e mouthpiece of his party; no matter
what may be his individual judgment, he dare not disregard its fiat. The
result of the national election was the defeat of Mr. Blaine and the
election of the Democratic candidate, Grover Cleveland. Mr. Cleveland
had an independent personality and the courage of his convictions.
Affable and cordial in his intercourse with Afro-Americans, and to those
of his political household was prodigal in the bestowal of appointments.
The effect of this was that many colored men, leaders of thought and
race action, not seeing an increase of oppression, so freely predicted
in the event of a Democratic President, advocated a division of the
colored vote, with a view of harmonizing feeling and mutual benefit. A
welcoming of that approach in the South may be deferred, but will yet be
solicited, despite its present disloyalty to the fourteenth and
fifteenth amendments to the Constitution.

CHAPTER XVII.

The closing decade of the past century was conspicuous for exhibitions
of products of nature and skill intended to stimulate a country's
consumption, but mainly to increase exportation; for a nation, not
unlike an individual, that buys more than its resources warrant,
bankruptcy is inevitable. Hence the industrial struggle of all
progressive nations to produce more than they consume, export the
residue and thereby add to the national wealth.

The United States not only excels in the magnitude of natural
productions, but in skill in manufacturing articles. The vast stretch of
agricultural lands for natural products, superiority of mechanical
appliance, and the expertness of American workmen herald the supremacy
of the United States for quantity, quality and celerity. For Yankee
ingenuity has not only invented a needed article, but has invented a
"thing to make the thing."

National and State expositions for the extension of American commerce
and development of State undertakings have been marked features of
American enterprise, creating a national fraternity, and stimulating
domestic industries. While the financial motive is ever in the forefront
and the impetus that gives it "a habitation and a name," the moral
effect is the reflex influence of contact, the interchange of fraternal
amenities that ripen and become helpful for the world's peace, progress
and civilization. At the present time Consuls of our Government inform
the State Department that agents of American manufacturers of steel,