virginias, and the family
has been there during the last 160 years.
His statement was taken verbatim by
shorthand in Mr. McCorkle's apartment
at the Waldorf Astoria, and has been
carefully revised by him. It follows:
What ex-Gov. McCorkle Says.
‘'Let us look at the Inciting cause of the
recent trouble. Wilmington is a very ■beau
tiful town, inhabited by some of the best
and most cultured white people on this
continent, but Ignorant, brutal negroes
control all of the public offices. About
fifty justices' positions within the Wil
mington district are held practically by
negroes and a few white people. At least
forty of these negroes can neither read
nor write. Ruin, political, financial and
moral, stares the land and property owrn
ing people of the city in the face. Under
the circumstances the good people of the
city, without regard to politics, determined
that no longer would they be under the
control of the most brutal rule that has
ever cursed the country, outside af Hayti
and San Domingo, and they have joined
together in a common bond of public in
terest. I speak plainly. It is not a ques
tion of politics. Democrats were not the
only ones in the trouble, but a Republi
can paying $1,500 a week exclusively to
negro laborers, and one of the most im
portant men of the city, has been the head
and front of the league for defense of
the public safety.
"These men, without regard to politics,
determined that this negro rule should
then and there cease. They notified the
negroes plainly that they should not con
tinue this state of affairs. Bad blood was
engendered, as it naturally would be; and
wnen they attempted, by a strong hand,
it is true, to do away with this anarchy,
a personal conflict was brought about, the
first shot being fired by the negroes, and
things were done which were never con
templated. It was regretted and deplored
by every honest Southern man that blood
was shed. I speak as a friend of the ne
groes. Asa lawyer, I have defended as
many negroes as any man In the South,
without thought of reward. When I was
Governor of my state every legal voter,
white or black, when he approached the
ballot box, was allowed to vote. I gpeak
with a full sympathy for the'colored race,
but, nevertheless, I speak with a most
earnest determination, expressing the
opinion of the Intelligent Southern man,
when I say that the white race will not
be controlled and ruled by the negroes in
the South.
A Question of Life anil Death to
Southerners.
"In the splendid state of South Carolina
there are 200,000 more negroes than white
people. In many portion* of the South
this proportion continues. I repeat moat
solemnly that the question in the South
la not a question of who shall be the po
litical rulers, or whether negroes shall
have the right to vote, but it is a question
of life and death to the Southern people.
This Is above all statutory enactments.
There are 6.0W,000 of negroes in the South;
an inferior ruce; a standing menace to
peace, law and order. We have spent
millions of dollars to raise them In en
lightenment. and yet to-day we are con
fronted In many poriloi.a of the South by
an alien race—ignorant, different in color,
different in education and refinement, ab- j
solutely dominating and controllig the !
fairest sections on the face of the earth, j
Exil Result* of Negro Hole.
"There Is also a law of race, and no
where on the broad globe has ever the '
Anglo-Saxon or the Scotch-Irishman, the
two great strains of southern life, ever
bowed his neck to an inferior race. What
does It mean? Although a young man,
I have seen a magnificent county, inhab
ited by a splendid white population, with
the most fertile fields, the most beautiful
scenery, with magnificent old schools, the
very set of refinement and culture, and
every office in the county filled by ignor
ant negroes. I have seen the judges on
the bench dispensing justice when the
judge could not read nor write and had to
make his mark to the court records. I
have seen five schools commissioners in a
district appointing the school teachers
when not a single man of them owned
a dollar of property and when not a sin
gle one of them knew his A B C. I have
seen the assessors placing valuation on
land when none of them ever owned a
cent’s worth of property, negro police
man enforcing the law, clerks making up
the sacred and solemn records when the
clerk himself could not sign his name to
the record and had to have it done by
other men. This continued for long years.
