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By
H. T» KEALINQ
VI - F F® -5? TH? AMERICAN *6*»0 AOAO«*»V.
Kortune=Telling
IN
History.
BY
H. T. KEALINC.
Member of the American Negro Academy.
PHILADELPHIA.
A. M. E. PUBLISHING HOUSE,
631 PINE STREET.
Fortune-Telling in History.
I hope none will so far misread my subject as to suppose I intend
herein to ask any portion of their valuable time to consider that foolish
pretense to prophetic power which is claimed for Gypsies, seventh sons,
and fakirs who make their living by humbugging foolish men and sim¬
ple women. Such is no part of my purpose. I wish to consider the
tendency and practice of men in all ages to predict the future rank and
greatness of a nation as it appears from time to time above the horizon
of history. I might have called my subject "Predictions" or "Prophe¬
cies" in history, either word containing the essential idea of foretelling,
but preferred the word "Fortune-telling" in order that the failure of that
foretelling might be implied in the title as well.
There is a strain of superstition in us all, one class may laugh at
the signs and omens of another, but these in turn will be found to cher¬
ish some sign, too. The derision we heap upon the conjurer and the
Vou-dou, with their little flannel bag containing red pepper, a lizard
tail, a snake head and a man's little finger-bone, can sometimes be
heaped upon us when our nose itches, the rooster crows in the door, or
when 13 persons sit down together, or we "begin a journey on Friday,
to say nothing of turning back after the journey is begun.
A gentleman once said to an old mam on his farm, "I am surprised
that Uncle Henry is foolish enough to believe there's luck in the left
fore-foot of a rabbit, there's nothing in that." "Jis so, sah," said the
old man, "I been tellin' him dat all de time. Dey ain't nothin' in de lef'
fore-foot; it's de lef' hin'-foot, sah, of a graveyard rabbit, sah!" And if
facts were known, it would often be found that many who laugh at the
signs of others do not repudiate signs themselves, but prefer their own.
But I would rescue this discussion from all consideration of these sup¬
erstitions, and limit it to those attempted scientific prognostications of
learned men who have given valuable thought to the world. A careful
survey of human history will show that the sages of the predominant
peoples of any age have tried, from a study of the phenomena of civili¬
zation about them, to fix upon the future course their own and subordi¬
nate peoples would run, the heights, they would attain, and the ultimate
relativity of the several peoples in the scale of civilization, for all time
4
FORTUNE-TELLING IN HISTORY
to come. In not one single instance of completed record have these pre¬
dictions proven true, from the vauntings of that Eastern despot, ruler of
the world, who asked, "Is not this great Babylon which I have built by
the might of my power?" to the all-conquering Roman, who revealed his
mind in calling his capital "the Eternal City."
I once saw a gentleman set out in a buggy accompanied by his little
dog, to visit some place. The dog, believing he^knew the course and the
intended end of the journey, ran on ahead several blocks, but when
he looked back, the master was turning an unexpected corner, and the
dog was obliged to retrace his steps. Overtaking his master, he ran on
ahead a second time supposing that now, at least, he knew the direction
intended, but only1 to have to return a second time, and indeed, a third
time. Now, the streets away from which the man turned were broader
and fairer than those into which iie turned, and the dog apparently
showed better judgment in selecting the route than his master, but the
contrary was really true, for the dog had misunderstood the purpose of
the master. The broad streets were those upon which hundreds of his
master's friends were driving and it seemed the natural way for him
to go also; but when finally the ill-paved narrow route he really took
brought him into a new district of the city where finer houses than any
along the paved avenues were going up, where finer lawns were being
sodded, and ampler grounds laid out, it was seen that the higher intel¬
ligence which had thwarted and disappointed the lower was vindicated
in its course. This, I take it, is a f complete illustration of what God
does among nations. Sociologists, philosophers, and savants point out
the ways of nations along the magnificent pathways and avenues al¬
ready thrown up by an anterior civilization, only to find that God has
guided them by aj way never before traveled, for He, too, has new dis¬
tricts to be developed, new ways to be paved, and the philosopher finds,
like the little dog, that he must retrace his steps and revise his prognos¬
tications to be at one with the Master Mind.
Yet, however variant the types, civilization has never gone back¬
ward. The overrulings of at beneficent Providence have pushed the race
ever onward—not always, indeed, the same nationality through the
whole course; not always the same ideals, but still the human race, in
uew combination, in new territory, in new purpose. Reverting to the
figure just used, sometimes) the horse in the buggy may assert his own
will and refuse to turn the way the master directs; he must then be
supplanted by one more tractable. Perhaps the horse at some stage of
the journey may lose faith in his master's directing power, or feel too
exuberant from pampering, and run away, breaking up the buggy. The
master must then get both a new horse and a stronger buggy. Any and
all of these things astonish the little dog. He had no plan in his mind
for anything except the trip in safety as he wished it. Thus refractory
nations have been supplanted by tractable ones who would go the
Master's way; or reckless nations which have gone wild and wrecked
their civilization, have had to see a new nation lead on to a higher and
better civilization than theirs.
tfORTUNE-TELLING IN HISTORY
5
When Patrick Henry said lie knew of no way to judge the future but
by the past, he gained the consent of thoughtful men everywhere; but,
as a matter of fact, the greatest misjudgments men have ever made
have been based upon the past. They seem to forget that the moment
new and unknown manifestations cease, progress turns upon itself and
a circle is begun; but so teaches the lesson of the ages. Thus each civ¬
ilization has proclaimed itself the abiding one, and the leading people
have always justified their belief in the permanence of their own pri¬
macy. They ask, What have these inferiors following in my train ever
done in the past to justify- their hope of a higher place tnan they now
hold? Wrapped in the grasp of these preconceptions, the course and
meaning of the events of every century have been ticketed in all sin¬
cerity with a false, though plausible, significance by contemporary phil¬
osophers, and the x*eal bearings not .seen till new generations looked
back from their places midway in the next century. Nor is this very
strange. The man overboard buffeting with the waves is the last man
to know that the storm is abating. He is too' much iji it to note any
change that does not actually pluck him out of the water.
Suppose we briefly notice a few of the things in history which men
have seen and misinterpreted.
