ERRATA.On page 26, in Table of Members, for Baptists read 125,000 instead of 25,000. Making total members 254,076.

PETITIONS FOR PUBLICATION.CLAFLIN UNIVERSITY, ORANGEBURG, S. C., MAY 22nd, 1889.

To the Rt. Rev. B. W. Arnett, D.D.Dear Sir:-We, the undersigned, do most respectfully ask you to publish the Annual Address delivered by you before the Faculty and Students of Claflin University this day, believing as we do that it will do much good. Signed as follows:

Rev. I.S. Lee, Pastor Mt. Zion A. M. E. Church, Charleston, S. C.Rev. M.B. Salter, D.D., Pastor Morris Brown A. M. E. Church, Charleston.Rev. S.H. Jefferson, Presiding Elder Sumter District A. M. E. Church.Rev. Abram Weston, Presiding Elder Columbia District A. M. E. Church.Rev. C. Pierce Nelson, Presiding Elder Orangeburg District A. M. E. Church.Rev. E.C. Brown, Presiding Elder Orangeburg District M. E. Church.Rev. R. Carroll, Secretary Baptist State Sunday School Association.Rev. J.H. Posey, Pastor Baptist Church, Orangeburg.Rev. D.T. McDaniel, Pastor Williams' Chapel A. M. E. Church, Orangeburg.Rev. A.G. Townsend, Prof. of Greek and Literature in Claflin University.Rev. R.S. Williams, Pastor C. M. E. Church, Columbia.Rev. C.M. Crosby, Pastor Bethel A. M. E. Church, Columbia.Rev. E.H. Coit, Pastor M. E. Church, Marion.Rev. C.C. Scott, Pastor M. E. Church, Spartanburg,Rev. E.M. Pinckney, Pastor M. E. Church, Yorkville.Rev. N.T. Bowen, Pastor M. E. Church, Sumter.Rev. F.Y. Dendy, Pastor Fort Motte Circuit A. M. E. Church.Rev. C.C. Jacobs, Pastor Midway M. E. Church.Rev. W. McWillie, Pastor M. E. Church, Edisto Fork.Rev. D.H. Johnson, Pastor St. Matthew's Station A. M. E. Church.Rev. J.R. Townsend, Pastor M. E. Church, Orangeburg.Hon. J.H. Fordham, Orangeburg.Rev. T.J. Jenkins, Pastor Branchville Circuit A. M. E. Church.W.M. Witmore, Esq, St. Matthews.F.R. Gates, Esq., Orangeburg.00054G. W. Robinson, Esq., St. Matthews.Rev. E.W. Adams, Pastor M.E. Church.Rev. J.S. Parker, Pastor Lewisville Circuit A. M. E. Church.Rev. A.J. Williams, Pastor St. Peter and St. Paul A. M. E. Church.Rev. I.W. C. Mintz, Pastor Good Hope Circuit A. M. E. Church.Rev. L. A. McCasland, Pastor Mt. Moriah Circuit A. M. E. Church.Rev. A. Isaacs, Pastor Live Oak Circuit A. M. E. Church.Rev. J.D. Barkesdale, Pastor Summerville A. M. E. Church.W. L. Burkley, Prof. of Latin and German in Claflin University.Rev. R. W. Sinkler, Pastor A. M. E. Church, Eutawville.Rev. S. S. Butler, Pastor M. E. Church, Summerville.

Orangeburg, May 22d, 1889. Rev. C. Pierce Nelson, Columbia, S. C.Dear Sir:--I most heartily commend the Address of Bishop B. W. Arnett, D.D., to the perusal of all interested in the progress of the Colored Race.

Yours truly,L. M. DUNTON.President Claflin University.No. 109 Taylor Street, Columbia, S. C., May 24, 1889. Revs. C. Pierce Nelson, I. S. Lee, and others,Reverend Sirs and Brothers:--Your request for the publication for the publication of my Address before the Faculty, Students and Friends of Claflin University, and the Claflin Agricultural College and Mechanical Institute, Orangeburg, S.C., May 22d, 1889, is at hand. After due consideration I cheerfully and willingly consent to its publication, if you think it will assist the work of elevating the race, and bringing about a better understanding between the races, who are one in origin, equal in responsibility, and one in destiny. The time has come when the leaders of both races should recognize the fact that we are here, and here to stay; and that success can only be accomplished by hastening the era of peace and good will between man and man, family and family, and race and race. And whatever I can contribute by words, thoughts or counsels will be done that we may enjoy the most sanguine hope of the fathers and the blessing of the age.

I am yours for God and the Race,BENJAMIN WILLIAM ARNETT.

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen:

Allow me to congratulate the President, members of the Faculty, and my fellow-countrymen, the citizens of the State of South Carolina, on what mine eyes have seen and what my ears have heard this day, and what my heart has felt during the exercises. This ought to be a proud day for Claflin, a proud day for the President and Faculty, a proud day for the students and graduates, a day long to be remembered by the friends of education and never to be forgotten by the men and women who participate in this historic commencement. It is more like a dream than a reality--a fancy than a fact. Am I in a fairy land or in South Carolina? Is this faith or sight? Hope or Fruition? The beginning or the close of the second century of our national organization?

Here we have the very best men in the State and nation working hand in hand, co-operating with each other, in training the young men and women of to-day for their future work. Every lover of manhood should be proud of this and take courage, and do more the coming years than in all the past. The State throws her arm around the children of to-day are the men of to-morrow, and our men will be what our boys are.

The class of 1889 will accept my hearty and cordial congratulations on the very able and satisfactory manner in which they have discharged the duties of the hour. We see the evidences of good training and apt scholarship. You start out to-day on the voyage of life with the benediction of this assembly and the good wishes of the friends of the cause of Christ, each hoping that each of you may safely sail over the turbulent waves and land the cargo and passengers into that harbor where waves and storms are unknown, and where no shipwrecks are on its strand.

One hundred years ago George Washington took the oath of office, kissed the holy Bible, had a prayer, and was inaugurated President of the infant Republic. He was "first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen." He was the President of a government whose corner stone was: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal and 00076endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." This announcement was something new and startling under the sun. Never before in all the march of years was such an announcement made to pilgrim man,"that to secure these rights governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of those governed." Hitherto it had come from kings and from above, now it is to come from below and from the people. The country was to be the "home of the brave and the land of the free."

The invitation was broad and included men of every nation, clime, and country.

We are compelled to marvel at the changes which have been wrought in the material and intellectual world since the beginning days of the nation. Then there were only 13 States, now there are 38. Then there were no organized Territories, now we have four of them waiting at the door to be admitted into the sisterhood of States. Then there were no railroads, now we have more than 250,000 miles. Then there was no telegraph system, now we can talk around the world. Then there was no telephone, now we can converse for a hundred and fifty miles and know each other's voice. Then we had no audiphone, now we can record the word and voice of a speaker and convey it around the world and he will be reported, and it will keep for a thousand years. There were no steamships plying from New York to London in seven days. No elevated railroads carrying its millions of human beings without losing a life. No cable cars being carried along by an invisible force. No inclined planes climbing up the hill-sides. No sewing machines in all the land, now they are in every home. No steel plows to turn up the virgin soil, now we have steel plows, sulky plows. The grain was cut by the sickle and cradle, now we have the reaper and self-binder, the steam threshing machine, the mower and cultivator. No postage stamps to lick, no spring beds to lie on, no washing machines, no patent ironing board and table, no patent baby carts, no carriages, and no swinging cribs. One hundred years ago there were no Negro preachers in the land save one or two local preachers; no elders, deacons or bishops. Not one colored school in all the land. But the most marvelous change in all the century is that which we witness here this day. The advancement in the past century has not been altogether mechanical. But the idea of individual liberty-- not the liberty of a class or clan or nation, but of the individual--is one of the ideas which belong to the western world and has grown with our government. May it continue its triumphant march until every man, woman and child shall enjoy 00087what the founders of our country intended--protection to person, property and reputation.

