Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-08-29
WASHINGTON NEXT
This City to Have the Union Veteran
Union Encampment.
IT WINS OVER A WESTERN CITY
Resolutions Adopted as to Equal
Rights Doctrine.
COM NJ I TTEE'S REP OR T

| Most of the delegates to the national en-
| campment of the Union Veterans Union,
| held in pes Moines. Iowa, last week, have
| returned to the city, and speak in warm
| terms of the hospitable treatment they re-
| ceived from the western veterans. 1t was
! decided to hold the next national encamp-
| ment in this city, and the time was fixed in
| October of next year. 1t is expected that
| Gen. Dyrenforth. who was unanimously re-
| elected commander-in-chief,w will begin the
preparations for the reception of the dele
gates early. and that the encampment at
the national capital will be the most inter-
estins in the history Of the order.
The Fight for Washington.
The decision to hold the next encamp-
ment in this city was not arrived at with
out severe struggle. Sioux Falls, Oak,
was the most formidable opponent to the
national capital, although several other
western cities commended for the honor
The delegation from Sioux Falls went to
Des Moines with a band of music and trans
parencies indicating Sioux Falls for 1900"
and every delegate started in to boom the
Dakota city from the time he arrived in
Des Mo:nes. 1t had been arranged that if
any further pressure would be desira ble or
If Sioux Falls should be chosen, a tele-
graphic dispatch would summon the mayor
and councilmen to Des Mones either for
missionary work or for jubilation.
The advocates of Washington claimed
that as the encampment had been held IN
the west for the last two years, an eastern
city entitled to be selected for the
next year, and if an eastern city should
win no city presented so many attractions
as Washington The fact that President
Mckinley was a member of the order and
would undoubtedly give reception to the
delegates had considerable influence in the
selection, well Geographic invita-
ton from the District Commissioners and
the board of trade
The principal resolutions adopted at the
encampment set forth that inasmuch as
the prime object of the Union Battlemen,
known as the Union Veterans Union, is to
secure a complete and enduring enforce
ment of the logical results of the war of
the rebellion, which results include the dis
continuance of slavery and the establish
n'ent of American citizenship the ele-
waited plane of political and legal equality,
1t was resolved that 1.-The Ku-kluX element
of the democratic party and the Lilly White
element of the republican party, by their
efforts to destroy the political and legal
equality of our colored fellow citizens, just
ly incur the determined opposition of the
Union Veterans Union. and every effort,
direct or indirect, of commander-in-
chief, Gen. r. G. Dyrenforth, to thwart
such reasonable purposes shall have the
ans Union" and that the communicative
chief is hereby authorized to promote the
formation of an organization 10 cooperate
with the Union Veterans Union, under the
dlrectOrSifp OF the comma ndar- in-chief, in
: ar5eT to more successfully assert and main
tain the rights and privileges of the Union
Battlemen, and in order To more effectually
defend and preserve the sacred principles
of popular government set forth in the
premises"
The Committees Report.
The report of Col. W. P. Pierce, the
chairman of the committee, in presenting
the above resolutions, was as follows:
In the opinion of your committee, who
authorize me to make this report. this is
very opportune time to create an organiZa-
ton among the colored people and the civil
rights republicans. in order to promote the
interest of the Union Battlemen and the
principle of equal rights. The preferments
due the Union soldier and the equal rights
due the colored citizen run together; both
flow as logical results of the of the
rebellion. If public opinion continues I'M
checked in the direction it is moving the
services of the Union Battlemen will be
looked upon with marked Indifference and
the legal and political rights of our colored
citizens will be abridged by legal enact
ment, as they are now abridged in many
localities by fraudulent practices. The fol-
lowing causes now at work lead in this di-
rection:
First. Public sentiment, as reflected by
the ku-kluX democrats and Lily White re-
publicanS, teaches one rule of conduct for
white citizens and another rule for coored
citizens. To the white youths the heroic
virtues are taught: to the colored youths
the Christian virtues are taught. Prin-
clpleS of self-respect, self-reliance, agrees
sive resentment for wrongs. are inculcated
in the one; principles of humility, non-re-
s1stance, meekness, are inculcated in the
other. A white man when struck must
strike back. a negro when struck on one
check must turn the other. What is con-
temptible in a white man is ccmmendable
in Il negro. and what is insolence in
negro is praiseworthy in a white man.
Second. The aversion to the political
equality Of the negro is no longer limited
to the democratic party, but has made its
appearance inside the republican party, so
that the time seems approaching when both
parties will bid for general popularity at
the expense of the negro.
Third The persistency with which the
confederates uphold the right of secession;
their bold claim that they were right and
we wrong: the glorificaton of confederates,
as confederates-in all sections of the coun-
try-go to create a liberation of the cause
for which the confederateS fought-the es-
tablishment of a government the chief cor
ner stone of which was negro slavery.
Fourth. A disposition, which seems to
exist the part of the public, to attach
to the entire negro race Gas though there
was something in their blood different from
that of other races an odium that should
attach exclusively to the few negroes who
have committed outrages. We say few, be-
cause it is believed that few of those lynch
ed would have been found guilty upon an
impartial trial by due process of law.
1t is not unreasonable to assume that
these causes, unchecked, may ultimately
lead to a state of public opinion through
out the country that would tolerate an
abridgment of the legal and political rights
accruing to the negro race as a result of
the war of the rebellion, and 1t should be
our pleasure, and it is our duty, to do what
we can to prevent so great a wrong to
those who have always been our friends,
and some Of whom are our comrades. Let
US then. by adopting these resolutions, en-
able our commander-in-ch to enlarge the
sphere of our influence, extending our in
fiuence into every state, and becoming a
more potent factor in behalf of ourselves
and our friends. Let us uphold the law of
personal liberty. the law of equal rights,
which we fought for and won 1t is
divine law. 1t is much the law of God
as that which He gave to the primeval
twain amid the peaceful scenes of Para
| disc. 1t is as much the law of God that
which He gave from the Mount of Sinai to
| those who We're marching from the prison
pens of Egypt. Nay, more, in this matter
we represent Him on whom the heavenly
| dove descended for it was this law of per-
sonal liberty, of personal responsibility of
huma nity which the Prince of Peace re-