In 675 B. G., when Esar-Haddon, king of Assyria, conquered Egypt,
it iseemed to him that the star of Assyrian ascendancy had risen never
to set; to Egypt, it seemed that civilization (for hers was the highest of
the time) went down into eternal night. Both were wrong. Assyrian
ascendancy was a momentary thing, and Egyptian1 civilization was not
lost. It was God's way of passing it through Persia into Greece. It
was transplanting the tree from the tropical habitat of Asia and Africa,
' favorable to great physical development, into the keener climate of Eu¬
rope conducive to stronger and higher nervous development. The Lux-
ors and Karnacs were the growths of a physical civilization; Greece
was mind and soul. And when Rome, great, brawny, quarreling, fight¬
ing Rome, replaced the click of a Phidias' hammer with the clang of a
Caesar's spear and shield, if there ever was reversion in civilization,
here it was; but it really was the conquest of will over sentiment, the
•prevailing of action over meditation. Greece could never nave fought a
Gallic War nor quelled a British yeomanry. What did Alaric and his
hordes of blood-drinking Barbarians represent to the Romans when
these savages overran their paved streets and gazed in contempt upon
the marble baths of that great people. Simply and solely destruction,
savagery and ignorance unspeakable. The very Barbarians themselves
saw no other meaning than more room for themselves and the destruc¬
tion of effeminacy and artificiality from the earth. But it really meant
England, France, Greater Germany,—in short, Western Europe. It
meant Charlemagne, Columbus, America. It meant the Christian re¬
ligion, the dignity of the common people. It meant ihe Reformation,
the steamship and world communication, the railroad and interior de¬
velopment, the telegraph and annihilation of distance. All these and
6
fortunb-telung in history
more. But who saw it then? Let us turn to a few important mind
movements that were misjudged either in what it was thought they
would do or destroy.
When Peter the Hermit aroused the whole Western world to* go to
the Holy Land to rescue it from the Mohammedan unbeliever, the na¬
tions and the Church saw in it God's will1 and their sure success. But
the seven Crusades, covering nearly two hundred years, left the land
still in the hands of the Mohammedans. The Saracens and Christians
agreed in believing the Crusades a failure. They did not see what was
accomplished. We do. The rude European soldiers were brought into
contact with ai learning so far above any in their lands tnat they were
astounded. They brought back Arabian algebra, alchemy, alcohol, as¬
trology, and a hundred civilized arts to> which Europe had been a
stranger. They came in contact with the corruption of the Roman hier¬
archy and were absolved from their superstitious fears, so> that bound
up in those Crusades were both the English universities and the Ger¬
man Reformation.
The Dark Ages were read as the end of civilization. They were the
brooding time, in fact. It was then that human thought was hibernat¬
ing after the exhaustion of three thousand years of physical ideals, pre¬
paratory to the erection of new political and philosophical ones. •
The French Revolution did not destroy all government, as it seemed
to threaten in its mad struggle for liberty from all law and religion,
nor did Napoleon destroy all freedom in his nation-chaining career.
They gave the world a republic instead of anarchy or despotism, and in
the pitting of the individualistic ideal of Anglo-Saxon against the com¬
munistic one of Latin, they perpetuated liberty and expansion of wealth
throughout the world. They sounded the death-knell of slavery and
made sure the foundations of the growing American republic.
Peter the Great showed a shrewd understanding of the contradic¬
tions of apparent truths when, after repeated defeats by Charles xii,
of Sweden, he said, "It is ail right. He is simply teaching me how to
whip him." So it was.
Let us for a moment bring these reflections nearer home. When
Evolution was first proclaimed, it seemed to presage the end of the Bible
as authority in religion. Both Christian and infidel so regarded it.
It really broke the bands of an unscientific age and released ecclesi¬
astical learning from dogma. The Sabbath-school teacher knows more
arguments for the authenticity and authority of the Bible to-day than
theologians in the time of Jonathan Edwards. Higher criticism is con¬
fronted by archaeology, and a Harper met by a Sayce!
The American Civil War was fought to destroy the doctrine of
Slates' Rights. Both the North and the South believed that the fate of
that issue was involved. The contest began beween Jefferson and Ham¬
ilton. But though the North won, States' Rights is the accepted doc¬
trine of the nation stilL A new issue not intended w&s settled—the
question of slavery. Was the war then a failure? Not so; men arei be-
FORTUNE-TELLING IN HISTORY
7
ginning to see that a nation cannot be more righteous tnan its public
CQnscience, and the onus of moral responsibility has been put upon each
individual rather than upon the government. This, of course, gives law¬
less elements power to control where they exist, but acts powerfully to
stamp out their existence. The constant appeal to civilization, human¬
ity and religion is not fruitless. Does any one suppose tnat under the
mailed hand of military occupancy in the Southern States free schools
would flourish by the voluntary action and will of the people as they do
under local self-government?
"VVe might easily multiply instances tending to. show that man has
made poor headway in understanding the meaning of national and so¬
cial phenomena and in predicting the outcome of a movement. Let us
now note a few of the reasons.
It is not because there is not a philosophy of history. If human na¬
ture is essentially a constant quantity, as all believe, knowing the qual¬
ities to be affected and the powers that affect them, we can tell what
action will come, or be attempted, under a certain set of circumstances.
This is true of individuals. It is also true of masses, which are but con¬
gregated individuals; but in this case the calculation must not only take
into consideration each individual, but such modifications of self-mani¬
festation as arise from his relation to all the others. When we pause to
reflect that, though human nature is one, it is exceedingly difficult to
know, a difficulty, too, multiplied in geometric ratio in a social organism,
we can begin to see the magnitude of the problems. A cerrain man who-
owed a debt promised to bring a load of hay to his creditor in payment.
But when he got to town, instead of doing as he promised, he sold the
hay for cash to another man. The creditor, meeting him, said, "Didn't
you promise to bring me that hay?" "Yes, sir." "Well, you didn't do
it, did you?" "No, sir." "Weil, you lied, didn't you?*' "Yes, sir."
"What made you do it?" "Well, I don't know, boss, cep'en I ain't de
man I took myself to be." Most of us find that difficulty in trying to
read human nature. We find we are not the men we take ourselves
to be.
One of the first reasons for failure in prophecy is that each nation
leading in any civilization is intensely egotistic. It is hard to see that its
greatness comes out of the tomb of a preceding civilization. 'Tis true,
other people have perished in the midst of their greatness, but we al¬
ways think we see their mistake and will not repeat it. Just as though
there are not other mistakes for new conditions! Greece, Rome, Italy,
Spain, Austria, Scandinavia, each in turn believed it had the torch for-
ever. Even Turkey once saw visions of undying power and universal
empire. It is hard to convince a man in the full tide of health and hap¬
piness that he will die. Secondly, it is, hard to see in any people more
than it has already given indication of. For this reason leading nations
are apt to be supercilious with small ones and require of them a sign,
and as no people can prove what is in them before the time of proof,
they are referred to their eventless past and told to stand aside. Japan
8
FORTUNE-TELLING IN HISTORY
is the most recent instance of unexpected development. Anglo-Saxon
supremacy is not through rubbing its eyes yet. England, Germany,
Spain, France, Russia, are further instances of States to which, in their
infancy, first-class power and importance were thought impossible.