Justice was bought and sold as a farmer
buys a field. Taxation in three years was
increased tenfold. Murder and riot were
every day occurrences, and the Judge him
self before an argument w'as concluded was
taken off the bench, and gave his decision
:to the highest bidder. Let me ask you
! one thing: How long would the people
of New York city or Boston stand that
! situation of affairs? Broadway would be
; aflame in a week and riot would reign
rampant up Fifth avenue.
Negro Soldier* Control a State House
"Let me give you some other plain facts,
In two years the negro government in
creased the state debt from $6,000,000 to
$25,060,000, and I was there when negro
soldiers Iwice marched into the state house
and took the speaker away from his desk
and broke up the assembly and
turned the members out of doors.
In four years they spent SIOO,-
010,000. The taxable properties of the
state went down nearly two-thirds. In
ten years the negro rule of Louisiana
squandered $150,000,000, and not one single
public Improvement was left to show for
it. In three years in the state of Mlssis
j sippl taxes were raised fourteen-fold and
j the state debt in the same proportion.
| The whisky bill of one legislature was
$350,000. The bar was opened to members
and their friends in a committee room
within the sound of the speaker’s gavel.
Tite public printing in less than eight
years amounted to $1,500,000, when it had
only amounted in all of seventy-five years
to $600,000. The Governor's personal ex
penses In his election amounted to nearly
$400,000, and it was paid out of the public
funds.
Negroes Could Dominate Congress.
"Will my brethren of the North con
sider for one moment the effect of the
dominance of the negro in Southern poli
tics. Do you not see that the control by
the negroes of Southern affairs, as de
manded by some fanatics, will mean the
absolute dominance of the national legis
lature by the negro vote?' It will give to
them at least fifty votes In the House of
Representatives, and at least five or six
senators. The balance of power will be
absolutely in the control of the negro vote.
He would entirely dominate the House
and the Senate of the present Congress.
Are you willing to pay the price? Would
he be a safe arbiter of the vast Interests
of this nation? I think not.
"Another point of interest to my North
ern friend. You are to-day regenerating
the South. You are building thousands of
miles of railroads. You are pouring mill
ions of dollars Into our coal and iron
mines. You are erecting vast manufac
tories. Public improvement, the result of
millions of Northern money, is showered
on every side. Within ten years In my
own state you have placed more than $20,-
000,000. Your sons are coming to live with
us. and are honored as our best citizens.
Are you willing to have all this vast In
terest at the beck and nod of a venal
legislature, or under the control of igno
rant negroes?
Negro Government Always n Failure
Asa civilizing and governmental power
the negro has been a total failure In all
countries and In all ages. In Liberia,
Hayti, Africa and America he has left a
swath of hideous desolation behind him.
He has not had the training and will im
prove, soy those who advocate giving him
the reins of power in the South; he will
improve, give him time and opportunity.
! We grant that the propositions may be
Irue, but we do not intend that his experl
j mental stages of training shall be made
upon the South. If he Is not yet edu
cated for government, let him wait until
he learns the art. The oiler or the fire
man may become a good engineer, but un
til he does we who ride on the train want
■ him to keep his hand away from the throt
tle. We will help the negro to become a
citizen, but not a ruler.
Negroes Not Allowed to Vote Freely.
"It Is folly, plain and unvarnished, for
the men of the South to say to the men of
the North that the negro is allowed at all
times to cast his ballot as he wishes. It Is
not true. It would be ruin to the South
and every Southern man we.l knows it.
It is a sad slate of affairs, and
i we in the South have to face the plain
1 infraction of the election laws, for lha
; simple reason that unless they are in
j fringed upon there is no hope for the
South.
"This brings up the question, what are
'we going to do? The two races are side
by side, mingled and intermingled in every
imaginable way, but not in the
old relation of master and servant, and
having non© of the old sympathy. It is
a question which God in his mercy will
work out for these people, but it is a
momentous question to this country to
day. The only hope for the settlement of
the problem is in the gradual enlighten
i ment of the colored race. Nineteen-twen.
tleths of the money expended for the edu
i cation of the negro race in the South is
raised from the whites, and one-twentieth
I from the negroes. When this gradual en
lightenment comes there will come with it
a solution of the question.
