ermission of the
man who, under favorable conditions, monopolizes all the land, is to
deal in the most tantalizing contradiction of terms. But this is just
what the United States did for the black man. And yet because he has
not grown learned and wealthy in twenty years, because he does not own
broad acres and a large bank account, people are not wanting who
declare he has no capacity, that he is improvident by nature and
mendacious from inclination.

FOOTNOTES:

[3] Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment
for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall
exist within the United States, or any place subject to their
jurisdiction.--Art. XIII. Sec. 1 of the Constitution.

[4] All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject
to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of
the State in which they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law
which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the
United States; _nor shall any State deprive any person of life,
liberty, or property without due process of law, nor deny to any
person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the
laws_--XIVth Amendment, Section 1.

[5] The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be
denied or abridged by the United States, or by any State, on account
of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.--XVth Amendment,
Sec. 1.

[6] While I write these lines, the daily newspapers furnish the
following paragraph. It is but one of the _waifs_ that are to be found
in the newspapers day by day. There is always some _circumstance_
which justifies the murder and exculpates the murderer. The black
always deserves his fate. I give the paragraph:

"SPEAR, MITCHELL CO., N.C., March 19, 1884.--Col. J.M. English, a
farmer and prominent citizen living at Plumtree, Mitchell County,
N.C., shot and killed a mulatto named Jack Mathis at that place
Saturday, March 1. There had been difficulty between them for several
months.

"Mathis last summer worked in one of Col. English's mica mines.
Evidence pointed to him being implicated in the systematic stealing of
mica from the mine. Still it was not direct enough to convict him, but
he was discharged by English. Mathis was also a tenant of one of
English's houses and lots. In resentment he damaged the property by
destroying fences, tearing off weather boards from the house, and
injuring the f