In 1874 a constitutional convention was called and a new constitution
adopted. At the State convention of the Democratic party for the
nomination of State officers Baxter was the favorite for re-election as
Governor, and probably would have been the choice, had not the more
astute politicians put the United States senatorial "bee in his bonnet,"
which induced a letter, fervid and patriotic, declining the nomination.
Baxter was confiding and honest, but not an adept in the wily ways of
the politician. Augustus H. Garland was elected Governor, and in the
United States senatorial race Baxter was "left at the stand." It was
then, as it oft happens, that--
"God and the soldier all men adore,
In time of war, and not before.
When the war is over and all things righted,
God is forgot, and the soldier slighted."
[Illustration: HON. AUGUSTUS H. GARLAND
A learned jurist, broad and humane. A member of the Confederate
Congress--Governor of and United States Senator for Arkansas--A member
of President Cleveland's Cabinet--Evidencing in every position, that it
was a selection "fit to be made."]
Augustus H. Garland was a Senator in the Confederate Congress in 1861,
succeeding Baxter as Governor, then United States Senator from Arkansas,
and subsequently a member of President Cleveland's Cabinet, evidencing
in every position that it was a selection "fit to be made" not only for
his ability and attainments as a statesman, but for rugged honesty of
purpose and broad humanity as a man. Taking the reins of government at
the zenith of a successful revolution, when violence sought
gratification, desire rampant for prosecution and persecution, Governor
Garland, by a conservative policy, soothed the one and discouraged the
other--a policy early announced in his first proclamation, an extract of
which is as follows: "Should there be any indictments in the courts for
past political offences, I would suggest and advise their dismissal. Let
people of all parties, races and colors come and be welcomed to our
State and encouraged to bring her up to a position of true greatness."
His friendship I highly esteemed, and, learning of his demise, could not
but submit the following token:
"Tamatave, Madagascar,
"April 17, 1899.
"Editor Little Rock Gazette:
"Sitting in the Consulate, way down on the banks of the Indian
Ocean, the Gazette comes to me laden with expressions of sorrow
on the passing of my friend, ex-United States Attorney General
A. H. Garland. Truly, 'a great man has fallen.' In him the
nation has lost an eminent statesman and Arkansas a most
distinguished citizen, celebrated for his intellectuality and
valued services to the Commonwealth. I said 'my friend,' and I
reiterate, in no platform sense of that term. Twenty-five year
ago I was municipal judge of the city, at the time when the
conflict for party ascendancy was most intense. When passion
struggled for the mastery, as Governor, he was in reality to me
a friend. During his residence at the capital I have never
visited Washington without seeking and as promptly receiving
his kindly greeting. On several occasions his services, eagerly
given, were most helpful. He was not only mentally eminent, but
morally great.
"Ever approachable, he was a manly man, with courage of
conviction, and, while urging them with a zeal born of honest
belief, had the inestimable faculty of winning adherents by
strength of presentation, blended with suavity of manner. He
was conspicuous in this, that his broad soul expanded with
tender and affectionate regard for the poor and humble.
Reserved in manner, magnanimous and catholic in a spirit that
embraced the 'world as his country, and all mankind as his
countrymen.' So in the archives of memory I make haste to lay
this small tribute to a departed friend, who still seems as
'one long loved and but for a season gone.'"
I was present, but not a delegate, at the convention that nominated
General Grant for a second term, at the Academy of Music, in
Philadelphia, in 1872.
The proceedings, reported and published, of a National Convention are
always interesting, but lose much of the impression and force of
actuality with which an auditor and spectator is affected. The gayety
and magnetism of numbers, the scintillations of brain in special
advocacy, followed by tumultuous accord. The intensity, the anxiety
depicted, while results far-reaching and momentous are pending, furnish
a scene vivid and striking that cannot be pictured. Here is being formed
the policy of a party which is to be subjected to the winnowing fan of
acute and honest criticism, and by denunciation by opposite parties,
striving to obtain the administration of the Government, the fiat of
which and the selection of the standard-bearer constitute the claim for
the suffrage of the people. They are the preparatory cornerstones of
self-government, fashioned and waiting for the verdict of the nation.
