The Washington bee., 1898-08-20
THE FALLACY OF THE POST

1HE fALLAC1 Of he IOS II
The Washington Post says: "We
all now know that the placing Of
the ballot in the hands of the negro
was mistake and dismal failure.
Who are the we referred to in the
Post : This personal pronoun, so
far us we can ascertain, refers to
the old eX slaveholding class of
the south and few northern
Goughfaces. 1t does not refer to
she hberty-loving men and women
of either section. The simple fact
that the south by force and fraud
has deprived the negro of that Sec
ION of a free ballot and fair
count is no more proof that she is
right, (unless right makes right, J
than the success of the highway
man who holds up a train and rob
its passengers. In both cases law
ana human rights are violated and
brute force trlumphs The negro
vote unmolested in all the states
north of Mason and Dixon line
and does So just as intetligently
as the average white man. There
his vo.e is sou ,ht, the same as that
of the German and Irish, by beth
parties In ohio, Indian, Illinois
and New York State the negro is
balance of power in the republican
party. In fact Mr.. Mckinley owes
his election to the negro vote.
Will thePost claim that the large
colored vote for Mckinley was an
evidence of the negro's ignorance
and therefore the placing of the
ballot in his hands was a mistake /:
Mr.. Mckinley a failure? If so
why did the Post support him and
Why is it supporting him now ?
The great majority of the southern
whites supported MIR, Bryan and,
according to the Post, showed lack
OF judgement and of true concep-
tion of those economic principles
whose adoption would work the
greatest good to the American
people. And yet the Post argues
that the southern white, though
totally ignorant of the political
welfare of the nation, is perfectly
justified in his efforts to deprive
the negro of casting his ballot for
priuciple which the Post itself
advocated as the proper and only
one for the American voter to
adopt. Such stupendous incor sist-
ency has never before been seen in
the annals of journalism.
The Post says that this is a
white mans government and
that this white man will not toler-
ate the negro as an equal factor in
the body polite. Now this is a
little more fair. At any rate it
is a plain declaration although
based upon false premises.
Section l, of the 14th Amend
ment to our Constitution reads as
follows: "All persons born or nat
uralized in the United Stats, and
subject to the jurisdiction there
Of, are citizens of the United
States and of the state wherein
they reside. No State shall make
or enforce any law which shall
abridg ethe privileges or immunities
of citizens of the United States;
nor shall any State deprive any
person of life, liberty or property,
without due process of law, nor
deny TO any person within its juris-
dicuon the equal protection of the
laws"
This is the supreme law Of the
land and shows conclusively that
this government is made up of its
citizens and is no more a white
mans government than a black
mans government
We assume that the Post has
read this section of the Constitu-
tion, as we'll as those following,
which were proposed and adopted
for the especla! purpose of securing
10 the American Negro all those
rights and privileges enjoyed by
the white races in this country.
That the Post, possessing this
knowledge of the law, continues to
violate it 10y making a crusade
against tue negro and encourag-
ing the nation to ignore 1T, can
only be explained by citing the
fact that from the formation Of the
colonies to the present time there
has been an element opposed to