What was the opinion the Roman had of the Gaul and Briton? and
what thought the Norman of the Saxon? Who saw in Russia over two
centuries ago the coming great power of the world? Do men even now
concede to Japan possible equality with the Western civilization? On
the contrary, we admit that it has shown wonderful growth and clev¬
erness, but we think of this as compared with Asiatic civilization, that
of -stagnant China especially.
Thirdly, men assume the continuation of existing conditions
and make these the basis of their calculations. Yet it is
strange that they should. Migration to new lands and climates,
with the attendant changes of food, habit and labor, discovery of new
natural materials, new control of natural powers, inventions doubling
power and comfort and giving more leisure, would seem to be sufficient
suggestions to man of a constantly changing set of conditions, and a
consequent change of positions among peoples; but he is slow to apply
the lesson to his own times and contemporaries. To glance at the most1
patent case in point: We have said that the Crusades revealed to West¬
ern Europe a civilization and knowledge far in advance of its own, and
for many years it seemed that the feudal constitution of European civ¬
ilization was antagonistic to the development of learning. But in the
fifteenth century printing was invented, and Europe ac once forged
ahead of Asia Minor and has held the pre-eminence ever since. Look at
the wonderful commercial operations of the present day, one firm now
frequently doubling the iargest transactions of that former Croesus of
Commerce, the East India Company. Only a few weeks ago Trusts
were incorporated in New Jersey to the amount of one billion and a
quarter of dollars. These things are the legitimate response to Ark-
wright's loom, Whitney's gin, Morse's telegraph and Fulton's steam¬
boat. More than that, history has been made and modified by "these
same changes in conditions and environments. Gunpowder is the cause
of an open China and! a progressive Japan; the locomotive and the Mc-
Cormick reaper have given us an aroused Russia, The cotton-gin gave
impetus and untold magnitude to human slavery. The loom gave eman¬
cipation again. In fact, we begin to awaken to the truth somewhat ap¬
palling, if it were not for a God behind it all, that we are being made
without our will and pulled in an unknown direction by the steeds
which we have boasted of harnessing, but which seem to have taken
the bits in their teeth. You remember the story in the Arabian Nights,
where the fisherman, casting in his net, brought up a copper kettle
which he uncovered to explore its contents. Immediately, a mist began
to arise from it till it assumed the form of a gigantic man, who: in a
terrible voice bade the fisherman prepare for death. Whea the poor fel¬
low asked why, the giant explained that he had been confined in that
FORTUNE-TEI/LING IN HISTORY
9
kettle by order of King Solomon for many years. From time to time he
had promised immense rewards to the one who would roiease him, but
at last, none coming, in exasperation he had sworn to kill) the first one
who! set him free. The unfortunate fisherman was that person. So* it
would seem to be with us to-day. We seem not only in prospect of in¬
voluntary expansion, but of certain death by the exasperation of the
great forces so long bound down, but which modern, science and inven¬
tion, under Christianity, are releasing upon us. Our great trusts and the
rampant spirit of immoral commercialism threatens our existence more
and more every day. Our foretellers in history can, therefore, no longer
forecast from old conditions, or even depend on the present ones, and
having done so is the cause of their discomfiture to-day.
Fourthly, we forget that each new power shown is called forth by
the condition that needs it, and each new condition creates its own
spirit, if not actually new powers. Under ordinary circumstances things
retain their identity and qualities, but under stress of a certain kind of
vitalized contact we may get a people very different from the original
stock and thus a new force appears upon the scene. Hydrogen and
oxygen wouid be in the same vessel a century and still be hydrogen
and oxygen; but pass an electric spark into the vessel ana. we have wa¬
ter formed at once. So nations long inert and barbarous, oy the vivify¬
ing power of an outer civilization sometimes take on entirely new qual¬
ities and become active factors in the world's progress. This is what
actually occurred to make England the great power she is. Who would
suppose from any evidence extant, outside of history, that the German
is the same stock as the Englishman? Soi it is, however; yet one cannot
understand the other speak even, and their ideas of government and
colonizing are diametrically opposite. Ini one, popular power is with¬
held as far as possible and the divine right of kings still lags super¬
fluous on the stage; in) the other, popular government is tne most cher¬
ished part of administration, and it is a kingdom by courtesy. Nay,
the contrast is still greater "between America and Germany. Who can
tell what Japan and China may become under the inspiration of that
sanguine Western civilization that now begins to permeate their mum¬
mied veins? Who can tell what will be the next nation to come forth
from the womb of time? Will it be an African nation, one of the tardy
barbarous interior Asiatic peoples, or some strong agricultural little re¬
public Switzerland—who will prophesy?
Fifthly, men use the same chronology in estimating national growth
now that they used! ini the centuries before Christ; but it requires only
a little thought to see that days now do the deeds of years, and years,
of centuries long ago. Rome took two thousand years to become a pow¬
er; England took a thousand; but young America was in the full tide of
national greatness when she was a hundred; and most wonderful of all,
Japan, counting only thirty years since she was thrilled by the 'spark, is
teaching our mathematics, using our railroads, operating our machinery,
sending messages with our telegraphs, managing our gun-boats and
10
FORTUNE-TELLING IN HISTORY
whipping with our cannon. She is wearing our clothes, competing with
our commerce and hedging with our diplomacy. American carpets- are
on her floors, our' standards enter into her monetary system, and popu¬
lar government and legislative processes rule. Have we begun to re¬
alize that it only takes a few dny^ now to make a world-power.' Men
not only move faster and carry more things, better made, in this age of
steam and electricity, but they think faster, think better, follow thought
by action sooner, and thus bring forth more fruit than in trie days of the
"one-lioss shay" and the ox-cart. Tennyson's lines, "Better a day m
Europe than a cycle in Cathay," will soon be an anachronism, for Ca¬
thay bids fair to\ live its cycle in a European day.
Sixthly, in predicting the' career of nations, we are apt io give an ac¬
cidental and adventitious occurrence the weight of one produced by long
continuing, though hidden, causes, or a phenomenon may oe referred to
the wrong couse. For instance. M. Demolins, in discussing the causes
for France's decline, finds it not in the things to which men have .gen¬
erally attributed it, but in the false system of education in France,
which prepares boys to get office and stay at home, rather than for the
struggle for existence in the great, wide, inviting outside world which
the English are taking to themselves.
