be, it is no small tribute
to the correctness of his interpretations; for all events are parts of
one vast system ever moving toward some great end. One remark only
need be made. It is reasonable to presume that this new Afro-American
will somehow and somewhere be given an opportunity to express that
particular modification of material life which his spiritual nature
will demand. Whether that expression will be made here or elsewhere;
whether it will be higher or lower than what now surrounds us, are
questions which we may well leave to the future.

No people can win and hold a place, either as a nation among other
nations, or as an elementary component of a nation, merely by its own
goodness or by the goodness of others. The struggle for national
existence is a familiar one, and is always initiated by a display of
physical force. Those who have the power seize territory and
government, and those who CAN, keep possession and control. It is in
some instances the backing up of right by might, and in others the
substituting of right by might. Too often the greatest of all national
crimes is to be weak. When the struggle is a quiet one, going on
within a nation, and is that of an element seeking a place in the
common social life of the country, much the same principles are
involved. It is still a question to be settled by force, no matter how
highly the claim of the weaker may be favored by reason and justice.

The powers by which a special people may emerge from an unhappy
condition and secure improved social relations, using the word social
in its broadest sense, are physical, intellectual and material. There
must be developed manly strength and courage and a power of intellect
which will manifest itself in organization and attractiveness, and in
the aptitude of employing appropriate methods for ends in view. To
these must be added the power that comes through wealth; and thus,
with the real advancement of condition and character will come,
tardily and grudgingly perhaps, but nevertheless surely, improved
social standing. Once filled with the common national spirit,
partaking of its thoughts, entering heartily into the common
movements, having the same dress, language and manners as others, and
being as able and as willing to help as to be helped, and withal being
in fact the most intensely American element on the continent because
constructed on this soil, we may hope that the Afro-American will
ultimately win and hold