to its humblest citizen his just right to life, liberty,
protection from injustice, the enjoyment of the fruits of his own labor
and the pursuit of happiness in his own way, as long as he walks in the
path of rectitude and duty and does not trespass upon the rights of
others," declares ex-President Roosevelt.

"Morality, and not expediency, is the thing that must guide us," is the
emphatic declaration of President Woodrow Wilson. The false assumption
that "the end justifies the means has come from self-centered men, who
see in their own interests the interests of the country, and do not have
vision enough to read it in wider terms, the universal terms of equity
and justice."

VI

VOICES FROM THE BLACK BELT

"If any man hear my voice and open the door."

In a discussion of the Negro problem it is eminently appropriate the
Freedman and his neighbor be accorded the privilege of expressing their
respective views. The thoughts expressed in this chapter have been
gleaned principally from the columns of the Afro-American, a colored
weekly, published by the faculty of Biddle University, Charlotte, North
Carolina.

The problem of the negro relates to his capacity for improvement and
self-support. Is the American negro, after centuries of slavery, that
kept the race in an infantile condition, capable of development and self
support?

Over this question the people of our country have expressed differing
opinions, many insisting that the servant condition is the better one
for the American negro. The Presbyterian Standard, published at
Charlotte, N. C., a section of country in which the latter sentiment
still prevails, recently bore this testimony to their progress.

"While it is true of them as a mass that they are an infantile race,
it is not true of them in many individual cases. There are thousands
of them, who have advanced wonderfully during the last fifty years.
They have made progress in every line. They are owning more farms
every year, and in our cities they are buying homes, which sometimes
would do credit to a more enlightened people. Their churches are not
only built in better taste, but their preachers are becoming better
educated, and are exerting a stronger moral influence than ever
before."

This frank statement fairly represents the sentiment of the thoughtful
christian people of the south. Some who have thought otherwise have been
led to admit