The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1897-09-04
CRUMBS FOR HIM.
FRO-AMERlCANS EXCLUDED
FROM PROSPERlTY'S TABLE,.
Rev. Reverdy G. RansOm's Views on the
Subject Organized Labor Accused of Bit
ter Cruel Injustice Tuskegee Graduates
can't get s'White Mans Job.''


gress and signed by Republican President
None gave more united and unwavering sup
port to the platform which declared for the
enactment of this law and to the men whose
election made it's enactment possible than
the coored citizens Of the country.
While it is no fault Of the Republican party,
the fact remains that they will derive less
direct benefit from 1.-The industries of the
United States" which are "encouraged" by it's
operation than any other class of people in
the country. When the banquet table of
good times is spread with the fruits of pros
perty the negro will not be admitted to
seat at the first table; he will feed upon what
remains, after having served those who were
invited to the feast.
The attitude of the employers of labor and
of organized labor toward the race is the
most formidable barrier to the negro's pres
ent prosperity and future progress. Organ
lied labor cries out against the cruelty and
oppression of capital and yet cruelty Expresses
and wrongs whole race of iaborers. Cap
ital resents what it terms the unreasonable
demands OF labor, and, in many instances, has
invaded the empires and Kingdoms of the
world for class OF workmen who would be
content to work for a fair remuneration.
Meanwhile the great employers of labor, ex-
cept for the most mental positions, continue
to ignore 5000, 900 black toilers, who, save in
countrymen; men VINO fought to free and
preserve the Union, and who spend every
dollar they earn in the United States.
Inconsistency of the North.
While the South makes no pretense Of
treating with equal consideration the claims
of the negroes, she does recognize their
value as a factor in her peculiar industries.
Almost everywhere throughout the North
equal school privileges are enjoyed by all.
1orp oh 1Hran CIT do hyc Gil rio
in the schooroom and drink from the same
fountains of knowledge. Negroes may attend
the churches of the whites without being
shown to a seat in the gallery. They have
freedom to share all the benefits and privil-
eyes OF the public libraries and reading-rooms,
to attend lectures, and in many places to be-
cone members of the Young Mems Christian
associations. Throughout the North all OF
the best colleges are open to the negro, as
we'll as the schools where the learned profess
slons are taught; but when the colored youth
who has had his aspirations kindled at the
common altar eeks to enter upon the career he
has chosen and join his white brother in the
world OF action the blow which is struck to
his ambition is as cruel as was ever the stroke
of the slave drivers LASH
In this republic, based not upon blood, or
race. or wealth, but upon manhood, upon
freedom OF opportunity, what must be tho
sufferings of a race that has imbibed It's prin-
ciples, but which is thwarted in it's efforts
a~htion is turned back and shut in to feed
up.A itself?
The negro stood $50 years of slavery, and
will as soon be rid of the scars which it left
upon his back as his enslavers will be rid
of the scars which it left upon their con-
sciences, their hearts, and brains. He can
contend with the political highwaymCn who
rob him Of his constitutional rights, and the
lynchers who set at defiance the legally con-
stituted authorities;h he can survive the degra-
-
cars, in which, in many states, he is COM
PEELED to ride, but to feel that the possibilities
which are the inheritance of the American
youth are impossible to him and to his chill
dren, to be allowed to enter the door of the
industries of this country only in the livery Of
servants is to extinguish the light of hope
for substantial progress and to sound the death
knell to his advancement by sapping tho
foundations Of his aspirations.
A Cruel Unwrlttcn Law.
There is an unwritten law concerning tho
negro which is far more rigidly enforced
than are the amendments of the constitution
which were framed to put beyond question
his right to an equal place in the national
household; namely that in all of the great in
dustres of this country the negro shall be
permitted to advance no farther than the
posi- n of a mental or a servant. After
having battled against these conditions for
years. some of the leading men of the negro
race see 70 hope for the negro's future in this
land.
Bishop II. NJ. Turner, senior bishop Of the
A. NJ. E. church, in the August number of the
Voice of Missions says:
All the negro can do in this country is merely
to struggle for existence on the most servlle
plane and even then he will exist no longer tnan
mob says he must die. He is no more the
creature of law and civil government than Wild
of a mob The only question that concerns the
controlling powers is, Is he or she negro?
Ten millions Of human beings with no judges,
theE4, they have nothing to hope for, and when
hope is gone, every incentive to manhood and
noble deeds is gone and all prospect is gone and
the negro is a fool who cannot see it.
Professor w. E. r. Dubois, a young negro,
who has enjoyed exceptional advantages. hav-
ing been born and reared in New England, a
graduate of Harvard college, who has re-
celv.d the degree OF Phi D. from German
university, and who is at present assistant
professor Of sociology in the University OF
Pennsylvania, thus writes IN the Atlantic
Monthly for August:
Alas! while sociologsts gleefully count his the
nGsrOs) DastaIus ana his prostitutes, the very
soul OF the toiling, sweating black man is dark
ened by the shadow OF a vast dlsmay. Men call
the shadow prejudice, and learnedly explain It
the natural defense OF culture against bar
aganst crime; the higher against the ?1ow:
err races, to which the negro cries Amen, -
and swears that to SO much Of this strange
prejudice is founded just homage to
civilization, culture righteousness, and progress
he humbly bows and meekly does obesance but
before that unmanly prejudice which leaps be-
yond all this, he stands helpless, dismayed, and
we'll nigh speechleJs. Before that personal dis
respect and mockery. the ridicule and systematic
humiliation, the distortion Of fact and wanton
license of fancy, the ignoring Of the better and
the welcoming of the worse, the all pervading
desire to inculcate disdaln for everything black
from Touissant to the devil, before this there
arises sickening dismay that would disarm
and discourage any nation save that black host
to whom "discouragement' Is unwritten
word.
Scores Of young negroes, after having been
repulsed at the threshold Of the portals OF
industry, have crowded into the ministry,
the professions Of medicine and law, or have
sought to secure positions through the In
tluence of politics, but all are beginning to see
that the race cannot prosper nor have SUBJ
stantial standing without its foundation is
laid in the industries Of the country.
No "White Mans Job" for Them
None has seen this more clearly than
Booker T. Washington, who is seeking to
train the negro to be producer, to enter
into life not only with an enlightened mind
but with skilled hand. The white peo-
Die Of the country. North and South. have
Set the seal of their approval upon Mr. WASH
lngton's splendid work and have proclaimed
him the Moses Of his race. They are CIV
Ing tens Of thousands of dollars annually
to support the work which he has begun, but
who Is to send missionaries to the labor
unions and manufacturers of the country to
induce them to give Booker T. Washington's
skilled negroes white mans job in the