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12 PUBLIC LEDGER-PHILADELPHIA. MONDAY MORNING. APRIL 2

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ESTABLISHED 1836.
PUBLIC [image: logo] LEDGER
GEORGE W. CHILDS
Editor and Proprietor from 1864 to 1894.
_____________________
Published every morning at PUBLIC LEDGER Bldg.
By PUBLIC LEDGER COMPANY:
CYRUS H. K. CURTIS, President
John Gribbel, Vice President; George W
Ochs, Secretary and Treasurer; Chas H.
Ludington, Phillip S. Collins, Directors
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Cunningham, Associate Editor: G. Warfield
Hobbs, Managing Editor; Milton B. Ochs,
Business Manager
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PHILADELPHIA, MONDAY, APRIL 21, 1913.
_________________________________
THE REORGANIZATION OF THE
REPUBLICAN PARTY.

President Taft, in taking the leading
part in the reorganization and rehabil-
litation of the Republican party, is
showing some of the useful employ-
ment to which ex-Presidents may de-
vote themselves. When a man has
enjoyed the supreme honor of acting as
Chief Magistrate of the United States
and leader of an historic party whose
life has been inextricably intertwined
with the growth of the nation, it is
a much more delectable task to aid
in the reconstruction than in the de-
struction of the party which has made
the most insistent demand upon his
gratitude.

The Republican party should be res-
cued, strengthened, re-established in a
position so powerful that the outcome
of an election will always be in doubt
until the vote is computed.

Party government is a necessity in
the United States and party govern-
ment implies the existence of at least
two organizations, with no great dis-
parity in numerical strength, either of
which may be used by the people as an
instrument of correction in the event
of failure on the part of the other to
carry out faithfully its promises and
achieve the purpose for which it was
placed in power. It is evident, there-
fore, that only the Republican party
or the Progressive party should sur-
vive, for the perpetuation of both of
minority domination in the United
States for an indefinite period, with the
disastrous results that minority con-
trol, if long continued, inevitably
brings about.

There must be a death struggle be-

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publican party, to shape its policies so
that they will appeal to those opposed
to Democratic principles and also to
place in a commanding position in the
party councils men who will inspire the
confidence and respect of the party and
of the country. It is a great and
worthy endeavor.
______________________________________
THE NEGROES MUST BE GIVN
INDUSTRIAL OPPORTUNITY.

In a letter to the PUBIC LEDGER,
published this morning, Booker T.
Washington declares that there is no
difficulty in negroes obtaining work in
the South; on the contrary, the work
is seeking them. "I know of no sec-
ction in the South," says the Tuskegee
educator, "where there is an able-bodied
man or woman of our race who wants
to find work cannot find it."

This merely emphasizes by contrast
the lamentable condition which has
been permitted to exist in Philadel-
phia and other large cities. No matter
what the opportunities at the South,
it is incontrivertible that in this city
there is a positive tendency toward in-
dustrial ostraciasm of the black man
and he finds it more and more difficult
to obtain suitable remployment, or any
employment. Whether the reason for
this is economic or racial may be the
subject of argument, but of the fact
itself there cannot be any doubt. It\
is all the more discreditable to Phila-
delphia that where the negro is best
known he is not deprived, even par-
tially, of fair opportunity in labor.

Those organizations in Philadelphia
which have investigated the situation
thoroughly believe that the prejudice
against the black man is due to the
activity displayed by the vicious e;e-
ments of it, and they hope, through
the curbing of these elements, to bring
about a public opinion in the business
world more favorable to the decent
and respectable blacks, of whom there
are thousands. It is their purpose
also to urge directly on large indus-
trial establishments the desirability of
recognizing colored labor, not for phil-
anthropic reasons but because it de-
serves such recognition.

We have the negroes with us; what
are we going to do with them? They
cannot starve, yet they must starve or
beg or steal unless they can get work.
This community cannot afford to in-
criminate either its intelligence or its
moral integrity, omitting all reference
to its Christian duty, by denying to
fellow citizens, or to human beings,
because of their color, the right to live,
and the right to live is denied if the
right to make a living is denied. The
racial question can degenerate in that
way into a racial crime.
______________________________________

WILSON'S DELIBERATE WAY.
It is comforting to follow the devel-
opments of the so-called war scare

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tional judges who are not needed and
not wanted except by the bosses for
political patronage.

The net result of the Legislature's
work thus far with respect to Phila-
delphia is five Judgeships for political
uses, while the lawmaking body is
either lukewarm or positively hostile to
bills that are needed and must be
passed unless the city is to be halted
in its forward march in the path of
progress. On this sort of platform
no political party can afford to go
before the public. The Republican Or-
ganization in paltering dubiously on
this occasion will show that it can
never learn even at is hour of sorest
trial.
____________________________________

LET THE SUFFRAGE BILL GO
BEFORE THE PEOPLE.

