Daniel Wallace Culp

WHAT SHOULD BE THE NEGRO'S ATTITUDE IN POLITICS?

BY HON. GEORGE H. WHITE.

Hon. George H. White

HON. GEORGE H. WHITE, LL. D.

Mr. White was born in a log cabin, located at the confluence of "Richland Branch" and "Slap Swamp" in Bladen County, North Carolina, near the line of Columbus County, remote from cities and towns. His maternal grandmother was half-Indian and his paternal grandmother was Irish, full-blood. His other admixture is facetiously described as "mostly Negro." His early boyhood was a struggle for bread and a very little butter, his schooling being necessarily neglected. He usually attended two or three months in the year. Later, by dint of toil, and saving a few dollars, he was able to secure training under Prof. D. P. Allen, President of the Whitten Normal School at Lumberton, N. C., and afterwards entered Howard University at Washington, graduating from the eclectic department in 1877. Believing that he could best serve his race and himself as an advocate of justice, he read law while taking the academic course, completing his reading under Judge William J. Clarke, of North Carolina, and was licensed to practice in all courts of that State by the Supreme Court in 1879.

Although Mr. White has won marked success in several walks of life, as lawyer, teacher and business man, it is his political achievements that have won for him not only a national reputation, but have evoked no small degree of comment from the press and diplomats of many of the countries of the old world. It is worthy of remark that up to this time, at the age of forty-nine, he has never held an appointive office, his commissions coming invariably from the hands of the sovereign people direct. He was elected to the North Carolina House of Representatives in 1880, and to the State Senate in 1884; was elected solicitor and prosecuting attorney for the second judicial district of North Carolina for four years in 1886, and for a like term in 1890; was nominated for Congress in 1894, but withdrew in the interest of harmony in his party. He made the race for Congress in 1896 and was triumphantly elected by a majority of 4,000, reversing a normal democratic majority of over 5,000—a change of fully 9,000 votes, indicating in no uncertain tone the confidence and esteem in which he was held by his friends and neighbors. He was re-elected in 1898. His services as a legislator were conscientious and valuable. At the close of his second term, he delivered a valedictory to the country, which was universally praised as the best, truest and most timely expression of the Negro's plea for equality of citizenship that ever rang through the halls of Congress. The speech was widely circulated, and was favorably commented upon by the leading newspapers of the nation.

Mr. White has accumulated quite a handsome fortune, his wealth being estimated at from $20,000 to $30,000. His personal popularity and the respect for his ability are attested by the fact that several honorary degrees have been conferred upon him by a number of the noted educational institutions of the land.

Mr. White is a thirty-third degree Mason. For six years he was Grand Master of Masons for the State of North Carolina, having filled most of the subordinate offices in that body before his elevation to the Grand Mastership.

Since his retirement from Congress, Mr. White has been engaged in the practice of law in Washington, D. C., and so favorably has he impressed his qualifications upon the bench and bar of the national capital that one of the judges publicly, and without precedent, complimented him in open court and set his methods up as an example for other lawyers who practice there. Eminent as are his abilities, Mr. White is proverbially modest. Of strong character, well-balanced mind and an unswerving sense of justice, liberal in views upon all subjects, political, social or religious, companionable in private life, unostentatious in manner of living or in the bestowal of charity, ready to sacrifice personal convenience to serve the worthy, Mr. White is indeed a typical American. The Negro people, in slavery or freedom, as serfs or citizens, offer no model more inspiring, no picture more inviting.

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In presenting this subject to the public, I shall endeavor to treat it from a broad and liberal standpoint, eliminating all selfishness or individual political bias, and viewing the situation from the standpoint of an American citizen.

The first prerequisite to good government in a republic, is purity in the ballot. No stream can be pure unless its source is pure; neither can a republic hope for just and fair laws and the administration and execution of them, unless there is purity and fairness in the sources from whence these cardinal principles of government spring. Laws should be enacted for the whole people and not for individuals, races or sections—thereby securing the support and retaining the confidence of all the parts of our heterogeneous compact, to the end that a homogeneous whole may move in the same direction for the good of all concerned.

