Chapter XXXVII: Postponing His Shout of Triumph

With ceaseless, tireless energy Earl Bluefield went everywhere in the North during the campaign that followed, assailing the political power in control of the South. The heat of his heart warmed his words and his eloquence thrilled the nation.

"How has it happened that an orator of such power has remained so long hidden from the nation's gaze?" was the question everywhere asked.

In an address to Northern labor, which was heralded far and wide, Earl said:

"To those of you who in the sweat of your brow earn your bread,
I bring the message that your earning of a livelihood, a very
grave matter with you, is affected by the Southern situation.

"It has been said that the South is freer from labor strikes
than any other equal area of territory within the borders of
civilization. The weakness of the Negro in the body politic,
his lack of means to insure his protection, gives timidity to
Negro labor and causes it to be little inclined to organize.

"The enforced cheapness of Negro labor brings down the price of
all labor, just as a house sinks with its foundation. Lo, the
word has already gone forth that the South is the place for
capital, that labor is cheap, that there is an absence of
social unrest found elsewhere.

"Read your commercial journals and note how many of the
institutions upon which you have depended for a livelihood have
been transferred to this land of cheapness and peace, ominous
peace. Note how your captains of industry are asseverating that
factories in the North must cut wages in order to compete with
those that have gone South.

"Your economists saw in the days preceding civil strife that
the workingman of the North could ill afford to compete with
slave labor at the South. Permit me to say to you that the
half-slave, the political slave, made timid by an environment
that tends to crush his spirit and dwarf his energies, is a
menace to you, holding the white labor of the South down and
affecting you of the North.

"Again, adverse conditions at the South will drive the Negro to
your very door. Some day when you desire to remain away from
work to allow your employers leisure to ponder a condition
which you desire improved, you will find the Negro there to
take your place.

"Men of the North, mark well my words: You must lend your aid
to an adjustment of relations in the South upon an equitable
basis or be confronted with the question of the disorganization
and readjustment of your own affairs. Stand out against the
repressionists of the South, make the whole nation a field of
fair play and then we will not have this one disturbing center
distributing trouble to all other parts of the nation."

Addressing the business interests of the country, he said:

"Work is the one American word, and as a result great is the
monument erected to our industry. Our accumulations are
enormous.

"From time to time questions affecting the whole wealth of the
nation must be passed upon by the people. These repressionists
have shown that there is no interest so vital but that they
will smite it hip and thigh if by so doing they may advance the
policy of repression. You are confronted therefore with a power
that bids you to become repressionists or stand subject to
onslaughts whenever the fancy obtains that a lick at your
interests will do their cause good.

"You cannot commit yourselves to the cause of repression. It
taints character. You are great employers of labor. In the
mighty problems that are to confront you your spirit will be
your most valuable asset. You must keep it pure at all hazards.
Nor can your business interests long endure these constant jars
from the repressionists. You cannot afford to accept either
horn of the dilemma offered you by the repressionists. Your
only remedy lies in smiting repression."

To the statesmen whose anxious eyes were upon the future of the nation, he said:

"In the days that are now upon us and in the years that are to
come there can be no escape, perhaps, from some ills of which
the fathers never dreamed, unless a larger grant of power be
given unto our national government. However pressing the
situation, rely upon it, the repressionists will seek to keep
the nation in swaddling clothes for fear that added power
might some day turn its attention to the question of
repression."

In an address to the whole people, he said:

"A power that would wrong a race, that would in any way
restrict human growth, that would not have the nation a fair
and open field, is out of tune with heaven, is working at cross
purposes with the whole universe, and will carry into an abyss
all whom it can mislead."

The Negroes are a people capable of great enthusiasm and ardent attachments. All their fervor was thrown into the campaign. Any vast body of people with deep convictions have the power to greatly impress others. The settled conviction of the Negroes that their very destiny in America hinged, it seemed, upon the outcome of this election, was not without its psychological effect upon the public mind.

The cause championed by Earl marched to a glorious triumph at the polls, but he took no part in the jollification that followed.

"My work is only half done," was the reflection that kept him calm in the presence of the victory for which he had made the full offering of his soul.