Excerpt from The Negro in the New Reconstruction It is a sad commentary on the human understanding that the so-called wise men and seers of the time were proclaiming the era of universal peace and the end of war, at the moment when the world was on the edge of a precipice. Their eyes Were holden, so that they could not discern the signs of the times nor see the shadow of coming events. They pro ceeded in the even tenor of their satisfied 'way. Moral maxims were mouthed without 'moral meaning. The church preached a luke-warm gospel and a. Tepid righteousness that had reconciled itself with arrogance of class and prejudice of race. It attempted the forbidden role of trying to serve God and Mammon. The moral deluge engulfed the complaisant' world with suddenness and shock as completely as the Mosaic flood startled and overwhelmed the convivial devotees in the days of Noah. The foundation was suddenly swept away by that hand which rules over events and brings to naught the purposes of man. The highest human wisdom has little predic tive value. We can with no greater assurance foretell what the next five years will bring forth, than in nineteen fourteen, we could predict the momentous movements of the intervening quinquennium. Czar and Kaiser, King and Mikado, Sultan and President, were made to play their assigned parts. The Kaiser of the Germans may be considered the Pharaoh of modern times, whose heart had been hardened, in order that the dominance of right o'ver might might be vindicated anew. The voice spoke through the mouth-piece of the Allies to the heart-hardened leader of the hosts of oppression, saying, Let my people go. The horse and rider have been' overthrown in the Red Sea of destruction, as a modern reminder to kings and nations of the fate of those who would stand between the people and liberty which is their due. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.