The Negroes ask for—and as a part of this republic—have a right to demand the perpetuation of these basic principles of our government. While we are young in citizenship, and admit having made many political mistakes, yet we are willing that the search-light of reason be thrown upon our acts, and a fair and impartial verdict rendered as to our conduct, when all the circumstances surrounding our variegated political history are taken into consideration. Liberated, enfranchised and turned loose among our former masters, who could not take kindly to our new citizenship, we naturally sought friendship and political alliance with those claiming to be our best friends—those who had been instrumental in obtaining our freedom. These new friends came largely from the Federal army, interspersed with many adventurers who followed in the wake of that army, seeking strange fields in which to ply their vocations. Many of these new-comers proved to be true friends to the Negro of the South and led us on and taught us as a faithful guardian would teach and care for his wards. But the great majority of them were wholly unscrupulous and worked upon the ignorance, inexperience and gullibility of the Negro, overtime, to place themselves into positions where they had unlimited sway. The result that followed was most natural—the use of public trust for private gain, the looting of many of the Southern states, the political degradation of the Negro, and the complete estrangement between him and his former neighbors. When all these things were accomplished, these human cormorants betook themselves to their Northern homes to live in ease and splendor on the results of their pillage, while the black man was left in the South to endure disfranchisement, torture and murder on account of the malice and hatred begotten from his first political experience.

Surrounded by such environments, the suppression of his right of franchise, the open and notorious examples of fraud, ballot-box stuffing and intimidation practiced in every Southern election for the last thirty years, on the one hand, and the unfaithfulness, "Jingoism," the free offering of bribes and the continued practice of duplicity, on the part of those claiming to be his friends, on the other hand, no fair-minded man would expect to find complete political perfection among a people thus treated. Thus has the Negro been obstructed, not only in politics, but his civil rights have been denied him, and the doors of many industries are closed against him.

But let us turn our faces away from all the horrors of slavery, reconstruction and all kindred wrongs which have been heaped upon us, and stand up, measuring the full statue of an American citizen, upon the threshold of the new century as a New Man. The slave who has grown out of the ashes of thirty-five years ago, is inducted into the political and social system, cast into the arena of manhood, where he constitutes a new element and becomes a competitor for all its emoluments. He is put upon trial, to test his ability to be accounted worthy of freedom, worthy of the elective franchise. After all these years of struggle against almost insurmountable odds, under conditions but little removed from slavery itself, he asks a fair and just judgment, not of those whose prejudice has endeavored to forestall—to frustrate—his every forward movement; rather those who have lent a helping hand that he might demonstrate the truth of "The fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man."

In a nation like ours, blessed with peace, plenty and full of prosperity; filled with the spirit of "Expansion," sound money and a protective tariff; when there is a disposition to forget all sectional lines, and to know no North, no South, no East, no West, but having all to stand out in bold relief as one reunited whole, when one political party slaps the other upon the shoulder with a knowing look and a smile indicating the fraternal feeling everywhere present, the question naturally comes home to every colored American, "What should be the Negro's attitude in politics?" Constituting as we do, one-eighth of the entire population of this Nation, the Negro's political attitude should be a firm stand for the right, the support of honest men for office, the advocacy of strong, pure American policies, an unceasing contention for fair elections, a pure ballot, a complete repudiation of any party or man who seeks to bribe, or in any way to hamper or degrade him politically. Should he become self-effaced, politically? No, never! He should, at all times, contend wisely, firmly for every right accorded to other American citizens under the organic laws of the nation. He should identify himself with that political party which proves to be the most friendly towards him. There is very little in a name. Results should be sought, and the Negro should never waver until they are obtained. This will necessitate a division of the Negro vote. No fixed rule can be established as a political guide for him, any more than it can be done for any other people. The location, environment, men and measures sought to be obtained, should guide him. The political pathway for the future may seem dark and discouraging, but nothing daunted, we should continue to press forward, contending for every inch of our rights—no right which man enjoys aside from his own household should be guarded more sacredly than his right of franchise—a right which makes each one a sovereign in himself; a right which determines what laws shall govern us, who shall construe them and execute them.

