Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1896-06-11
THE NEGRO At ST. LOUIS.

Despite the almost overwhelming indi-
cations TO the contrary. there are some
persons who believe that there will be
straddle at ST. Louis on the white and
yellow. or currency, question. Whatever
may prove the case in respect of this Is
sue. certain st is that there will be
a straddle on the white and black, or
color-line question. The St. Louis hotel,
restaurant, and boarding house-keepers
remain firm in their decision that no
negro delegates need apply, and the local
Committee on Accommodations are at
their wits end TO know what is the best
course to pursue i'm the matter Of taking
care Of the negro contingent. In the
mean time, the advance-guard of the
negro delegates is, says the New York
Herald's ST. Louis special, still walk
ing the streets without food or shelter,
except such as is provided by friends.
Several solutions of the problem that
confronts tho local Committee on Ac-
commodations, the ST. Louis Business
Mems League. and the leaders Of the
c. o. L. have been suggested. Judge
Thompson has offered the use Of the Ex-
position building for the colored delegates;
John Milholland has rendered special
train Of sleeping and saloon-cars for their
accommodation, and there is talk of rent
ing a hotel out and out in order TO meet
the emergency. In fact, a contract for
securing a hotel had about been consum-
mated, but at the last moment it was
learned that the cooks of the hosiery.
although they were negroes, would rot
agree to prepare meals for their own
color: and so the scheme fell through. ,
AS we said yesterday, no doubt some
provision will be made for caring, after
fashion, for the negro delegates, but
no matter what that provision may be,
it will only servo to emphasize the IN
eradicability of race prejudice. Whether
the negroes are housed and fed in the
Exposition building, on train of palace
cars, or in a gorgeously-appointed sepa-
rate hotel, the fact remains that the
Business-M Mems League of st. Louis reck-
oned without their host when they
promised that the negro delegates to the
CONNtHllouf anu NHt HtbiO HIcIlbtiS VI
the National Committee should receive
the same recognition as to accommoda-
lions that the white delegates and Ma
tional Committeeman received In their
efforts to have St Louis selected as the
meeting-place Of the convention, their
zeal outran both their discretion and
their knowledge Of the most deeply-rooted
prejudice Of the superior race.
Nothing short Of the housing and feed
ing of the negroes I'm the same hotels.
restaurants, and boarding-houses with
the whites would constitute the equal
recognition promised by the league. Any
substitute for this, no matter how lux
urious may be the accommodations it
affords the negroes, draws the color line
as distinctly and as sharply as If that
substitute were a lot of shanties In the
negro quarter Of the city. How the Re-
publican party leaders will smooth this
matter over with their negro dupes
during the coming canvass We do not
know, but we do know that the dilemma
these leaders. the Business Mems
League, of ST. Louis, ana the local Com
mittee on Accommodations find them
selves in is just. though not sufficient re-
tributon for their attempt to do vio-
lence TO the Caucasian instinct against
anything that conveys the suggestion Of
social equality.