upon the "Conservation of Race" separated
itself, in tone and coloring, from the ordinary effusions of literary
work in this land. It rose to the dignity of philosophical insight and
deep historical inference. He gave us, in a most lucid and original
method, and in a condensed form, the long settled conclusions of
Ethnologists and Anthropologists upon the question of Race.

This treatise moreover, furnished but a limited measure of our
indebtedness to his pen and brain. Only a brief time before our assembly
last year, Prof. Du Bois had given a large contribution to the
literature of the nation as well as to the genius of the race. At that
time he had published a work which will, without doubt, stand
permanently, as authority upon its special theme. "_The Suppression of
the Slave Trade_" is, without doubt, the one unique and special
authority upon that subject, in print. It is difficult to conceive the
possible creation of a similar work, so accurate and painstaking, so
full of research, so orderly in historical statement, so rational in its
conclusions. It is the simple truth, and at the same time the highest
praise, the statement of one Review, that "Prof. Du Bois has exhausted
his subject." This work is a step forward in the literature of the Race,
and a stimulant to studious and aspiring minds among us.

One further reference, that is, to the realm of Art.

The year '97 will henceforth be worthy of note in our history. As a
race, we have, this year, reached a high point in intellectual growth
and expression.

In poetry and painting, as well as in letters and thought, the Negro has
made, this year, a character.

On my return home in October, I met an eminent scientific gentleman; and
one of the first remarks he made to me was--"Well, Dr. Crummell, we
Americans have been well taken down in Paris, this year. Why," he said,
"the prize in painting was taken by a colored young man, a Mr. Tanner
from America. Do you know him?" The reference was to Mr. Tanner's
"Raising of Lazarus," a painting purchased by the French Government, for
the famous Luxembourg Gallery. This is an exceptional honor, rarely
bestowed upon any American Artist. Well may we all be proud of this,
and with this we may join the idea that Tanner, instead of having a hoe
in his hand, or digging in a trench, as the faddists on industrialism
would fain persuade us, has found his right place at the easel with
artists.

Not less distinguished in the worl