Don't Wish Negroes Ruelc in Slnvery
"So many of the Northern people are of
opinion that we want the negroes back to
slavery. No statement can be further from
the truth. I was a slave owner myself.
Child as I was In the slavery days and
filled with all the traditions of the South
ern people over that question, I speak as a
person who is familiar with the subject,
and I say that there is not an Intelligent
man or woman South of Mason and Dix
on’s line who wishes to see the black*
back in bondage. They fegl at the same
time that the men who were in bondage
should not to-day be their rulers. As long
as they will grow side by side, receiving
an equal protection under the general law*
of the land, they will receiye part of every
crust which a Southern man has to give,
but when they attempt to step forward and
take the reins of the government in their
hands, then the Southern citizens will per
emptorily and sternly stop that aspiration.
Would not the North do the same? Surely;
it would.
“Not very long ago I heard a speech by
a negro man who has the true idea and
theory of the race question. He was speak
ing to negroes. He said! ‘Remember, my
brethren, this one thing; that you ar
pretty near up against the race question
in this country, and when you do get to
it, mark what I tell wou, the white people
of this country will settle it, as the white
people have always settled those questions,
vigorously and earnestly, and in a way
that the white people want it settled.’
"In conclusion, I most earnestly and sol
emnly repeat that the one great pre-em
inent and prominent proposition stand*
head and shoulders above this whole dis
cussion, that notwithstanding the mere
enacting of statutes the passing of laws,
the Southern people do not Intend to be
ruled by the negro race. The South will
settle this question, justly, honestly and
fairly to the negro race, hut she will settle
this question alone and unaided and with
in herself.
Booker T. Washington wrote as follows!
NVhnt tlie Negro Leader Say*.
“It was unfortunate that my people
permitted themselves at the close of the
civil war to be led in such a wholesale
manner into politics. In many cases re
sponsibilities were accepted by us which
we were not equal to because of lack of
education and experience. I do not be
lieve that it is wise, for the government
nor just to the people sought to be helped
to confer unlimited suffrage upon any ig
norant, poverty-stricken, inexperienced
people. I would let the right to vote
interwoven with the ability to acquire in
telligence or property or both. The feel
ing is very strong in the South that sine*
(he negro pays such a small proportion of
the tax to support government that b*
should have little or no control In the gov
ernment.
“The feeling also exists In some section*
that the negro wants to control the white
man. This is not true of the black race
as a whole. Unless the negro gets into
the hands of bad white men, he does noC
seek to 1 control any one except himself,
and he has a pretty hard task often to
do that.
Negro Hint Not Re Discouraged.
"To my mind the way to remedy tM
present evils is for the negro not to get
discouraged. In the past I fear he has set
too much store by politics. In too many
cases he has sought the shadow rather
than the substance. The negro all over
this country must become a large tax
payer, own property, possess a high de
gree of Industdy, skill and substantial
character. We must get our young peo
ple off the streets, keep them out of
barrooms and dens of crime. The * rea ?
bulk of our people in the South are still
In dense ignorance; ignorance leads lo
idleness and idleness to crime.
"The time has come when the best
while people and the best colored peo
ple in the South should get together lor
counsel, advice and sympathy. 1 lia
negro must not feel that the white roan
who is his next-door neighbor is 1,19
enemy simply because he is a Souther*
white man.’’
—A year ago a German schoolmn- |<r '
Mr. Engler, was convicted by a criminal
court of some act of immorality. Not loWI
ago he died Insane and an autopsy she we
that he was doubtless morally Irrespot
ble at the time the offense was commit
ted. Wlih German thoroughness a >’
trial was ordered and the dead man ha*
I recently been acquitted In due form.