e Negro's
plea for equality of citizenship that ever rang through the
halls of Congress. The speech was widely circulated, and was
favorably commented upon by the leading newspapers of the
nation.

Mr. White has accumulated quite a handsome fortune, his
wealth being estimated at from $20,000 to $30,000. His
personal popularity and the respect for his ability are
attested by the fact that several honorary degrees have been
conferred upon him by a number of the noted educational
institutions of the land.

Mr. White is a thirty-third degree Mason. For six years he
was Grand Master of Masons for the State of North Carolina,
having filled most of the subordinate offices in that body
before his elevation to the Grand Mastership.

Since his retirement from Congress, Mr. White has been
engaged in the practice of law in Washington, D. C., and so
favorably has he impressed his qualifications upon the bench
and bar of the national capital that one of the judges
publicly, and without precedent, complimented him in open
court and set his methods up as an example for other lawyers
who practice there. Eminent as are his abilities, Mr. White
is proverbially modest. Of strong character, well-balanced
mind and an unswerving sense of justice, liberal in views
upon all subjects, political, social or religious,
companionable in private life, unostentatious in manner of
living or in the bestowal of charity, ready to sacrifice
personal convenience to serve the worthy, Mr. White is
indeed a typical American. The Negro people, in slavery or
freedom, as serfs or citizens, offer no model more
inspiring, no picture more inviting.

In presenting this subject to the public, I shall endeavor to treat it
from a broad and liberal standpoint, eliminating all selfishness or
individual political bias, and viewing the situation from the
standpoint of an American citizen.

The first prerequisite to good government in a republic, is purity in
the ballot. No stream can be pure unless its source is pure; neither
can a republic hope for just and fair laws and the administration and
execution of them, unless there is purity and fairness in the sources
from whence these cardinal principles of government spring. Laws
should be enacted for the whole people and not for individuals, races
or sections--thereby s