Committees on platform and resolutions are generally composed of the
radical and conservative elements of a party, so that, while the canvass
is up and on, it shall have steered between "the rocks of too much
danger and pale fear" and reached the port of victory. Experience during
the period since last it met may have had much to do with silence or
brief mention of the heretofore darling shibboleth with which they were
wont to inspire the faithful, rally the laggards, or capture converts.
"Consistency, thou art a jewel" that dazzles, confuses, but doth not
bewilder the ordinary politician, who can allow a former policy
noiseless and forsaken to sink into the maelstrom of neglected and
unrequited love. Prolific in schemes is the procedure of a minority
party, not the least is the selection of a standard-bearer, who has been
the most sparse and reticent in utterance, hence a record the least
assailable, that extracts from his opponents the exclamation of one in
Holy Writ, "Oh, that mine enemy had written a book."
Among the men who made mark at the convention above referred to was
Oliver P. Morton, of Indiana, styled the "War Governor," for the
patriotism and alacrity which he summoned his State in response to the
national call, caught up and followed by every loyal State during the
Civil War. A confirmed invalid, with lower limbs paralyzed, with massive
head and inspired brain, assisted by two servants to a chair to the
front of the platform, he made the speech of the convention. Another
novel incident was the occupation of the platform of a National
Convention by Afro-Americans. The Late Hon. William H. Gray, the
faithful and eloquent leader of the colored Republicans of Arkansas, and
the late Hon. R. B. Elliott, Congressman from South Carolina, were
invited to speak.
A few of their well-chosen words in exordium were as follows:
Mr. Gray said: "Gentlemen of the Convention: For the first time,
perhaps, in the history of the American people, there stands before you
in a National Convention assembled, a representative of that oppressed
race that has lived among you for two hundred and fifty years; who, by
the magnanimity of this great nation, lifted by the power of God and the
hands of man from the degradation of slavery to the proud position of an
American citizen."
Mr. Elliott said: "Gentlemen of the Convention: It is with great
appreciation of the compliment paid my State that I rise to respond to
your invitation to address you. I stand here, gentlemen of the
convention, together with my colleagues from the several States, as an
illustration of an accomplished fact of American emancipation, not only
as an illustration of the management of the American people, but as a
living example of the justice of the American people."
The speeches of which the foregoing are but a part of their
introduction, expressive of gratitude and fidelity, a conception of the
needs of the hour, delivered with an eloquence that charmed, elicited
hearty response, the Academy echoing and re-echoing with the plaudits of
the vast assembly. At each National Convention of the Republican party
representatives of the race have shown not alone oratorical power, but
an intelligent grasp of the political situation. At this period of
General Grant's nomination, the nation's heart still jubilant with the
success of the Federal arms; its conscience awakened by the dread
penalty paid by contributions from every loyal hearthstone for the
subjugation of slavery, was now eager and active in providing that the
Negro who had been faithful in peace and heroic in war, should enjoy the
rights of an American citizen. It was history repeating itself, for in
England's history we read that it was Henry at Ajincourt who said: "Who
this day sheds his blood with me today shall be my brother; were he
ne'er so vile, today shall gentle his condition." For the Civil War, as
it matured, became no ordinary case of political contention; the soul of
its suppression sprang from the most sacred impulses in the mind of man.
It was response to the self-retort of Cain that came echoing down the
ages, "Am I my brother's keeper?" Answer came in shot and shell.
But as time receded from these historic epochs, engrossed more and more
in national development, mercantile aspirations, internal improvements,
rivalry of parties, self-aggrandizement--in short, all the agencies and
factors inseparable from human nature that influence on material lines,
have effaced much of the general solicitude that formerly existed. This
decadence of purpose is not unnatural; a wardship is a duty, and should
not be a continuous necessity, its greatest blessing a consciousness
that its ideals and purposes have been assimilated by its wards, and
lifted higher in humanity's scale. Too much dependence is as hurtful as
entire neglect. The more persistent the call for the forces within the
greater the response from the assistants without. The lethargy or
neglect to give the Negro protection in the exercise of his
constitutional rights is developing a spirit of self-help and intensity
of purpose, to find and adopt a course and measures remedial that may be
practical and efficient; to ignore the sentimentality of politics and
subordinate them to conditions irrespective of party. He has found that
"the mills of the gods grind slowly;" that the political lever needs for
its fulcrum a foundation as solidly material as equitably sentimental.
