The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1899-07-29

posed to legitimate restriction of the suffrage,
but We insist that restrictions shall apply.
alike to all citizens Of all states. We are
willing to accept an educational or property
qualification, or both. We insist that neither
OF these was intended or is conserved by the
new constitutions Of Mississippi, South Caro-
and did disfranchise majority of their citi-
zenship because of race, color, and previous
condition., and we therefore call upon the
those states in the congress. as provided and
made mandatory by section 2 Of article XIV.
Of the constitution. We call upon Afro-Amer-
the determination to deprive them of their
suffrage rights. If it Is necessary to accom-
plish this vital purpose to- divide their vote
IN given state we advise that they divide It. |:
the shibboleth Of seif-preservation.
2. The increase of mob and lynch law in
resFHt
become source of reprOach at home and
abroad. We feel that this cancer on the body
Is breeding %5ee for Of aw
cent cent? outbreaks Of It in the caroiinas have
shocked and dsgusted the nation; We regret
At to treat with silence this vital matter in
his second annual message to- congress.
Yet we indulge the hope that ne VIII use NJ ms
good Offices to settle this matter to the salts
| faction of all concerned and the honor and
| glory of the nation.
| 8. The separate car laws have grown to
such provoking proportions, and they are SO so
unjust, degrading, and oppressive in their
operations that we deem It urgent to direct
attention to them here. We urge and advise,
in the interest OF justice and decency. that At
! the graduated passenger rate prevailing In
| North Carolina be substituted for the IN
! famous x.stem now In force in most OF the
other sts,es of the South. 1t is q principle
| Of common law that a man shall pay for
what he wants and get what he pays for.
Under the prevailing system contract MADE
| in New York with railroad or otner COM
written on ~ south Of North Carolina Is this
fair or just, or in accordance with common
| or statute law practice in the United states
j A contract valid in one state of the REPUBLIC
| should be valid in every state-With all othes
citizens than Afro-Anericans it: is.
! 4. In the interest Of humanity, we request
that the penal institutions of the South be
| reformed. The horrors of them depicted by
| George w. Cable years ago instead OF growing
better, have grown worse. The indiscriminate
in the convict camps Of the South constitutes
one OF the most glazing scandals in the ad-
ministration of Justice in the republic Sepa-
juveniles asylums OF their own and the OPP
| portunity to reform. The other states Of the
Union do it, why can't the South? It has
appeal appeal to It's Inclination. As a master Of
fact there must be no less than 500, 900 Afro
Americans in the South who are held in In
a%endment SS to the Constitution Of the United
! States and the peonage statutes thereof.
| S. Intelligent citizenship is the strongest
safeguard Of the state. The taxation Tor
| school purposes in the Southern states is
| wholly Inadequate to obliterate the abnormal
| illiteracy OF those states, due in large part
| to the maintenance of separate schools for
the two races necessitating a double expen-.
! diture of monies, we suggest that part OF
| the public domain OF such states as have
| public lands be devoted to school purposes.
6. We feel that a more general distri-
| button of the Afro-American race throughout
| the states of the Union and the new terri
! tories of the republic, in order to reduce the
| congested population of the Southern states.
would do much to simplify the race problem
in those states. and we urge that such dis
! tribution be encouraged in all reasonable
! way. We have no sympathy whatever with
| the schemes of those who wish to have the
| race leave the United States for foreign coun-
! tries. We shall remain here and fight out
our destiny in the land of our fathers.
| z. We favor both higher and industrial edu-
! cation and we are grateful at the splendid
| growth of the love of education manifested
| by the eagerness with which our people fill
| all avenues of education open to them.
| g. We are gratifed at the development OF
| business enterprises OF all sorts among us
| and we wish to encourage all such as being
! among the strongest levers in the uplift of the
| race. We submit our cause to the fair-mind-
! ed men OF OUT own land and of the world at
| large, and invoke divine interposition in our
| behalf.