The announcement of the independence of the government of the western continent was received with joy by the oppressed in all lands, and many noble men and women from Holland, Ireland, Germany, France, England, Italy, Switzerland and Asia answered the call of freedom and came to partake of the blessings promised. On their arrival each desired to know his place in the social circle, in business, in church and in state. The uniform answer was, that your place will be determined by your industry, intelligence, courage, endurance and economy. By this standard each was assigned his place.

The Negroes who had participated in the conflict for independence desired to know his place, and received an answer from the majority of the family-- that you have no place. I have no place? Am I not a man and a brother? No, you have no place, you are a Negro. But if I am, the Declaration of Independence says that all men are created equal. That is true, but it does not say that all men are born free and equal. Then it means all white men, and not all Negroes. And thus began a question which has remained unsettled until this day.

Where is the Negro's place, in church, in society and in the state. Our ears are saluted from the east and west, north and south alike saying: I like a Negro in his place. But there are no two communities which agree as to his proper place. So they have been trying to fix him in first one place and then in another; but just as soon as public sentiment changed, or he saw an opportunity, he changed to such places as he thought his intelligence, industry, courage and endurance commanded.

The press of to-day is very much interested as to what will be done with the Negro. The grave statesmen are wrestling with the evils of Negro Suffrage. The politicians are trying to throw up a levee of public sentiment against the western emigration; another class are saying enlighten him and then he can have his place; while here and there you will find a man who says: "send him back to Africa, that's his place." Thus we see after a hundred years of government the Negro has not been accorded his place in the body politic. He has been honest, honorable and industrious in the time of peace; he has been patriotic and courageous in time of war; by his toil he has transformed the southland from a wilderness to a garden of flowers. He has watered the soil with his tears and 00098cemented the union with his blood, and after all of this he realizes that statesmen and churchmen are counciling together, as Pilate and Herod did of old, and the multitude are crying, crucify him! away with him! away him!

Within the past fifty years we have heard the cries emancipation and colonization, liberation and enfranchisement, contrabands and reconstruction, Negro supremacy and destruction, education and emigration; but the last is elimination and overboard from high places, but emigration comes from field and cabin in answer to the cry of overboard. But the colleges and schools of the land are saying educate the head, the heart and the hand, and then he will be qualified to fill any place. John F. Slater having a faith in the possibilities of the race lays on the altar a million dollars and sets in motion educational forces which will continue for an hundred generations.

Daniel A. Hand has laid another million on the altar of race elevation and education. Dr.Rust, like Moses of old, stands on Pisgah and views the "promised land," while Hartzell, Johnson and Haygood are flying over mountain and plain bearing the gospel of peace and good will to the ignorant and sinful; bidding them arise and shine, for the light of religion, morality and knowledge hath come, and come to stay as long as school house and college shall continue to send out such young men and women as go from this place bearing their parchment with honor and dignity, honoring their Alma Mater and blessing mankind.

Being sensible of the honor of your invitation to address the Faculty and Students on this occasion; I would have declined it with thanks but for the fact that I have had, and have now, an interest in the education and progress of the Negro race. I can account for my interest in them, when I remember that one of them was my nurse and my dearest friend. I grew up in a family of colored people and I know something of their habits, customs, hopes and fears, consequently can speak of that which I know, and testify to that which I have seen of them in their domestic and social life.

I congratulate myself that I have been invited to appear in behalf of the Negro, who has been charged by the grand jury of prejudice and mis-information, and has had an Ex-parte trial, and stands today before the bar of public opinion to receive his sentence. He has been accused by his enemies, and without the ordinary course in such cases he has been declared guilty. 00109He was been charged with ignorance, immorality, indifference, lack of capacity to learn, with a disposition to laziness, indolent, impudent, shiftlessness; and in fact it has been said that he is worse off in freedom than he was in slavery; that he is going backward instead of forward that he is on the downward road, instead of the upward. In fact freedom has been a curse to him, rather than a blessing. With these charges printed in the daily papers, with the question What are we going to do with the Negro? The Negro's case in Equity, in the Magazines. The future of the Negro, and Is the Negro dying out? all discussed by intelligent men and women of renown, statesmen and churchmen.

Our women have been charged with a lack of virtue and our daughters with a want of chastity, which we submit is not borne out either by observation or experience.

I stand here this day to enter a demurrer against the further proceedings in this case until he has had an opportunity of appearing before the bar and pleading to the indictment and preparing his answer.

And as one of the council in the case, I am here to aver that he pleads not guilty to one and all charges and counts alleged against him, as we shall now proceed to show.

1st. That the simplest rights of a prisoner have been denied him, these rights secured by common law and the constitution-to be tried by his peers. He has had no voice in the selection of a jury or the right of challenge. The Magazines have been closed against him, except in one case. The Newspapers in many cases have taken up the accusations against him, and allowed no reply.

Many of the pulpits have been silent and the doors of the churches have been closed against him. The school houses have closed their door, and colleges have denied him admission. But we thank God that the following church organizations are doing a grand work.:

1, Catholic. 2, Episcopalian. 3, Congregational. 4, Presbyterian. 5, Christian. 6, Methodist. 7, M.E. South.

What we are doing for ourselves: 1, A. M. E. Zion. 2, C. M. E. 3, M.E. Church. 4, Baptist. 5, A. M. E.

We propose to show that the charges that the Negro and the White man cannot live together on the American continent are not supported by the facts and the testimony. History, observation, experience, all testify to the contrary.

1st. Columbus discovered America in 1492. Nine years afterwards--in 1501--the first negroes were brought to this country by the patronage of the Spanish Court, sanctioned by Ferdinand and Isabella. They were landed in Hispaniola. They and their descendants have lived there from that day until this. There are more than eight millions to-day in Central, South America and the Isles of the West Indies. They are filling offices of trust, emolument and honor in church and state. Yet the balmy breeze that comes from the Southland is not laden with the cry, What shall we do with the Negro? But he is accorded the place his intelligence, industry, courage and endurance demands. But that is not all. We find that when the Negro was a slave there was no fear that they could not live together, as the following list of Negroes brought to this country will show:From 1501 to 1525,12,500. From 1525 to 1550,125,000. From 1550 to 1600,750,600. From 1600 to 1650,1,000,000. From 1650 to 1700,1,750,000. From 1700 to 1750,3,000,000. From 1750 to 1800,4,000,000. From 1800 to 1850,3,250,000. From 1850 to 1800,749,931.-----------Total in 350 years,14,637,431.This number represents 137 tribes in Africa.

History furnishes no record of any general apprehension that the two races could not live together as master and slave; and we know by observation and experience that many of the slaves were devoted to their master, and many of them in return were kind to their slaves. Yet we all know that in many cases it was otherwise. But to show by our position that it is possible for a large number of the two races to live together in peace. We cite you to the rise and progress of the Negro in the United States from 1620 to 1880.

In 1620 twenty Negroes were landed at Jamestown, Va. The same year there were 120 Whites landed at Plymouth, Mass. This is generally conceded to be the beginning of the two American civilizations-the Northern and the Southern. In 1715 there were 58,500 colored people in this country. In 1775-the year of the American Revolution-there were 501,102 colored persons reported in the country; the most of them were slaves, North and South.

The following is the census by decades, furnished by the National census:Years.Whites.Colored.1790. 3,929,214.757,363.1800. 5,294,390.1,001,463. 1810. 7,315,858.1,377,810.1820. 9,633,828.1,771,562. 1830.12,866,868.2,328,642. 1840.17,069,641.2,873,758. 1850.23,067,262.3,638,762. 1860.31,183,744.4,435,709. 1870.38,115,641.4,886,387. 1880.49,369,595.6,577,497.

The following will show the per centage increase of colored persons by decades from 1790:Year.Colored Per centage.1790. 757,208.-----1800.1,002,037.32.3.1810.1,379,808.37.5.1820.1,771,656.28.6.1830.2,328,642.31.5.1840.2,873,648.23.4.1850.3,638,803.21.6.1860.4,441,830.22.1.1870.4,880,009.9.9.1880.6,580,793.34.8.

Suppose that we increase as we did between 1870 and 1880, we would increase 2,237,469; or we would have a population in 1890 of 8,818,262. Or an increase of 2,645,478, in 1900 we would have 11,463,740.