Whether one believes in votes for
women or not, he ought to believe in
giving the voters of the State a
chance to express themselves on the
constitutional amendment that con-
cedes the extension of the suffrage.
The bill passed the house by a de-
cisive majority. It has been in the cus-
tody of the Senate for a month, and it
was scheduled for final action in the
Senate today. If it should pass this
session it must go before the Legis-
lature again in 1915 before it is sub-
mitted to the people.

There can be no possible harm in
letting the will of the people be def-
inately ascertained in the mooted issue.
If they don't want votes for women
they will say so. If they do approve
of suffrage extension the aim of the
propogandists will have been attained.
There are many who are eager
to have the measure submitted to pop-
ular vote, not from anhy enthusiasm in
its favor but for precisely the con-
trary reason—they are sure that to
put it to the test means its certain
defeat. From whatever motive, oppo-
nents and proponents should make
common cause in demanding that the
Senate release the suffrage bill to the
tender mercies of the electorate.
_____________________________________
TARS SHOULD "SEE AMERICA
FIRST."

It will scarcely be more expensive
to maintain the battleship fleet in the
Mediterranean than at home and it
will probably de neither officers or
men any harm to cruise along the
Riviera. In some ways it may be pos-
itively beneficial. The merchantmen
that fly our flag are few and far be-
tween; some of the Consuls must be
weary of waiting to spy the stars and
stripes at a masthead.

It is worth while to suggest, how-
ever, that many of our native ports
have seldom seen a war vessel. There
have been plenty of pictures of them,
but battleships themselves are curiosi-
ties in dozens of American ports which

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should be permitted to stand in the
way of an accomplishment which the
welfare of humanity as a whole de-
manded. The canal having been built
through territory acquired on such a
pretense, the use of it as an instrument
for the subsidizing of purely domesitc
interests would be so flagrantly incon-
sistent as to impair for yeears to come
our reputation among the nations for
altruism and integrity.

There are two things which must be
done if we are to retain our self-re-
spect; Colombia must be given finan-
cial satisfaction for the territory ex-
propriate for the good of humanity,
and Congress must retire from is nar-
row attitude and open the canal in
fact to the ships of all nations on
terms of unquestioned equality.
_________________________________
Editor Nelson, of Kansas City, is not to
be punished for any criticism he may
have of a Judge. The commissioner
of the Missouri Supreme Court said:
"Every person has the right to publish
his understanding of what a Court has
decided, and to differ with the Court as
to what the law is, and also to criticise
the law, as long at least as the citation
does not attempt to impugn the movtives
of the Court or to charge corruption or
infamy and thereby attempt to bring
our courts into disrepute." All this is
elemental, but it is well to have it em-
phasized occasionally, so that people, in-
cluding Judges, will not forget.
_____________________________
If the Belgium strike is not compro-
mised soon the Belgium Government
will be.
______________________________
The Legislature is long on sessions and
short on doings.
______________________________
Possibly the score of Progressives in
the House of Representatives are the real
Futurists.
_______________________________
One measure of our advance is the in-
creasing powerlessness of the demagogue.
Whether this demogogue be a man in
public life or in charge of a sensational
newspaper or a trickster in finance or
scholarship, he runs his course and gets
off the map quicker than ever before.
His brevity is a tribute to the increasing
intelligence of the public.
____________________________
The silence of the Vice President em-
phasizes the importance of the Society
for the Prevention of Useless Noises.
______________________________
Philadelphia's biggest hope is smaller
Councils.
_____________________________
A church that turns down a profit of a
million dollars because it will not sur-
render its place in the midst of business
is a refereshing novelty, and the fact that
it is located on the fashionable thorough-
fare of New York adds to the interest.
Sometimes it is well to show that money
is not everything, or even the largest

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TOPICS OF THE TOWN
---------------------
EX-SENATOR J. DONALD CAM-
ERON was talking an evening or
two ago to some friends at his hotel
in this city. He had just returned from
Florida, where he spent the winter, and
was staying here for a brief time before
going on to his ancestral home at Done-
gal Farm, on the Susquehanna.

"I feel," said the venerable ex-Sena-
tor, "like a man who has no political
party." One could could scarcely expect the
son of Lincoln's War Secretary and Min-
ister to Russia to feel otherwise. "Noth-
ing but Providence," added he, "can set
this country right or put it where it was
when it was becoming really great."

"How is that" was inquired. "About
three years of hard times or poor crops
would settle the socialistic tendencies and
I know of nothing else that could."

Mr. Cameron is now about 80 years old,
but he looks much less than that. His
redish, sand mustache and hair lack
the appearance of an octogenarian. He
excused himself early with this remark:
"I make it an unfailing rule to go to
bed every night at 9 o'clock."

It has happened but few times in
American politics that father and son for
such a long period cut such a big figure
as the elder and the younger Cameron.
From 1850 to 1890, their grip upon a party
organization in this State was unshak-
able. The Adams famkly, of course, has
this record beaten and has set a prece-
dent that may never been equaled.
---------------
Not often, but once in a while, a gold-
brick has some real gold in it. Your
very dear friends, or you diguised ene-
mies "let you in" on some deal—just to
let themselves out—and there actually
proves to be a pot of good metal at the
end of the rainbow.