Seventhly, it is next to impossible to provide, in a forecast of a peo¬
ple's future status, for the effect of the undeveloped tendencies arising
from unknown factors in their ancestry. Our history of races and na¬
tions is very imperfect. All we do> know is that there are no pure, un¬
mixed' peoplq in the civilized world, but what and how many elements
enter into each, no one can tell. Yet it is still true that "biood will tell."
These seven difficulties, suggesting possibly many more, give some
idea of the elements with which the prophet or foreteller must dea1 in
order to forecast the horoscope of any people. It is much easier to take
things as they are and predict the perpetuity of the nation then in the
ascendant, for this method has the advantage to liim who is not con¬
cerned about posthumous fame, that it will make him popular in life
and no one of those who exalt him will be "living to witness- the failure
of his prophecy.
I speak here to an American audience, and it is well known that the
presence in large numbers of the Negro has given rise to two classes of
inquiry: (1) What is to become of the nation through its dealings witn
these people? and (2j What degree of civilization and capacity to de¬
velop will they show in the years ta come? This, as I have intimated,
is a difficult inquiry under any circumstances, owing to the many and
complicated considerations which affect the answer; but it is especially
so when we consider that a large class of people who contribute to the
judgment will not hear the evidence to be had, or will not eliminate
their predilections from the verdict they are asked to make np. In ask¬
ing what part the Negro is to contribute to American civilization, it is
pertinent to inquire what that civilization consists of. And this is not
such a simple inquiry as sciolists are wont to believe. Guizot has
FORTUNE-MvUNG in history
11
given this matter of civilization much study, and his definition, largely
accepted and quoted throughout the world of scholars, divides it into
two parts or elements, the social or associated development, or life, of
a nation; and the moral life, or development of the individuals forming
that nation. One may exist in great perfection without the other. I see
in a window a rug of beautiful figure, the colors harmonize perfectlj*.
the design is elegant and chaste, but on near approach, I find that it is
made of jute, or some other very coarse material. Thus are nations
constituted. The pattern of their civil and social institutions may be
worthy of admiration, but the constituent elements, the units, the indi¬
vidual quality of the men of that nation, may be very coarse and crude;
or, vice versa, the social and civil structure may be loose or repellant,
but its units well developed.
Rome was an instance of the first—a well-ordered government of a
people of low moral development; while Palestine was an instance of
the latter—a poor civil organism made up of people highly developed in
The individual. Now, it is clear there can be no perfect civilization in
the absence of either civil or personal excellence. In a weak civil as¬
sociation, the ends of social existence, of commerce, antt of invention
will be but poorly met. In an inferior development of personal morali¬
ty and conscience, the home, the family, virtue, honor and regard for
others, will be swallowed up in a grinding selfish organism that lives by
preying upon the weak and unprotected. With both, we have a happy,
honorable, virtuous and high-minded people, full of vigor, organic power
and enterprise,—a great nation within and without. Can tne encomiums
which have been heaped upon our form of government, its enterprise
and invincibility, be extended to praise of its units as moral factors? or
is it not true that there is not a uniform development in all sections of
the nobler qualities of the inner life? What can disregard of law and
order mean but a low moral state among the people who endure it? A
very few moments' thought will show that the standard of moral sen¬
timent. is of varying elevation in the different sections of our country.>
New England has long been noted for its high regard of the virtues, and
for human life and happiness. And while the pouring of a constant
stream of foreign and lower elements has carried in, to some extent, a
deterioration, it is still true that relatively New England remains the
type of the best American civilization. Here is the testimony on this
point given by Rev. Dr. Steele, editor of the Rambler, a [southern man;
"In all the elements of a high civilization, industrial, intellectual, and
moral, New England is a century ahead of the South." The standard in
the West is lower, owing to the primitive conditions that prevailed in
the conquering of that region, as well as) to the immense influx of for¬
eign elements. It should be remembered that the Western people were;
mainly young emigrants full of the radical and vital tendencies of youth
unrestrained by the counsel, experience and conservatism of their aged
sires in the East, lacking largely the offices of religion and settling for
•an avowedly sordid purpose. The South hasi in some respects the low-
12
tfORTtJNE-TEtLING IN HISTORY
est standard of all. Burdened by a heritage of slavery that debauched
both master and slave; fixing degrees to man's obligations to his fellow
by a system of color discriminations; nay, denying to some the very
claims of common humanity; forced to use cruelty and oppression to
suppress resistance; permitting the illicit commerce of the opposite
sexes of the two races, thus bringing into- existence the mulatto; cov¬
ered with a pall of ignorance and superstition in the slave and paralyzed
in its industries and development by the indolence and contempt for
labor in the whites, what other conditions could there be except a low
condition of moral sentiment, cheapness of life, ready resort to deadly
weapons, pride of birth that spurned honest toil, and the substitution
of personal vengeance for legal punishment.
It will be seen, therefore, that not only is the personal element of
real civilization among us lower than one would expect from an obser¬
vation of our institutions, laws, and material grandeur, but a more care¬
ful study of these institutions themselves will reveal inherent structural
weakness in the social fabric very surprising to those w<ho have been
accustomed to vaunt the perfection of the work of the fathers; for not¬
withstanding the admitted slowness of this nation to protect its citizens
abroad, leading often tot insult from inferior powers, we have the more
remarkable spectacle of its absolutely asserting constitutional inability
to protect them at home. If there is a proposition stronger than the
one that a government's first dutyjs to protect those who give it alle¬
giance and life, then that other proposition is also the statement of the
nation's weakness. The statement that one citizen may abase or abridge
the rights of another, unless a third citizen officially request that the
injustice be stopped, seems little short of monstrous when we consider
the purpose of government; and the other proposition that a foreigner is
without national protection among us, isi about as bad. Yet both of
these are decided to be good law. If anything could give greater ridi¬
cule to such a government, it is the other proposition, aiso accounted
good law, that my letter or my express package can be guarded by all
the armed force of the nation, the very letter-perhaps that goes to ask
for the protection which its answer will refuse to give me, the writer.
If our Constitution so teaches, what is the objection to'so amending it
that the nation might protect the man who helps to make the nation?
But to return to our fortune-tellers. Our literature is not wanting
in those who have attempted to foretell the future place among nations
of our own country, but we find more to discredit the penetration of
these seers than to establish forecasting as a science based upon fixed
principles.
