or in praise of its participants, all
these bereft of humanity and justice to the weak, fail to constitute an
enduring State, for eternal and immutable is the decree that
"righteousness exalteth a nation." Relative to this intermingling of
former foes, whatever our estimate of the results of human action may
be, we cannot unerringly divine impurity of motive; hence respect for
honest conviction must be the prelude to that unity of patriotism which
is ever the safeguard to the integrity of a nation.

The spirit that impelled contributions for the erection of the
Confederate monuments in different sections of our country from donors,
irrespective of former affiliation, has been benign in its influence. In
1897 the Hon J. N. Smithea instituted a movement for such a memorial in
Little Rock, Ark., stipulating that responses should be limited to one
dollar. Impressed that our race should not be indifferent to such an
appeal, I transmitted the following:

J. N. Smithea, Editor "Gazette,"
Little Rock, Ark.:

I notice your effort to erect a monument to the Confederate dead. A
third of a century has elapsed since the civil war. Conviction in the
minds of the participants on either side as to who was right and who was
wrong is as firmly fixed as the eternal hills. Given, that a view of
events leading up to that fraternal strife, the bravery of the one or
heroic conduct of the other from standpoints necessarily different will
never find mutual ground for justification, it seems the mission of
patriotism and national unity to give the hand of welcome to every
effort that will unite us in all that will promote the common glory of
the Republic. As one of the representatives of a race, especially in
this southland, I cheerfully subscribe my dollar to the fund, feeling
that the Negro should joyfully hail every effort to soften animosities
which are the outgrowth of a struggle in which, unwittingly, he was so
important a factor.

[Illustration: WILLIAM A. PLEDGER,

Chairman Republican State Central Committee of Georgia.

Born near Athens forty-five years ago--Has been a delegate to every
National Republican Convention for the last twenty-five years--A leader
trusted and tried.]

No one should be more anxious to cement the friendly and good offices of
our more-favored fellow-citizens, from whom we are receiving the largest
share of our educational and material assistance, so greatly needed to
bring us up to