771

[152]

April 26, 1913.

Rev. I. W. L. Roundtree, D.D.,
P. E.. Trenton District, A.M.E. Church,
Trenton, N. J.

My dear Dr. Roundtree:

I trust I may attempt to express the very great disgust
that overhelms me, and still not [??] offend you.

Your letter to Secretary Tumulty, dated April 15, 1913, as printed
in the New York Age of the the 24th inst., is in my humble judgment the meanest,
most contemptible thing you ever did. I cannot, to save my life, see why
you over thought is wise to [atelly??] yourself by writing such a letter as the
thing I refer to--unless, ao the New York Age [supports??], you hoped thereby to
curry favor, and eventually to[promote?] in any way (though how, it is hard to
understand) yor aspirations to [??] as minister to Haiti. If Secretary Tumul-
ty does not secretly despise you for your traitorous attitude toward your own
people, then he is different from other members of the [Tree??] of Robert [Bennett??]
whom it has been my pleasure to meet, or know about.

President William H. Taft's "southern policy", announced at the very
moment of the beginning of his administration, [???] him to be deemed from
one end of the country to the other by all Negroesead and all friends of Negroes
except those self-seeking [???] who sought to promote their own interests.

1s it possible that you do not know this? Great scott!!! "The President
will [added correction= not] appoint any Negro to office where such appointment will arouse race an-
tagonism." What does that mean? Simply this: that he will appoint a Ne-
gro as minister to Liberia, another Negro as minister to Haiti and --that's
all. And even then there is reason to believe that [some??] race antagonism will
be aroused, for I am told that there are many white men in the Democratic party who are quite willing to accept that $10,000 billet as minister to Haiti,
the fact that Haiti is a Negro republic notwithstanding. There is hardly a
spot in all this nation where some race antagonism --solely among white peo-
ple---will not be aroused by the appointment of a Negro to office, and where
such a condition does not naturally arise from present day, conditions, it can
and will very speedily be made to arise by three who would see in it some
profit for themselves. One anti-Negro, [???] head-line article in a yellow
journal and the dirty [added correction = work] would be done to a "queen's taste." Of course, no one
must mention those portions of the land where Negroes outnumber the whites
ten to one. It is all the same---only the whites [??], a Negro in such mat-
ters being rated as less than a dog.

Perhaps you wonder why I, an unheard of, (as you might put it) pre-
sume to attempt to hand you a "call down" in this case? My answer is ready
and it is yours without even the asking. Such [rot?] as you wrote Secertary
Tumulty is a stench in the nostrils of most of the older men and ALL the young
men of the race, and I am one of the letter. If you could hear the young men
talk, day in and day out, and consign men of your ilk to perdition for your
palaverings; if you know the bitterness of heart which they feel toward Negroes
of your stripe--- men who arm the New York Times and other agencies opposed to a
square deal for the Negro with [slabs??] with which to batter us to death---if you