thing to be done, to dig through all the rubbish, dig through the soil and the shifting sands and go down to the eternal rock, and there upon the basis of the everlasting principle of equal and exact justice to all men, plant the column of reconstruction.” The charge that Congress intended to establish Negro political supremacy in the southern states is false. For, if it had been the purpose of Congress to do this, the suggestion of Charles Sumner would have been adopted and all men who had been concerned in the rebellion would have been excluded from the suffrage. “Negro domination” has always been a false alarm and a myth. It has never existed. Even when the black man’s vote was honestly counted it was cast so as to make the white man the dominating influence in the political life of the state.

It is a popular thing nowadays to say that the ballot was given the Negro too soon, or he would be better off, if it had not been given him at all. I know not by what system of reasoning these conclusions are reached. For “freedom is the school in which freemen are taught, and the ballot box is the educator.” A man must have his political rights, in order to protect his natural rights. It is most fortunate that the elective franchise was given to the Negro so soon after his emancipation. At that time, the North, at least, was friendly to him. It looked upon him as a ward. But when we consider the attitude of hostility which the white American in all parts of the country has assumed towards the colored American in recent years, we must conclude that if the ballot had not already been given him, it would not be granted for a long time to come.

It will take time, it will require tact, self restraint and infinite patience on the part of the colored people to create a public sentiment which will finally assure them a fair and honest exercise of the ballot. They are only forty years removed from slavery. It is not a day in the life of a people. We are told that it took the Romans three centuries and a half of hard fighting to get control of the principalities about them, measuring only twenty-four miles around. But when they once got a foothold, they began their conquests, and did not stop until the world was subject to Rome’s domination.

The Negro has had his day of mushroom growth. It was one of sad experiences. He is beginning life again and moving along the lines of a natural evolution. He will win his way, not by statutes so much as by a public sentiment which will see that he gets equal and exact justice as a man and as a citizen. This may be the work of years, but the day will come when we shall see its 

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