I am not unmindful of the fact that the views here expressed, may sound rather Utopian. But in this age of rush and bustle for place, preferment and national gain, by individuals and the nation; and in an age when anarchists, lynchers and murderers set at defiance all law and government; in an age when, in certain sections of the country, the ballot-box ceases to stand as an exponent of the registered will of the people, but stands rather as a political cesspool of reeking rottenness, impregnating the national atmosphere with germs of discord that may yet stagnate and throttle the Union; in such an age, it is quite necessary that a halt should be called; a reckoning had, and that these small, though dangerous political sores should be lanced from the body politic before they develop into putrifying cancers that will destroy the life of the republic.

From any view that may be taken of the present political situation, it is apparent that the time is ripe for the colored American to think and act for himself. If he reasons correctly, he will certainly reach the conclusion that right must some day prevail; and in order that he may enjoy the resultant blessings flowing from a pure ballot, the colored man must set the pace, and thereby place himself in a position to command respect and proper recognition. "He who would have equity must first do equity."

The Negro's loyalty to his friends, his impressionable soul, his devotion to church, his yearning for education and enlightenment, his thrift, industry, devotion to country, fidelity to the flag shown upon hundreds of battle-fields, must be admitted and command the admiration of all fair-minded men. Let him add to all these attributes, purity in all things; let him cultivate a love for justice and fair play, live as an example for his neighbors, ally himself with the best men in the community or state where he lives, and the day must certainly come when his rights—political and civil—will be conceded to him.

Let us learn what is right and then dare to do the right; ever pressing forward to higher and nobler things; never lagging, but remember, "That constant effort will remove the mountain, and that continued dripping will wear away the stone."

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SECOND PAPER.

WHAT SHOULD BE THE NEGRO'S ATTITUDE IN POLITICS?

BY T. T. FORTUNE

TIMOTHY THOMAS FORTUNE.

Timothy Thomas fortune, the subject of this sketch, is an author, a journalist, an agitator and a lecturer.

Mr. Fortune's grandmother was a mulatto, and his grandfather a Seminole Indian. Thomas was born of slave parents in Florida in 1856. His father took an important and active part in the reconstruction of Florida, being a delegate in the Constitutional Convention that framed the present constitution of Florida, and a member of the first five sessions of the reconstituted Florida Legislature.

During the Ku Klux Klan period, which followed, the father of Thomas had to stand for his life, which he manfully did by preparing his house to receive the night marauders. The father finally moved with his family to Jacksonville, Florida. Here young Thomas soon found a position as a printer's "devil," which was the first step to that high position which he now occupies. He left his printer's "case" for two years in order to attend school and to work in the Jacksonville city postoffice.

In 1874 he was appointed mail route agent between Jacksonville and Chattahoochee; but he was soon promoted to the position of special inspector of customs for the first district of Delaware. A year later, 1876, young Fortune entered that school which has been an inspiration to so many negro youths, Howard University. After two years' study in this school he returned to the printer's trade. While in Washington he married Miss Smiley of Florida.

In 1878 Mr. Fortune returned to Florida to try his hand at school teaching. After a year's experience at this work, he again returned to his first love, the printer's trade, but this time he went to New York City. Of course the other compositors objected to working with a "Nigger," but by the manly stand of the publisher, Mr. John Dougall, the "Nigger" remained, and after a short strike the white compositors were glad to return.

Mr. Fortune's real career as a journalist began in 1880, when, with two friends, he began the publication of the Rumor, which, after two years, was changed to the New York Globe. After four years the paper was forced to suspend. Mr. Fortune immediately began the publication of the New York Freeman. A year later, 1885, the name of the paper was changed to the New York Age, of which Mr. Fortune is still editor.

His writings are, however, not confined to the editing of his paper. He is the author of several books, but "Black and White" and "The Negro in Politics" are perhaps the most noted.

Mr. Fortune was the first to suggest the Afro-American League, an organization in the interest of the Negro race. He was the president of the first convention of this league, which met in Chicago in 1890. His address as president of the convention was a scathing arraignment of the South.

Mr. Fortune was also elected chairman of the executive committee of the National Afro-American Press Association which met in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1890.

