Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-01-05
THE COLOR LINE IN AMERICA.

The effort that is being made by the colored men to secure representation ill General Harrison's cabinet and the certain failure that will attend it, bring up anew the race problem that has been With us since the civil war resulted in the liberation and enfranchisement of the negro. The political equality that might come from such deserved recOg- nition of the ColOred vote would neces- sarily involve social equality, and the whites of the north as well as those of the south are not yet prepared for that. It is well enough for the republicans to claim that the negroes now enjoy all the rights and privileges of political equality and that the social question will in time work out its own solution. The colored men, as matter of fact, do not enjoy political equality, since that means a share in the offices as we'll as the votes; and it goes without saying that they have not even the remotest semblance of fair share in the distribution of the offices.
 The color line that keeks the races apart in their social relations seems in surmountable, and its existence even in the various church communions The northern and southern Presbyterians have failed again to beat down the bar riers that divide them on this line. and they are not the only den omination whose adherents demand that the black men shall keep apart from their white brethren even in the house of worship. While such prejudice and division eX ists where the teachings and impulses of Christianity should suggest the ties of l brotherhood it can hardly be expected
 that there will be any sutetantial advance toward the conditions of social equality. That this prejudice of color in the north
 differs only slightly in degree from that
 in the south is not the least discouraging l feature of the problem. It is this com
 munity of opposition that has kept the
 social lines drawn tightly between the
 two races in every section of the country
 and among all elements of the popula- tion. While this condition of social in equality and hostility exists it will be
 idle to expect that the colored men will
 get their full share of political rights.
 for the concession of that would neces- sarily involve some sort of social recog-
 milton and equality.
 ] The movement for a colored represent
 ative in General HarriSon's cabinet is a
 renewed evidence that the colored people
 are dissatisfied with the present condition
 of affairs and are seeking for better l things i'll their political and social status The injustice of system that cares only l for their votes without any corresponding disposition to share the fruits of success
 becomes less tolerant as its inequalities
 become more apparent to them. That
 the republican party has profted SC
 much from their support at the polls while at the same time it has steadily
 refused to grant them any official recog-
 milton of value lends additional weight to the justice with which the colored people press their claim of recognition
 at the hands of General Harrison. The
 failure of the movement, which is inevi-
 table, must intensity in the hearts of the
 colored people the bitterness which al
 ready fills them against those who refuse
 to look upon them as brothers or equals
 either in social or political life. And il
 will add new complications to the vsXed
 problem that must yet be solved as tc the color line in America