All who stand beneath our banner are free. Ours is the only flag that
has in reality written upon it: Liberty, Fraternity, Equality--the three
grandest words in all the languages of men. Liberty: Give to every man
the fruit of his own labor--the labor of his hand and of his brain.
Fraternity: Every man in the right is my brother. Equality: The rights
of all are equal. No race, no color, no previous condition, can change
the rights of men. The Declaration of Independence has at last been
carried out in letter and in spirit. To-day the black man looks upon his
child and says: The avenues of distinction are open to you--upon your
brow may fall the civic wreath. We are celebrating the courage and
wisdom of our fathers, and the glad shout of a free people, the anthem
of a grand nation, commencing at the Atlantic, is following the sun to
the Pacific, across a continent of happy homes.