Daily national Republican. (Washington City [D.C.]) 1870-1872, 1870-06-27

~ wAmfraror, June ~ leal.
Edttor National Republican! SRi j |
notice In your issue Of this morning an ac- |
count OF meeting held In the Seventh ward, |
In which the coiorod mon assert their claim |
% be employed on the public works 10 this |
city. by this one Il led TO suppose that they |
are excluded from such work, whereas l viii
show that such h not the Gaze, hut rather that |
they haye nm undue proportion Of such labor
ing work hs the Goternmcnt gives. In the
Smithsonian grounds, out Of twcnty-threc
men employed In cutting grass, twenty were
eOlornd mon, which, ar, you will nlluw was /
pretty fair share for them. In the United
States Capitol therc IA not one ,ohito laborer
employed In the House or senate side, oil be-
Ing colorcd men. There arc q few white men
employed under the Architect Of the Capitol,
but would inforn yon, cir that these white
men have not made full months work since
the let OF November, Ton account OF the ex-
haustion Of the .appropra,iou,) and arc now
working but half time, and during the nrst
three winter months they were stopped plto-
gctheD whereas the colorcd men being enl-
ployed inside lost no time At ALL and got 900
or s05 month regular. In the Treasury Dc
partmeht look At the proportion Of colorcd
lanorors there, Without speaklng OF messen-
gers, &c the building actually swafms with
them, the whitc1 employed rs laborclJ work
Ing outside under MI weathers aud liable ut
any moment 10 DO discharged when McMullct'B
appropriation runs ont.
In the Interior Department II Is the same,
the messengers and laborers being almost cx-
clusiyely cplored men. Aud during tho last
two years In this city did not the co,Ored men
have ninety per cent. u not more Of tho cor
| poratlOn work, though considerably In tho
minority In point Of population You would
sec six or eight Of them working In the gut
tor, with, perhaps, one white man, and some
times no white man at all. think, SIR, Il Is
time some plea was put forth for the white
laboring man, skilled white labor being able
10 take care Of itself. You, perhaps, have no
! Idea, sir, how the poor white man suffered In
this last winter. lie could not go up to the
soup-houso and get pauDcr's ration, or, per-
haps, stick Of wood, which, II he were sin
Gle man, world be Of no earthly benefit 10
him. Besides, his pride would revolt from H.
and the consequence was he went hungry.
This was the case with hundreds Of white Ia
borers here, as the writer ef this wei knows,
being ono himself.
The fact Of II is, sir, the white man Is icing
slowly but surely crowded out. refer now
only TO the white laboring mcu and not the
mechanics; and large proportion OF them In
this city served The country In tine Of need,
and helped 30 preserve the Government. Yet
when Secretary McCulloch proposed 10 put
wounded soldiers In place Of the colorcd men
In the Treasury Department, all the chiefs Of
bureaus waited ON him and strongly ronon.
strated with him, and he had 10 give up thai
Idea. In conclusion, sir, word state thai
[ II II could be shown how many cQlorcd labor
crs there arc employed by the Government
here, and how many white, Think the result
: would show that there are more cOlored meI
| employed IN the Treasury Department alon'
! | rs inborcrs than there Is white laborors alto
gcthcr in tlicpublic buildings horci and more
over, they lose no time and get better pay
Hoping, sir, you will excuse me for intrud
Ing on your valuable time, remain your
y truly, D.F.