The National Negro Business League was the outcome of a conversation between Booker T. Washington and Mr. Fortune. Mr. Fortune was elected chairman of the executive committee of the National Negro Business League which met in Boston in 1900, and also at its meeting in Chicago in 1901.

Mr. Fortune is, as might be suspected, a Republican in politics. In the presidential election of 1900 he took an active part in the political canvas of that year. He spoke in Indiana and in Missouri, advocating the re-election of President McKinley.

The whole energy of his life is devoted to the interests of the Negro race in America. He wields a sharp rapier. He is the complement of Booker T. Washington. Each is doing his own work in his own way; the one supplements the other's work.

There are some questions which, it seems to me, need no discussion, because the truths in them are self-evident; and yet, so perverse is the human understanding, that unanimity upon any subject of common interest is rare in social ethics; and by social ethics I mean the philosophy of organized government in all of its multifarious life.

How intricate and perplexing these questions are; even the uninitiated intuitively understand, although they cannot explain them; while ignorant and learned alike wrangle and often fight over the means to reach ends upon which there is no disagreement. There is, therefore, no phase of the Afro-American problem upon the proper solution of which there is not a substantial agreement among members of the race. The processes by which the solution shall be reached are the bases of the disagreements and discussions, which often defeat the common wish and aim.

"What should be the Afro-American's attitude in politics?" is a sophomoric, rather than a practical, question. What he should do at a given crisis is answered by what he has done ever since the right to vote was conferred upon him by the adoption of the war amendments to the Federal Constitution. Neither threats, fire, rope, nor bullet has been powerful enough to swerve him from pursuing the course made mandatory by his self interests. He may have pursued this course by the intricate process of reasoning employed by educated men, or of intuition employed by the unlettered. The fact remains that his attitude has been one of sympathy and helpfulness towards those who were unmistakably sympathetic and friendly towards him and as unmistakably antagonistic and troublesome to those who were antagonistic to him. With him, as with the rest of mankind, "self-preservation is the first law of nature." What his attitude in politics should be now will be what it has been—governed absolutely by his self interests.

There will be nothing gained in the proper education and comprehension of the subject under discussion by holding up holy hands of horror at the statement that selfishness, pure and simple, has governed and will govern the attitude of the Afro-American in politics. The purists, who prate of the common interest and loyalty to the flag as the first and highest duty of the citizen, are entitled to their view of the matter, but the fact remains and is true of the people of every ancient and modern government that self-interest will govern the actions of the voter. One of the components which is discriminated against and oppressed by legal enactment through popular clamor will invariably produce substantial unanimity of thought and action on the part of the pariah against the common interest, and, in the last analysis, against the flag itself, as the emblem of governmental discrimination and oppression. The Helots of Sparta and the Jews under the Pharaohs were of this sort. The Jews in Russia and Germany and the Irish in Great Britain are modern examples. The first concern of every man and of his own race is his own concern. He will oppose those who oppose him, whether as individual or state; he will look to his interests first and to those of his neighbor afterwards. The Afro-American is just like other people in this, as well as in all respects, despite the puerile contention of some, even of his own household, that he is not as other men. He will not love those who hate him nor pray for those who despitefully use him, although enjoined to do so in thunderous tones from every pulpit in Christendom. And, therefore, the Afro-American's attitude in politics will be governed, as it has been, by his selfish interests. And, why not? The banker's attitude in politics is governed by the policy that serves his selfish interests best; the manufacturer's attitude is the same. The same rule of conduct governs all men in their social and civil relations to the state.

In a republic, government by party is the fundamental basis of it. There must be parties or there can be no government; this is equally true of democracies and limited monarchies. The primary is the basis of party government. His selfish interests, of whatever sort, make it necessary for every citizen, who wishes to conserve those interests, to belong to some one party. Unless he is permitted to enjoy the rights and benefits of the primary, or party referendum, he cannot hope to enjoy the rights and benefits of the party of his choice—enjoy them to their fullest extent—for the right to vote, which does not carry with it the right to be voted for, leaves the citizen in a voiceless condition as to those specific interests in which he is concerned, and which can only be secured from the state through the action of his party. No man can speak for another as he can speak for himself, hence, in every party, men and special interests, such as railroad, bank, manufacturing and the like interests, habitually seek to put in control persons who will represent them, speak for them and vote for them upon any question of legislation which arises. It is because of this that there is great rejoicing among Afro-Americans when any man of theirs is put forward for his party in any official capacity whatever, and it is because of this that so few of them have been, and are put forward.

