The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1903-02-21
THE APPEAL NATIONAL AFRO. a ERIcAN NEWSPAPER

what he was ana what he is now, he.
has done remarkably well.
y II the south will give him show; for.
his white alley he viii become a bet
ter citizen than he now is, and it, will
be for the interests Of the southern
people that he be ncouraged to I'm
prove himself mentally and acquire
property, thereby becoming In times
of peril a tower Of strength to the COM
monwealth in which he resides.
SOUTH HURTING ITSELF.
Lacey of Iowa Says the Whites Are
Doing More Injury to Themselves
than to the fro-American- Ballot is
His Right. 49,
Representative John NJ. Lacy, Iowa
(Rep.)-The question of Afro-Amen-
can suffrage in the south is so COM
pick one not living in that section can
hardly understand it. While I do not
fully agree with Secretary of War
Root in his view that Afro-American
suffrage is total failure, must con-
TESS that it has not done all it's friends
believed it would do at the time of it's
adoption. 81 49, .@. -.
The Afro-American legally has the
right of suffrage, and in cases where
he has committed no crimes to forfeit
that right he should be permitted to-
enjoy that boon. To take it from him
at the present day is dangerous pro-
cess that may react disastrously to the
people of those states who have de-
prived him of that right. There are SO
many things connected with suffrage
to hot h0rncf cannot
approve of that 1 am sometimes at
loss to know what the remedy shall be
against such deplOrable conditions.
hope, and try to believe, that in
time the things against which all right
minded men complain will right them
selves. I think also that the southern
people will see that they are injuring
themselves more than they are the.
Afro-American in depriving him, as
some of the southern states are doing,
of the right of suffrage.
IMPROVE THE AFRo-AMERIcAN.
Dr.. E. G. Hirsch Says Suffrage was
Granted Too Soon, but That There
Is No Way Of Withdrawing 1t Now
Time Will Tell.
While declaring that the Afro-Ameri-
can was granted suffrage before his
development entitled him to such
rights, DR.. Emil G. Hirsch sees no way
of correcting the blunder except by
raising the black man to higher
level. He said:
cit was a mistake in the first place
to extend to the AfrO-American the
privilege of suffr-ge. But it has been
done, and there is no need to cry over
split milk. We must face conditions
as they exist. To take from the Afro
American, by direct or indirect way,
that privilege of suffrage now would
not only be unjust but it would be dis
honest.
1--WE must try to raise him to the
higher level where he can appreciate
this right, understand the full mean
ing of the duties of citizenship, and
learn to exercise these duties in ways
that make for his own benefit and that
of our country. In my opinion, there
is no other alternative.
"To do this we must do more for the
Afro-American. He must receive more
education. SHe needs our charity and
even our social assistance that his
moral nature may be led to higher
plane, The trouble is that we are too
quick to condemn without hearing the
entire argument for the defense. II
man like Booker T. washington rises
and commands our respect, people are
| apt to say, o, he is the exception. IL
an Afro-American of the lowest class
of his race commits an act that brings
out badness that is the extreme OF the
goodness in Booker T. washington,
people say, "Well, there is the typical
Afro American; there is the type OF
the black race
mo, we do not give the Afro Amerl-
cans the opportunity they deserve mere
| in the north. We claim that we 90.
But l fear that statement will not
stand the test. In the south that pas
sionate prejudice which has had its
| root in racial differences has operated
to place every possible obstacle in the
! way of the advancement of the black
| race. They say that Afro-Amerlcan
| suffrage has failed. l believe, with 9TH
er optimists, that it has failed because
| it has not been allowed.
"The problem will be settled, but 1t
! will be settled in it's own good time.
I have no sympathy with the aarmlsts
who are predicting race wars in the
coming years. believe we will never
be called on to meet such crisis as
that. Let us use much of charity and
give the Afro-American freely OF edu-
cation, which shall raise him to the
plane where he can command the re-
spect of the whites, as Individual mem
bers of his race have done, and then
solution will be easy.
! 81 believe that President Roosevelt
! is sincere and that he acted wisely. l
believe honest, SINGER public sentiment
stands by him. But this question must
be settled without passion, without
partisanship, without agitation that has
selfish ends as it's source.
thine will solve the problem. Ele'
vate the Afro-American and with each
generation the southern prejudice-the
northern prejudice, too-against the
black man will become fainter and
fainter"
CONDITION NOT A THEORY.
| A Marked improvement Noted
Among the Afro-Americans of Cali
| fOrnia