The Seattle Republican. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1???-1915, 1900-10-05
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
AFRO-AMERICANISM

IN the UNITED STATES

The very latest dodge that the
Democrats have taken to capture
colored votes in this campaign is to
belittle Col. Roosevelt by saying that
he would have lost the day at San
Juan Hill and would have been
court-martialed if it had not been
for the Tenth cavalry, which is a
colOred company, going to his res
cue. That the famous fighting
Tenth did play a most conspicuous
part in that deadly days proceed
ings no one denies for a single min
ute, and, if you please, saved the
day to Roosevelt, then they did not
do any more than was a soldiers
duty. 1t was the concentrated eff
forts of all those fighting at San
Juan that saved the day to the
American army, and had any part
of the whole shirked in a single in
stance the day would have been lost,
and what turned out to be one of the
most brilliant victories in modern
warfare would have proven a most
disastrous failure and the United
States army disgraced For the sole
sake of argument let's admit that
the cOlored soldiers were the "whole
shooting match" in that gallant
charge; then is it not strange that
the Democrats never cared to hear
of that until they thought it would
get them few Negro votes? The
colored soldiers that made that
charge and who, according to the
darling Democrats, are more deserv-
ing of praise than Col. Roosevelt,
had to pass through the South on
their return from Cuba, and in Ar
kansas pitched battle was held in
one Of the towns with the Demo-
cratic mOssbacks because the colored
soldiers dared get off the train as
they were passing through the state
The colored soldiers were hooted
and sneered at by the Southern
Democrats at every town they passed
through in the South. Storms of
protests were sent in to the war de-
partment from Southern towns that
no Negro troops be quartered near
any Southern city. It was but a few
days ago that the TilImanites of
South Carolina compelled one of the
best drilled colored companies to
dlsband in that state because De
mocracy could not stand to see
Negro soldiers. Then it has been
but few months ago that the Dem
ocratic citizens in and about Fort
Rlngold, Texas, decided to drive the
Negro soldiers from that fort and
openly fred on them. It was re-
turned by the heroes Of San Juan
with such deadly results that those
thugs soon found out for once they
had run up against the real thing,
and the black boys have since had
no more trouble from that source.
Yes, Mr.. Democrat, the Negro is a
brave soldier and fights like hero
for his country, but you never care
to acknowledge that fact unless you
think you can get few Negro votes
IN the North, where you find it ut
terly impossible to disfranchise the
Negroes. How strange that you
would want vote from a Negro in
the North, East or West, 50 low
and ignorant is the Negro vote from
your standpoint If the Negro vote
is not good enough to put you into
office in South Carolina, North Car
olina, Louisiana, Mississippi and
other Southern states it should not
be good enough to put you into
office in the Northern states, for it's
a poor rule that will not work both
ways.