A possible step in reaching the solution of the question might be for a reasonably limited number of representative Southern men to meet in conference a reasonable number of those colored men of the South who are more familiar with actual conditions there, and thus are representative of the most enlightened and experienced portion of that race. These, in a spirit of kindness and of justice, might confer together and try to find some common ground on which both shall stand, and formulate some common measures as to which both sides shall agree and which both shall advocate. One guiding principle should be, that having established a law to eliminate forthwith the ignorant Negro and henceforth all ignorance, this law should be administered honestly, bravely, and impartially. It is not imagined that such a conference could settle the question, but at least it would throw some light on it, and it would serve two good purposes. It would be a starting point for securing information which would command respect, and it would show what the most conservative and broad-minded element at the South, both of the whites and of the blacks, who know the subject thoroughly and have no personal interest to subserve except that arising from the just and reasonable settlement of this vital problem, think of it, after they have had the fullest means of securing information. Meantime, let the politician and the doctrinaire, if they are truly the Negro’s friends, hold hands off. The best service the Negro’s best friend can render him is to tell him the truth. The direst injury the Negro’s worst enemy can do him is to perpetuate hostility between him and the Southern White. Left to themselves they would settle the question along economic lines, and this it must come to at last. However one side or the other may dogmatize, it is safe to assume that any final settlement of the problem must be one that will commend itself to the body of the intelligent whites at the South. No other settlement will ever be final. FOOTNOTES: [48] Mr. Moorfield Storey. [49] Mr. Carl Schurz. [50] For conditions in the South during that period, see _post_, chapter on The Race Problem. [51] In 1860 there were, of Negro men of voting age in New Hampshire, 149; in Vermont, 194; in Massachusetts, 2,512, and in New York, 12,989. In New York alone, prior to 1868, was a Negro allowed by express provision to vote; but a Negro voter was subject to a property qualification of $250 not applicable to the white voter.—Thorp’s Const. Hist, of the U. S., pp. 226-7. [52] See “The Fifteenth Amendment. An Account of its Enactment,” p. 5. A. Caperton Braxton. Everett-Waddey Co., Richmond, Va.