The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-10-17

Editorial Opinions Of the Leading Journals
upon Current Topics os-cempiIed Every y
DsY for the Evening Telegraph.
ETIHDaoAsrE.YII
From the Richmond Dispatch

From, the Richmond Dispatch
Under this caption the New York Times
publishes report of the proceedings of q
public meeting Of colored people held in that
city on the 10th instant. The object of the
meeting appeared to be to set before the
public the present social condition OF the
colored people of New York city. The reso-
buttons which we're adopted denounce the
Democratic party as "wholly undeserving the
suffrages of colored voters either North or
Soutb,s and call upon the Republican party
to .'go forward, and by the necessary legis-
lation protect the colored people from the in
Justice they still suffer at the hands of
licensed hotel proprietors and chartered cor
porations. They also ''deplore the continued
existence of the spirit of caste which still
frequently excludes colored people from
hotels the saloons and state-rooms of steam
boats, sleeping cars, workshops, places of
amusement equal educational advantages,
and from social recosnit tion."
A letter was read from Wendell Phillips, in
which he calls upon the negroes never to
forget or forgive at the ballot-box any man
who has even once, through ignorance even,
shown by word or deed since 1865 this cruel
and ungodly pride" Fred. Douglass also
wrote a letter to the meeting.
If the colored people wish to be respected
by the whites, they must first learn to respect
themselves. We can imagine no better proof
of their inferiority, and no course of pro-
ceeding better calculated to call down upon
them general contempt than their lugubrious
complaint that the whites do not want to
associate with them. If they are as good as
the whites, why do they not show it by their
acts -? Let them open their own hotels, thea
tree, churches, and what not, and refuse to
admit the whites. They have the right to do
so. We should in that event soon see whether
the whites would complain of this exclusion.
TIa afv ~ bn kaff fI,o,, tl,a
blacks, and they prove that they assert the
claim in good faith by segregating them
selves from the company of the blacks, and
never asking to be allowed to associate with
them They frequent their own theatres
and hotels, and associate only with pestous
of their own race. The blacks profess to
consider themselves as in every way the
equals of the whites, and yet they are eter-
nally whining out the complaint that they
are not permitted to associate with people
who, so they declare, are not whit better
than themselves. If the blacks are the
equals of the whites, why cannot the blacks
content themselves with their own excel
lent company? Why should they shame
their manhood and belle all their fine
speeches by efforts to force themselves into
the company of people who look upon them
as Interiors? The unavoidable inference
from such conduct is that the blacks are so
conscious of their inferiority that they cannot
hide that consciousness even when they most
affect an arrogant carriage They confess
to this consciousness whenever they complain
of their ostracism from the company of the
whites. If they really believed themselves
to be the equals of the whites, they would
scorn the idea of asking for social recognition
at their hands, just as the humblest white
man in the land would scorn to ask of any
other white man the privilege of associatine
with him.
We utter these unpleasant truths-truths
as they seem to us-in no spirit of uIkind
ness We would have the blacks respect
themselves. We would like to see them toe
proud to ask for social recognition from oul
race. We are pleased that in this city they
have their own hotels and churches (and fine
ones, too), and we would like to see then
carry the same spirit of independence into
other places. They cannot build railroads
for themselves, but they can be proud enough
to ride in the cars assigned to colored people
and not base enough to crave the company
of men who do not wish to associate will
them. They should have for the same price
as comfortable seats as the whites have, anC
should not be compelled to ride in smoking
cars. They should, in word, be treated Will
even-handed justice and the respect due tt
them. But when this is done, all will hav
been done that the colored people of sens
would expect.