The Hot Springs star. (Hot Spings [Hot Springs], Dakota [Dakota Territory, i.e. S.D.]) 1886-189?, 1889-09-06
il.c Atlanta Hemou .tratjan.

homc.-Ma0is0n (Uis.) journal.
The Atlanta Demon .tration.
The bourbon residents of the city of
Atlanta. Ga. are much and unreason-
ably torn np over the appointment OF a
colorcd man to Il clcrkship in their post
Office by the new Republican post
master, and have expressed their in
die alton by burning iii cl!;gy General.
Lewis, the postmaster, and Colonel
Buck. the Chairman of the State Re
publican Executive Committee. The
latter Was insulted in this public man
ncr only because he had secured the
appointment of the postmaster. At
least no other cllalge is made against
him. Probably his lsepublicanism
alone WAS sufficient cause for the ont
rage. Mr.. Lewis. however. vas the
victim of this demonstration for obey
ing the regulations of the civil service.
He had hut two positions tn ill, one in
the money order and The other in the
registry department. andapplied to the
local board for the names oi applicants
who We're eligible. They gave him but
two. M II white man named Sturgess,
and the other a black MAJ named
Penny, who was Il graduate of the
Atlanta university and IL superior pen
man and accountant. In his public
statement General Lewis explains how
he came to make these assignments.
He says:
Ithcn considered tho character OF the
two positions TO he filed. That in the
money-orier department would necessarily
throw Tie clerk i'll contact with tho patrons
OF the office, while ihlt i'm the registry do
partmcnt is entirely different. The clerk
occupying ii desk out in the la SO mailing-
room away rom the public. Iiealizing the
tendency OF public opinion. 1 thought it
wotld be best 10 give Penny the place in
the res.istry department. where. as l saw.
patrons of the Office. Tie other position
that i'm the money-ordcr departmcnt-I
have given to Sturges-. Und6r the civil
service law these two men are the only
Thing .o-sill, under the circumstances
Gen. Lewis has strictly followed the
lines of tllc civil service. Penny had
passed the examination and was clearly
eligible. The appointment. however,
did not suit Il young woman who was
employed in the registry department,
and who would have come into bust
ness contact with Penny, and she
tllcrc11pon resigned. Her resignation
was tlie signal for the public "indigna-
tion" Which resulted as we have de-
scri,cd. Mr.. Lewis. however,
to stand by his action, and Mr.. Buck
snstains him. IL goes without saying
that the Postoilice Department will
also indorse his conduct, as he acted
clearly within the requirements of the
law. 1t is a difficult thing to make Mr..
Grady's New South understand that q
black man has the same right to earn
a living that a white man has. and, all
other things being equal, that he is
entitled to the political privileges
which are SO pcrsistently denied him
in that section. The argument of the
Young woman and her friends that the
appointment was an attempt to set up
the social equality of the races is alb
srrd, as she was not obliged to have
anything but business relations with
Penny. The objection was made be-
cuuse he vas black, and, as a Southern
contemporary remarked the other day,
because the negroes have no business
to exercise the suffrage OF to hold Of
fees. The same objection would have
been made had he been appointed to
any other position. No charge is made
against Mr.. Penny's character; on the
other hand, it is conceded to be exem-
plarv. Would any scrutiny have been
made into the character of n white
man had he been appointed?
The truth of the matter is this (:
race prejudice and the determination
of the Southern people to resist as far
as they can the appointment Of any
colored man to Office. 1t is more con-
spicuous, in this case because the
country has been led to believe that
Atlanta was IL liberal, progressive
place, and the center of the "New
South" which Major Grady described
so cloluently in his New England din
ncr speech, when he took pains to
notify the North how a~ffectionately
the South regarded the negro and how
determined the South was to stand by
and protect him and watch over bis in
t~ercsts; and vet at the first opportn-
nifty We find Atlanta reviving the old
%prcindiccs against the negro, and dis
playing all the bitterness and hatred
of slavery times. Such a manifesto
ton OF feeling might have been expect
ed in negro-chasing and negro-murder-
ing Mississippi. and it would probably
have been emphasized with bludgeons
and shotgnns; but we had expected
better things of Atlanta, and we are
particularly astonished at the policy of
so able and usually SO fair a paper as the
Atlanta Constitution which has in
duccd it to support and encourage an
unreasonable mob in this demonstra-
ton instead Of courageously defending
the law and the equal rights which it
NOTWITHSTANDING Tribune.
Gen. Palmcr's Grand Army.
Gen. Palmer has not yet decided
when he will put his section of the G.
A. Il. into the annual encampments.
He is said to be negotiating for two
tents for. the accommodation of the
rank and file.-WasAington Press.
THERE have been no entirely success
u