THE PATRIOTISM OF THE NEGRO 165 farm and house of this teacher, and I will show you a community that has been redeemed, revolutionized in industry, education, and religion by reason of the fact that they had this leader, this guide, this object lesson to show them how to direct their own efforts. THE PATRIOTISM OF THE NEGRO W. H. COUNCILL Taken from an address on "The Negro as He Is: Things as They Are," which Professor Councill, who is President of the Agricultural and Mechanical College at Normal, Ala., delivered at the celebration of the anniversary of the birth of Bishop Allen, at Chattanooga, Tenn., February 14, 1901. Printed by permission. I do not ask for the negro the supreme right to rule, but the God-given privilege to do an honest day's work for an honest day's pay. The man who counts him out at the ballot box may defeat the schemes of selfish politicians, but the man who counts the negro out of an equal and fair share to earn a dollar robs him of his birthright, sends the wolf to his door, and digs a grave for his wife and children. But has the negro no claim upon the American government? Is there a section of the country which has not felt the warm breath of his loyalty? Is there a section which has not been bathed in the sweat of his brow, or which has not felt the uplifting influence of his toils? Is there a decade in its history, or a spot on its surface, which has not been hallowed by his blood? Has the East ever called when he did not answer? It was Crispus Attucks who was the first to lay down his life in the Revolutionary War. Has the South ever called when he did not answer? Was he not with Jackson at New Orleans? Did he not there pile up the cotton bales which protected the Americans from British lead? Has the North ever called when he did not answer? Although he would not follow Nat Turner, although he spurned the entreaties of John Brown to rise and slay innocent women and children, still when he had a legal opportunity, he marched forward two hundred thousand strong, beneath the Stars and Stripes for his own freedom and the perpetuation of the Union. Has the whole nation ever called when he did not answer? It was the Tenth Cavalry under gallant Wheeler which planted the American standard on the heights of San Juan. True through it all, brave through it all, as was great Toussaint L'Ouverture, who provided for the safety of his master's family, then whipped the best soldiers of the world, and gained the freedom of his people and the independence of his beloved isle. What else is needed to establish the negro's title to participation in the enjoyment of the rights and liberties of this great country? He never proved false to his old master; he has been a faithful servant in peace and in war; he never struck his country a blow; he has honored her flag; he has contributed to the national industry and commerce. Now, in God's name, I ask, what else must he do? THE NEW SOUTH 167 THE NEW SOUTH HENRY W. GRADY Taken from the famous after-dinner address which Mr. Grady made at the banquet of the New England Society, New York City, December 22, 1886. This speech is found in "The Life, Writings, and Speeches of Henry W. Grady,” published by the Cassell Publishing Company. Copyright by Mrs. Henry W. Grady. Printed by permission. The new South is enamored of her new work. Her soul is stirred with the breath of a new life. The light of a grander day is falling fair on her face. She is thrilling with the consciousness of a growing power and prosperity. As she stands upright, full-statured, and equal among the people of the earth, breathing the keen air and looking out upon the expanding horizon, she understands that her emancipation came because in the inscrutable wisdom of God her honest purpose was crossed and her brave armies beaten. This is said in no spirit of time-serving or apology. The South has nothing for which to apologize. The South has nothing to take back. In my native town of Athens is a monument that crowns its central hills -a plain, white shaft. Deep cut into its shining side is a name dear to me above the names of men, that of a brave and simple man who died in a brave and simple faith. Not for all the glories of New England -- from Plymouth Rock all the way - would I exchange the heritage he left me in his soldier's death. To the feet of that shaft I shall send my children's children to reverence him who ennobled their name with his heroic blood. But, sir, speaking from the shadow of that memory, which I honor as I do nothing else on earth, I say that the cause in which he suffered and for which he gave his life was adjudged by higher and fuller wisdom than his or mine, and I am glad that the omniscient God held the balance of battle in His almighty hand, and that human slavery was swept forever from American soil-the American Union saved from the wreck of the war. Now what answer has New England to this message? Will she permit the prejudice of war to remain in the hearts of the conquerors, when it has died in the hearts of the conquered? Will she transmit this prejudice to the next generation, that in their hearts, which never felt the generous ardor of conflict, it may perpetuate itself? Will she withhold, save in strained courtesy, the hand which, straight from his soldier's heart, Grant offered to Lee at Appomattox? Will she make the vision of a restored and happy people, which gathered above the couch of our dying captain, filling his heart with grace, touching his lips with praise, and glorifying his path to the grave; will she make this vision, on which the last sigh of his expiring soul breathed a benediction, a cheat, and a delusion? If she does, the South, never abject in asking for comradeship, must accept with dignity its refusal; but if she does not if she accepts with frankness and sincerity this message of goodwill and friendship, then will the prophecy of Webster, delivered in this very Society forty years ago, amid tremendous applause, be verified in its fullest and final sense, when he said: "Standing THE SPOILS SYSTEM 169 hand to hand and clasping hands, we should remain united as we have for sixty years, citizens of the same country, members of the same government, united all, united now, and united forever." THE SPOILS SYSTEM CARL SCHURZ The following extract is taken from an address delivered at the annual meeting of the National Civil Service Reform League at Chicago, Ill., December 12, 1894. What Civil Service reform demands, is simply that the business part of the government shall be carried on in a sound, business-like manner. This seems so obviously reasonable that among people of common sense there should be no two opinions about it. And the condition of things to be reformed is so obviously unreasonable, so flagrantly absurd and vicious, that we should not believe it could possibly exist among sensible people, had we not become accustomed to its existence among ourselves. The spoils system, that practice which turns public offices, high and low, from public trusts into objects of prey and booty for the victorious party, may without extravagance of language be called one of the greatest criminals in our history. In the whole catalogue of our ills there is none more dangerous to the vitality of our free institutions. It tends to divert our whole political life from its true aims. It teaches men to seek something else in |