MEdward Church.

ROM hours already

crowded with a multiplicity of my public duties, I snatch a few

minutes to write a short

introduction to this great book, and its true import, by Prof. John James Holm.

The name of Prof. Holm is in itself a guarantee of its soundness of logic, and the excellence of the presentation of this production of his richly endowed and highly cultured mind.

In this book the author discusses a subject that has been a stubborn controversy for centuries. To one that might at a glance of the subject turn away from the book without carefully and diligently reading the able, convincing arguments it contains; let me say, he will miss an opportunity of improving heart and mind, which, when he comes to realize it fully, will be to him a cause for many regrets.

This great book is not a rehash of old arguments. The learned author, by careful, laborious research, brings to us arguments of originality and freshness. The arguments put forth are not only interesting and eloquent, but to any fairminded man convincing. It seems to me it exhibits not only a thorough familiarity with the facts and doctrines of the Divine Writings, but a remarkable insight into their true import, which seems to have been born of his reliance on God for the presence of the Holy Spirit to shed light upon his work.

I rejoice that in rapidly increasing numbers we are already beginning to see more clearly some of the fallacies so detrimental to our progress. The numerous and practical illustrations with which the author has interspersed his book will have a peculiar attraction for all interested in this progress, which the races of America so sadly need.

In my long and varied experience as a minister of the great African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, I have found that for every great occasion of local or national magnitude in the upbuilding of my race a man or a woman of strong convictions and firm faith has stepped out boldly to proclaim the truth at any cost. Sometimes it has been one of our race, sometimes of the white race. In this case it is again a white man of the

old Teutonic race who has dedicated his broad experience and remarkable scientific intellect to the advocacy of a cause that concerns the vital interests of both races in America.

Nothing is as strange as the unpolished truth. When I had the distinguished honor to peep into the manuscript of this book, my eyes were opened and the scales fell, and I saw the real condition of my people in the South. I was convicted and convinced that we all have been laboring under a bugbear and dared not stand erect; but as an old adage says: crushed to earth will rise again."

"The truth We can no longer hide our faces after a careful reading of this book and plead ignorance.

There is perhaps no man in either race better equipped to handle the subject of this book than Prof. Holm. When but a boy he manifested a great interest in psychological science. He was an early student of Prof. O. S. Fowler, and has ever since been a close student of human nature, making extensive investigations relative to the races in the South and elsewhere, covering many years. A man with such a natural-born gift, who has spared neither time or money to obtain the truth as he presents it, must be heard. No one can read this book without feeling that the heart of the author is wrapped up in its every page. He has been a believer in Universal Brotherhood

since early manhood-that every man is his brother and every woman his sister, regardless of color or condition in life. I have often heard him say that he cannot feel a social difference between the respectable colored man and woman and a white man or woman who is respectable. His position or belief is perhaps most fully expressed in the closing words of a memorial address, delivered in the A. M. E. Zion Church at Citronelle, Alabama, in behalf of the Rt. Rev. M. R. Franklin, D. D., who died last May (1909).

"Live for those who love you,

And for your enemies too,

And life will prove a true success,
In the good that you may do."

Prof. Holm was reared in the great state of Wisconsin; he did not see the face of a Negro until grown; and when it was his privilege to associate with colored people, he did not see through the stained vision of race prejudice, but as a student of human nature the Negro proved very attractive material to him, and he discovered the latent possibilities of the race and became the friend of our downtrodden people. Years later, after gaining considerable knowledge from books, teachers, and by experience, it was under the guidance of an all-wise and gracious Providence that he traveled South and lived

After

near the colored people of all classes. spending more than twenty-six years of his life and money in study and research he comes forward with this book that will be instrumental, more than any other thing at the present time, in solving the race problem.

Yours for the cause,

MARION EDWARD CHURCH, A. B.