Every great people enters upon such a study with certain assump¬
tions complimentary to its own qualities of endurance and conquest;
certain assumptions as to climatic effect which have been put forward
by such eminent authority and accepted so universally that one who
values his reputation for scholarship and balance will require courage
to question them. Let us examine one or two of these assumptions.
tftiRTUN^-TEtLINk IN HIStORY
13
It is generally accepted that mankind began in the warm re¬
gions of the earth where the conditions of existence are easier, but that
thei northward movement of the race was absolutely necessary to the
development of civilization; that nations in warm regions must of ne¬
cessity be inferior to dwellers further north. But how can we recon¬
cile this view with the fact that the subtlest philosophy, the sublimest
religions, the earliest science, the truest sculpture, the greatest masters
in music and painting, and some of the greatest poets and the greatest
generals, have all come from the regions pronounced anathema to civ¬
ilization. What shall we say of Greece? If it be* replied that her civ¬
ilization was the tifest of the time before the Western civilization was
born, we answer: Benjamin Kidd says that in respect to the mental
caliber of isolated minds like Socrates, Aristotle, Plato, or Phidias, and
in the mental average of the whole people, the Greeks Seemed to> have
surpassed us (Anglo-Saxons). Mr. Lecky, in his History of European
Morals, says that in philosophy, poetry of every description, in written
and spoken eloquence, in statesmanship, in sculpture, in painting, and
probably in music, the Greeks attained almost or altogether the highest
limits of human perfection. Mr. Galton, a scientist of authority in these
matters, says that the ablest race of whom history tells is unquestion¬
ably the Greeks, that) we have no men to put by the siue of Socrates
and Phidias, and that the millions of Europe breeding for two thousand
years have never produced their equals. He further states that the
Athenian race was really two grades higher in ability tnan our own.
These people belonged to the warm peninsula; of Europe. But the Gre¬
cians are not all that challenge the correctness of the accepted theory.
The warmer regions are to be credited with Alexander, Hannibal,
Caesar, Mohammed, Charles Y. of Spain, Columbus, Galileo, Dante,
Tasso, Napoleon, Michael Angelo, Titian, Murillo, Cicero, Demos¬
thenes, Archimedes and a score of scarcely lesser lights m all the ave¬
nues of life whose names cannot be matched in our history. The south¬
ern countries, Italy and Spain, have led in civilization even in the days
of Anglo-Saxon organized and civilized government. Germany, Hol¬
land and Belgium owned their sway. Algebra began with the Arabians,
The very etymology of the word is Oriental. Astronomy began with
Egypt. We have added nothing to poetry and to art, and little to lit¬
erature. In the light of these facts, the climate theory is somewhat in
need of repair.
Another popular misconception is that the highest moral and relig¬
ious systems belong, if not to the Anglo-Saxon, at least, to the Aryan
peoples. But what becomes of such a claim in the face of the fact that
the Aryan, or Indo-European, people have given rise to none of these,
neither Christianity, Mohammedism, nor Confuscianism; Buddism, the
most destructive to human progress of any of them, alone excepted. All
these have come from Semitic and not Japhetic peoples, the Jews, the
Arabians, and the Chinese. Western Aryans have no surviving religion.
The Druids are all gone. Mythology is the burden of the child's story¬
book.
u
EORTUNE-TEEEING IN HISTORY
Again, it is generally believed that the intellectual ability varies
as the brain capacity, of the cranium, but this is not true either. Profes¬
sor Quatrefages, the eminent French scientist, say si that by such a test
the Troglodytes found in the caves would be superior to the best of
modern races; that the intellectual faculties are to a great or less ex¬
tent independent of the volume of The brain. A little independent in¬
vestigation on our own part concerning the men about us who are most
able, will confirm this view also.
But every one, we may very well suppose, would confidently point
to the inventions of the Anglo-Saxon now as conclusive proof of
mental superiority. Here, at least, we say, there can be no mistake.
But Mr. Kidd has been at great pains to puncture even this consolatory
thought, and he is ably supported in his view by Mr.-Edward Bellamy.
Both agree that the greatest achievements, inventions, and improve¬
ments of to-day result from all the little items of knowledge passing
through many generations of thinkers and added to by each till the
final idea brings the discovery to view. Mr. Kidd, in proof of this,
says that a large number of the most valuable discoveries have had
rival contemporaneous claimants for the honor, mentioning Differential
Calculus, Conservation of Energy, Evolution, Interpretation of hiero¬
glyphics, the Undulatory Theory of Lig-ht, the Steam Engine, Spectrum
Analysis, the telegraph and telephone. Those conversant with the his¬
tory of several of these know that experiment and study began years
ago and came through many men, till the happy inventor put on the
final idea, and we had the useful invention. Take electricity as the
most striking example of this inheritance of labors. We commonly
begin with Franklin's experiment with the kite, though Franklin him¬
self had the idea given him; but, beginning with him, we find not an
idea lost, but built upon by one and another, till a century shows the
arc light, the trolley, the automobile, the dynamo in factories. The first
step in these inventions was to acquaint one's self with all that others
had learned about the force and add experiment to that knowledge
till the full fruit was gathered. Mr. Gladstone joins the ranks of those
who deny the intellectual superiority of this age, saying, "Develop¬
ment, no doubt, is a slow process, but I do not see it at all. I do not
think that we are stronger, but weaker, than the men of the Middle
Ages."
There is still another fiction that stands in the way of that receptive
attitude toward the true principles of progress, necessary to a correct
foresight and insight. It is the fable of the miraculous qualities of the
Anglo-Saxon blood which cannot fail to override all other strains. Now,
I do not know where we are to goi to find unmixed Anglo-Saxon blood.
