The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1892-04-23
"A RACE QUESTION:"
Excellant Article BY Bishop Ben.
jamin T. Tanner D. D.

"That's Il Race Question with us"-A
Remark Overheard In u Pullman Sleep
er In the SOuth-Christanity Power
less Against the Race Fiat.
1t was at Meridian, Miss, that we en-
tered the Pullman, northward bound.
We had. however, to telegraph to New
Orleans for the berth, as it W. 8 out of
the question to get the agent at Meridian
to consider our application for them in
any other light than that of Negro i'm.
pertineuce A word in regard to these
"'Pullmans. From the bottom rock of cur
soul. we say. Thank God for Pullman!
and in the words OF Leigh Hun: May
his tribe increase!
Thank G d for his invention; and last,
but not least, thank God for the sense
and courage he has to say, "Ceanl;ness
and gentility, not race What cultivat.
ed Colored ladies and gentl1men-the
former especially, for we men, when
worse comes to worse, can rough it
what theoe who are often compelled to
the Pullman, the good Lord only knows;
for travel in such States as Georgia and
Mississippie, to refined woman of color,
is often horrible if not Taltarean, says
Bishop B. T. Tanner in the Independant.
Less huns year "gn, my daughter,
Halle Tanner DILLON, NJ. ID she who
passed the Alabama State Board Of
Medical Examiners, and who, by the
way, is the only woman who ever did
pass it, had occasion to 60 Tuskegee as
its chosen Resident Physician A young
woman unused to the ways of the world
as the white South presents them to
Colored woman, had it not been for
Pullman, she would have been com.
PEELED to brave the smoke of cheap to-
bacco, the odor of bad whisky, and the
vulgarity too often common to the Jim
Crow car" which the States OF shop
Haygood and Justice Lamar put at the
disposal OF their Colored patrons-com-
PEELED to brave these, have fight with
some rude conductor and ruder brake.
man, be
Stormed at with rebel yel''
Cursed at by lips trained we'll:
To- Into the jaws Of death,
Into the mouth Of He'll
or rellnquish the position prcfered by
the first ms tuition Of the Black Belt
\ And all this in a Christian land, the
IT, Of her birth and nativity
lfNm1
t, Az we have said, we entered the
,. Sleeper at Meridian, We NUT confess
Gin fear and trt mbling," to use Paul.
ism for c. 1893 are not eutire wanting
where Colured passengers have even
been dragged from these cars which are
to US in the South as altars of safety, as,
80 many cities OF refuge. The writer of
this at o,.ce turned in.' his companions
in tribulation, however, abso 'utely kept
watch until the wee hours of the morn.
ing-it WAS alter eleven when we enter
ed-or until they imagined themselves
beyond the point of assault. In the
Sleeper were number of whites. Quite
opposit to our berth sat two; more
earnest or more vivaciUus takers we
never recollect hearing From a word
caught here and there we discovered the
trend of their conversation to be s,mi.
political or semi-industrlal. What led t,
the remark which forms the caption of
this article we do not know, nor could
we be expected; we simply caught it as
it was to be heard above the hum of the
fact Twin xryhn Il
fact, we were really more impressed by
the suddenness of the silence that ensu-
ed than by the word itself. ooh, that is
a race question with us" acted as a pam
acea that healed every seeming diff
ference between them It seemed to
break the cloud in which both were
moving, if We are to judge such CLAM
our as enabled both to see the same
thing in the same light with the same
pair Of eyes. There WAS scarcely any
more talk between them; certainly none
that We could detect on the line that
had previously been pursued. Why
should there be? had not the word that
proved to he Of power feen spoken l?
The Alexandrine sword, had it not de-
scended upon the knot?
And so We mused: What is the al
mighty race question-this cure-all of
differences between men, even such rs
the bloody chasm 80 long open between
the North and the South-this that
makes the Republican as the Democrat,
our friends our foes-this all.f rceful
race ques ion, that does not interrog.te
nor suffer itself to b, terropatt d.
Every other question, social political or
religious is amenable to law, the great
law of discussion and defense, the law
that says: Give an account of thyself
Prove thy footing. Not 30, however, this
race question. The seat of throne
more than regal it has usurped-ave
morn than divine-and will not suffe,
itself to be questioned in regard to any
word it may say and act 1t may do. II,
one answer, all right and law to the con
trary Notwithstanding. il: Blood i,
thicker than water" Nor is there an,
power to call a court.martial.
The race question may run counter t,
the public good. "A city" and Plutarcl
again puts ia mr. der obligation-"a lit,
which is only collected of families canno