eadership throughout the country and specially in the South should
seek to make friends of these people with whom the blacks must
necessarily live. We can not over-estimate the value of education and
the getting hold of homesteads in the progress of the race, but these
alone are not sufficient.

Our churches must mean more for right living. The sacredness of the
home, of the married life, of honesty, of integrity, of uprightness
and of right character must more than ever be impressed. The churches
must be more practical and less sentimental. Instead of encouraging
late hours--thus opening the evil way to our young--and spending long
seasons in mere shouts and gesticulations, let there be training
classes, mothers' and children's meetings, and those within reasonable
hours. Let our pulpits and press rebuke crime among us as well as away
from us. Let us organize and encourage good citizenship committees in
all our churches and in every community. Let us draw the line between
the idle and industrious among us. Let us urge vagrant laws upon that
set of men who will not work but form the criminal class in all our
cities. Let us more than ever show ourselves ready to help rid the
community of objectionable persons and places. Let us not say less--if
well said--for right public sentiment must be made, but let us do
more. There must be a studied use of "Yankee" common sense. It is not
to be expected that the Southern man's training, relative to the
Negro, can be readily displayed. But having been born and reared under
Southern skies and for parts of ten successive years taught there is
one country, and having former slaveholders among some of my warmest
friends, I am prepared to believe that there is no innate hindrance to
a life of peace between the races.

I can not think that the best people of the South will long endure the
savage methods of avenging their madness. They must have a better
second thought and will ultimately welcome the spirit of maintaining
law and order.

With all, there is but one way to settle the race question. It must be
squarely and justly met upon the uncompromising basis of right. The
Negro is a human being with clearly demonstrated capabilities, and it
can not be that the world's foremost nation will need to further climb
the ladder of fame by keeping the foot of the strong upon the neck of
the weak.

When men are possessed and led by the Gospel of Jesus Christ then will
there be peace and harm