The increase of the race from 1870 to 1880 was: For ten years, 1,401,808. For one year, 140,188. For one month, 11,682 1/3. For one day day, 289 2/3. For one hour, 16. Every fifteen minutes, 4. Every seven and a-half minutes, 2. Every three and one-fourth minutes, 1. Does this look like dying out?

We have a great nation to help govern. We who are citizens of this great republic are favored children, yet we are all the time complaining; but that is one of the inalienable privileges of an American to complain about his neighbor and government-always 001312crying for a change. But, with all of its faults, this is the best government for man on the face of the earth. God's sun shines on no better principle of government than we have. The foundations are built upon the immortal granite of the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man. But one will say that the Negro has a hard time. Well, that is true; but somebody has a harder time in some other country. It is so hard that they are coming to this country by the thousands every month of the year. Russia has her Siberia; England her Ireland. The papers are daily filled with the cry of poor Ireland, and her sons are in prison for pleading the cause of the poor and helpless; but not so in this land, where there is an increasing privilege of free speech and free press. Every fence has its bottom rail and its top rail. Every nation has its under man. Every society has a bottom, middle and top. In this country the Negro is the bottom rail. Now the question is not how he got there, nor is it a question of right, nor is it a question as to who shall be the top rail; but it is,How high shall the bottom rail be? The higher the bottom, the higher the top. So let us all go to work and strive to elevate the race morally, socially and intellectually.

There is consolation in the thought that each individual has something to say about the question, whether he will be one of the bottom rails all his life or not. The possibilities in this country are far superior to those of any of the European countries for young men. In the old world, the man who is born at the bottom of society has a hard time to break through the crustations of society and stand at the helm of government. There it is blood and precedents; but in this country we have the satisfaction of knowing that it is possible for a young man to rise to the highest office in the gift of the people. The general thought is abroad in the land that the Negro has the hardest time of any of the races; and they are having hard times now in some parts of the land. There are three persons in this land who have had, and are having hard times: the Negro, Chinaman and the Indian.

The Indian has been the object of the cruelties of the centuries, he has had his land taken away from him, he has made treaties which were violated before the ink was dry on the papers. He is watched, surrounded with soldiers, cheated by Claim Agents and is at the mercy of the agencies. I would rather be a Negro than an Indian. We are better off than they. It was said of us that we had no rights that a white man was bound to respect. The Indian has no right but to be killed, says the white man. Tribe after tribe has fallen before the white man's rifle, he has been pushed step by step toward 001413the Pacific, and he lingers on its strand waiting the setting sun of his tribe.

The next under the ban of this great Christian Nation is the Chinaman. The Missionaries are preaching to the Chinamen in China, and the Christians are killing them on the western border of the nation. The Chinaman is an outlaw, prohibited from landing in this country. The Chinaman is the Negro question on the golden coast. The Chinaman has not changed. He still wears his old clothes and eats the same kind of food which he ate when at home. He has the mark of Cain on him and has no lot in this land which is said to be for all nations. I would rather be a Negro than a Chinaman in the west. And, by the way, a majority of the white race would rather have the Negro as neighbors than to have the Indian or Chinaman. Now they will have to have one of us. Which? the Negro, Indian or Chinaman? But I again say, that I would rather be a Negro a thousand times than to be either an Indian or a Chinaman. Neither the Indian nor Chinaman have filled any office of trust, honor or emolument; they have not participated in the responsibilities of the government as has the Negro. We have had representatives and mis-representatives. He has been Governor and State officer. The country and municipal offices have felt his power, and he has superior advantages to either the Indian or Chinaman to-day. There is nothing to limit his location but sentiments and money; not so with the other is uncertain. For these and other reasons I would rather be a Negro than an Indian or a Chinaman. But what offices have the Indians filled? What Indian has ever pled the cause of his tribes in Congress as did the immortal Elliott and Cain of South Carolina. Has an Indian or Chinaman ever been elected to the United States Senate? Name the Indian or Chinaman that has ever worn the judicial ermine or filled the Executive Chair of State or Territory; not one says the record of a hundred years. The Negro is the only race which is keeping pace in the march of progress with the Anglo-Saxon. He accepts the Angl-Saxon language, social habits, dress, virtues and vices; adopts his religion and institutions, and participates in the duties and responsibilities of the government. The Indian who resisted the Anglo-Saxon civilization, is either wearing the dress of his fathers or is in the grave, while the Negro is dressed in Anglo-Saxon clothes and is one of the most troublesome factors in the government. The Indian and Chinee refused to attend our school of political economy, 001514consequently they have little or no part or lot in the blessings of our country; while the Negro is preparing to share the responsibilities and enjoy the blessings in this land, and then to become the teachers in domestic and political economy in the land of their fathers.

We now give you an outline of the people of the United States in 1880. Consider with care the following facts in relation to the country and its population:

Total population in the United States, 50,155,783.

Total population ten years of age and upward, 36,761,607.

Number of these ages who cannot read, 4,923,451; being 13.4 per cent.Number of these ages who cannot write, 6,239,958; being 17 per cent.

Number of white persons ten years of age and upwards, 32,160,400. Of these 3,019,080, or 9.4 per cent, cannot write.

Number of native white persons ten years of age and upward, 25,785,789. Of these 2,255,460, or 8.7 per cent., cannot write.

Number of foreign-born whites of same ages, 6,374,611. Of these 763,620, or 12 per cent., cannot write.

Number of colored persons ten years of age and upward, 4,601,207. Of these 3,220,878, or 70 per cent., cannot write.

Number of persons twenty-one years of age and over in the United States who cannot write, male and female, white 2,056, 463; colored, 1,147,900; total, 4,204,363.

Number of voters in the United States, about 10,000,000. Of these about 2,000,000, or one in five, cannot write his name. Our ignorant voters represent ten of our fifty millions of people.

In all the Southern and nearly all the Northern States, the illiterate voters hold the balance of power at every election.

Here is the sad picture seen in the South, as shown by the census of 1880:STATES.NEGROES TEN YEARS OF AGE AND UPWARD.Cannot Write.Enumerated.Number. Per cent. Alabama399,058321,68080.6 Arkansas137,971103,37375.0 Florida85,51360,42070.7 Georgia479,863391,48281.6 Kentucky190,223133,89570.4 Louisiana328,154259,42979.1 Mississippi425,397319,75475.2 Missouri104,39356,24453.9 North Carolina351,145271,94377.4 South Carolina394,750310,07178.5 Tennessee271,386194,49571.7 Texas255,265192,50075.4 Virginia428,450315,66073.7 West Virgina18,44610,13955.0 Delaware19,24511,06857.5 Maryland151,27890,17259.6------------------United States4,601,2073,22,87870.0

God calls for men and women to give of their money and prayers to aid in giving Christian education to these multitudes. What will you do? To assist the Church in her work of race elevation, to help her carry the light of our Christian civilization into the homes of the freedmen of the South, and also into the homes of the freemen of the North, and assist in the reconstruction that is now going on in the homes as well as in the lives of the leaders of the race, the church can and is doing a work that no other organization can do. So help us in this work.

Here are the facts given in the census of 1880. Iowa is added by way of contrast:STATES.WHITE PERSONS TEN YEARS OF AGE AND UPWARDCannot WriteEnumerated.Number.Per cent. Alabama452,72211,76724.7 Arkansas393,90598,54225.0 Florida99,13719,76319.9 Georgia563,977128,93422.9 Kentucky973,275214,49722.0 Louisiana320,91758,95118.4 Mississippi328,29653,41816.3 Missouri1,453,238152,51010.5 North Carolina608,806192,03221.6 South Carolina272,70659,77721.9 Tennessee790,744210,22727.3 Texas808,931123,91218.2 Virginia630,584114,69218.2 West Virginia410,14175,23718.3Delaware91,872 3,9884.3 Maryland544,08644,3168.1 Iowa1,174,06344,3373.8 ------------------United States32,160,4003,019,0089.4

More than half the illiteracy of the whole nation is in the South, who where are found a little more than one-fourth of the nation's white population.

