The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1901-05-17
why not Appoint One In Pennsylvania

| SAVANNAH News,
The Philadelphia Press delights in
finding something in southern newspa-
lpers which gives it an excuse for saying
unpleasant things abou the south and
the southern people. In a recent issue
in an article entitled What makes a
Ala, Record as asking, What in thun-
lder does it take to make a man a DEM
l~ocrat?" and gives the answer of the
Mobile Register as follows: THE spec
tacle of President Mckinley appointing
a negro to a rural postmastership in
mississippi"
On this answer the Press comments
as follows:
The sole cause for being, then, that
the democratic party has in Alabama is
that a rural postmastership is now and
then given to a colored man. 1t does
not matter that the colored man is
Ioften as capable a man as can be found
flor the place. That doeS not count
The simple test is that he is a colored
imam and his appointment to office is the
sole reason that makes a man a demo-
Icrat i in Alabama and probably in other
SNoIS oSAA~ $3.50
had a pretty narrow basis to build on
lsuch as the Anti-Masonic party and
the Know Nothing party. But the Mo-
bile Register outlines the smallest
basis any political party ever had when
it says that men are democrats because
president Mckinley appoints a negro
to a rural postmastership in MISSISSIPPI
lpi.'
It seems to make The Press exceed
lingly bitter because the southern people
lobject to colored poStmaSterS, particu-
llarly in the rural districts. But if that
paper is so anxious that cOlOred men
shall have misunderstanding why does
lit not advocate their appointment in
Pennsylvania? It is the very general
understanding that the real editor of
The Press is Postmaster General
lSmith. There ought therefore to be
mo difficulty in getting a few colored
lpostmaSterS appointed in the keystone
state, both in rural districts and in the
cities. But for some reason or other
they are not appointed. And why? Is
it because no colored men can be found
who will accept postmasterships in that
state? There are plenty of colored men
there, and some of them are fully as
capable as many of the white men who
are appointed. Has The Press advocat-
ed the appointment of colored men?
Have the people of Pennsylvania asked
for the appointment of colored men?
If so we have not seen any reference
to such a request.
Is it not a fact hat Postmaster Gen.
leral Smith dares not appoint a colored
POSTMASTER in any of the rural districts
lof Pennsylvania? If he were to make
lsuch an appointment would he not like
lily lose some of his popularity in the
state from which he registers? Would
not the republican party, in fact, lose
lground in Pennsylvania if the admins
l~tration should adopt h policy Of ap-
pointing colored men to be postmas-
tiers in the rural districts? The Press
knows it would, and yet it sneers at
the answer of The Mobile Register.
DR.. Parkhurst, in his sermon on the
Sunday following his recent visit to the
south, said that the difference between
the southern and northern man in ref
terence to the negro was that the outh-
fern man did not like the negro and said
so while the northern man did not like
the negro and lied about it. The south
Iern man was sincere while the northern
man was a ~demagogue. The Press ap-
pears to be a typical northern paper.