The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1902-06-03
COLORED men
DOING WELL
CONGRESSMAN GO OUT LOOKING
FOR INFORMATION.
VISIT The BLACK BELT
Condition Of the Negroes OF Alabama
a Surprise to Representatives
Of Northern States.

Chicago, May 29.-The Chronicles
Washington correspondent says: The
republican members Of the house who
went to Tuskegee, Ala, to- investi-
gate the condition Of the negroes in
the south returned with the astonish-
ing statement that the negroes in the
south are better off than the white
workers Of the north. The congress
men took the trip as guests OF Repre-
sentative Charles Winston Thomas,
of the Fifth Alabama district, and re-
turned to Washington today. They
were given unlimited facilities for in
vestigating the condition and environ
ments of the negro.
Mr.. Thompson conceived the idea
Of taking a party OF northern repub-
licans into the heart Of Alabama,
where the negro population outnum-
bers the whites two to one, for the
purpose of enabling them to study
the negro problem at close range. He
invited most of the republican leaders
of the house, including Speaker Hen
derson, President Pro Tenn Frye of
the senate, and several members of
President Roosevelt's cabinet.
Secretary Shaw, of the treasury de-
partment, was the sole representa-
tive of the cabinet who accompanied
Mr.. Thompson's party, Speaker Hen
derson could not go because of the
pressure of public business. Senator
Frye preferred to go fishing in the
northern wilderness of his own state.
Representative Littleield accompan-
led Mr.. Thompson in behalf of the
Maine delegation.
The party included besides Mr.. Lit
tlefeld, General Dix, of Ohio; Repre-
%sentatives DAZZLE and Barney of Wis
consin; Eddy of Minnesota; Mccall
and Lowering of Massachusetts; OAR
ragh of Michigan, and many others
equally well known. They came back
to Washington after having seen the
negro under many different conditions,
with greatly altered views about the
desirability of federal legislation in
his behalf. They saw the negro on
numerous plantations, in the towns
and villages, and in the great manu-.
featuring city of Birmingham, where
the principal plant of the Tennessee
Coal and Iron company is located.
+, Mr.. Darragh affirms that the negro
laborers of this corporation are bet
ter housed and better cared for thar
the white laborers Of the coal regions
! of Pennsylvania. They visited the
Booker Washington institute, at Tus
s kegee, where they saw several hun
e dred young negroes. of both sexes be
g ing prepared to go out among thei
race to educate them in useful trades
S Representative L~ittlefield delivered
e a speech at Tuskegee, which was
revelation TO his southern auditors, Al
e we'll as to his colleagues. He pract1
cally said that from what he had seel
6 from the conditions surrounding tn
negro he believed that the people Q
n the south were solving the race prot
If lem in way that is bound to- be sal
'e isfactory not only to the negro, but 7
is the country at large.
D. The members of the party hav
n agreed that for the present they wi
Or not give out their experiences n In
pressions gained therefrom. They e.
ID pect at some future time, before col
n gress adjourns, to present these IN
pressions in concrete form to tn
IS house. Mr.. Littlefield may be chose
N as their mouthpiece, and he will nah
b. a speech which will set forth what b
1e and his fellow travellers found anon
n the negroes in central Alabama. Tn
~ all ~astonished their colleagues by tt
Nv enthusiasm which they exhibited
al discussing the conditions under whit
he the Alabama negro is living.
i'll
an WaIdeck- Rousseau Is Out.
~ 90 r.