The church never faced a graver responsibility than the work of giving Christian culture to the illiterate white millions of the South, and the A.M.E. Church is doing for the colored what the M.E. Church is doing for the whites in the North, and the M.E. Church is doing for her constituency.

There are in the Southern states about 12,000,000 of Whites and about 6,500,000 of Negroes.

In these States, with one-third of the nation's population, are found nearly three-fourths of the nation's illiterates.

Thirty per cent. of the white minors, from 10 to 21, and 70 per cent. of the Negroes of the same ages are illiterates in the South.

The illiterate voters in the South, where 157 of the 201 electoral votes necessary to elect a President are cast, number 1,354,974.

Here is the startling record of twelve States as to their voting population:States.VotingVotes castilliteratepopulationin 1880vote Alabama249,884151,507132,526 Arkansas182,977106,22959,340 Florida61,697 51,61825,319 Georgia321,438155,651159,506 Kentucky376,221264,304107,730 Louisiana216,787 97,201106,801 Mississippi238,532117,078117,955 N. Carolina294,750241,218145,294 S. Carolina205,789170,956157,195 Tennessee330,305247,827122,836 Texas380,376241,47893,472 Virginia334,505212,135142,622

The men who cannot read are the mercy of a few men who are interested in self more than in good government. The country is the sufferer; for the effect of one ballot is felt to the utmost extremity of the body politic; it touches every industry and trade, it accelerates or retards the wheels of commerce, and fills the avenues of trade with life and general activity such as is found in no other country.

How shall we assist in removing this burden from the body politic

1. By encouraging the institution that are manned controlled by colored men and women.

2. By fostering the institutions that are manned by the friends of the race in the South.

3. By encouraging individual efforts among the young and raising generation, by precept and by example. In this way much good can be done, and heroes can be found for the conquest of foes, ignorance and sin.

Total twenty-one years and upward2,937,235Total twenty-one years, cannot write2,147,900Percentage73.1 Total males enumerated1,487,344 Total unable to write1,022,151Per centage68.7 Colored females of twenty-one and upward1,449,891 Total enumerated unable to write1,125,749 Per centage76.6 The Deaf Mutes--1880:White mutes30,661Colored mutes3,217Inmates of Alms Houses--1880:Whites61,310Colored5,757Prisoners, January 1st, 1880:Whites42,204Colored16,961In The Reform Institutions:Whites10,102Colored1,238In Penitentiary--1880:Whites22,923Colored7,700Total30,623Reform Farm Schools, etc.:Whites7,111Colored753Total7,864

You will find that in the intermediate prisons, the number of colored persons grows less, not because they alone commit the 002019higher grades of crime, but they receive the higher sentence for the smaller crimes. Thus you see we only have 753 out of 7,864. To these institutions they send small boys; but, as a general thing, colored boys have to go to the penitentiary for the same offense that a white boy goes to the reform farm. But things are changed. Justice, long delayed, is at last hearing the cry of her oppressed child, and is demanding in church and state that justice shall be given to all without regard to race or color.

I visited the penitentiary at Columbia some time ago; my heart ached as I saw so many young men who were serving out their terms,for crimes committed, or for crimes charged and convicted by a jury. Now there may be some cases, and I have no doubt that there are many who are innocent, but there are too many convicts in proportion to our numbers. It will not do to charge it all to prejudice. The moral and religious teachers must organize Young Men's Christian Associations. If others have to have them to save their boys, how much more do we need them to save our boys?

Our mothers and sisters must put themselves in harmony with the Women's Christian Temperance Union, who are ready to join hands with them to work for God and home and country. Sound it from the fireside, from the pulpit, school house and social organizations, so that all may hear, "that the wages of sin is death," in this and in the world to come.

One of the charges against the Negro is that he is doing nothing for himself, that he is not contributing to the wealth of the state or nation, and that he loves ignorance better than he does education, and that he has not learned in twenty-five years of freedom the elementary principles of self-help, self-reliance, self-support, self-education or self-protection. I submit that it is impossible to tell what is going on in a building by standing on the outside and listening to the noise of the machinery; nor can we get an extended view of a landscape, nor which our horizon by standing in a valley. So it is with the race question; we cannot tell what is going on within the homes of our people except by visiting them at the social gathering, at the marriage altars and at the grave-yard. If I could, I would get the ear of every man, woman and child in the land. I would say to the fathers and mothers, the night is far spent, the day is at hand; in the name of the progressive spirit of the age take off your night-clothes of slavery and superstition and put on the garment of freedom, intelligence and refinement and go into the fields of human activities, assist in cultivating land, fostering institutions and 002120protecting the interests of all by encouraging the cause of religion, education and morality.

I would stand at the cradle of every colored boy and girl in the land and bid them to awake from their slumber, put on their clothes and shoes, prepare their toilet, eat an early breakfast, throw their satchel of books on their shoulders and hasten to the school house and remain until they have secured a parchment of graduation. Again I would say to them take the spelling book a a constant companion, until they could speak the English Language with ease, elegance, energy and variety. Study the Holy Bible, its history, authenticity, philosophy, poetry, and institutions; study the mineral, vegetable and animal kingdoms; study the heavens above and below; study the man, physically, morally, intellectually, and spiritually, study, self morning, noon night.

The following will show what the colored people are doing for themselves towards removing the illiteracy of the nation:1886-'87--Normal Schools16.Teachers119.Pupils1,771.Others561.Money appropriated 1886, $62,355. Value of property, $992,350. Schools for Secondary Education.Number of Schools 31."" Teachers247.""Pupils4,663.""Normal Schools1,552.""in Scientific College301." " "Business Department 39.Value of property, $843,100.College of Arts and Sciences.Number of schools11." " " Instructors79." " " Classical Students313." " "Scientific" 8." " " Normal " 601.Value of property, $1,443,000.Summary of Students in Higher Studies:Total in Normal3,924."Secondary5,263." Collegiate 637.------"" All Departments 190,824.

Professional Schools.School of Science2.Instructors29.In Scientific course66." Preparatory774.Value of property of the class of schools, $50,000.Theological Schools.Number of Schools16."" Pupils933."" Instruct 77.Value of property, $489,500.Law SchoolsNumber of Schools4.""Professors16.""Students81.Value of property, $40,000.

There were in the Dumb Asylum 255 persons and in the Blind Asylum 91; in the institute for the feeble minded 36, and the Reform Farms 1 699. This gives us some idea of the work that is going on within the race lines for the elevation of the citizens and completely refutes the charge, that we are going downward.

The Following is a Summary of Colored Schools, 1886-'87:Schools Teachers PupilsNo. Public Schools,19,550.20,000.1,118,556. "Normal "161191,771. "Secondary Instruction,31.2476,555."Colleges Arts and Science,12.79.922. "Schools of Science,2.29840""School "Theology,16.77.933. """Law,4.16.91. """Medicine,3.48.165. """Deaf and Dumb,255. """Blind,91. """Feeble Minded,136. """Reform Farms,1,699.Total,19,633.20,915.1,131,964.

One of the finest schools in the country are those of Savannah, Ga. We give the figures for the City and County of Chatham. There 002322are 77 white schools, 66 teachers, 2,950 pupils. There are 22 colored schools, 40 teachers, 2,576 pupils. We are old enough to remember when there were no teachers and schools. Then we remember when the teachers in the schools were Northerners; but now the largest part of these are the young men and women who have been trained since the war and are now at their life's work. Does that look like a failure.