Proclaim brotherhood, justice, and equal rights ever so much, men will
nod acquiescence with a mental reservation of "but," significant of "Who
are you? What can you do, or what have you done?" It is your current
life's answer to these interrogatives that most interest people in this
material world in your behalf. Only as we increase in commercial
pursuits, ownership of property, and the higher elements of production
through skilled labor will our political barometer rise. Upon these we
should anchor our hopes, assured that higher education, with its
"classic graces, will follow in their proper places."
Of the latter a humorous writer, in answer to the question from the
president of an Eastern college, "Is there any good reason why our sons
should not study the dead languages?" said: "While our sons are not on
speaking terms with many live languages, it ill becomes them to go
fooling around the dead and dying. I do not think it necessary that our
sons should study these defunct tongues. A language that did not have
strength enough to pull through and crawled off somewhere and died,
doesn't seem worth studying. I will go further, and say I do not see why
our sons should spend valuable time over invalid languages that aren't
feeling very well. Let us not, professor, either one of us, send our
sons into the hospital to lug out languages on a stretcher just to study
them. No; let us bring up our sons to shun all diseased and disabled
languages, even if it can't be proved that a language comes under either
of those heads; if it has been missing since the last engagement, it is
just as well not to have our sons chasing around after it with a
detective, trying to catch and pore over it. You may look at it
differently, professor. Our paths in the great realm of education of
youth may lie far apart; but it is my heartfelt wish that I may never
live to see a son of mine ride right past healthy athletic languages and
then stand up in the stirrups and begin to whoop and try to lariat some
poor old language going around on a crutch, carrying half of its
alphabet in a sling. If two-thirds of the words of a language are flat
on their back, taking quinine, trying to get up an appetite, let us
teach our sons that they cannot hope to derive benefit from its study."
But Lord Rosebery, ex-Premier of England, in a late address before the
University of Glasgow on "Questions of Empire," in the following, on
action and learning, takes a serious view:
"There was a time, long years ago, when the spheres of action
and learning were separate and distinct; when laymen dealt hard
blows and left letters to the priesthood. That was to some
extent the case when our oldest universities were founded. But
the separation daily narrows. It has been said that the true
university of our days is a collection of books. What if a
future philosopher shall say that the best university is a
workshop? And yet the latter definition bids fair to be the
sounder of the two. The training of our schools and colleges
must daily become more and more the training for action, for
practical purpose. The question will be asked of the product of
our educational system: Here is a young fellow of twenty; he
has passed the best years of acquisition and impression; he has
cost so much; what is his value? For what, in all the manifold
activities of the world, is he fit? And if the answer be not
satisfactory, if the product be only a sort of learned mummy,
the system will be condemned. Are there not thousands of lads
today plodding away at the ancient classics, and who, at the
first possible moment, will cast them into space, never to
reopen them? Think of the wasted time that that implies; not
all wasted, perhaps, for something may be gained in power of
application; but entirely wasted so far as available knowledge
is concerned."
And in keeping with this line of thought, the "Washington Post," of
Washington, D. C., in a recent issue, makes the following pertinent and
truthful mention:
"Almost without exception, the colleges and universities are
beginning another year with unusually large classes. Many of
these institutions report the largest number of matriculates in
their history. The aggregate attendance is unquestionably
greater by thousands than that of any previous year. This is
due in part to the prevalence of business prosperity and in
part to the steadily increasing approbation of higher education
for women, while the natural increase of population is also
something of a factor. The 'Cleveland Leader,' speaking of the
reports of large classes of freshmen all over the country,
says:
"'That appears to be the best and most conclusive reply which
the American people can make to those gentlemen of wealth and
prominence who, like Mr. Schwab, of the Steel Trust, discourage
higher education as preparation for the life of the business
world. It is the solidest kind of evidence that the old love of
knowledge for its own sake and the old faith in the beneficial
effects of college training upon the youth of a country having
such a government and social organization as this Republic has
developed remain as strong as ever.'"
