The recent Emigration Law of Italy gives the government of that kingdom the power to prevent emigration to any country where conditions are unfavorable to the welfare of Italian citizens, and under its provisions the authorities have forbidden emigration to Mississippi, on the ground that conditions there prevailing do not afford adequate security to intending settlers.

During the summer of 1907 the North German Lloyd and Hamburg-American steamship lines refused to consider the proposition of the Southwestern Immigration Conference looking to the development of New Orleans as a station for the reception of immigrants. The reason given by the officials of the companies for their action was, substantially, that so many bitter complaints of harsh treatment by employers of labor had been made by German and Austrian immigrants to that section, that until this condition was remedied they would refuse to promote immigration.

Once, however, the solution of Lincoln was adopted, and the displacement of the negro from the South had begun, with the assurance that it was to be a permanent policy; once the tide of emigration from the South had been set in motion toward the African continent, and the nation's faith pledged to its continuance to the utterance; then room would be found for millions of industrious and capable immigrants from the better sections of Europe, who would gladly avail themselves of the multiplying opportunities and attractions to be found in the development of the South.

Have we, then, a moral right to exclude the immigrant, as well as to eliminate the negro from citizenship, where the Our Right welfare of the future millions of the American to Exclude. race demands such action?

The answer cannot be better expressed than in the words of the late Reverend Phillips Brooks, whose perfect poise of judgment and beautiful Christian spirit give transcendent

weight to his words upon this momentous question. Listen, then, to his clearly outlined statement as to our rights and duties upon the question of the admission of alien elements to our American citizenship:

No nation, as no man, has a right to take possession of a choice bit of God's earth, to exclude the foreigner from its territory, that it may live more comfortably and be a little more at peace. But if to this particular nation there has been given the development of a certain part of God's earth for universal purposes; if the world in the great march of centuries is going to be richer for the development of a certain national character, built up by a larger type of manhood here, then for the world's sake, for the sake of every nation that would pour in upon it that which would disturb that development, we have a right to stand guard over it.

We are to develop here in America a type of national character, we believe, for which the world is to be richer always. It may be the last grand experiment of God's wandering humanity upon earth. We have a right to stand guard over the conditions of that experiment, letting nothing interfere with it, drawing into it the richness that is to come by the entrance of many men from many nations, and they in sympathy with our Constitution and laws.

Yes, many men of many nations, but all of the best types, and only those who readily fuse into the great comprehensive American citizen. The right to admit involves the duty to reject. Upon us rests the responsibility of seeing that neither by the admission of those disqualified seeking to enter, nor by the retention of those disqualified desiring to remain, shall the character of this chosen people undergo debasement, and the ideals and institutions founded and preserved by the infinite sacrifices of those who have preceded us be imperilled.

CONCLUSION

His ambition has been to place before the thoughtful public of the country a description of the existing condition of the negro problem as it affects our national welfare, and to state the methods by which the solution proposed by Abraham Lincoln might be successfully carried into effect. The purpose has been to present a practical working remedy for the evil, as far removed on the one hand from the continuance of present intolerable conditions, as on the other from a mere counsel of perfection impossible of attainment. In what measure success has been achieved those who may read the work will best be able to render judgment. If the discussion has appeared perhaps too prolonged, the only excuse the writer has to offer is the transcendent importance of the subject, requiring the fullest consideration of the delicate and complicated interests involved. In the words of the annalist of the Maccabees, the writer would modestly say in submitting his work: "and if I have done well and as is fitting the story, it is that which I desire; but if slenderly and meanly, it is that which I could attain unto."

THE task of the writer is finished.

But one word remains to be added to what has gone before. We are rapidly approaching the celebration of the centenary of the birth of the man whose name in the public thought is inseparably associated with the emancipation of the negro race from slavery. In the shadow of his imperishable memory we will shortly pause for a moment to

renew our expressions of faith in those principles of democracy of which he was the illustrious exemplar.

Already in press and pulpit, in forms of art, in educational preparation, and in the speech of the people the greatness of this coming celebration is foreshadowed. On the 12th of February, 1909, the people of the great Northern and Western sections of the country will suspend their daily duties and in holiday spirit proceed in manifold ways to do honor to the memory of him who stands pedestalled with Washington, heir of eternal fame,

The pillar of a people's hope,

The centre of a world's desire.

Assembled millions of school children will listen to the description of his life of unsurpassed devotion to his country's service; eloquent speakers at the banquet hall and on the platform will extol his superlative virtues and with patriotic oratory endeavor to impress upon their hearers the lessons of his inspiring career. Pulpit and press will vie in eulogy of his memory, and the humble site of his birthplace will be marked by the dedication of a magnificent mausoleum erected by the contributions of loving citizens in commemoration of the event of such profound importance to the American people. All that the reverent homage of a grateful nation may render in affectionate and appreciative recognition of the nobility of his character and the abiding value of his services to humanity will be laid at his feet.

And yet the house remains divided. Beyond a perfunctory recognition of his kindly human attributes and an occasional acknowledgment of his unusual political ability, the South will remain unmoved by the great celebration. The negro, everywhere excluded from participation by the spirit of caste, if he rejoices at all will do so in separation, and can find but little in the event to encourage him toward a

hopeful future. He cannot readily forget that in studied phrase the President-elect announced to the world at the North Carolina dinner in New York on December 7, 1908, his acquiescence in the negro-disfranchising methods prevailing in the South, and, assuming that these have effected the temporary elimination of the race problem, has made his futile bid for the political support of the white men of that section upon other issues. What consolation is it to the disfranchised black man of the South for Mr. Taft to qualify his acceptance of the suppression of the negro vote by vaguely outlined requirements of fair and equal administration of the law as between the white and black races? For all men know that the Southern negro will never have an equal chance to qualify himself for the franchise, and that the formal abandonment by the coming administration of any purpose of enforcing the great war amendments will serve as the reading of the warrant for the political death of the negro.

The South so understands it, and the newspapers of that section commend the utterances of the President-elect as the final announcement of the negro's relegation to his position of permanent subordination and the formal acceptance of the failure of the policy of reconstruction.

In this dark hour of the negro's condition, from far-off African shores, where actual freedom for a few members of the race still exists, come the Liberian envoys soliciting the intervention of the United States to preserve the integrity of their little state from the threatened boundary aggressions of France and England. Though adverse circumstances menace their political existence, and they find themselves constrained to implore assistance from the powerful country responsible for their feeble nationality, they deport themselves with all the dignity becoming to men engaged in an honorable attempt to maintain their national independence.