The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1904-09-17

ana 6ioriouS Nation FOR Our Many
Readers.
Washington, Sept 15.-The 1000
| Afro-American voters in the 21st Con-
gressional District of Illinois, compris-
ing Christian, Macoupin, Montgomery
and Sangamon counties have before
them a duty to perform in upholding
the administration and in rebuking
the actions of their congressman, Hon.
Benz. F. Caldwell. Democrat, who
has shown by his attitude that he is a
menace to the welfare of the Afro,
Americans of the entire country. In
the first session of the 57th Congress
bill to appoint Commission to in
quire into the condition of the colored
people" was presented. It called for
an official investigation of the condi-
ton of our people in the United
States, their educational progress and
the best means of promoting harmony
between the races. It would have
shown the barbarous methods en-
Dloved under the peonage system. a
system of persecution. and cruelty
! practiced in the South against our
people, the exposure OF which has
shocked the civilized world; system
that crushed the ambition, the hopes
| end morals Of poor people, causing
them to sink lower and lower in the
scale of American citizenship. In
| statement to the Committee on Labor,
| Of which Mr. Caldwell was a member.
| Mr.. Pledger, an Afro-American from
| Georgia, pictured the awful conditions
existing in the South and told of how
men were lynched simply that their
crops might revert to the landlord.
This commission would have investi-
gated and reported to congress the
wholesale lynchings, the crop lien sys-
TEN, Jim crow laws and all other con-
ditions that have tendency to de-
stroy our usefulness and retard our
progress as citizens of this great coun-
| try. Prominent men of our race were
interested in the bill and they worked
hard for it's passage, but along came
| Benjamin F. Caldwell of Springfield,
Illinois, under the lash of the South
| ern Democrats, with a minority report
claiming that the passage of the bill
would weaken the powers of the sew
eral states and would lead to IAN I'M
| warranted interference in their affairs
| by the Federal Government Regard
| less of all the suffering, the means and
| tears of helpless people he could
"see no reason why special commits
sion should be created to investigate
the general condition of the Negro
race, etc.
Mr.. Caldwell has shown his cloven
hoof-as congressman he has betray-
ed the men who were largely RESPONSE
BILE for his first entrance into the field
of national politics-a pretended friend
at home and an enemy in the council
of the nation-a DR.. Jekyl and Mr..
Hyde. He waved the "bloody shirt"
high above his head and the bill was
! killed, but President Roosevelt, always
resourceful. found another way of
dealing with the problem and proceed
ed with an iron hand to stamp out the
| curse of peonage and human slavery.
The world knows the result.
But what of Benjamin F. Caldwell,
for whom many of the Afro-Americans
! Of Springfield continue to vote? Upon
what ground can he ask them for fur
Their support? These men have shown
upon other occasions that they are
| race men first, last and all the time,
and will do so again. "The worm will
turn"
S. Coleridge Taylor, the English
composer, writes the Musical Leader
and Concert Goer, whose works are
we'll known in this country, will come
to America in November to conduct
pair of concerts for the S. Coleridge
Taylor Society of Washington, D. c.
1t will be interesting to note the atti
tude that America will take toward
Mr.. Taylor, who is man of great tai
ent in more ways than one. 1t will
doubtless be remembered that Mr..
Taylor is a man of mixed blood, his
mother being an English woman and
lis father a full-blooded African. Mr.
Taylor is Twenty-Five years of age
and studied at the Royal College of
Music in London; also with Sir
Charles Villiers Stanford. The socie-
ty, under whose auspices this distin-
guished musician comes to America
is composed of Afro-Americans en-
tire1y, who have performed several of
his works successfully, and at the con-
certs. to occur November 1917, his
"Hiawatha" will be given; also three
new choral ballads. written upon the
'S[NI VI AOuSo1O1AOW pONu1O III O11VOAJ
These are dedicated to the Washing
ton society,"
We regret to learn that our old
friend, Hon. J. R. A. Grassland, ex-
minister to Liberia, has figured so
prominently in another shooting |
scrape 1t is unfortunate, as we learn |
that he had under consideration the
of coming out as candi-
date for Recorder of Deeds.
Messrs. VIM. A. Joiner and VIM.
Wells have returned from trip to
Boston, New York, Chicago and st.
Louis
Mrs Robert Pelham's Pianoforte
school has opened for the season of
l9O4-19c5 at 1926 Sixth St. N. w.
Miss Eva Griffin of Martinsville,
Va, is visiting the city.
Misses Eula Ross and Birdie George
have returned from their visit to Chi
;ago and St. Louis.
Mr.. Edward Syphax surprised his
friends by returning from his summer
vacation with a bride.