To which the Post replies:
"That is somewhat hasty and a probably erroneous conclusion.
The "higher education" which Mr. Schwab discourages, the
old-time classical course, has not grown in popular favor. The
reverse is true. The demand for a more practical education in
this utilitarian age has compelled the colleges and
universities to make radical changes in their curriculum. The
number of students who elect to take the old-time course is
smaller in proportion to the population and wealth of this
country than it ever was. Science, both pure and applied, takes
a far more prominent place in collegiate studies than it
formerly occupied. Many of the leading institutions of learning
have introduced a commercial department. Everywhere the
practical, the business idea is becoming dominant.
"While no intelligent man questions the value of classical
studies or disputes the proposition that a knowledge of the
classics is indispensable to a thorough understanding of our
own language, the area of practical study has become so vast,
by reason of new discoveries in science and the arts, that a
choice between the two is compulsory to young persons who have
their own fortunes to make. The old-time course of mathematics
and classics furnishes splendid mental discipline, with much
knowledge that may or may not put its possessor on the road to
success in business. But the time required for that course, if
followed by a three or four years' term of practical study,
sets a young man so far along in life that he has a hopeless
race with younger men who dispensed with the classical and went
in zealously for the practical.
"The change from the old to the new lines of education is even
more marked in the common schools than in the colleges and
universities. The practical begins in the free kindergarten and
runs with more or less directness through all the grades.
Millions are expended upon industrial training. The business
high schools are a great feature of the free school system. All
this is comparatively new. It has come because of the
necessities of an industrial age.
"'Knowledge for its own sake' is becoming more and more a
luxury, in which the sons and daughters of the rich indulge,
while the representatives of families that are merely well to
do feel that they must acquire knowledge for practical uses.
And this tendency is likely to continue, for, as we have said,
the field of the practical is expanding. Take, for example,
electricity and its uses. All that was known of this subject in
the time of our grandfathers could be learned in a few days or
weeks. To be an up-to-date electrical scientist and practical
electrician in 1901 means that years have been devoted to hard
work."
The crude notion held by some, that in far-off climes, to the American
Negro unknown, who, with small capital and limited education; with an
inherited mental inertia that is being dispelled and can only be
eradicated by contact with superior environment, that there awaits him
peace, plenty, and equality, is an ignis fatuus the most delusive. Peace
is the exhaustion of strife, and is only secure in her triumphs in being
in instant readiness for war; equality a myth, and plenty the
accumulation of weary toil.
With travel somewhat extensive and diversified; residence in tropical
latitudes of Negro origin, I have a decided conviction, despite the
crucial test to which he has been subjected in the past and the present
disadvantages under which he labors, nowhere is the promise along all
the lines of opportunity brighter for the American Negro than here in
the land of his nativity. For he needs the inspiriting dash, push, and
invincible determination of the Anglo-Saxon (having sufficient of his
deviltry) to make him a factor acknowledged and respected. But the fruit
of advantage will not drop as ripe fruit from the tree; it can be
gotten only by watchful, patient tillage, and frugal garnering.
Ignorance and wastefulness among the industrious but uneducated poor
render them incapable to cope with the shrewd and unprincipled. The
rivalry to excel in outward appearance and social amenities beyond the
usual moderate means on the part of the educated is a drawback to any
people, but one disastrous to the Negro in his march through arduous
toil and restricted conditions to financial independence.
[Illustration: REV. JOSEPH A. BOOKER,
President of Arkansas Baptist College, and Editor of the "Vanguard."
Born 1859, at Portland, Arkansas--Studied at Branch Normal
College--Graduated At Roger Williams' University, Tennessee, Mainly by
His Efforts this College Only on Paper in 1887, has now Grounds and
Buildings Worth over $50,000 and Several Hundred Students.]