The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1883-10-10

Elsewhere We have Published the res
olutions Of the so-called National Colorcd
Mems Convention recenfly held at
Louisville, Ky. under the leadership Of
Fred. Douglas. These resolutions do
not encourage the hope that we are TO
have a rest from the color line agitation.
The negroes In % far as they speak for
iheir race, are not satisfied with having
been secured their freedom, and their
civil and political rights through fed
eral and State legislation. That leg
islation puts them, 80 far as Is possible
for legal enaetments 10 do, on the same
footing occupied by the most favored
citizens Of the country. There j. not a
right which the white person enjoys
that Is rot guaranteed TO the negro
the freedom Of speech, the exercise Of
suffrage and participation in the govern
ment, the right TO the jury box, and
every other right guaranteed to free
born American citizens There Is only one
thing which human enactment has not
done for the negro-it has not removed
the inefaceable distinctions which SUI
preme Wisdom has established between
the Negro and the Caucasians. and the
different habitude., and tastes and senti-
ments which are the inevitable conse-
quence. The Louisville resolutions
amount more to a complaint against the
laws Of creation, than the policy Of gov
eminent which has left nothing undone
TO wipe out every distinction in the eye
Of the law.
The resolutions bear false witness
against the Southern States in the state.
ment that the negroes "are denied jus
tice in the courts, and defrauded Of Their
political rights at the ballot box" etc.
The arTaignment Of commonwealth,
because innkeepers do not choose to en-
terrain whites and blacks undiscrimi
nately, shows the folly Of the complain
ants. Innkeepers do not exercise q
public franchise. Their business and
their mode Of conducting it, are affairs Of
their own with which government hai
p nothing to do. There is no law requir
b ing an innkeeper not to make a discrim
iuation in the guests he may choose I,
entertain; and until public policy die
tates the enactment of such a law, tn
negro can have no right to complain.
In the matter Of educational facilitie
+ afforded by the State, the negroes ar
!. possessed Of advantages entirely equal {
+ the whites Mississippi, we suppos,
presents fair specimen of what
e done in the other Southern state.
! and here the proportion of negroes j
r the public schools is equal to that of tn
whites according to the respective popI
lation Of the two races-though ever.
. body knows that the burden of the e.
~ pense Of the school system is borne by I'll
whites. The complaint that negroes 'al
shut out from learning trades" has I
j. truth in 50 far as the South is concerl
IN ed. Here every trade, occupation an
We profession, are open to the negro. !
IN the North, where he is ostracised frOl
all pursuits except the post mental Il
No complaint may be laid; but if it be s
ii injustice, as the grumblers assume, it
,o a social and economic arrangement ov
D., which the government has no legitima
control.
Equally preposterous with the 9th
az demands set forth in these resolutions
W the call upon Congress to make good I
'e- losses by the failure of the Freedmen
III Savings Bank The victims of til
swindling concern must look to the
ok "best friends" for the redemption
to their deposits. The public treasury
rs. a trust fund committed to the keepil
st Of Congress, and its members wou
in he guilty Of an objectionable breach
faith in applying it to such a purpose.
.d Viewed in any light, the promulG
an ton Of the resolutions is to be dep
:. Gated by every friend Of the peace a
81 prosperity Of the country. They fo
~. shadow the renewal of an agitati
e which will be fruitful of evil only, a
especially to the negro who is in no &C
dition to involve himself in an unit
no and unreasonable quarrel with the VIII
ct race.