“Never, with my consent!” she firmly replied. She left the room, consulted with her mother, and hastily despatched a telegram to Hambright summoning Gaston to Independence immediately. When this telegram came he was in his office hard at work on his inaugural address, outlining the policy of his administration. He was in a heated argument with the Preacher about the article on education, which followed his recommendation of the disfranchisement of the Negro. He had advised large appropriations for the industrial training of negroes along the lines of the new movement of their more sober leaders. “It’s a mistake,” argued the Preacher, “if the Negro is made master of the industries of the South he will become the master of the South. Sooner than allow him to take the bread from their mouths, the white men will kill him here, as they do North, when the struggle for bread becomes as tragic. The Negro must ultimately leave this continent. You might as well begin to prepare for it.” “But we propose to train him principally in Agriculture. We need millions of good farmers,” persisted Gaston. “So much the worse, I tell you,” replied the Preacher. “Make the Negro a scientific and successful farmer, and let him plant his feet deep in your soil, and it will mean a race war.” “It seems to me impracticable ever to move him.” “Why?” asked the Preacher. “Those over certain ages can be left to end their days here. The Negro has cost us already the loss of $7,000,000,000, a war that killed a half million men, the debauchery of our suffrage, the corruption of our life, and threatens the future with anarchy. Lincoln was right when he said, ‘There is a physical difference between the white and the black races, which I believe will forever forbid them living together on terms of social and political equality.’ “Even you are still labouring under the delusions of ‘Reconstruction.’ The Ethiopian can not change his skin, or the leopard his spots. Those who think it possible will always tell you that the place to work this miracle is in the South. Exactly. If a man really believes in equality, let him prove it by giving his daughter to a negro in marriage. That is the test. When she sinks with her mulatto children into the black abyss of a Negroid life, then ask him! Your scheme of education is humbug. You don’t believe that any amount of education can fit a negro to rule an Anglo-Saxon, or to marry his daughter. Then don’t be a hypocrite.” “But can we afford to stop his education?”