Believing as I do that God intends that the black hand of the Negro and the white hand of the Anglo-Saxon are to finish, support and defend the temple of American liberty and justice, as they have done in the past one hundred years; I also firmly believe that the black hand is to bear aloft the ensign of our civilization in Africa, our fatherland, which will not be redeemed until we furnish the redeemers; for no race can be redeemed without. Some of our sons and our daughters will return with the Bible in one hand, the just laws of a redeemed republic in the other, having the English language on their tongues, they will become the bow of hope and promise to the land where science was born, where history was cradled, where human government was first organized, where Moses was educated in all the learning of Egypt, and the son of God found a refuge in his childhood and a cross-bearer on his way to Calvary. In the brilliant and dazzling light of our enlightenment and refinement of ten thousand times ten thousand native young men and women will arise from the tombs of superstition and light their torches of ambition and emulation, became the pioneer light-bearers of the redemption of the race; each bearing the burdens and responsibilities of the hour, having faith in God and in the ability and possibility of the race. They will unite with the darker races of the world in singing Francis Harper's Midnight Song:"Yes, Ethiopia yet shall stretchHer bleeding hands abroad;Her crying agony has reachedThe burning throne of God.Redeemed from dust and free from chainsHer sons shall lift their eyes;From cloud capped hills and verdant plainsShall shouts of triumph rise.

What is South Carolina doing for education? Is she doing anything for the training of the colored boys and girls? We find at 002423the last census there were in the State a population as follows, to wit: Males,490,408;Females, 505,169; Total,995,577. Natives, 98,891;Foreign,7,686.Whites, 391,105;Colored, 604,332.Chinese,9;Indians,131.

There were, as will be seen from report of last census, 213,227 more colored persons than whites.The scholastic population of South Carolina in 1887 was:Native White Males,51,311.Foreign ""129; Total Whites Males, 51,440.Native "" Females, 49,617.Foreign ""132; Total White Females 49,749.Grand Total101,189.

Who were entitled to attend the schools; but how many of these attended may be seen by the enrollment and the average attendance. The number enrolled in 1886-'87, were: White males, 47,609; females, 42,491; or 90/100 who were enrolled; or 11,089 less than the population. But we will now examine the average attendance: Males, white, 34,125; females, white, 31,357; which gives us 13,484 boys and 11,134 girls out of school every day, or a total at home or on the way of 24,618.

We now ask you to look at the colored children of the State of school age: Colored males, 90,897; colored females, 89,578; total, 180,495 boys and girls who ought to be trained for the State. How many had their names upon the register of the school master 1887-'88? Colored males, 50,873; females, 52,461; total, 103,334; which is 13,334 more than is enrolled in the white schools, and 77,161 less than the number that were entitled to be in the school room. Now the question is, Where are the 77,161 boys and girls who are not on the roll? Are they at work, or are they going to the school of crime?

But we will now see how those who are enrolled attend. It is the duty of ministers, fathers and mothers to look after these. The average attendance of colored males in 1887 was 36,376, in the enrollment of 50,873; or we have 14,497 at home every day. There is no need of that. But let us look at the girls. The average attendance is 37,699, out of 52,461 on the roll; where are the 14,762 who are absent every day? What are they doing? At home, at work, or are they on the road to ruin? Which? Thus you see that of the number enrolled there are 29,259 who are 002524absent. Of the school population of colored youths between the ages of 6 and 16, we have 77,161 not enrolled.

One of the most gratifying things I find in the statistics of the State of South Carolina is, that, we have 1,050 young men who have studied and passed their examination before the various County Boards, in the school house, teaching our own children. Then there are 542 young women of the race who have likewise passed creditable examinations, and are now in the school house training the young mind to grow. Thus we have a total of 1,592 teachers belonging to the race in the State of South Carolina, and most of them were born, reared and educated in this State.

There are 2,611 white teachers in the State of South Carolina; making a grand total of teachers in the State of South Carolina of 4,203.

There are 3,922 public schools in this State, with 4,203 teachers instructing 281,684 pupils, at a cost to the State of $381,837.31. The average monthly salary for male teachers is $26.68. We have 1,050 males; or we get at the rate of $28,014 per month for teaching our own children. We have 542 young women. The average salary for female teachers is $23.80 per month, which would give us $12,899.60 per month; or a total of $40,913 per month. Allowing an average of five months for the public school term, this would give to our male teachers $140,070, and to our female teachers $64,498; or a grand total for the school term paid to colored teachers in the State of South Carolina, of $205,568.

Is not this something to be thankful to God for, and to be grateful to our friends for? When there are men living who were driven out of this State because they taught a private school for colored children in the city of Charleston. The teacher and some of the pupils are living to-day in that city. Bishop Daniel A. Payne, D.D., LL.D., was that teacher, and the mother of Rev. R.E. Wall the pupil.

The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad, and good men and good women both North and South will do more for us, if we but properly use the advantages that we now enjoy. But we may expect to meet with opposition, for all are not in favor of our education, nor even among themselves; but patience, perseverance and pluck will overcome all obstacles.

I have heard some complaints about school houses, I find there are 2,700 school buildings, valued at $403,969.14; 757 of these are of log, 1,973 frame, 29 are of brick, and 1 stone. 1604 are said to be in good condition, 726 in a fair condition, 430 were in bad condition.

But the officers during the year 1887 built 86 school houses, at a cost of $31,486.22, which is very encouraging, and at that rate in the period of four years would replace all of those now reported bad with good, habitable and comfortable buildings.

What is now needed is a longer term, so that every child of school age may enjoy all the blessings of a common school education; and it thus becomes the imperative duty of the school authorities to levy a tax sufficient to enable the public school term to continue five months at least, or from the 1st November to the 1st April of each year, and if found insufficient to carry on the schools for the period stated, we would advise a strict enforcement of the poll tax law; and any one entitled to pay a poll tax and failing or refusing to do so, ought not to be allowed to vote, believing as I do that universal suffrage demands universal education.

And the man who cannot read his Bible or his ballot is dependent on the preacher and politician for his knowledge and information, and what he does is only by faith.

Again, a blind man is not a safe guide, neither is he who cannot read the sign-boards at the cross-roads; for sense-knowledge is as essential as self-knowledge to the safety and happiness of man. The man who can read his Bible on Sunday to find his way to heaven, and can read his newspaper every morning to find out the progress of the world, and then can read his ballot on election day, has the elements of a safe American Citizen and is worthy to sit on the throne of the Republic; but if he can read neither his Bible nor ballot he is a dangerous force in the body politic and ought to be changed as soon as possible, under the influence of a common education.

The time is on its way, when the general rule will obtain in this country, that the man of lawful age who cannot read his ballot cannot vote for his fellow-men. That would not be right at this time, under all the circumstances, but there should be a date far enough ahead, so that the present and rising generation would have time to work up to it, and then let the man, be he white or black, who could not read his ballot, be denied the privilege to vote; but we must give the old men a chance, they had a hard time and deserve well at the hands of the present generation. Let us stand by the old man, who make the boys study. And if it be known that the man who could not read could not vote, the spelling-book would be in demand; for there would be school houses everywhere, and every man would be his own teacher.

Brains and money will rule this country, and those who have neither cannot expect to rule either in church or state. Let us get 002726brains, intelligent brains, cultivated brains, sanctified brains, and then with money in our pockets we may expect to assist in ruling. Brains will! brains shall! brains can! and brains must! rule in state and national affairs. It will not matter whether it is in an ebon or an alabaster cranium. The law is universal and knows no color, and is as fixed as the stars in heaven.

The moral and religious forces in South Carolina in 1889:DENOMINATIONS.Ordained Ministers.Members.Churches. Valuation. C.M.E. Church73,50018$31,000 A.M.E. Zion Church 806,7179075,864 M.E. Church12942,669329320,751 Congregational1 500125,000 Presbyterial727,4638190,000 Episcopalian62,6501050,000 A.M.E. Church34965,378505408,000 Baptist45025,000700300,000--------- ------------Total,...1,127154,076 1,7341,250,615 Sunday Schools in South Carolina.DENOMINATIONS.No. Schools.TeachersPupils.and officers1887--C.M.E. Church.38 1702,181 Minutes 1887. 1887--A.M.E.Z.120 5535,783 " " Church....1888--M.E. Church3632,06523,169 " " 1888--Congregational225325 G.C. Rowe. 1888--Presbyterian68 2404,950 Ru. Johnson. 1888--A.M.E.5352,82234,305 Minutes 1889. Church1888-Episcopalian10501,200 Estimated. 1889-Baptist5002,50050,000 Dr. Durham.--------------- -----------Total1,6368,431 121,813

The following is the work that I have charge of. What a responsibility! I call upon the good men of every denomination to assist in the work of race elevation.