Certainly not in England, for the intermixture of Gallic from the Nor-
man, Celtic from the Irish, the Welsh and the Scottish, with doubtless
a strain of the Latin through the Romans, has produced a blend that
can only be called Anglo-Saxon by a fiction of language, the same
as that which calls Dumas a Negro because of a drop of African blood
FORTUNE-TEUJNG IN HISTORY
15
in his veins." Now, add to this the admixtures of alien blood, Indian,
Malay, African and Mongolian, coming from England's world-wyle
colonies, both from illicit commence and by cross-marriages, and the fic¬
tion of a pure Anglo-Saxon blood has not much more left in it than
Colonel Ingersoll's famous hotel, which was weather-beaten and de¬
serted, but whose sign still swung in the breeze proclaiming the legend
of its halcyon days, "Entertainment for Man and Beast!" If this is
true of staid, conservative old England, what shall we say of the
American who, not content with the blend as he brought it from across
the sea, poured into the pot pourri Spanish, French, (merman, Hun¬
garian, Pole, Swedish, Negro and Indian ingredients. If it be agreed
that the term' Anglo-Saxon is used for the sake of brevity to cover the
people of England and America regardless of the fact of blood, we
cannot well object, except to say that its use is unfortunate in that it
selects a word having a real end proper meaning to designate a fact not
belonging to that proper meaning, and is, to that extent, confusing and
misleading. The real fact is, that the resisting' quality 01 some of the
decried bloods is more remarkable than the absorbing power shown
by the Anglo-Saxon; for a hundred years of contact with American
blood, language and institutions have utterly failed to eradicate either
the physical characteristics or language of the Spaniards in Florida and
Texas, or the French in Louisiana and Canada, though they accept and
are proud of the title, American citizen, thus reducing to the mini¬
mum the conscious resistance. But There is another wortt to be said in
this connection. If it were granted that Anglo-Saxon domination is in¬
deed a matter of pure blood, both England and America would rob
their boasted lineage of much that is greatest in their world of achieve¬
ment and statesmanship. From the time of Cabot down to Disraeli
and Gladstone, to say nothing of her Carlyles, Burnses, Moores, Gold¬
smiths and Rothschildses, men not of Saxon blood have contributed
the most glorious pages to English history and literature. They were
Anglo-Saxons only by the fiction, not by blood. And the same is true
in America to an even greater degree. It will be surprising how many
of our greatest names have other than Saxon origin. Probably Lin¬
coln and Grant are our strongest names to conjure with wnen we would
exalt the Anglo-Saxon- strain in our history. At least, this is true in our
political history. Demolins, in his great work on "Anglo-Saxon Superi¬
ority: to What, Is It DueV" seeks to segregate what in the two Anglo-
Saxon countries belongs to the other bloods, Celtic, Welsh and Norman.
He finds that the leading characteristic of the Anglo-Saxon is attachment
to agriculture, industries and commerce, while the other strains just nam¬
ed run to politics and the liberal professions. The Celts, for instance, pre¬
dominates Ireland, in the Scotch Highlands, Australian towns, and in
New Zealand. In America politics is mainly run by the Germans and
Irish, Tammany being a noted instance in point. The Normans have given
to England its law of primogeniture, its hereditary nobility and the
House of Lords. It will thus be seen that a scientific investigation into
16
FORTUNE-TELLING IN HISTORY
these things destroys many misconceptions, and overthrows the idea that
all manifestations of our history belong to one strain alone. It is to
be understood that there is no effort here to overthrow tne fact of the
actual superiority of these countries. It is freely admitted and rejoiced
in, but the contention is simply that it is less a matter of blood, foreor¬
dained to rule because of inhernt uneonquerability, than it is, in part,
characteristics predominant in other races entering into our com¬
posite one. : ' 1 i
Note one fact, while we are on the question of blood. If present
indications are to be the criteria for making up a judgment as to the
races to rule in the future, we cannot ignore the Slav, whose empire is
to-day the strongest in the world and whose rapid development from
barbarism to a world-power has been the wonder of the century. Own¬
ing more of Europe than all the other powers put together, owning
more of Asia than any power in the world, recently having fastened a
grasp on China that, in its other history, it has never been known to
relax, possessing the strategic position of having contact with almost
every European power and with nearly every European uependency in
Asia, the hardiest of the hardy by reason of a rigorous climate, the
most energetic people of the world by reason of the same fact, pos¬
sessed of the wheat fields of the Eastern world, and profiting by the
unity of a despotic government that is enlightened enough to cull the
best from the other civilizations of both continents,—we may well sup¬
pose these advantages, with the demonstrated power to appreciate, de¬
velop and use them, must presage su remarkable future ror the people
possessing them. Not even the climate theory is against the greatness
of Russia.
And again, shall the ease with which Japan, a Mongolian people,
the most variant, except the Negro, from the white races, has put on
exteriorly and imbibed in spirit the civilization we are accustomed to
call Anglo-Saxon, have no meaning Avith us in pointing out a new and
higher path for her in the future? Related to one continent by her insu¬
lar position as England, her great prototype, is to another, will their
careers show a similar course? And will China, sorely vexed and raped
now, receive the seed of progress by the violence which disrupts her
stagnant and archaic life, and produce a strength and power in the next
century commensurate with her numerical and territorial magnitude?
Here are mighty problems for our oracles to answer.
Prince Konoyne, President of the Japanese House of Lords, re¬
cently visited this country, accompanied by a native professor of Tokio
University. He stated that he came to gain an intimate knowledge of
the American political situation and to get data that might be valuable
in the government of Japan. The professor said: "We nave adopted
many of your Western ideas, and find that our young people take to
them with avidity." These two statements were made respectively in
fluent German and English!
A few days ago Philadelphia saw the unusual spectacle of a Chinese
EORTUNE-TEUJNGFIN HISTORY 17
nobleman discussing before the American Society of Sociai and Political
Science the faults of our civilization, and that, too, in the most'gram¬
matical English! Will anyone sneer at the possibilities of such a peo¬
ple ?
Now, I approach a nation within a nation—the Negro in America.
What have the fortune-tellers said, and what is to be said as to the
development he can and will make, the place he is to be accorded, or
can wrest, in the life of his country?
In the Negro's case there have never been wanting those whose
notes of evil rang with the confidence of divination or inspiration. We
have been told of his failures,* hisi excellences, his limits, nis capacities,
his assimilability, his alienism, times galore. I shall compress in as
small space as possible this great mass of owlish deliverance, in the
hope that out of the sifting we may find the sure grains of truth and,
sometimes, verification so far as time "has brought them to light. If we
find this or that line of prophecy true, we snail be a;t less loss to see the
outcome of the whole matter as a final proposition. If we find this dark
enigma has done better than our forebodings whispered, we need not
be discouraged if he has dene less than cur partiality expected, for
we shall have evidence that growth, and not decay, belongs to him, even
if the rate of it be different from the sanguine predictions of those who
proclaim him the wonder of the world, and his furry scalp the most-
valuable of sables.
Up to the time of American slavery, the Negro had never been in
receiving contact with a great civilization. He was known only as
a black savage. Men estimated his human content by the light his past
and present shed upon it. The judgment was against him. Reversing
the old proverb, we said, What a man has) not done, he cannot do; and
there is rested. Out of this false philosophy grew a host of false propo¬
sitions. Starting with the dictum that Negroes have no souls, we have
been forced slowly to abandon many former positions because it was
human pride, human greed, human injustice speaking through us.
