The Washington bee., 1899-03-11
BAD ADVICE.
From the Colored American.

What is your conclusion? Are we
to 60 on forever peying these $4,000
600 over the counters of white men,
without eXacting a Clerkship, sales
| man or recognition of any kind? Are
we to go on buying of merchants who
| will not even invite our trade bv ad-
vertising in a negro journal or other
wise invest penny in our race Will
the 900 heads of families, and null
titudes of wage earners submit eter-
nallv to this thing, without protest
We think not. We hope not.
Here is a negro adventurer from
Indianapolis, Ind, who by suffer.
ance is permitted to exist in this
city, and he has existed by living
off white people. He wants to
know if the colored people are 60
ing to continue paying s6 00), 900
over the counters of white people.
Now if it were not for the white
merchants in this city andwrite-ups,
razzle dazzle, he frequently gives
certain white people, his paper
would have been where all the
would-be editors and their papers
are to day. The policy the american
advocates certainly will not injure
the trade of the white merchants
because the negro are not made
that way. There are enough col
ored people in this town to estab-
liah stores of their own without
s1ch negroes as the editor of the
Americam giving such iackass ads
vice. The fact is, the white peo-
pie are forcing the negro work and
if they continue in their campaign
there will be negro stores estab-
lished. Nothing but force will
cause the negro to make man and
a citizen of himself. Philosophy,
rhetoric or logic will have no effect
in compelling the negro to start,
shoe and drygood stores or
any other kind of store. All the
philosophy the negro wants is force
and when he gets plenty Of that
behind him he will realize his con.
dition. From existing circums
stances he is getting the necessary
force. Sometime ago a union
league was organized for the pur-
pose of compelling every merchant
in town to employ negro clerk.
This league intended to do great
wonders. The result of the leagues
work was, that Mr.. Hahn, the shoe
man at the corner of 9TH aud K
streets, northwest informed the
president of the league that he
intended to promote colored man
to a salesman. The league sent
broadcast throughout the city that
Hahn. the shoe man had made a
negro a salesman. This young
colored man was allowed to wait on
such colored customers that went
to Hahn's store and asked for him.
When he was not waiting on them
he would return to his old business
wrapping MP shoes. This bluff lasted
bout two or three months The
negro was then sent back to his old
job wrapping up shoes, which busl-
ness he isdoing this day at the same
old stand. The league died and so
have many of its members. There
have been several enterprises start
ed in this city, but more or less all
of them have died natural death
or by starvation or the managers
robbing the company. There is
one negro enterprise in this city,
the CAPITAL Savings Bank and the
BEE ventures the assertion that
two-thirds of the depositors are
white people, Out of population
of 10000 negroes not one-ninth
deposits in this bank not even
our school teachers who can be
seen monthly going to white banks
Moral: Why should thewhite peo-