In South Carolina the A.M.E. Church has the following array of workers:Ministers on the Conference Rolls349.Local Preachers and Exhorters1,146.Class Leaders3,989.Stewards2,448.Stewardesses2,525.Trustees2,873.Members65,578.A.M.E. population in the State is196,734.Sunday Schools535.Teachers and Officers2,822.Pupils34,305.Church Buildings505.Value of Church Buildings, &c$408,550.Total money raised for all S.C. Conferences...$50,362 01."""for Columbia Conference... $66,435 31.------------""" In the State$116,797 32.Allen University had 231 pupils during the year.The following is a significant fact:

"The debater's medal was contested for by six members. Each debate was at least twenty-five minutes in length, and upon this occasion they were all well prepared, and delivered with effect. The subject under discussion was, 'Would it be beneficial for South Carolina to educate the Negro?' The affirmative of this question was supported by three of the contestants, Messrs. D.H. Hanckel, of Charleston, L.A. Wittkowsky, of Kershaw, and R. Bradley, of Kershaw; while the negative was argued by Messrs. E.S. Douglass, W.W. Hentz, and J.B. McLauchlin.

"The committee on the debate, composed of Messrs, Jno. C. Haskell, M.L. Bonham, Jr., John T. Sloan, Jr., W.H. Lyles, and Jno. P. Thomas, favor of Mr. Legriel A. Wittkowsky, of Camden. This decision was received with applause. President Coggeshall, after thanking his audience, dismissed the society. The medals will be delivered to the successful contestants in June."-- Charleston News and Courier.

This took place at the State University of South Carolina, Columbia. When it is known that it is possible for a young man to win the oratorical laurel while defending the Negro's claim for education, we may hope for others to take up his cause, as did these young men. And with such judges as were present on this occasion we may hope for better things. It will be better further on. Hope on my brothers, hope on!

I will not condemn the Christian Church in relation to its duty, to the education and the Christianization of all the race, because of the great work that has been accomplished in this and foreign lands; but there are some questions that a part of the Christian Church will have to answer, if not in time then at the bar of the Infinite. They will have to reconcile their Theology and their practical ethics; for they have told us by their theology that there was but one Adam and one Eve, one Garden of Eden, one tree of good or evil, one tree of life, one Serpent, one Fall, one banishment, one angel with a flaming sword guarding the way to the tree of life, and one promise, "that the seed of the woman should bruise the Serpent's head"--not the seed of a white woman nor the seed of a black woman, but "the seed of the woman"-and one Ark, and one Noah with three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth; and those who would deny the unity of the races how they will get around the Ark I can't tell. They will have to open a new fountain in the house of David, or preach the doctrine of universal salvation for universal repentance. Even then they will have to get a new edition of the Ten Commandments. They will have to hang out a new Star of Bethlehem, and then send for a new angelic choir to chant a new nativity song for the black man.

I do not wonder at the Infidel's demanding to know, Why it is that the Church has so much divine power in foreign lands and so little at home? How is it that it can tear down the century-crowned walls of caste in India, and build them up in America and put broken bottles and barbed wire on top? Why is it that the Rose of Sharon will bloom mid the Arctic snows and arid plains of Africa, but will not prosper in the land where spring, summer and fall banish winter, and sub-tropical flowers and fruits are enjoyed all the year? Why is it that the Lily of the Valley will not grow in the gardens of the humble and poor in America, yet it blooms in the dykes of Holland, the bogs of Ireland, the mountains of Switzerland, the plains of Italy, the jungles of Africa, the mountains of Asia, and within the walls of China? Is it in the plant, the climate, the soil or the cultivation? which is it? is it universal or ethnic?

I think one of the reasons is, that our churches have more dynamite in them than they have of the gospel of "peace and good will to-ward men." Another is, that the churches are too far from the court house and the avenues are limited to a few in some places. The remedy is that we must build our court houses on Mount Sinai and our churches on the Rock of Ages--on Mount Calvary--our school 003029houses and colleges on Mars Hill, with the fear of God in one, the love of Christ in the other, and with St. Paul as teacher of natural and Christian ethics, the problem of human duty will be solved, and over every home, church, school house, college and state will hang the bow of hope, promise, protection, prosperity and peace, and good will from man to man and from God to man. We are thankful to Almighty God for the devoted bands of men and women who left their home, family, friends, and came with the spirit of the humble Nazarene, entered into the cabins, took the new made freeman by the hand, illumined the home with hope, and bid mother and child to take off the garment of the night and helped them make the new garment for the day of freedom. We have no Westminster Abbey wherein to place the heroes of freedom and the saints of goodness, but the sacred temple of memory shall preserve the names of the men and women who went forth sowing precious seed by the side of all waters.

I have not lost faith in my country or its institutions. My faith is strong and stable in the integrity and patriotism of the majority of those who are to govern this land; and I have still an abiding trust in the religion of Jesus Christ, and firmly believe that the same power which has triumphed in Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia will succeed in our beloved land, and finally bring men and women to see their duty to each other and compel the pulpit and pews to form a holy alliance against sin and caste, and then every minister and layman will be able to stand at the altar of our holy religion and look the followers of Confucius, Budda, Brahma and Mohammed in the face; and the brother in black and the brother in white will stand hand in hand beneath the shadow of the Cross, saying: God is our Father, Christ is our Redeemer, and man is our brother. Kneeling at the sacramental altar, partaking of the holy eucharist, which will give strength to body, soul and mind, the church militant will begin the Mellenium song in every land, which shall be sung by ten thousand tongues.

Shall we encourage our young men to be farmers and mechanics? Yes, a thousand times yes, encourage them to become producers as well as consumers, to be owners and tillers of the soil as well as cultivators and rentors; teach them that it is just as honorable to be an honest farmer as to be a lawyer, teacher or a preacher, and the royal road to success and happiness is built on honest labor, either of muscle or brain. The man that would be a success must labor, and there is no place where a man can do more for himself 003130and his fellows, than by raising the necessaries of life and working to build up the industries of the state. That it is honorable to be a farmer, is on account of the intimate relation between the city and the country, one depends upon the other, they cannot live without communicating with each other, there is always a road open, or a path between them, the city and the country; generally it is the best road. The turnpike and the plank road always lead to the country. Every city, town or village has two roads, one leads to the country, and the other to the graveyard. Both of them are a necessity. From the one we secure the demands of life, and from the other the demands of death--the end of life. It is not enough to be a farmer; but the age demands scientific farmers, who know how to utilize wood ashes, leaves, &c., which nature has provided in abundance as fertilizers.

I congratulate the students and friends in having such an opportunity of receiving instructions from so learned a faculty, and the State of South Carolina for making an annual appropriation to so laudable and paise-worthy a cause; good and abundant corps is the basis of the commercial wealth of the country.

Our young men should be encouraged to become skilled mechanics, master of trades. A man with brains in his hand is worth a great deal more than one with brains only in his head. The hand is the emblem of industry and art. With the hand we cut down the trees; with the hand we hold the plow; with the hand we sow the seed that is to bring forth thirty, sixth and a hundred fold; with the hand we hold the pen that records the biographics of men and the histories of nation; with the hand we hold the sword, the emblem of protection; with the hand we deposit our ballot, "which like snow-flakes on the sod executes the freeman's will, as the lightning executes the will of God;" with the hand--the black hand and white hand--we must work for God and humanity; with the united hands we must feed the hungry, cloth the naked, lift up the fallen, and bear aloft the torch of civilization, and hold with a firm grasp the lamp of Christianity, and with steady steps steps march onward, upward and heavenward.

We must encourage our young women to live in the country, and teach them that it is just as honorable to marry a young man who knows how to work on the farm as it is to marry one who knows how to press brick in the city; that it is just as honorable to milk your cow on your farm in the country as to play the piano in a man's hired house in the city; that virtue and vice are not the same now, and never will be; that virtue in calico is better than vice in silk. We must tell our daughters that the elements of true womanhood 003231are intelligence, industry and virtue, and when these three are found, the possessor is worthy to be the queen of an American home.

