55

RACE SEGREGATION AT WASHINGTON

The rebuke administered by President Wilson yester-
day to the spokesman of a negro delegation was so thor-
oughly just and deserved that it will be approved by the
vast majority of Americans irrespective of political af-
filiations or sectional lines. The delegation asked and
was granted the courtesy of a hearing. Mr. Wilson
listened patiently to the recitation of a prepared
speech by the offending spokesman. It is evident that
his own conclusions, stated in answer to the harangue
of the agitator, were neither patiently nor courteously
received. When the man Trotter became offensive the
President very promptly and properly cut the inter-
view short.

While agitators of the Trotter stripe and certain of
their political inciters will doubtless strive to make
capital of it, the episode will react to the sole injury of
the Trotter cause. Race instinct has quickened wonder-
fully throughout the white North of recent years. In-
sistent and offensive demands for racial social equality
by self-styled negro leaders, and the attempts at offen-
sive assertion of their imagined "rights," are largely
responsible for the race clashes recorded in more than
a few Northern States. In a few cities, notably in Bos-
ton and Washington, these so-called leaders have been
"humored" for sentimental or political reasons. In Bos-
ton, only the other day, a book of classical folksongs,
compiled for use in the public schools, provoked a vio-
lent protest from Boston blacks because one of the old
songs contained the word "nigger," though the song is
doubtless loved and chanted by thousands of negroes.
And the school authorities obligingly ordered the song
"eliminated." In Washington, where Republican admin-
istrations long catered to the "negro vote," the presence
of negro undesirables in and out of the Federal service
is shown by the police records. Race friction began
there long before Mr. Wilson entered the White House.
Epidemics of negro crimes more than once have pro-
duced mass meetings of protest among the white citi-
zens. Conditions caused by mixture of the races in the
Federal departments were complained of, and were
giving trouble years before this administration. In spite
of the negro delegation's denials, the existence of race
friction before the segregation order of which they
complain was a fact established past dispute. 84930

The segregation effected during this administration
can be justified on any one of a number of grounds. It
makes for efficiency in the public service, and for better