one third of
the citizens of the Gulf states their interest in government, and a
stimulus to become taxpayers or to secure education, and thus be able
and willing to bear their share of the cost of education and government,
which now rests so heavily upon the white taxpayers of the South. The
more the Negro is stimulated and encouraged, the sooner will he be able
to bear a larger share of the burdens of the South. We have recently had
before us an example, in the case of Spain, of a government that left a
large portion of its citizens in ignorance, and neglected their highest
interests.

As I have said elsewhere: "There is no escape, through law of man or
God, from the inevitable.

'The laws of changeless justice bind
Oppressor with oppressed;
And close as sin and suffering joined
We march to fate abreast.'

Nearly sixteen millions of hands will aid you in pulling the load
upwards, or they will pull the load downwards against you. We shall
constitute one third and more of the ignorance and crime of the South,
or one third of its intelligence and progress; we shall contribute one
third to the business and industrial prosperity of the South, or we
shall prove a veritable body of death, stagnating, depressing, retarding
every effort to advance the body politic."

My own feeling is that the South will gradually reach the point where
it will see the wisdom and the justice of enacting an educational or
property qualification, or both, for voting, that shall be made to
apply honestly to both races. The industrial development of the Negro
in connection with education and Christian character will help to hasten
this end. When this is done, we shall have a foundation, in my opinion,
upon which to build a government that is honest, and that will be in a
high degree satisfactory to both races.

I do not suffer myself to take too optimistic a view of the conditions
in the South. The problem is a large and serious one, and will require
the patient help, sympathy, and advice of our most patriotic citizens,
North and South, for years to come. But I believe that if the principles
which I have tried to indicate are followed, a solution of the question
will come. So long as the Negro is permitted to get education, acquire
property, and secure employment, and is treated with respect in the
business world, as is now true in the greater part of the South, I
shall have the greatest faith in his working out his own de