Why do you think that emigration is one of the elements of a successful solution of the Negro problem in the South?

1st. Because of the former relation of the master and the slave. As long as the master and slave live in the same country they will, when they meet each other, by the law of association of ideas, think of how it was once with them. The master will remember he once owned Jim, and commanded and he obeyed; and Jim will remember that he once obeyed his master, but now he is free and independent, and will want to show his authority. And the master will feel that Jim ought to obey him now as in former years; so on the one hand the association is the mother of arrogance--pity is contempt--on the side of the master; and in many cases it produces servility on the part of the former slave, yet in others it breeds impudence. And the former master and the citizen of to day will meet slave Jim and free Jim--one by sight and the other by association--at one and the same time; and then a contest will begin as to who shall rule,--in the one case the master or citizen, in the other the free or slave Jim. In the one case we will have arrogance, in the other servility. Which shall it be? We cannot make men equal by law.

To illustrate: I was sitting in Nashville, Tenn., by the side of a gentleman. He said, "Doctor, do you see that boy?" "Yes," I replied. "That boy belonged to my father, and was a capital boy." Now, the person whom he called a boy was a man of about sixty; his head was white with age, his face bore the mark of intelligence, but he was a boy and I was Doctor. Why was this difference manifested? On the ground that there were but two of us that met; but with them--the former slave and master--there were four: the slave and freeman, the master and citizen.

Second reason is, that change of location is essential to prosperity. This is proven by the history of the settlement of the Western territory, and its marvelous growth in all that make a people good, useful and great. That this law is just as applicable to the colored man as it is to the white. And every man who excepts to enjoy the fruit of this law must obey it. Where a man has been reared he will know his friends. He feels that he shall not want, that the friends of his youth, or his family, will not allow him to suffer, and oftentimes become his protection; therefore he will make his money and spend it without any regard to the future, knowing that if he 003332needs or wants aid he can get it from his early friends or connection by consanguinity or affinity. Thus, instead of saving he will spend it as fast--and sometimes faster--than he can make it, and for things that are of no earthly use to either him or his family. Now if he emigrates to a country where he is under no obligation to any one, and no one is under obligation to him, he will make preparation for sickness, he will save for a rainy day and not depend upon his former friends. Then he will be independent; for no man is independent with another man's bread in his mouth, clothes on his back or shoes on his feet.

The third reason is, because when a man lives in a community he first grows in his place, or developes in it, and it requires an extra amount of individuality to rise above ones-self. Some will remember you as a boy. Some will remember you favorably, others unfavorably; as they have known you in former years, but not as you are now at maturity. Some will remember your parentage, or family relation. Your family may have been poor or ignorant, you will have all of the family sins to carry. You will have to live in the old homestead, and many will say that you ought to stay there. But when you go into a new community you will pass for what you are worth to that community in intelligence, industry and usefulness, and not what you was when a boy or young man. But what is he worth now? and what can he do now? what is his value to us? is the standard of measurement. We find that one of the elements of success of this country is in the emigrative spirit of the people. They are all moving West and South, changing places and growing up with the place. We must move or die. We must be re-planted, we cannot mature in a hot-house. If you want to have fully developed fruit, you have to move them out of the nursery and plant them in the orchard, where they will have plenty of room, light and heat. So we must go and occupy the virgin soil of the West, we must go and stake off our claim, cut down the trees, burn the brush, dig up the stumps, make the fence to protect it, and then wait for the harvest which will follow as a reward for work, and faith in the ground and God.

Get up and Go? Go, take your family with you. Go as one of the pioneer's and you will have a pioneers reward. It will not affect the farming interest of the State to have some of the labor go out. It will give those that remain more work and better wages. It will help those that remain to take better care of their families, to save money, and to be more comfortable while living; for where there is one hoe or shovel that wants a hand to work it, and twenty hands are sent out after it, one that gets it will only represent 003433one-twentieth of the supply, and he will only receive one-twentieth of the amount he would have received if his was the only hand sent out after it.

The Eastern States, Massachusets, Connecticut, settled Ohio in 1787. Ohio in turn settled Indiana and Illinois. And so has been the march of emigration, until they in turn are now supplying the territories with the free sons of the West.

We have electrical plants where the currents of power are set in motion and by skillful arrangement of wire and connection it is sent into houses, stores, hotels, churches, saloons, court houses, on the street corner to light up the highway and to illuminate the path of man, to tie the shadow in the delicate plate of the photographer, and to send the wheels of the mills and shop and factory on their mission of power to do the bidding of the mechanic and artizan. So it is with the moral, religious and educational forces. Every man is a common centre from which may irradiate light, heat and power. touching his fellow-men and communicating with family and family, with race and race, and with nation and nation; and thus binding all to one common altar, and linking all in one chain of human effort for man's destiny, glory and happiness. The common centre where the currents of human sentiments are moulded is the consecrated home; developed in the school-house and college; spread abroad through the influence of the printing press; and sanctified in the church of the living God.

We have no objection to being criticised by our fellow-men, but what we do object to is the way in which they judge us. We wish to be judged as others are judged, individually and not as a class or race. We think it time to treat us fair in this matter. Give us credit for possessing the common stock of the manly virtues and the Christian graces just as they do other men; then when one fails charge it up to that one and not to the seven millions, as is very often the case. When one Negro steals or fights or murders, charge it to that individual, and do not say, if not in words by action, that there have been seven million murders or thefts, when, in fact, there was only one. It is humiliating in the extreme to our personal pride to be charged with the crimes of the whole race. Therefore in the name of our sons and our daughters we appeal to the pulpit, press and pew to draw a distinction in our case, as they do in all others; let the individual bear the infamy of his crime and the reward of his achievements. Judge us not from the curbstone or from hearsay testimony. When you look for a sample of the rising generation, 003534do not go to a saloon, jail or a penitentiary to look for him, but go to our day school, or colleges and Sunday schools, and there you will find good, intelligent and useful boys, obeying their moral and religious instructors. If one wishes to form a correct idea of what we are doing towards the elevation of the race he must visit the reconstructed homes of the freedmen north and south and examine its appointments, its furniture, books, pictures, embellished walls and instruments of music, hear the evening song and prayer by father for the absent ones at Claflin or Allen. There is a wonderful change taking place in the domestic life of our families. I have visited the homes of our people in the east and in the west, in the north and in the south and can testify to that which I have seen of their material, intellectual and social development and progress.

Some persons are afraid to do justice to us, for fear that they will assist in Mexicanizing the country, or what they mean is Africanizing it; that is the Negro will rule instead of the white man. My friend no one need lose any sleep about that.

In the first place the Mexicans are the product of the old Spaniards and the children of Montezumas. Now there are no Spaniards, nor children of the Mexican Indians, therefore there can be no such amalgamation. There is no danger of the races mixing, to the extent of changing our civilization; the Negro loves our civilization too well to do away with it, and then he could not if he would, and he would not if he could, for if he did he would do away with himself, and that is an impossibility. For he adopts whatever the civilization adopts, whether good or bad. Whatever others do he does. He is unlike the Indian or the Chinaman. The Indian has his blanket and paint on to-day, the Chinee has his dress and his hair. The Negro has everything the white man has, coat, pants, everything; where one goes the other goes, whether to the church or the penitentiary. It would be impossible for the country to go back, whether under black or white men, I mean good, intelligent and useful men, all lovers of their country; for the American is first among the whites, and the American Negro is the first among the darker races of the world. And the union in government of the two would only make a grand combination; and if we consider the union of the races--and we have a few specimens of these--in person of Daniel A. Payne, who says that the blood of all three of the sons of Noah end in him and Frederick Douglass, the matchless orator of America. I have only cited these two, but could refer to thousands of others of lesser prominence, which demonstrates the fact that there is no danger of 003635he absorption of the Negro, or the degeneracy of the white race. Sixty centuries, with all of its changes, has not brought the two together, but each goes on in its defined course toward the great sea, whither we all are trading, to be lost in one sea of life eternal. But even if there were a tendency on the part of the two to unite, which there is not, the law of heredity and race affinity would unite and prevent it. They are to the human race what centrifugal and centripetal forces are to the material bodies, and no custom, habit or law can change it. "And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitation." And as long as the law of God remains unrepealed, that man was to beget sons and daughters after his own likeness and in his own image, you will find the races pursuing their own courses as regular and as certain as the planets pursue their divinely appointed pathway. I believe with Dr. Stribley, who said in an address delivered at Portland, Maine in 1887, on the brotherhood of man. "That there were three brothers who settled America, the first was the English cavalier who settled at Jamestown, the second the English Puritan who settled at Plymouth, and the third the Negro from Africa. Each had his work; the first to found an empire, the second to secure personal freedom, the third to exemplify the brotherhood of man." Seeing that we have so great a mission--the exemplification of the teachings of Him who came as the son of Mary and the Son of God; believing as I do in the possibility and capacity of my race--the thought that ignorance is hereditary, the same as intelligence, does not shake my views. Ignorance at one time had the ascendency, but now intelligence is ascending throne after throne, conquering mind after mind, until no longer men question the ability of the Negro.

