The sun., 1897-05-09
AFRO-AMERICAN PARADISE
IN CHICAGO THE CHILDREN OF THE
SUN ARE IN THE POLITICAL PUSH.

Ono Hundred OF Them in the Postal Service,
Forty the Police Force, with AS
sistnht states Attorney Among Them.
An Afro American Assistant States Attorney
is rare bird In the United States There is, In
fact only one such. He is n modest sort of man,
Of good countenanco. with cartlond of good
nature. He was born at Nashville, Tenn, forty
two years ago, but ho went to Chicago with his
parents when he was q youngstcr and grew up
with that overgrown village, and is chock full
of all tho peculiarlties that difrercntiate the
Chicago genus from tho rest OF mankind. OF
course he does not consider that Chicago is a
village at all, but the biggest and most impor.
tant city in the Union. His namo is Ferdinand
L. Barnett. Mr.. Barnett owns tho Chicago
Conserpator, which hc used to edit for amuse-
ment before he married Miss Ida d. Wells OF
lynch law agitation reputation, when he turned
the paper over to her and confined his activi.
ties to tho practice OF the law. In tho late
campaign Mr. Barnett had charge OF the Afro.
American end Of the National Republican head.
quarters at Chicago. and everybody thought he
would promptly file an application In Wash.
ington for something he would not have ghost
of n chance OF securing. But Mr. Barnett did
not do anything of the sort. lie went cunning
for something nearer home. He had little
understanding with the candidate for State 8
member Barnett In tho day OF his power He
did. IIo promptly appointed Mr.. Barnett as one
OF his assistants and thus reduced by one the
applications on file at Washington for posi-
ton of some sort. Mr.. Barnett was in New York
few hours during tho week.
I'VE have got about 10000 Afro Americans
In Cook county, which is Chicago YOU know, u
said Mr. Barnett to THE SuS reporter. land
they are real live people, just as alive as the
rest of our live population. In politics we are
clean in the push. Let me tell you something.
The Southtown division il the richest part of
Chicago; well, we have tho attorney for the
division. Mr.. Z. II. Morris. and during the past
ten years we have had the clerk Of Southtown,
who receives salary OF 900. The Prosecuting
Attorney of Chicago has five assistants, and his
first assistant. Franklin Dcnnison. is one of our
men. The States Attorney has twelve assistants, 8,
and am one of them.
"Then. take the police force: we have about
forty men on the force, all full.grown policemen.
When Carter Harrison was first elected Mayor
Of Chicago twenty. years ago there were only
publican ADMINISTRATION, and they they we're not OF full
clothes and were what are known as. fly cops,
Mayor Harrison did not like this. He ordered
the men to put on tho police uniform and go in
aud fight il out They did and they won. Since
then we have constantly increased our repre-
sentation on the force. so that we now have fully
forty, and We are very proud OF them.
in the % Fire neparten RU Committee lnid tbe
matter before Mayor Harrison. and he decided
to give us chance. Six Of our men werc placed
but Mayor Harrison stood to his guns. The cx-
pertinent proved signal success. The men grew
snaps in the department and their places filled
by younger men, still in the serv ice
Public Library and secured ed place for youns
woman. Miss Julia Lebough, graduate Of the
public schools who held the position until mt she
got married. when she was succeeded by Miss
Amel Platt. very scholarly young woman,
who is still there.
came about in this way. after long and stub
born fight, under tho splendid leadership of Mr.
hn At cbsr,n s ss made that
This led to no end OF family division and con.
house against itself. and Il could not. therefore
stand. and after a thorough trial it fell Tho
were allowed to go to the nearest school in their
district. Then the fight for teachers was taken
M hs He
goes, hut she lacked nerve. Prejudice ran so
abolished the valedctory address for the term
because r., this Young woman had had secured tho
on the stage to receive her diploma on th1 blight
Of graduation. The next gradual was good and
irht She Insisted % upon having all Of % her rights, @
and sho got them. She was appointed as a
teacher and taught for sixteen years. Her pluck
broke the ice, and now we have about seventeen
teachers in our public schools and everybody
considers 1t a matter OF course that our grad
ers, and they do. And our teachers are scat
tered In districts. at that. where there are very
few patrons of their own race.
Take the Cook county hospital service. For
the first time. in 1894, we elected Theodore
Jones MS one OF the fifteen Commissioners. At
tho time he took office we were drawing in this
department only about s.. 900. He had not been
in office six months before we were drawing
oyer $4,000. His best appointments we're a
physician and a surgeon; he gave us the former
and white constituent the latter. The placeof
physician is much coveted because OF the in
Jones was succeeded by Mr. E. ii. Wright, who
is n Now Yorker who has been in Chicago about
ten years. He is one OF the liveliest men we
have. and is still a Commissioner. He gave both
the positions OF physician and surgeon TO mem
I'VE have also had representation for twenty
years in tho State Legislature from one OF the
richest districts in Cook county: A. present
drainage canal and other public improvements.
In the Federal service We have very large
the service when Senator John A. Logan. who
was special friend of the race, was a power in
Public Printer. was Postmaster of Chicago at
the time and faithful adherent of Senator Lo-
ns he b so9d plant WSsp of S
Service law went into effect there were many
intel igcnt men OF my race who could not secure
These mon crowded into the examinations, with
the result that to-day we have fully one hun
drcd men employed In the postal service and
tho list Is growing. MS our college and high
school gradua do not worry about the exam
inntion; they just go In and win. Our men In
this department must draw salaries aggregat-
ing $4,000 per annum.
''When Mayor Hopkins, Democrat. came
into office he found 1t necessary to overhaul tho
bookkeeping system in all tho departments of
the city government. He selected as the expert
accountant Alexander Harvey, one OF our men.
who succeeded in bringing order out OF con.
fusion; This man Harvey went into the service
OF the Pullman Company as an errand hoy at a
salary OF So week, and rose to be chief account
ant OF the Pullman Company at Pullman. Ill.
Wherever they had any trouble with their ac-
counts the Pull Company sent Harvey to
straghten out the tangle
We own very largo volume of wealth In
Cook county. and have a number OF men worth
over 100000. Ono of our most striking
instances of thrift is man BY the name of Bates.
He went to Chicago from slavery just before the
war broke out. He was pennilcss, OF course. He
began TO drive nn express wagon. In few
months hs owned the outfit. He Just kept on
prospcring. To-day he Is q very rich man. He
owns pioco of property on Dearborn street