Omaha daily bee., 1874-06-05
NOW AND THEN.
Upton vs.. Upton.
A Political Demagogue Crucifed.
IOmsha Herald, March 5, 1878
Professions and Practice.
EQUALITY BEFORE THE LAW
ON TRIAL.

With all their professions for the
equality of men, Mr.. Upton found
the radical majority about voting
down a proposition to admit all per-
sons irrespective of race or color to
the Agricultural Colleges, sustained
by the national funds, when he
called the Senator from New Jersey
to account for political Delinquent
cies.
Mr.. Upton. The honorable Sen
ator from New jersey cannot be
permitted so artfully to dodge the
question. / hold in my hand a
petition addressed to the honorable
Senator from New Jersey and my
self and some other gentlemen:
This document is on the question OF
the right of our colored fellow citi-
zens in the schools, and 1t Is
signed by Robert Purvis, PJohn NJ.
Langston, w. H. A. WOrmly, Geo.
T. Downing, frederick Douglas and
a host of other colOred fellow citi-
zens who sustained us at the polls,
and expect us to sustain then in leg
islating ON the subject of education.
They are becoming a little shy OF
gentlemen who have all these hon
eyed concentrations for them and
their services to the country, but
who feed them on husks and stones
when theyask for bread. They shall
speak for themselves.
Mr.. Flanagan. If the Senator
will allow me
The Presiding officer. Does the
Senator from Nebraska yield?
Mr.. Upton. I do not yield to any
body but the authority of the chair
man. Laughter.
The honorable Senator from New
Jersey must not think l am bring
ing authorities here that are not
high, and that are not perfectly le-
ultimate In the ease. He is a law
yer, second, perhaps, to very few
men who have the same identical
requirements that he has. Laugh
teri As to Frederick Douglas, he
is par excellence, the popular orator
of this country at the present time.
In the palmy days of American elO-
quence on the stump, when Tom
| Corwin, of Ohio, was the impersoni-
fication of all that had ever been
exhibited i'm wit, in irony, in logic,
and i'm discoursive elOquence, Doug
las was scarcely a whit behind him.
Therefore the honorable Senator
will not feel sensitive when l bring
to bear upon him the artillery of
these, his oOlabOrers in the cause of
God and humanity. They say. in a
document addressed to us:
"The Philadelphia Convention
said to Congress, then on the eve Of
adjournment, lido not adjourn until
all citizens are secured by appropri-
ate legislation In their OWL rights
In the face of these pledges are We
to be outraged much longer? Shall
we distrust?
There begins to be a trembling in
the camp of the allies of the Sena-
tor, and they say shall We distrust ?
Have promises been made to us to
broken in the hour i'm which We ex-
pect the cOnsummation of all Our
past demands? And then they
come to the specific question Of edu-
cation In the schools. Here it is:
"The public schools, supported in
common by funds taken alike from
our and other citizens pockets, are
made instruments of our degrada-
ton. Our tender children are taught
by separate schools that they are not
so good as other children. White
children r taught by white schools
that colored children are inferior,
and are to be despised.
And the appeal Is to the Senator
from New Jersey and myself, that
this thing must stop now and for
ever.
"Such are the debasing results of
the separate school SYSTEM"
These colored citizens therefore
demand of the Senator and those
who are associated with him that
they do to them that justice which
has been promised them by the
Philadelphia convention that they
shall no longer be outraged by the
intimatiOn that their children are
not as good as yours, and that your
children shalln not have their original
vanity and the old Adam developed
and fostered by telling them that
they are better than any other chill
dren. Such is the admOnitiOn that
comes to us tonight.
"When We fought to save the
nation, and subsequently, when we
deposited ballots, laying aside bull
lets, it was not to ~perpetuate this