Wherever an Afro-American is found supporting, by his lung-power and ballot, a party which denies him participation in its primary (basis of party) government, then you have found a man who does not know what his attitude in politics should be; and, whether he should be pitied or despised, must remain a question for each individual to decide. The democratic party is the only party in the United States which denies to the Afro-American this basic right in party government. Logically enough, it is the only party in the United States which has always sought to prevent him from enjoying the rights of the elective franchise, the right to vote and to be voted for, and which has necessarily, to justify this policy, always sought in every conceivable way to degrade his manhood to the brute standard. A voteless citizen is always a social and political outcast; a voteless race in a composite citizenship will always constitute a problem more or less dangerous to the state—enemies, fostered in the bosom, as Cleopatra's asp, only to wound to the death. It has been the way of the world since the dawn of history.

It is creditable to the good sense and the manhood of the Afro-American people that they have constantly recognized and acted upon the theory I have here laid down, as the consistent one in politics. Their attitude has been manly and consistent; they have stood by their friends and defied their enemies, even when their friends have been lukewarm, or brutally indifferent, and this has been the attitude of their friends since 1870.

Through good and evil report they have refused to be seduced from their allegiance to the party of freedom, and their enemies have wreaked their vengeance, without hindrance, so that the attitude books of every Southern state bristle with a code of laws as infamous and oppressive as the slave code. But that does not affect the principle in the least, and the principle is the thing; it is the essence of all life. He who clings to it, though he may die, as the poor Indian has done, deserves and receives the respect of mankind. When it has been said of him that he was corrupt, purchasable, unreliable in politics and that the franchise should be denied to him by fair or foul means, because of this, by the kuklux klan terrorists, or red shirt brutalists—sufficient answer to it all, in my mind, has been that if he could have been seduced from his best interests, from his friends in party politics, without violence towards him, none would have molested him or made him afraid. That is a self-evident proposition in partisan ethics.

We do not terrorize and shoot and defraud people who vote with us. No, the Afro-American has instinctively distrusted his political enemies, even when they came to him bearing grapes in their hands and honey on their tongues. His attitude has been one of manly protest, wherever he was allowed to vote, or made to sulk in silence and indignation. And here has been and here is the rub. When you cannot coax a man against his will, as Jonathan did David, or purchase his birthright as Jacob did Esau, if you have the power you terrorize and shoot him into compliance. That is what the political enemies of the Afro-American have done and are doing, but patient as the ass and with the faith of Job, which passes all understanding, he sticks to his principle of self-interest and waits; and the good proverb says, "All things come to him who waits." I believe it. And if every man of the race had the alternative of being shot in his tracks for clinging to his principles or life eternal for deserting them, the part of manhood and honor would be to stand up and be shot. As a matter of fact, thousands upon thousands of Afro-Americans have been shot to death by their political enemies since 1868, and perhaps thousands more will be shot in the future in the same way, and for the same reason and by the same heartless enemies, before the nation reaches the conclusion that an Afro-American citizen should have as much protection under the Federal Constitution as any other citizen with a white skin, despite the fact that the whole matter is largely one of state control and regulation. When cancers get on the body politic like this of disfranchisement and debasement of an entire element of the citizenship, they are usually cut out, as that of slavery, and its exceeding horrors, were.

Steadfastness, therefore, in the faith that moves mountains and patience which overcomes a world of wrong and injustice, will bring the reward as it has so often done with the race in the past. The reward is perfect equality under the laws of the Federal Government and of the several states. But our attitude must be one of absolute fidelity to the priceless sacred trust of citizenship, which comes to us out of the agonies of the greatest war of modern times. If we be true to ourselves, the great republic will be true to us "in God's way and time."

THIRD PAPER.

WHAT SHOULD BE THE NEGRO'S ATTITUDE IN POLITICS?

