The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1896-06-29
TIE NEGRO IN THE NORTH.
Helen Gardener, the Famous Author
ess, Writes a Ringing Letter.


An editorial in The Boston Herald of
June 18th SAYS:
National Committeeman Murray Crane,
OF Massachusetts, appears TO be entitled 10
the principal share of the credit for secur-
ing decent treatment for the cOlored dele
gates AT St Louis. He took bold and de-
cided stand In their behalf, and he brought
the ST. Louis hotel keepers around TO ms
way of thinking His vigorous handling OF
this question will be duly appreciated by
the friends OF equal rights everywhere. ana
particularly in Massachusetts"
on the 18th appeared:
"All this would sound less t,anting il it
were not recently that cOiOred Bishop
Arnot was eXclued from every nrSt-class
hotel in Boston. ana Massachusetts bore
the indecency' of the treatment with great
fortitude
1T appears to be only when Massachu-
setts gets her colored brother into an ex-
slave state that she yearEs to eat and
sleep with him. Her race prejudices' eVap-
crate entirely only when she rub the
ex-slave down the throat of the ex-slave
holder. At home she sleeps quite comfOrta-
bly, in the leading hotels from which a cul-
tvated colored bishop IS excluded and she
does not bring the MOTEL Keepers around
with half so much enthusiasm and prompt
ness at home as she does abroad. y lit
tie more practice in New England, and
little less pretense when New England goes
south would command the respect instead
of the contempt of a Southerner.
On June 18th The Herald gave a leading
from touching the point at issue. The edi-
torial says:
''It must be admitted that republicans
at the north. rule, are no more inclined
TO recognize cOlored men in the social inter-
course of their families and firesides than
are those of the southern sections. This
comes from long recognized and deep
seated feeling, We VIII not say of antaSo-
nlsm. but OF incompatiblity of enjoyment
under such conditions between the races
We are far from having reached the time
when this feeling can be brought to an end.
But it seems to Us hardly fair to taunt the
republicans with this state of facts. when
the question comes up of Cstracizing color
ed men in public places. Here 10 is Ques-
ton where right comes in 10 overhear taste
and personal sympathy. The Massachusetts
republican delegation at ST. Louis, there
fore. is not TO be charged with inconsistent
Cy in COntendlng Tor the right OF the col
ored men of their delegation to equal hotel
privileges at St. Louis. Men may choose
their own associates in private life. and IL
is their personal affair. They may see
clearly what is right. and give their tesu-
mOny to il in this public action, even II the
it greatly more difficult that II shall be done
i'm private. No bar should be put in the
way of attempts to relieve the ostracism of
the cOlored man as citizen
All of which would sound far more sin
cere and far less disngcnuous were II not
for the undoubted facts stated above by
"A Southerne-" and not met by the editor
of The Boston Herald.
Bishop Arnot was asking of Boston and
Boston hotels no more social recognition
than were these colored delegates asking OF
St Louis and her first-class hotels.
There was one difference, TO be sure. The
bishop was not political delegate 10 be
used as political capital by this kind of
count for the IN. thdT MassTCnuseyys re-
publicans took Bishop Arnots case not At
all 10 heart and Boston hotels are still
FULL when colored men apply for rooms.
\ number of times within the past two
years there has come to me for sympathy
an educated colored man, n college graduate
and an editor. who lives in Boston. but who
expressed himself as so outraged. humil-
ated and depressed by the treatment ne
constantly receives at the hands of all
classes and parties of the white population
i'm Boston that ne said he has strongly
thought Of going back TO Jhe
south, where the white people UNI
derstand us far better and are
more truly kind To us. while they make
no pretense of a feeling of equality which
is present to the ear hut absent to the con
duct of New England
or course much electioncerinG capital viii
he made for the republican party out of the
ST Louis loyalty to the colored race" of
its adhereuts.
IL the south is not dullcr than think it
H. IL will not forget to present side by side
with this loyalty" the case of Bishop
Arnot. A little less Canting, "I-am-holier-
than-thou" pretensc when New Englanders
are in the ex-slave states, and a little more
attention 10 the details of their own con-
duct toward the colored race when met on
their own soil. would go far toward stab
Fishing a mutual respect and confidence
which is and must remain impossible so
long as the present hollow sham is main
tanned. HELEN IL. GARDENER.