Much that seemed the deep utterance of profound learning and the
fearless expression of all candor, has proven to be the stubborn lan¬
guage of desire and self-juslification. Thus, many a man, great in his
proper sphere, has departed from his greatness in this. Let us consider
some of these efforts at fortune-telling seriatim:
1. Alexander H. Stephens said: "The Confederacy's corner-stone
rests upon the great truth that the Negro is not equal to the white man,
that slavery, subordination to the superior race, is his natural and nor¬
mal condition."
The corner-stone proved unstable, for it and the super-structure
are overthrown, and over two hundred thousand Negroes helped to do* it.
2. John C. Calhoun said: "If one Negro can be found who can con¬
strue a sentence in Greek, I am willing to concede1 the attributes of hu¬
manity to the race."
rrofessor W. S. Scarborough, of Wilberforce, O., has written a
18
FORTUNE-TELLING IN HISTORY
Greek grammar and read a paper before the American Pliilological So¬
ciety on "The Birds of Aristophanes."
3. Thomas Jefferson) said: "I do not believe him capable of demon¬
strating a proposition in Euclid."
Kelley Miller is now professor of mathematics in Howard Uni¬
versity, Washington City. Mr. Pelham, of Detfoit, Mich., was assistant
civil engineer for the Michigan Central Railroad when lie died. The
professor of higher mathematics in a Southern Negro college is in¬
structing the white county surveyor how to calculate railroad curves!
4. Robert Toombs said: "I will yet call the roll of my slaves under
the shadow of Bunker Hill Monument."
To-day the tax-rolls of his ex-slaves are being called under the
shadow of his old home in Georgia.
Notice that in each of these cases the argument seemed conclusive,
and nothing was forthcoming in rebuttal; but Time had not qualified her
witnesses to answer—that was all.
5. It was predicted that the Negro would not work in a state of
freedom.
Here is the answer: In 1865, to consider one item alone, four and
a half million Negroes produced 3,000,000 bales of cotton, or two-thirds
of a bale to the man; in 1898, after thirty-three years of freedom, nine
million Negroes produced 10,000,000 bales, or over one whole bal» to
the man.
6. He was said to be too improvident to accumulate property, and
many philanthropic persons expressed the fear that, turned loose as he
was, without experience and without ai dollar, he would,starve. But
he did not starve and he does not beg. On the contrary, the estimated
values upon which he pays taxes (and this excludes his church and
school property) are $400,000,000. Nineteen per cent, of the Negro fam¬
ilies are home-owners, the census showing 264,288 homes owned, with
234,747 of them free from incumbrance. Taken out of its setting of the
brief time in which this has been done, and away from all comparison
with the achievements of other people always free, these figures may
not mean much; but with these back-grounds, the showing is phe¬
nomenal. The Negro lias been free only one-third of a century. In
France and the United States (white), where conditions are the best, the
ratio of home-owning to non-home-owning families is as 1 to 2; in Ger¬
many, 1 to 3; in England, 1 to 5; in Ireland, 1 to 10; among the Amer¬
ican Negroes, 1 to 5. Here is a state of mind for the fortune-tellers.
7. It was held that the Negro was a good imitator and follower,
but a failure in initiative and organizing power.
It is only a little while ago since definite matter tending to dis¬
prove this view was available. Aside from what could be seen in a
general way among Negro churches, there was nothing on the other side
to adduce, but it is somewhat different now. For over a hundred years,
two great Negro church organizations, claiming, combined, over a mil¬
lion communicants, have successfully managed their affairs, operating
FORTUNE-TELLING IN HISTORY
19
missionary, educational, publication, financial, church, extension, and
Sunday-school bureaus, some of whose operations reach over $100,000
a year in one of these organizations, and whose field of Operations
reaches both sides of the world and involves, bank credit.
In 1898, Dr. W. E, B. DuBois, in his third report of the Atlanta Uni¬
versity Annual Conference, treats of the work1 of 79 churches, 92 secret
societies, 26 beneficial societies, 3 insurance societies, 21 Denevolent or¬
ganizations, and 15 co-operative societies, making 236 in all. Passing
over all but the largest, the True Reformers, a co-operat-ive enterprise,
in Richmond, Va., we find it is capitalized for $100,000, owns $115,000
in buildings, residences and the like; has 7086 depositors, and $101,-
933.32 deposited. Since its establishment, in 1889, it claims to have
handled $3,795,667.36, and to have paid out for the insurance lepart-
ment $370,910.75. This is a straw.
S. It is said that the giving of the ballot to the Negro was a, mis¬
take, and that he is incapable of statesmanship.
The ballot wasi not given to him as a matter of fact till it was seen
that he must have it in self-defense. It was two years after he was
freed before he was made a voter, and then only after tne States had
shown by a system of apprentice and vagrant laws intended to, and
which really did, virtually re-enslave him, that he must have some
means to defend himself from the animosities engendered against him
by the issue of the Civil War. Who that criticises can suggest a better
way for his protection than that adopted? And despite Dis own igno¬
rance and the Caucasian leadership that must be charged with most
that is monstrous and corrupt in that time, two facts stand out to the
eternal credit of the Negro—the only two, perhaps, that survive tHe new
constitutions and have the approval of the white people of the South-
public free schools for< every child, and the principle of Federal appro¬
priations for internal improvements. Both were opposed by the whites;
both are now cordially accepted and championed by them. No people
are more zealous in their support of public education than the Southern
white people to-day, and no Congressmen are able to make a better
argument in favor of a large appropriation than theirs. The sole rejec¬
tion of the Sugar Bounty by Texas serves to -emphasize the fact that she
stands alone.
9. Strange as it now seems, it was once said by the fortune-tellers
that the Negro could never learn books.
Forty-three per cent, of all ten years old and over can read and
write to-day. *
10. When this failed, they fell back upon the statement that he
could never take the higher learning.
There are over 30,000 Negro graduates of colleges now in the United
States- 749 physicians, 450 lawyers, and about 30,000 school teachers.
11. But the prophets return to the charge with the statement that
he is not making progress as fast as other races with the same ad¬
vantages would.
FORTUNE-TELLING IN HISTORY
In the ten years between 1880 and 1890, Negro illiteracy was re¬
duced 14.8 per cent.; white illiteracy, only 4.4 per cent. There were
308,650 fewer black illiterates here in 1890 than in 1880, but there were
193,494 more white illiterates, making a net increase of 84,844, all white.
Again, in 1876, only 3 per cent, of all Negroes were in school; in
1896, 20 per cent, were attending. In 1890, there were 175 schools for
the higher and industrial education of this race, 28 of tnem managed
by members of the race, and 6 of them founded and managed by them.