One of Philadelphia's most widely
known business men were talking to me
about this phase of human affairs and
then proceeded to illustrate. "My late
friend, Judge White," said he, "bought
a piece of land for $5000 in central Penn-
sylvania. Two friends of his had form-
erly paid that price for it. and believ-
ing they had been stuck, decided to sell
a third interest in the property to the
Judge for the whole amount they had
paid, while each retained a third interest
that cost him nothing. Well, that land
had under it a fine vein of soft coal and
when the Judge afterward turned it over
to the Berwinds, he recieved exactly
$400,000.

Here was a brick that was real gold.
Everybody in Philadelphia who has had
anything to do with precious metal min-
ing for two decades has known the name
of Graham. He was once let in for a
bunch of Western mining stock as pay-
ment for a debt and the supposedly
worthless stock turned into a fortune
when the mine really developed excel-
lent ore.

Thus it is that the fellow who puts his
hand in your pocket sometimes leaves
more there than he intended to take
away—but I admit this is an exception
rather than the rule.
----------------------------------------
You've heard about the girl who
had "rings" on her fingers and

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POINT OF VIEW
OSTRACISM OF NEGRO
Prejudice is Confined to North, Says
Booker T. Washington.

To the Editor of the Public Ledger:
Sir—I write regarding what you say in
your recent editorials on "Negro Labor."
I do not in any degree attempt to mini-
mize or overlook the wrongs perpetrated
upon our race in many part of the coun-
try in reference to labor, but I think
some of the statements are often put be-
fore the public which are likely to be
misleading.

It should be borne in mind that out of
the 10,000,000 black people in the United
States, 9,000,000 reside in our Sourthern
States, and so far as I am able to dis-
cover, there is little, if any, problem in
the South so far as getting an opportu-
nity to labor is concerned, whether the
labor is common or skilled. In fact my
experience and observations convince me
that instead of the negro having to seek
work in the South, work seeks him; and
I know of no section in the South where
there is an able-bodied man or woman
of our race who wants to work who can-
not find it. The present problem among
both white employers of labor and black
employers of labor is to find enough col-
ored people to perfom the work. The
South is guilty of a good many sins, I
know, but the native Southern white
man is seldom guilty of the sin of keep-
ing a negro out of a job simply because
he is black.

MANY NEGRO SHIPBUILDERS.

A few months ago I visited the ship-
yard at Newport News, Va., perhaps the
largest shipbuilding concern in the
United States. I found here 2250 colored
persons were being employed in connec-
tion with the building of ships. Many
of the most skilled laborers, doing the
most delicate and high-class work in the
construction of the ships were black per-
sons. The manager of the shipyard told
me that his only problem was to get
more negroes who would learn the ship-
building business and those of the kind
that would stick to their jobs, and render
effective service after they got the jobs.

At Tuskegee Institute, for example, we
can scarcely keep men and women in
school long enough for them to finish the
courses of training, so great is the de-
mand for service. If we could turn out
five times as many skilled mechanics as
we are now turning out, every one of
them could find employment without
waiting a day. One of largest manu-
facturing concerns in the Birmingham
district keeps a standing order with us
to the effect that it will employ any one
of our men whom we are able to recom-
mend. The Cahill Iron Works, in Chat-
tanooga, readily takes any man from this
institution who has only had a partial
training in foundry work.

When the Tuskegee Institute closes the
school term for a short vacation next
May I will guarantee to say that there
will be many large business concerns
that will have their agents on the ground
seeking to induce our students to go to
various places in the South to labor for
these concerns; this includes both com-
mon and skilled labor.

It is our experience here at Tuskegee
that letters reach us even from the
North, asking us to recommend laborers
to work in various capacities. During
the present week letters have come from
Trenton, N. J., asking us to recommend
a number of skilled men for a large brick
making firm, and from aother asking
us to recommend laborers at from $2 to
$2.50 per day to work in connection with
a Maryland cement company.

COLORED FIREMEN ABOUND.

There is a good deal of talk, from time
to time, about the negro being debarred
from the railroad service as a fireman;
notwithstanding the talk, one who trav-
els in the South, as I do constantlym see
negro firemen on the locomotives. I do
not know how many negro firemen are
employed on the locomotives in the
Northern and Western States, but I do
know that hundreds and I beleive thous-
ands are employed in this capacity
throughout the South.

But my main object in sending this
communication is to emphasize the fact
that in this part of the country, at least,
the negro can find all the work he is
willing to perform, and in some cases the
pay is disgracefully low, but, on the
other hand, the cost of living is much
lower than it is in any other part of the
world.

My own belief is that the negro in the
North will never solve his problem in
the labor world until, in a large degree,
the negro begins at the bottom and cre-
ates industries of a kind that will enable
him to give employment to members of
his own race. So long as a man, whether
he is white or black, has to seek an oc-
cupation in an industry that somebody
else has created, just so long will that