“_I_ know what Cheneral Sherman haf say, and I will carry it oud entirely. Ve vill burn up that Columbia ven de tree rockets goes up oncet. Ve vill gif dem hell already, dey hadn’t ought ter lef’ de glorious union,” and he laughed knowingly. “General Sherman didn’t say that.” “Ach, mein Gott, don’t I know vat Cheneral Sherman say and tink? Ach, he ain’t say nothings, aber he think a blicky full. You jus’ vait till we burn dat Columbia, and Cheneral Sherman vill be dere and von’t say one word, py tam!” [Illustration: _To be continued_] THE RACE PROBLEM By James H. Branch The present race problem is cognate to the African slavery problem, which preceded it in point of time. Slavery was a grievous fault, and grievously hath the South answered it. Morally, the whole country is responsible for its introduction. The slave trade, the most degrading and offensive branch of slavery, was carried on by New England, they being a maritime people, and the South, an agricultural section then, bought the negroes as laborers. Then came the day when it was to shake the foundation stones of the republic. It was agitated in pulpit and hall; in song and in story. The art of the novelist, the moving strains of sacred song, and the dagger of the assassin, were alike employed to arouse interest and zeal in the fate of the poor, downtrodden negro. These were the abolitionists whose chief seat was Boston, whose place of rendezvous was Faneuil Hall, a place made historic by great speeches and great meetings there in the early days, by the lovers of free institutions. Plymouth pulpit added its voice, and the days of slavery were then numbered; but the country was to be baptized with fire, and with blood, if nothing better. These people were fanatics, and fanaticism has been defined as “_a popular movement acting without reason or judgment_, always, however, founded upon some religious or _philanthropic idea or sentiment_, to give _it character and volume_.” This bird of dark plumage and portentous croak, winged its way from Exeter Hall, London, the parent body of the American society meeting there. Results will forever mark an object lesson for true patriots, and practical statesmen and sound a note of warning against incorporating altruistic, philanthropic fads, and the various cults growing out of idealism into party platforms and making use of such explosive material to gain political advantage. Slavery was abolished in the English colonies and elsewhere peacefully, as would have ultimately happened here; and though it may have been delayed a half century, nay, even a century, the net moral gain would have been far greater.