Thirty-three thousand students attend these schools.
12. Some alarmist finally raised the cry that at their rate of in¬
crease, the Negroes would soon overrun the country.
In the hundred years between 1790 and 1890, the whites increased
from a little over 3,000,000 to eighteen timesi as many; the Negro from
750,000 to only ten times as many.
13. Well, said a counter-alarmist, the Negro is dying out.
In 1860, there were 4,500,000 Negroes in America; to-day there are
9,000,000, a doubling in about thirty-five years.
14.—One of the main and undisputed contentions of the prophets was
that the Negro could not stand a cold climate. This, taken with the
climate theory, was intended to convey the idea that his position among
the Caucasian race must always be an inferior one.
A single instance of disproof will be sufficient to suggest others:
In 1870 there were 22,147 Negroes in Philadelphia; in 1890 there were
39,371. From 1870 to 1880 the city increased as a whole 25.69 per cent.;
but its Negro population increased 43.13 per cent. In the ten years
from 1880 to 1890, the city increased 25.3 per cent; the Negro popula¬
tion, 25#per cent.
15. Judging from his docility in slavery, it was long neld by friend
and foe that the race lacked courage to fight. But with New Orleans,
Wagner, Pillow, El Caney and San Juan before them, the fortune- tellers
are silent.
It would seem that in the face of this showing, men would allow,
if not the equality of the Negro under like conditions, at least, that
his powers are as yet unfathcmed, and that more time will be required
to determine his place, but the hasty and hostile prejudgments still go
on. Why should a man fight against the decrees of Gou and nature V
Why should he even desire to see them' changed? When the Negro has
reached his limit he will stop; till then, nothing can stop him.
Again, it would seem that it is beneath the dignity of ai people who
feel themselves the masters of the world1 to begrudge iand retard the
progress of those who can never be their rivals, as they say. Yet a
glance at the dire predictions we have just recited shows that they are
often contradictory and agree in only one particular—in being hostile
and uncandid. Is it wise to deceive ourselves to please ourselves? Can
juggling figures strangle facts? Our sole desire should be to know
the truth and not be found opposing the inevitable. You ask me what
is the inevitable. I tell you I do not know; but I shall seek to know. At
FORTUNE-TELIyING IN HISTORY
any rate, I shall not be found proclaiming God's purposes till He has
revealed them.
can know when we are against God even before we know His
will—by the spirit within us. If it is one of love and good-will and help¬
fulness to all men, even the Negro, we shall not be found far wrong,
no matter what we believe can or cannot be done.
It would be a fruitful inquiry to ask why so many reforms have
succeeded against the opposition of the numerous, the powerful and the
rich—why the poor and despised classes have constantly gained rights
and privileges against the will and protest of the migvnty. Such re¬
forms have always implied the restriction of the power of the ruling
forces; such extension of privileges to the people has always meant the
limiting of the immunities of the upper classes. How, then, were these
things possible? Reform movements begin in weakness and ridicule;
the submerged masses are always lacking in organization and leader¬
ship.
The success and strength of a just cause lie in the fact that those
who light it are weakened and dispirited by the consciousness that they
are fighting against righteousness. Hence the finest and strongest souls
surrender first, then disintegration in the ranks follows faster and faster
till all yield. Thus doth conscience make cowards of us all, and God's
three hundred prevail over the mighty, though the one have1 only pitch¬
ers, lights and trumpets to fight against the others' swords and spears
and shields.
We desire to close this discussion by a summing up of the good that
the Negro offers in the problems before us, and the burdens he lays
upon us, as well. The following things belong toi the credit .side of the
account:
His great physical endurance.
His cheerful nature, rising above every circumstance.
His lack of vindictiveness.
His love of his white neighbor.
His love of country.
His desire for the respect of others.
His self-respect, as shown in his good opinion of himself.
His confidence in his own future.
His acquisitiveness, as shown in what he has already acquired in
property against great odds.
His growing indications of social efficiency, as shown in the increas¬
ing organizations, church and secular, he is successfully conducting.
His deep religious nature and wealth of emotion.
His power of assimilation and adaptability, making him the only
one of the so-called inferior races that has ever! failed to dwindle and
die in the face of our civilization.
The following are the burdens he lays upon us:
His ignorance.
His low average of morality.
FORTUNE-TELLING IN HISTORY
His lack of enterprise.
His lack of self-reliance.
These are some of. the injustices he now suffers:
Exclusion from full participancy in the benefits of our civilization
and in the use of all the agencies of advancement granted to other
citizens.
Contempt and a spirit of resentment against his pretensions or as¬
pirations! to a full manhood.
A willingness to refuse him the privileges lawfully his, and to use
dishonorable means to evade obligations solemn and morally binding,
which the laws we have sworn to obey put upon us to abridge in no
way the rights, privileges, and immunities of the humblest citizen.
Confusion as to the bearing of his civil rights upon his social
status.
A determination to take the fixing of his place out of the hands
of God and fix it, right or wrong, where we would have it be.
Making out our case by magnifying faults common to all classes and
by ignoring or concealing the good that is to be seen.
These are some of the benefits and advantages he enjoys:
Living in sight and touch of our civilization, with its mighty sug¬
gestions and incentives.
Being allowed some participancy in its operations.
Situated so as to imbibe the spirit of Christianity.
Subject to the toning up that comes from favorable climatic con¬
ditions.
Adopting the Saxon ideal in' education and progressiveness.
Realizing by comparison how far behind he is in the race of life.
Learning that no people seeking the light will have tne solid oppo¬
sition of the superior class against which it must contend, but that
many of the strongest and best will be found crying for fair play and
a freei field.
And thus the case is made up, with God and all good courageous
men on the side of full opportunity for the struggler, to determine with-1
out prejudgment whafl he can do and how far he can go before nature
and his endowment stop him; and with the unfair, prejudiced and un¬
christian classes on the other, to order the constitution of nature as
they will it. Where shall we place ourselves?
I referred to the story of the released giant in the Arabian Nights,
but I did not finish it. Let me do so now. The fisherman finally per¬
suaded the giant to prove that he really came out of the kettle by re¬
solving himself again into mist and re-entering the vessel, then suddenly
closing it, the fisherman refused to open it till he had exacted a prom¬
ise of help and protection from the imprisoned giant. So the liberal
Christian and altruistic spirit that lias made possible the release of the
great material and natural forces that are now threatening the de¬
struction of their liberator in the substitution of a selfish commercial¬
ism for fraternal love, must coax them back into bounds and make them
helpers and allies in bringing in the better day when the lion and the
lamb shall lie down together.
■