ithout a parallel in human history. That
great cost was paid and success was won--a crowning success that
could only come because the full cost was paid. And now the third part
of the struggle confronts us--the redemption of the millions of blacks
still in the bondage of poverty, ignorance and vice. This is the
culmination of these past conflicts. If this be not successful, the
rest has been in part in vain. Four millions of slaves were freed, and
now four millions of their descendants are as helpless and hopeless as
they--as great a curse to themselves and as dangerous an element to
the nation. Now this great and crowning struggle is upon us. Other
interests may for a time hide it from view, but it must be met, and
here again, only that which costs will win. It is to be hoped that
prosperity will return and make it easier to raise the needed funds.
But continued depression will not hinder, for, as in the past, so
here, self-denial and self-sacrifice will bear the burden which God
has imposed, and the result will be success. Our appeal, therefore,
for aid in this great conflict is not based on a mere hope of a better
financial outlook in the nation, but on the consecration and
benevolence of those who are ready to win a success that costs.

* * * * *

WAR AND ITS RESULTS.

If war is simply to kill people and destroy property, it is an unmixed
calamity. But often there are great and valuable results. Our War of
Independence gave birth to this nation and to its amazing
possibilities. The civil war confirmed the unity of the nation and
wiped away the blot and curse of slavery. The present war with Spain
is waged for the humane purpose of delivering Cuba, our near neighbor,
from manifold forms of oppression, crippling its life, hindering its
industries and impoverishing its people. It is earnestly to be hoped
that the results of the struggle will secure deliverance from these
evils.

Other blessings are already beginning to be realized. The war unites
the North and the South as they have not been for thirty years. Our
diverse peoples are united in enthusiasm under a common flag. The
colored people of the country invited to join the armies are yet in
some portions of the country received coldly or even with taunts and
abuse. But they bear it all cheerfully, devoting themselves to the
interests of our common country. Two brief extracts from papers edited
and published by colored men give