The Advocate and news., 1898-03-02
Republican Friends of the Negro.
j. G. RUPPENTHAL, JR.

Once, If not twice, has the Republican
party In Kansas been saved from defeat
by the Afro-AmeTican voters. Had the
1900 negro voters of Kansas refrained
from voting in 1880, or had they voted
against Humphrey and his State ticket,
Willis would have been elected by quite
plurality. n 1894 the gain of the negro
vote by the Populists and its loss by the
Republicans would probably have re-
elected Lewelling. But while there are
leading thinkers among the colOred people
who are enthusiastic for the party OF the
people, the masses of that race have been
led to believe that their political allegiance
IS due to the modern organization which
has somehaw been able to sail under the
name that belonged to the party Of the
immortal emanciPator. o, how the up-to-
date Republican loves the negro.
quote from syllabl in Gourlck's WASH
ington Digest (of pension, patent, ETC., de-
cisions In courts and Departmental Vol TX,
page W: slave Marriage-Not Valid in
Claim Of Dependent Father.-Claimant and
the soldiers mother lived together as hus-
band and wife after the manner of slaves
in North Carolina up to 1856 when the
mother died. Held, that their marriages
as slaves conferred no title upon claimant
to pension as the soldiers dependent father.
In re Father of John II. Woods, alias John
Henry. November Is, 1897. Same.-Claim-
ant and soldiers mother, who were slaves,
were married by colored minister in ac-
cordance with slave custom, in Kentucky,
about the year 1840 and lived together as
husband and wife in Kentucky and Mis-
souri, up to about 1854 when the mother
died. Held, that their marriage as slaves
had no legal validity and that the claim
ant therefore had no title to pension as
soldiers dependant father In re Father
OF Chas. Fl. Hewes. No. 20, 1897"
The editor Of the digest thus comments
on the second syllabus above: "No incident
OF slavery appealed more strongly to hu-
man sympathies than the severance of fam
lily ties on the auction block, and yet a
third OF century after the abolition of
slavery, the Republican party--the party
that owes so much to abolitionism, the
party of Lincoln-holds that slave married
according to slave rites by a minister Of
the gospel was not q valid marriage, and
few paltry dollars that would otherwise
go to the old slave husband as depend
ent father because his son, an offspring
OF said marriage, gave his'lfe to the union
cause, are saved"
hope that my colored brethren who read
the Advocate will ask themselves the ques-
ton, and answer 1t, "How much better is
this decision Of this Republican Che is AS
sistant Secretary Davis of the Interior De-
partment, and the case came to him on
appeal from the Commissioner of PensiOns)
than We're the makers Of the Dred Scott
and similar decisions that shocked the
consciences of every believer in the Dec
laration of independence? Every Afro
American in the nation should learn of
that decision, and learn, too, that his vote
alone is dear to the present usurpers OF
the name that once any man could well
have been proud to bear as q party ap-
pellation. The rank and file of the Re-
publican party still believe in human rights,
but they do not run the machine, nor do
they realize how the world has rolled on
ago. Awake, arise!
Russell, Kas.