BY HON. GEORGE W. MURRAY.

GEORGE WASHINGTON MURRAY.

George Washington Murray was born September 22, 1853, of slave parents, near Rembert, Sumter County, S. C. Emancipation found him a lad of eleven summers, bereft of both parents. Without a friend upon whom to rely for either aid or advice in an impoverishing section, he entered upon the fierce combat then in progress for the indispensable bread of life. Among the waifs of his neighborhood in 1866, he learned the alphabet and acquired an imperfect pronunciation of monosyllables. In efforts to improve his meager stock of knowledge during the succeeding five years, he so industriously applied himself that in January, 1871, he entered a day school, while in session, for the first time, but as teacher, not scholar.

He taught until the Fall of 1874, when he successfully passed a competitive examination and secured a scholarship as sub-freshman in the reconstructed University of South Carolina. He was successfully employed as a teacher until February, 1890, when he secured an appointment as inspector of customs at the port of Charleston, S. C.

Entering the political arena in the contest for the Republican nomination for Congress in 1892, he successfully won the stake and was placed in the general election against Gen. E. W. Moise, one of the most brilliant, wealthy and popular Democrats in the State, whom he finally defeated and was declared elected to the Fifty-third Congress.

He was again elected to the Fifty-fourth Congress, and counted out, but contested and was finally seated. He was again elected to the Fifty-fifth and Fifty-sixth Congresses, and counted out, and failed to be seated after strong contests.

Since his retirement from congressional contests, seeing the primary and crying need of his race is a larger per cent of the ownership of homes, and the impossibility of securing them in the desired space of time, under the prevailing circumstances, where the necessaries of life and rents consume the entire resources year after year, he has applied himself to the development of a scheme of buying large estates and cutting them into small holdings, and giving long periods of time in which to pay for homes, receiving about the usual rents as payments.

He now has about 200 families located on about 9,000 acres of land, and is adding from 2,000 to 3,000 acres to his territory each year.

He has already secured twelve letters patent on a multiple farming machine, that is destined to revolutionize farming methods.

Without his request upon the demand of the President himself, he was recently appointed Division Internal Revenue Deputy Collector for the district of South Carolina.

To the casual observer the above query is easy of solution, but it is at the same time engaging the profoundest attention and thought of the wisest statesmen, and the greatest philanthropists and humanitarians.

It is especially difficult to the black victims of present political environments.

With a proportionate share of all the elements of strength, intelligence, wealth, business and character—the Negro's attitude politically should, and would, be the same as that of the other members of society.

The writer presume that in dealing with the question at issue, he is territorially restricted to the ex-slaveholding portions of the United States, as the Negro's political status in the rest of the territorial limits of the country differs so little from that of other members of society.

As we see it, the mistake of the nineteenth century was the attempt to make the ex-slave a governor, before he had learned to be governed.

It seems that members of the race have not even yet learned that governments have their origin and growth in the necessities originating in the business and wealth of mankind, and have attained their greatest perfection where there is most business and wealth.

The naked, wandering savage has the lowest order of governments, because, in that state, he has need for no other, and could not support any higher.

It twenty intelligent and progressive men settle down in the midst of a hundred thousand such savages, they will immediately set about establishing business, accumulating wealth, and will very naturally organize in self-defense, and in time rule the ninety-nine thousand nine hundred and eighty others.

When just emerging from the shambles of two and a half centuries of slavery and inforced ignorance, penniless and without experience, it was a serious blunder to have placed the Negroes in such a position as to make them responsible for the government.

They were not only without the necessary intelligence and experience for its successful operation, but all the resources essential to its maintenance were in the hands of the minority class, and they were without the ability to compel any contribution for its support.

Placed upon the wrong track in the primary stages of emancipation, the race spent its energy in trying to control the kind of government that other people's business and resources made necessary, instead of trying to acquire the elements which would have made it welcome as part owners and rulers of that government.

Such conditions as resulted from the plans and policies pursued in the rehabilitation of civil government, after the War of the Rebellion, very naturally created great friction between the former master-class, possessing practically all the business, wealth and experience, though in the minority in many localities, and the former slave-class, without business, wealth and experience, on the other hand.