I am proud to know that Ignorance is receiving no encouragement from the moral and religious teachers of the race, it is simply working up the old stock brought over from the night of bondage. Her children to-day are receiving more attention than their fathers; and mothers have time to teach them how to walk and talk, to train leg, hand and tongue. This was not the case a few years ago. This enables our children to start where we are leaving off. There will not be much trouble with the boys and girls of the future; for if it be true that our boys and girls are only half boys and girls, while the others are whole boys and girls; their united efforts would be a half added to a whole, which would produce one and one-half. Or, if our boys and girls are one, and the other one, the product 003736would be two; and I believe under similar circumstances will be two--for one and one makes two.

There is something I cannot see into, that is the manhood of men. In many cases their manhood is superior to their Christianity, or their politics.

I was in the city of Cuthbert, Ga., this past winter. I was invited to preach in the M. E. Church, South, by the leading members. I accepted, and had in my congregation the Clerk of the Court, Ex-Senator Perry, the Mayor of the city, the leading capitalists, the President of the College and his students, and many citizens. I gave out the hymn:"God moves in a mysterious wayHis wonders to perform;He plants His footsteps in the sea,And rides upon the storm."

The Mayor of the city raised the tune in a clear, ringing voice, and we all joined in singing, to the comfort of our souls. These same gentlemen visited the Conference, as did others.

We hear this question coming up from the plantation; from the city and town; from hotel and barber shop; from carriage driver, laborer and mechanic; from homes east and west, north and south; and we hear the echo, What shall we do to be saved? Our answer is, education for the head and hands, religion for the heart, and integrity. This combination will make a manly man, and that is what we need most. Men who have moral as well as physical courage. Men and women are needed who have a personal pride, race pride, a family pride, a pride of country, a pride in their own moral and religious leaders, a pride in the school house and college, a pride in the churches and mutual aid organizations, a pride in their own responsibilities, a pride in their children's possibilities, a pride in wife and child, a pride in the achievements of the race in the morning of freedom, and a holy pride in the ancient glory of the Negro; for there are many things which we ought to cherish and hand down to our children and to the remotest generations.

We must depend on the moral and religious teachers. The ministers of the Colored Methodist Churches, and the colored ministers of the Methodist Church, will have much to do with the success of the work committed to our hands. There are 9,339 003837Traveling Preachers; there are 21,494 in the various Colored Churches, and 6,000 in the Methodist Episcopal Church, making a total of 27,494 Local Preachers and Exhorters connected with the colored Methodist family. If each of the Traveling Preachers preach two sermons per week, it gives 18,678 weekly; allowing the Local Preachers and Exhorters to preach one sermon per week, it would give us 27,494; or a grand total of 46,172 per week; or annually 2,390,944 sermons preached against Ignorance, Sin, Intemperance and Poverty. There are many forces at work in the church beside these, will not allow me to enumerate. The Baptist ministers come in numbers and influence. There are 7,202 ordained ministers in the United States, says Rev. R. De Baptiste. They preach 14,404 sermons every Sunday--or 749,008 annually to their 1,274,337 members. They have 4,181 Sunday Schools, 14,233 teachers and officers, and 245,645 pupils. Thus the Methodists and Baptists preach every year to their congregations 3,139,952 sermons. There is at least one thought in each one.

The ministers of other denominations, such as the Congregational, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, the Christian and Catholic, are doing a work which commends itself to all who are interested in the elevation of the race. I have not the figures at hand to go into details.

The printing press is another force necessary to our success. The Editors of the 200 colored newspapers are generally young, intelligent and energetic; they are instructing and defending the race and if properly patronized will be of great service in our conflict. Every colored family ought to have a colored newspaper. We must support our own papers, as the Germans Irish and other nationalities do.

The school teachers are an important element on account of their relation to the instruction of our children. There are about 20,000 of them. They have charge of the 1,118,000 pupils in our common schools. If each child gets seven new thoughts a day--he cannot help doing that--for he will see, hear, taste, smell, feel, read and think something to-day which he did not yesterday; this would give us 7,824,000 new thoughts every day; and for five days in the week we have 39,120,000 new thoughts put in motion in our school rooms; and if we allow that the average school year is 30 weeks, we have 1,173,000,000 new thoughts added to the stock of last year. It is these silent forces which are doing so much for the race, and we should encourage the teachers in their work of generating thoughts which are to live through the history of the race and nation. The professors in the colleges, and the teachers in the common schools, should join hands and make a common cause against ignorance. 003938Time will fail me to show what the lawyers, doctors, artists and mechanics are doing for us. The orators and lecturers are still pleading our cause from rostrum and platform. Organizations for mutual aid and for charitable purposes are hard at work relieving the distressed, visiting the sick, burying the dead and educating the orphans; in fact, the fathers and mothers are holding the fort which they have defended so long and well, preparing to transfer the banner to their children.

We can hear the voices of the coming generation singing to their fathers and mothers, teachers and preachers: Hold the fort! Hold the fort! for we are coming a million strong; and the answer is sent through the church, school house, college and farm, "By God's grace we will."

Justice, like Samson, bound with the customs of a thousand years, and burdened with the wrongs of the centuries, will ask to be led to the pillars of the temple of American liberty. She will call to her aid the memory of the departed great, and collecting inspiration from the battle-fields of thought, and gathering courage from the blood of the martyrs, of mind, soul and body, freedom, she will say: O Lord, remember me, I pray Thee; and strengthen me, I pray Thee, only this once, O God! Help me to be ready to work, to suffer, and to die if need be, to preserve to posterity a more perfect union, establish justice, increase domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and posterity. If this cannot be done, may the ruins of the empire, or region, morality and knowledge be my sepulcher, and a monument of the grandest Republic the world has ever known.

But the time will come when justice shall have a hearing; when liberty shall lift her chainless hands on high, and truth shall join hands with love; righteousness and peace shall kiss each other, and the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man shall be written in letters of shining light so that it may be read alike from the lowly cabin or the lordly mansion, in the city or in the country, on land or on sea; then every American can read his title clear to all the rights, privileges and immunities, without regard to race, color or previous condition.

Then party lines shall be abolished, and then shall be in truth what we now have in theory: A government of all the people, by all the people, for all the people; and there shall be no East or West, or North or South, no White or Black, but all American 004039citizens with one Constitution, one Union, one Nation, and one Flag, and law and order shall reign throughout the Republic.

At the altar of patriotism all the inhabitants of the land, from the Atlantic's Hesperian strand to the Pacific's golden sands, shall meet as brothers and fellow-citizens, each standing in the Declaration of Independence, with the amended Constitution as a coat of mail or armor. holding in his right hand the Golden Rule, in his left the Ten Commandments, with the redeemed flag of his country with its stars and stripes forming a canopy of the temple of universal liberty, justice and truth, all will join in the National Anthem:"My country' tis of theeSweet land of liberty!Of thee I sing:Land where my fathers died!Land of the pilgrim's pride!From every mountain sideLet Freedom ring."