New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1873-09-04
Letters from Philadelphia.

! Letters from Philadelphia.
PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 80, 1873.
Ts1As Eiisprs ~ a. ss-s Stiosai Erd aat csf.ea
Why is it that the Administration organ o
the District Of Columbia seeks every opportu
nifty to put colored men who dare stand anc
advocate their rights inside the Republican
ranks IN a false light, and stigmatize them a
demagogues and Liberal Republicans in tht
late campaign? Why is it that the Republi
can organ of the District seeks to iniure ths
Republican cause in the coming fall cam
paign By circulating the falsehood that the
colcred men Of the District of Columbia are
organizing " Black Mans Party?" What
does the Administration organ mean, when
it tells its readers that the colored people O.
the District wish to make Hayti Of Washing.
ton? What does this organ Of the Admins.
tration mean when it says that the black
man is deprived of no rights to which he is
morally, politically, and legally entitled
The Republican organ Of the District Of Co
lumbia has made a great blunder in showing
its true colors so early in the fall campaign
Colored people of the District have right
to doubt, and feel more and more concerned
about their civil rights, when they see the
Administration organ stigmatizing every col.
ored man in the District, as they have above
for daring to advocate and insist on the car
rying out of the principles embodied in the
Republican platform at the Philadelphia
convention, as follows:
Complete liberty and exact equality in
the enjoyment of all civil, political, and pub.
lie rights should be established and effec-
tually maintained throughout the Union BY
efficient and appropriate State and Federal
legislation. Neither the law nor its admins
tration should admit of any discrimination in
respect of citizens by reason of race, color,
or previous condition of seryitude."
If we have all the rights we are entitled
to, as the Republican says, why this plank
was embodied in the Republican platform is
mystery to me. The President Of the
United States, in his Inaugural Address, felt
it his duty to address his countrymen as fol-
lows:
"The effects of the Late civil strife have
been to free the slave and make him a citi-
zen. Yet he is not possessed of the civil
rights which citizenship should carry with it.
This is wrong, and should be corrected. To
this correction l stand committed, so far as
Executive influence can avail.
"Social equality is not subject to be
legislated upon, nor shall ask that anything
be done to advance the social status of the
colored man, except to give him fair chance
to develop what there is good in him give
him access to schools, and when he travels
let him feel assured that his conduct will
regulate the treatment and fare he will
receive
Why colored men can continue to support
the Republican or any other sheet that not
only fails to carry oat the principles laid
down in the Republican platform, but
attempts to damn every colored man who
dares to speak and advocate his own interest,
l am at a loss to understand. The time has
come when such mean, low filings as appeared
in the Republican of the 2jth ult should cease,
especially when they are founded on no
better authority than that Of the late financial
agent of Prosser, No. sos Market street,
Philadelphia. CIvIL RIGHTS.
The C0lOred Men In Washington.
PHILADELPHIA.
Tuesday, Aug. &c, 1873.
IT, the Editor Of he Nto York Times:
observed among your Washington tcle-
grams, yesterday, the statement that the
colored men Of the District of Columbia were
forming, under my leadership, "a Black
Mans Party I have to-day seen the
article and leader IN the National Republican
upon which, in all probability, the statement
of your correspondent was based. l know
the perverted source from which the Repu5H-
ran draws all Of its knowledge of the doings
OF the colorcd people of the District. l
could almost swear to the authorship of the
article. Like most Of its kind, it is false in
and defective in statement do
not know of the existence of colored polti-
cal organization with the objects mentioned.
did not know before that was candidate
for the House Of Delegates. At any rate,
accept the suggestion, and shall think of it.
To show what my feelings are upon the
question of the demand of the negro for
office, ! would call your attention to an edi-
torial in the New NATIONAL ERA AND
CITIZEN of this week, which will reach YOU
on Thursday, replying to certain structures
on the colored Republicans of Virginia for
not demanding place on the State ticket.
The colored people of the District have
grievance, and it is the existence of this,
fostered by the Republican, which concerns
them more than if it pertained to politics.
1t is with regard to the management of their
schools. They are now, with few excep-
tons, in the hands of men VIGOROUSLY the
most incompetent, conceited, and dogmatic.
The people have had no voice nor vote in
their appointment. Whether they legislate
for or against the good of children or tax
payers, they are sustained by those in
authority. These men are not selected
because they are the best men the colored
people have, but as their President has been
heard to say, because they were, with three
the men he wanted. This Presi-
dent is the "colored " correspondent of the
and where facts fail him, like
another distinguished parsonage. he relies
upon his imagination, and, may add, his
faors