The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1901-10-26


ever, or will ever, deserve and receive
the honors that have been bestowed
upon Mr.. Washington in this country
and in other countries. The president
is so much a man and. gentleman
that the thought of doing otherwise
than he did never entered his head.
Why, he would have invited old ben
tillman to dine with him under similar
circumstances, in all probability. Then
there might have been a justifable
howl of indignation, in which the one
seventh of the country's population
above referred to might have Joined.
And why all this hubbub because
President Roosevelt dined with I, an
Afro-American? He did no more than
several of his predecessors, including
Lincoln, Grant, Garfield, Arthur, Harri-
son, Cleveland and Mckinley had done.
Chief among the objections to Afro
Americans that are usually advanced
when the matter of civil or social
rights is in question, is that they are
not educated and refined. These OBJ
jectionable features are not found in
Mr.. Washington, and in fact they are
not found in thousands OF -Ameri-
cans who are Systematically denied the
ordinary civil and social rights that
are accorded without question to the
yeriest boors-if white.
There was considerable stir a few
days ago when Mr.. Washington s
daughter entered Wellesley college
and she was both educated and refined;
certainly as much so as those who OBJ
jected to her.
For several months the white wo,
men of Minnesota have been worried
to a fragile because the Adelphi {
club composed of Afro American Wo
men intimated that it might apply fo1
RI cScin 1t,fN No t0+n nv
:, of women's clubs. A number of these
women attended meeting of the Abel
phi club and were unanimous in thei
statements of surprise at the education
| culture and air Of refinement will
which the. meeting was characterized
yet when the State Federation me
last week they turned their dark-huet
sisters down with subterfuge, ant
then took the two representatives o
the Adelphi to lunch with them. -
We are constantly told of our short
comings and the things needful to b.
/ done to insure proper recognition, bu
we find when we possess about all tn,
needful things they don't weight Al
much as a feather as against the visibl,
admixture of African blood in on
composition.
! This color prejudice is such a sense
less thing, and we are pleased to SET
our president sit down upon it as he
has done. Why was not howl raised
because President Roosevelt had Mar
, quis Ito, the japanese minister, to dine
with him. He and Washington are
about the Same color.
All honor to the head of this nation
because he could see no reason why he
should not treat the chief man among
us with the commonest of courtesies
because there was a slight difference
in the color of the pigment under his
skin.
Actually we find ourselves at loss
TO express our opinion Of these sense
less, inconsistent color prejudists, and
as old Ben Butler once said: shoe
fly don't bother me- TO a pestiferous
opponent f we feel like telling them to
way back and Sit dow. i. ! &
The Cooker Washington incident.
shows plainly that the line dividing the
North and South is as clearly defined
as in 81.
Because President Roosevelt saw 1T
g invite q representative Of the Afro