733

[column 1]

OUST LOCAL
DEMOCRATS

Ralph E. Langston and A. M.
Robinson Are Summarily
Dismissed

A BIG LOCAL FIGHT ON

Discharged as Deputies in State
Superintendent of Elections Of-
fice at Instance of R. N. Wood

Ralph E. Langston and A. M. Robin-
son, two of the most active and well-
known colored Democrats in Greater
New York, have been summarily dis-
missed as deputies in the office of the
State Superintenent of Elections.
Judging from the many expressions of
disapproval made by local colored Dem-
ocrats over the move, the ousting of
Langston and Robinson without appa-
rent good cause will precipitate internal
dissensions in the ranks of the colored
Democracy of both New York and
Brooklyn which will rival in a small way
the civil war now going on in Mexico.

[photo of Ralph E. Langston]

Robert N. Wood, local head of the
United Colored Democracy in New York
City, is again charged with making an-
other idiotic move which will only tend
to weaken the influence of the colored
Tammany organization. Since becom-
ing the head of the local Democ-
racy, Wood has been accused from time
to time of allowing his personal feel-
ings to get the better of his good judg-
ment, thereby playing amateurish poli-
tics and doing Tammany Hall, which
in the past has been given strong sup-
port by the colored voters, irreperable
injury.

Wood is accused of trying to kill off
all influential colored Democrats who
do not loudly proclaim him the monarch
of all he surveys, and he is said to be
responsible for the removal of Lankston
and Robinson. Ever since the dinner
tendered Bishop Walters by the leading
Negro citizens of Greater New York,
the discharge of Langston and Robin-
son, his particular reason for desiring
their dismissal being that they attended
the Walters banquet and were friendly
to Woodrow Wilson.

President of Woodrow Wilson Club.
Ralph E. Langston is president of the
Wilson Colored Democratic Club of
[/column 1]

[column 2]
ored Democrats in New York, and has
been associated with Tammany Hall for
thirteen years. For twelve years he was
Chief Edward E. Lee's right-hand man
and was chairman of the Executive Com-
mittee of the United Colored Democ-
racy, which made him next in power to
Lee. Last year when Wood defeated
Lee for chief, Langston retired as a
member of the executive board of the
United Colored Democracy.

A. M. Robinson, who is leader of his
district, the Eleventh, was told by Chief
Wood at a meeting of the executive
committee of the United Colored Democ-
racy last Friday evening that he (Rob-
inson) had been dismissed because he
attended the Walters banquet, although
he had been instructed to remain away.

Claims Robinson Should Not Have At-
tended Banquet.

At the meeting Robinson introduced
a resolution demanding that Wood make
specific the charges which brought about
his dismissal, but he was thwarted by
Wood, who set forth that Robinson
had been disloyal to the organization
by attending the Walters banquet, there-
by associating with those inimical to the
organization. Wood further declared
that had Robinson come to him instead
of seeking outside infinence to hold his
job maybe he would be working. Mr.
Robinson has been associated with Tam-
many Hall for thirteen years.

Although Wood repeatedly demanded
the removal of Langsion since the or-
ganization of the Wilson Club, and
sought to secure Robinson's dismissal
since the Walters banquet, Superintend-
ent Voorhis refused to consider Wood
seriously, maintaining that Langston and
Robinson were giving entire satisfac-
tion and they were rated with the best
deputies in the office.

Failing in his efforts to have Mr. Voor-
his discharge the two deputies, Wood is
said to have gone to Chief Murphy of
Tammany Hall and trumped up charges
against Lankston and Robinson, which
ultimately led to their removal. Mon-
day morning Anthony Brown of the
Sixteenth Assembly District and Will-
iam Smith of the Thirty-first Assembly
District, went to work as deputies in Voor-
his' office. They were appointed by
Wood.

Questions Who is Who.

The policy of the Democratic party of
Greater New York is in the event of
victory to give different organizations
such as Hebrew, Hungarian and Negro
Democrats, certain patronage. When
Dix was elected Governor, certain places
in the State Bureau of Elections were
given to Edward E. Lee, who was the
Chief of the United Colored Democracy
for his organization. Lee appointed
Ralph E. Langston and A. M. Robinson,
both of whom have made good.

The actions of Wood in talking peace
one day to the local colored Democrats
not identified with his organization and
his outward enmity toward Bishop Wal-
ters and other Wilson men seems to
puzzle many politicians. Wood is said
to boast that the United Colored Democ-
racy is the only bona fide colored Demo-
cratic organization in New York, and is
said to invariably refer to all others as
fakes.

Despite the alleged assertion that
Wood brands his organization as the
only real thing, yet he is said to be an
aspirant for a political position under
Wilson, as are several other men in his
organization, Messrs. Hughes and Mor-
ton being among the number, it is
charged.

Ralph E. Langston was not on the
payroll during the last Presidential cam-
paign, as were aspiring colored Demo-
crats, but contributed to both the na-
tional and local Democratic campaign
funds.

Robert N. Wood is an inspector of
vaults under Borough President George
McAneny, who is a reformer of the
first water. Those aware of Mr. Mc-
Aneny's aversion to employees in his
departments spending their time other
than in the performance of their duties
for which they are paid by the city are
wondering how Wood finds time to go
to Albany, Washington and other cities
in missions of political nature.
[/column 2]

[column 3]
The New York Age
(Member of the National Press Association)
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1913

Entered at the Post Office in New York
as Second Class Matter. Published on
Thursday every week by Fred E. Moore,
347 W. 40th Street, New York.

Fred M. Moore . . . . . . Publisher and Editor
Lester A. Walton . . . . . Managing Editor
T. Thomas Fortune . . . Associate Editor
Jerome B. Peterson . . . Treasurer
Eugene L. Moore . . . . . Advertising Agent
Telephone, Bryant 3815
_______________________

DIVIDING HIS PARTY.

It is difficult to believe that Robert
N. Wood, leader of the United Colored
Democracy, fully understands the logic
contained in the oft-repeated saying, "in
union there is strength." To judge
from his actions, one even finds it quite
a task assuming that Mr. Wood is thor-
oughly acquainted with the name of the
organization of which he is the head—
the United Colored Democracy.

Since he has been chief of the local
colored Democracy Mr. Wood has done
much to stir up internal strife in the
ranks of his organization. Instead of
trying to bring all warring factions to-
gether, his policy has been to drive them
further apart. It is the wise and far-
sighted leader who seeks to calm the
troubled waters and placates all dis-
turbing elements. He knows he can
wield greater influence by leading a
united body and that a divided force
loses much of its effectiveness.

The zeal and energy displayed by
Robert N. Wood in ultimately securing
the dismissal of two prominent colored
Democrats—Ralph E. Langston and A.
M. Robinson—as deputies in the office
of State Commissioner of Elections, will
probably serve as a boomerang and re-
act with telling effect, for it is said that
the dismissal of these prominent Demo-
crats was due to personal reasons. One
of them aroused Mr. Wood's ire by be-
coming president of a Woodrow Wilson
club, while the other is said to have
"committed a grave offense" by attend-
ing a banquet to Bishop Alexander
Walters. Has politics reached such a
stage that one holding a political posi-
tion must first obtain permission from
leaders to attend affairs of a social na-
ture? Has an officeholder any right to
his opinion? Are the descendants of
slaves to be more autocratic and domi-
neering than the slaveholders them-
selves?

[/column 3]

83416