The master-class determined that in self defense it had to organize to repossess itself of governmental control, which was then in the hands of the slave-class, and withheld its support from the government, which the latter class was helpless to compel without the strong compelling arm of the Federal government, which the peaceful and considerate judgment of mankind would no longer sustain in maintaining such conditions.

Whereupon all over the South where the ex-slave class controlled merely, by reason of numbers, its power and influence failed, until to-day it finds itself absolutely shorn of power, even so much as is necessary to protect its property, family and life.

While it may be both unjust and unwise for a class in the condition of the former slave class to absolutely control a government made necessary by the resources of others, yet it is a cruel wrong to deprive it even of that influence that is absolutely necessary for the protection of family, property and life.

The paramount issue of Southern Negroes should not be political office, but the possession of such political influence as is necessary for the protection of their property and lives.

While it is desirable that as many Negroes as possible be provided for at the official pie-counter, the all important issue, in my humble judgment, is the equality of civil and political rights, without which we are in some measure worse off than slaves.

Deprived of that influence, which selfish interests always impel the master-class to give in defense of his property rights, the emancipated-class must possess a counter voting power somewhere within its own personality, which an untrammelled ballot alone affords.

Wisdom dictates that the Negro should speedily assume the task of producing such conditions as will give the needed influence.

This brings us to the question at issue, What should be the Negro's attitude politically?

In short, whatever attitude would prove most beneficial to him the Negro should adapt himself to it, until he shall have acquired sufficient strength along all lines to occupy and maintain an independent position, and shape the course of action to suit his fancy and convenience.

The difference in the treatment of colored men North and South is not half so much on account of a difference in the education and customs of the white people in the respective sections, as from the difference between the business, intellectual and political status of the members of the colored race itself in the two sections, coupled with the fact that the white man possessing practically all the business, wealth, culture and experience in the North, is divided into political camps, each controlling influence sufficient to protect each constituent member, however weak, while in the South he is united in one political party, which wholly destroys the colored man's influence and partially his own.

In fact, in the North, the combined wealth, culture and influence of the entire party with which he is allied overshadows and protects his rights, both public and private, and this brings us to the question at issue, What should be the Negro's attitude politically?

Upon this question there are as many opinions as there were colors in Joseph's coat.

Some advise that we solidly vote the Republican ticket.

Others that we should all vote the Democratic ticket; still another class advise us to divide our vote, and another class advise us not to vote at all.

There may be a grain of truth in each one of the above theories, but for all times and occasions each one is essentially false.

Under present environments it appears that we accomplish nothing by voting the Republican ticket, and gain no more by voting the Democratic ticket than we would by not voting at all.

To us the all important task is to find a way to make our ballot effective.

Though, throughout the South, a cruel and savage spirit seems triumphant, let the Negro take courage, for God is still ruling, and the very machinery that has been set in motion for his political destruction is hastening the day of his political regeneration.

The reduction of the Negro's vote to an insignificant fraction which does away with the possibility of absolute Negro control, is not an unmixed evil, as it entirely destroys the foundation of the scarecrow of Negro supremacy, which has been used as a great welding hammer to forge the white race, with so many divergent views and opinions, into one political mass, while the standards of wealth and intelligence raised as a bar to his progress are causing the Negro, as never before, to bestir himself in efforts to reach them.

Thus it is seen that his would-be enemy destroys the welding hammer at one fell blow; sets in motion irresistible currents that will inevitably find outlets in the broad ocean of the political freedom of both races, and arouse in the Negro, by the standards set up, the very desirable incentive to make preparation for the enjoyment of the destined freedom which the fates seem bent on bringing him.

Once more the wonderful hand of Providence is using man's malice and prejudice as His own marvelous highway of hope to bring good results from evil intentions.

Let the poor, desponding Negro, way down in the valley of degradation and oppression, continue to be industrious, honest and frugal, and pray, and God will again hitch His own all powerful steeds of hope to his chariot of despondency and oppression, and, riding over the mountains of man's folly, manifested in unjust rules and practices, in defiance of His will, will draw him upon the broad eminence of joy, gladness and hope.