The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1890-05-29
NEGROES IN OFFICE.
4 NORTHERN OPINION ON THE
SUBJECT.

SUBJECT
The Black Man is all we'll Enough to
Make POstmasters of in the South,
but there is no:Place for Him in the
Effete of North.
Much is said about the negro in Of
hce-especially under the present ad-
ministration. In the South where
such occurrences are most frequent
there is loud protest against it.. In
the North where they are not brought
fEsce to face with the race problem to
any appreciable extent, there is also a
protest, but against the objections
raised in the South. While the North
ern people have no love for the negro
when brought in contact with him, the
Northern press raise mighty howl
whenever the South dares to speak out
against the very thing which they
themselves will not tolerate. 1t de-
pends entirely upon where the negro
is placed in Office as to whether it is
right in their holy sight or not.
The New York E0enfng Post some
time ago had the following editorial
on the subject OF color prejudice:
The appointments of black men as
postmasters in some Southern towns
where nearly all the mail matter is
sent and received by white people
have aroused much local criticism,
which in turn has provoked no little
comment in the Northern press. In
one case, at Covington, La, negro
was appointed who had never been a
resident, who was unknown to the
people of the town, and against whose
character charges were made. But
the most conspicuous case has been
that of the office at Bay St. Louis, a
summer resort for well-to-do people
of New Orleans, OF which it is really a
suburb. Here negro was appointed
postmaster whose character is conceded
to be good, but whose selection is
complained of solely on account of his
color. The men of the families being
generally absent in the city during the
day time, the postal business is done
almost exclusively by the women and
children, and the local press complains
that it is disagreeable for these white
women and children to find a black
man in control OF the office.
When such complaints by the local
papers reached the North, number o.
the Republican organs were moved tc
expressions of the most violent indig
nation. "An insane prejudice" il
was called by Massachusetts, paper
while the loud-mouthed Boutelle de-
clared, in his Bangor WAig and C0n
,ier, "that this is simply monstrous.
Why white people at summer resor
in Louisiana should object to taking
their letters and buying their stamp
from black postmaster was something
which these New England people pro
fessed to believe past their comprehen
sion. "Why should good coloree
man be offensive as a postmaster ?
asked Boutelle, with the air of a mar
who knew that nobody living coule
answer his question. In the same lin'
were the remarks of Assistant Post
master General Clarkson, who j
quoted as having talked in this way t
one party of protesting Southerners
"Does not a colored servant cool
your meal, another wait on your table
another shave your face, and still
another mix your toddy for you
You admit that. Well, then, In
unable to see why it is that if you Cal
take your breakfasts from black hands
you can't also take your letters ant
newspapers from the hands of negr
postmasters. At the office in question
Senator, a colored man will be ap
pointed before night.
Anything more ridiculous than thi
sort of talk cannot we'll be imagined
A New Orleans paper had objected t
the appointment. of negro postmaster
in the sea-coast resorts of the South Of
the ground that these places care fire
quented by the highest, most refined
and best educated classes of NortheI
and Southern people" that such pee
pie wanted white men or women i
the postofices, and that "this desire
qualification is not an outcome of sec
} tional prejudice; Northerners an
Southerners alike demand it, Thi
is the exact truth. The most refine
and best educated people in the Mort
do object to negro postmasters at sum
mer resorts-or anywhere else, for tha
matter. Take Boutelle's own State
The people interested in the prosperit
, of Bar Harbor would be as indignan
at the suggestion of appointing blac
postmaster there as they would be at
proposition to enforce the Maine la
in that famous summer resort, an
. simply because they know that the vi:
} itors would be displeased with a pos
J master of that color. 1t would be {
no use to argue with these visitors ths
! this was an insane prejudice" that
was "simply monstrous," and that,
they were willing to have black bal
, bers and walters, they ought to b
| willing to have a black postmaste
They would reply that it was too he
to have long discussions in summer
; all they had 10 say was that they di
|. not want a negro postmaster at Ba
, Harbor.
Do not consider that you are out
the road because the road seems to