The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-08-19
PROTECTION And
EQUAL RIGHTS
FOR THE NEGRO
Attorney McGhee Leads a Ma.
tional Move to Secure Legls.
Iation D Repress Mob Ven
geance and Abolish the "Jim
Crow" Car Discrimination.

Frederick l. McGhee. the colored at
torney of st. Paul, who is vice director
of the legal and legislative bureau of
the National Afro-American Council, is
preparing bill to be presented to con-
gress this winter. the object of which
is to minimize the lynehing of negroes.
Senator Clapp will be asked to intro
duee the bill in congress.
The object of the bill being prepared
by Mr.. McGhee will be to hold a state,
in which a lynching occurs, liable for
damages to the relatives of the person
lynched.
The bill has been in congress before,
but its promoters have never been able
to get it any farther than the COM
mittee to which it was referred. The
question was freely discussed at the
last meeting of the American
Council, held at Louisville, KY, this
summer, and it was decided to make a
combined effort to get the bill through
congress this winter. The matter of
drafting the bill was placed in the
hands of Mr.. McGhee and he will have
the measure ready to present to con-
gress within a short time.
Another matter the council will at
tempt to get through congress, and in
which Mr.. McGhee is personally inter
esting himself, is the passage of an act
which makes it unlawful for common
carriers, such as railroads, to separate
passengers on their cars. This is to
do away with the so-called Jim Crow
car law, in vogue in the SOUTH by the
provisions of which negroes are COM
PEELED to ride in cars set apart espe-
cially for their race. A case is now
pending in the United States supreme
court which involves the rights of a
negro to ride in the same car with a
| white man, and the national council
| has interested itself in the case with
! the hopes of establishing a precedent.
Regarding this case and the other
matters of interest to the negro race,
| Attorney MeGhee yesterday sent out
1000 letters to members of the colored
race throughout the cGlntry, imploring
| them to aid the cause financially.
'One of the most important things
our council expects to accomplish"
said Mr.. McGhee yesterday, sis to Sc
cure the appointment by President
Roosevelt of commission to investi-
gate the conditions of the negro in the
south. The commission will be expect
| ed to investigate thoroughly the rela-
| lions between the negro and the white,
something which we have been endeav-
! oring to have done for years, and
something which We believe will be Of
vast benefit to our race.
Eve expect that the president will
appoint at least three prominent ne
| groes on the commission, and they will
| go through the South and learn the eX-
act condition of the race in the South.
By having negroes on the commission
| we will be able to get at the exact con-
| dition of affairs, something we could
| not do ii the commission were made up
| entirely of white men, as the negroes
will not divulge their condition to the
whites"
| Mr.. MeGhee was one of the most
| prominent colored men at the recent
| meeting of the national council, and his
| official position as vice director of the
! legislative council has kept him veES
| busy since his return home.
The Jim Crow car law, the anti
! lynching law, and the appointment of
| a commission to investigate the condI-
lions of the negro race are three of
| the most important matters which the
council has to deal with this year."
| said Mr.. McGhee, and If we succeed in
winning out in these matters We will
consider that we have done a good
| years work"
In reference to the "Jim Grow" car
law, the letters which were sent out
yesterday by Attorney McGhee, says:
"The rigor of the Jim Crow car"
now being adopted by nearly all of the
| Southern and border states, has been
| modified to the extent that those of the
| race who wanted to could secure &C
commodations in the Pullman cars. IL
| this stands, this escape is no longer
| open to us. 1t means just this: that
the Pullman company can deny the
| negro accommodation and he is with
| out remedy. In it's effect it reaches all
| parts, of the country, North East and
| West, as we'll as the South, and even
into the District of Columbia and the
territories. Special attention is called
! to the fact that federal statutes have
| at all times been held to apply to the
| District of Columbia and the territor-
! les, but the decision Of Judge Kirkpat-
| ric reverses this holding and takes
| them entirely from under the operation
| of the federal statutes in so far as
| those statutes give the negro equal
| rights on public carriers and public
caterers. If the Pullman company can
| refuse to serve meal, it can refuse to
| sell a seat or q berth.
1--WE are happy to announce that we
| have not relaxed one fractional part
| of our zeal and effort to bring before
| the supreme court of the United States
| the cases involving the suffrage ques-
| ton, and that the decision in the Giles
| case (recently decided and known as
| the Alabama case) does not decide the
/ points involved in the cases we have
| pending. One of these cases will be
| argued in the supreme court of Louisi-
ana early in October next. and from
! that court will be appealed to the
| United States supreme court, and we
| feel assured that when these cases
come before the United States supreme
| court with the points involved, raised
| and presented. we will have from that
| court a decision squarely on the ques-
| ton whether or no a state can actually
! disfranchise a citizen on account Of
| race, color or previous condition Of
| servitude without violating the fed
| eral constitution.
| I'VE have associated with us in these
cases some of the best lawyers in the
| country, and we are confident of win