The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1888-06-21
A CoLoRED CANDIDATE.

history are more or less familiar. The
cause of his notoriety, or perhaps we
ought to say prominence, is and was a
combination of circumstances which
forced him to the front through the
unusual and even anomalous ciecum-
stances surrounding him in the days
just preceding the great civil war; but
for those circumstances he would doubt
less have lived and died unknown out
side his immediate vicinity, for
he has done less in a public
way and possesses less OF
real ability than many white men who
struggle vainly for preferment and die
at last obscure and unnotlced. If we
may SO speak, Douglass alleged misfor-
tunes were his great good fortune, for
out OF them he has coined not merely
the bubble reputation, but the more
substantial article of filthy lucre in
abundance. He seized upon the proper
time and grasped the f1eetjng opportu-
nifty while it was within his reach, and
great has been his reward. He has held
positions of honor, trust and profit
and has been handsomely paid
for frequently narrating the history of
his life-a commonplace enough ag-
gregation of events as beheld now, but
a subject of interest then because nov
city. That was their chief merit. One
would think that, having gained so
much profit out of so small an invest
ment Douglass would be not only sat-
isfed, but to some extent and in one
sense grateful to the people and circum-
stances through whom he was forced
into profitable prominence, and not in
his extreme old age be living reser-
voir of gall, NORWOOD and bile.
And to hear him talk as he did Tues
day in the Republican convention at
Chicago, leads to the conclusion that
he is much more a Bourbon than are
any of the people against whom he
hurls his Intellectual wrath, for he
exhibits with every outburst the fact
that he has learned nothing and for
gotten nothing.
On the occasion referred to, Douglass
hoped, he said, THAT the convention
would make such record in its pro-
ceedings as TO put it entirely out of the |
power of the leaders of the Democratic |
party and the leaders of the Mugwump
party to say there was no difference
between the Republican party and the
Democratic party in respect to the
class which he represented" There
can be no objection to that. 1t is
undoubtedly true that the two
or three parties referred to tako
and have taken widely different ground |
regarding the "man and brother,
and it is good thing that such is the
case. But the speaker shows how |
shallow or else how hypocritical he is
when he conveys the idea by inference, |
that the Republican party is or ever |
was better friend to the negro than |
any of the others are, for neither is or |
ever could be friend in the sense that |
Damon and Pythias vera friends, and |
either organization that makes it
pleasant" for the colored folks for a
season does so because they can be
made useful tor the time being or
else in remembrance of faithful |
services Of in recognition of present
merit Sqch fayors as the Republicans
have shown the black race have sprung
from the former condition, not because
they love the sons Of Ham or want him
even for next-door neighbor, but they
did and do want the votes resulting
from such affectation of regard, and if
Douglass is half as intelligent as hia
interested adulators would have him
believe, he knows this full we'll. On the
other hand, what kindness the former
and the masses of the =,
Democrats generally have shown the
negroes, while not perhaps so lavish
nor so DESTINATIONS as that exhibited by
The other element, must have been more
or less sincere for the very reason(if there
were no other) that they asked and ex-
pected nothing in return. And kind
ness and benefits have been more nearly
the rule than the exception; in fact,
those who are in position to know best
will bear witness to the fact that since
the slaves became free men they have
received all in the way of generosity and
forbearance from their former masters
chat they were capable of approaching
Or had any use for. The promise
has not been given to the
ear and broken 10 the hope,
as has almost uniformly char
zcterized Republican treatment of
them; and about the only real, sub .
stantial fact the latter element have to
present in support Of their claim to the
black mems sufrages is the circum- G
stance that those who held them in 7
bondage we're, or at least are now, ]