constant struggle of the poor against the privileged classes; and the
goal of that struggle has ever been the equality of all men before the
law. The Negro who would yield this right, deserves to be a slave; he has
the servile spirit. The rich and the educated can, by virtue of their
influence, command many votes; can find other means of protection; the
poor man has but one, he should guard it as a sacred treasure. Long ago,
by fair treatment, the white leaders of the South might have bound the
Negro to themselves with hoops of steel. They have not chosen to take this
course, but by assuming from the beginning an attitude hostile to his
rights, have never gained his confidence, and now seek by foul means to
destroy where they have never sought by fair means to control.

I have spoken of the effect of disfranchisement upon the colored race; it
is to the race as a whole, that the argument of the problem is generally
directed. But the unit of society in a republic is the individual, and not
the race, the failure to recognize this fact being the fundamental error
which has beclouded the whole discussion. The effect of disfranchisement
upon the individual is scarcely less disastrous. I do not speak of the
moral effect of injustice upon those who suffer from it; I refer rather to
the practical consequences which may be appreciated by any mind. No
country is free in which the way upward is not open for every man to try,
and for every properly qualified man to attain whatever of good the
community life may offer. Such a condition does not exist, at the South,
even in theory, for any man of color. In no career can such a man compete
with white men upon equal terms. He must not only meet the prejudice of
the individual, not only the united prejudice of the white community; but
lest some one should wish to treat him fairly, he is met at every turn
with some legal prohibition which says, "Thou shalt not," or "Thus far
shalt thou go and no farther." But the Negro race is viable; it adapts
itself readily to circumstances; and being thus adaptable, there is