The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1899-09-23
TIE NATIONAL C0U(NCIL.

al J !, !. !. ) ! \ !.
new conditions in which he nnds himself. |
His progress has no parallel in the his |
tory of the world.
FROM POVERTY TO AFFLUENCE.
Coming out of slavery empty handed |
and ignorant even of the alphabet of /
the language he attempted to speak; hin-
dered and hedged about by proscriptive
laws and race prejudice born of pre-
vious condition and opposed at every
step by the sharpest competition of an
Anglo-Saxon civilization, he has forged
his way to the front, until today there
are among us men who stand the peers
of any in America. Thirty-six years ago
the Afro-American had nothing. Now
he owns property amounting to s94O, 900,
OC0; he has 10000 graduates from colleges
and academies; he has raised SIS, OOO, 900
for the education of his people; he raises
almost the entire cotton and rice crops
of the South, and the greater portion of
the sugar cane: he has always been the
substantial labor element at the South,
and is now doing very commendable
work in the factories at the North
I'm no instance can it be pointed out
to interfere with the rights of other peo-
pie or to modest them in the enjoyment
of their freedom.
THE GOLDEN RULE HIS GUIDE.
."The Afro-American has observed the
golden rule in that he conceded unto
others what he maintains for himself;
he uphOlds the doctrine taught by the
Declaration of Independence as he de-
tends the faith delivered unto the saints.
The constitution of the United States is
to him the bedrock upon which is found;
enforced in it's entirety. He seeks no
special privileges and asks no favors.
All he wants is fair play, and this he
demands.
"He has placed himself in line with the
best thought of the present day and he
now assumes to speak for himself and
to present his case to the American peo-
pie. Having now complied with every
condition which our civilization imposes
upon him, he asks that that civilization
guarantee to him immunity from outrage
and wrong in the exercise of his rights as
an American citizen and in the enjoyment
Of his freedom as a member Of society.
$50 long, as the rights Of the humblest
citizen are trampled on with impunity
civilization fails Of its purpose and the
ends of government are subverted. Men
potential in scope and execution. Paper
blockades are not recognized in the laws
Of nations, nor are they respected by the
powers of the world. To receive recogni-
ton they must be effective in execution.
In every walk of life men want the thing
offered to be a perfect sample as a pat
tern of what is to follow.
BLOW AIMED AT CASTE.
"The white people of this country claim
to be superior to the Afro-American, and
the Afro-American demands proof of that
superiority. The first attribute of SUI
perior nature is it's consideration for the
weak and the humble.
did the slave trader comply with that
condition when he separated husband and
wife, violated the sanctity of the Afro
Americans fireside and tore the helpless
babe from it's mothers breast and sold
him for sordid gold to distant parts?
What wrong had the Afro-American done
him? What wrong does the Afro-Amer-
lean do him now?
another evidence of superiority is to
suffer long and be patient Had half the
insults and outrages heaped upon the At
ro-American people Of this country by the
whites of a certain section been visited
by Afro-American people of that section
upon the whites. the land had hardly
been able to contain the graves of the
dead. For $50 years the Afro-American
women of the South were oppressed by
the best blood of that section, and the
mixed blood in our population is largely
due to that fact.z They were then sowing
to the wind and now they are 'Ieaping
the WhirlWind.'
when the white men were away fight
ing to dethrone the stars and stripes and
to erect in its stead the emblem of the
Southern Confederacy we had. their
women at our mercy and could have
slain them, but our superior nature as
serted itself and not a hair of their
heads was harmed. On which side of
the balance should superiority be placed?
ADVANCE IN EDUCATION.
Sat the close of the war the Afro
American had no schools and colleges;
today he has fully 200 institutions for
higher education; the best colleges and
universities are open to him, and the
to be educated run high up into the thou
sands. He has demonstrated his capac-
ity for education, and as a student in our
Northern colleges he has proved himself
second to none. In the senate of the
United States, in our national house OF
representatives, on the bench and before
the bar, in the chair as college professors,
in the editorial sanctum, in the world
as a man of letters, in the medical pro-
fession, in the Industrial walks of life, In
the exacting and difficult department Of
surgery, in the arts and sciences and as
a sweet singer the AfrO-American has
shown that under like conditions he is
capable of producing the same results
as are produced by men of other races.
PROUD OF DIETZ, THE ENGINEER.
Whenever the test has been made the
man has never been
shown to be the inferior. Men look with
49, t,1 131pc5 ON n
ingenuity displayed in the plan and con-
struction Of the Brooklyn bridge. They
regard that bridge as the result of
wonderful piece Of engineering, but they
forget that the first bridge spanning our
naviga1ole waters was constructed by an
engineer Of the name of
Deitz
for our race in the United States perfec-
ton in any department Of life, and we
condemn unsparingly every act of vio-
lence committed by any Afro-American
against anybody whomsoever, be he black
or be he white, and we pledge ourselves
to gdO all in our power, as citizens and
electors in the United States, tn bring be-l
fore the bar Of justice every perpetrator
Of wrong and outrage.
I'VE appeal to our people on the farms
and the plantations Of the south, or
wherever they may be found, so to con-
duct themselves in their relations amongl
one another and toward the other race
that they may avoid even the appearance
Of evil doing, and, having done every
thing to merit justice and fair treatment,
we appeal unto the American people
north and south and the God Of nations
to protect us in the exercise Of our rights |
IS citizens and members of society. |
LYNCHERs MUST BE PUNISHED.
1.-THE race problem In America is not /