I said that I made the same plea that I had made
in my address at Atlanta, for the blotting out of race prejudice
in "commercial and civil relations." I said that what is termed
social recognition was a question which I never discussed, and
then I quoted from my Atlanta address what I had said there in
regard to that subject.
In meeting crowds of people at public gatherings, there is one
type of individual that I dread. I mean the crank. I have become
so accustomed to these people now that I can pick them out at a
distance when I see them elbowing their way up to me. The average
crank has a long beard, poorly cared for, a lean, narrow face,
and wears a black coat. The front of his vest and coat are slick
with grease, and his trousers bag at the knees.
In Chicago, after I had spoken at a meeting, I met one of these
fellows. They usually have some process for curing all of the
ills of the world at once. This Chicago specimen had a patent
process by which he said Indian corn could be kept through a
period of three or four years, and he felt sure that if the Negro
race in the South would, as a whole, adopt his process, it would
settle the whole race question. It mattered nothing that I tried
to convince him that our present problem was to teach the Negroes
how to produce enough corn to last them through one year.
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