123

This is the situation in Mississippi and
South Carolina, the restriction upon the
negroes there have nothing to do with
their character, but only with their color.
It is also the situation in four other States
to the extent of from 75 to 80 per cent of
their population. President Wilson's heart
was torn with anguish—and Mr. Bryan
wept with him—because 85 per cent of the
Mexican Indians did not exercise political
rights which they have never possessed,
and which precious few of them know any-
thing about, whereas both men have been
deaf, dumb and blind in regard to our own
negroes, who are not allowed to exercise
political rights which they do possess, con-
stitutionally, and who are systematically
working to fit themselves more and more
for the proper and useful exercise of these
rights.

It is easy to understand the difference
when one looks at it from the point of
view of our domestic politics; but from the
point of view of intellectual sincerity it is
odd.

A Sinister Development

The President's Attitude Towards the
Negro Sharply Criticised by a Sup-
porter of His Administration

(From the Springfield Republican)

The fact that an emotional negro may
have lost control of his temper and his
manners in addressing the President at a
White House conference should not ob-
scure the painful fact that Mr. Wilson has
fully accepted the principle and the prac-
tice of the segregation of the white and
black employees in certain administrative
departments of the Government at Wash-
ington, notably in the Treasury and Postal
buildings. Segregation in Treasury and
Postoffice departments was never prac-
ticed in Washington until the Southern
Democrats who now preside there came
into office. In President Cleveland's time
there were Southern Democrats holding the
posts of Secretary of the Treasury and
Postmaster General but they did not ven-
ture to inflict their views concerning racial
caste upon the American people. It has
remained for the Wilson Administration
to do this. The President, who a year
ago took the question of segregation under
advisement, now unqualifiedly justifies the
separation of Government employees on
the basis of color. It is a distressing and
sinister development.

The President holds that segregation un-
der certain conditions is necessary to pre-
vent racial friction between Government
employees and that the reduction of fric-
tion means increased efficiency in the ser-
vice. But something is much deeper, much
more fundamental is involved. If there
are white employees who object to work-
ing within the sight and sound of negro em-
ployees, they should be promptly con-
fronted with the alternative of accepting
such conditions of work or leaving the
service. For the so-called friction arises
from race prejudice, which, in a large
section of the republic has been the un-
derlying motive for a ceaseless assult
upon the political and civic rights of the
negroes under the constitution of the
United States. The President declares that
segregation is human, not a political
question. It is impossible to agree with
him. The negro for years has been under
a severe pressure, in many States, forc-
ing him into a position of political in-
feriority, and the black race cannot avoid
being further humiliated and discredited
if the Federal Government pursues a seg-
regation policy. What nations regard as
their honor a race must develop and
crystalize in the dignity of its political
status and in the respect with which it
is treated by the world.

The negro race in this country is the
political equal of the white race, under
the Federal Constitution, and while the
"Jim Crow" status and "grandfather" suf-
frage laws of various States have stood
the test of judicial review, segregation in
the Washington departments unquestion-
ably violates the spirit of the Constitu-
tion, whatever shift for the Government
the courts may find in its letter. That the
nation-wide public sentiment outside of
Washington itself sustains classification of
this character in Government departments
is not susceptible of proof. The Southern
influence now dominating those depart-
ments is simply asserting its power by in-
troducing the cruelest Southern customs
into the Government of the whole people.

"Small, Mean and Petty"

The Democratic World Offers no Apol-
ogy for the Discrimination and De-
clares That Wilson Cannot Escape
the Responsibility

(From the New York Wold, Dem.)
The bad manners of the chairman of
the delegation, however deplorable, are no
justification of the policy of Jim-Crow
government which certain members of the
cabinet have established in their depart-
ments; and, as the President well knows,
insolent conduct is not confined to the
members of any particular race.

The President should have foreseen this

85018

[right column]
it now. It is a reproach to his Administra-
tion and to the great political principles
which he represents.

A Theorist Gone Astray

The Negro the Latest Victim a Ver-
biage Obsession

(From the New York Tribune, Rep.)
The tears which the Evening Post and
the World are shedding over Mr. Wilson's
characteristic treatment of the negro race
would be more convincing examples of
their political independence if they had not
swallowed far larger inconsistencies on
the President's part. Truth to tell, the
case of the negroes, deprived of their ac-
customed rights through the whim of Mr.
Wilson's cabinet, is but one more excel-
lent illustration of the wide and deep ditch
which lies between Mr. Wilson's words and
his deeds.

We are far from implying an intellectual
dishonesty on the President's part. We
think he, as much as his most adoring ad-
mirer, is utterly deceived by the fine words
and neat phrases which fall from his pen.
"The New Freedom" pops out of his
mouth, and immediately it seems to him
that all business is breathing more freely,
that prosperity is around the corner—and
that the negro clerks are much happier for
being "segregated." "Watchful waiting"
is another illustration. Once that mouth-
filler crossed the threshold of Mr. Wilson's
brain it seemed as if peace was as good as
won for Mexico and that every peon al-
ready had his acres. And now look at the
poor thing!

The negroes are only a few more victims
of a theorist gone astray. Some time Mr.
Wilson may learn that his theories are not
the sum total of all wisdom and that by
listening to a critic without losing his tem-
per he may even improve them a little.
He may also learn that the finest spun
theory, supported by the prettiest casuis-
tries, is not worth very much unless it is
executed in a spirit of fair play and com-
mon sense.

Equal Rights vs. New Freedom

(From the Springhheld Union, Rep.)
A second time President Wilson has lost
his temper in dealing with a delegation
remanding equal rights. In the first in-
stance it was the woman suffragists who
incurred the President's displeasure by
asking for the same franchise rights as
men. The second ruifling of the presiden-
tial poise occurred when a delegation of
negroes called at the White House to pro-
test against the policy of segregation in-
troduced and carried on under the Demo-
cractic Administration. The spokesmen
were pertaps a bit untactful in both in-
stances, but of their honesty and earnest-
ness there was not the slightest doubt. In
both cases, however, they learned that the
objects they sought were not to be gained
by the President's help, and that he rather
resented the manner in which they ap-
pealed to him for aid. Equal rights ap-
parently has no place in the "new freedom"
expounded by President Wilson.

Trotter Will Talk

(From the Hartford Courant, Rep.)

President Wilson and William Trotter of
Boston could harldly be expected to talk
harmoniously about the segregation of the
negro and white employees in certain of
the departments in Washington. In his
usual peremptory way, the President de-
clared that it was not a political question,
but Dr. Wilson's dictum may not be the
last word. Anyway, the President was able
to take refuge in the determination not to
talk further with Mr. Trotter. Mr. Trotter
will do his talking outside the White House.

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