Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-02-24
Not a Race Question.

Not Race Question.
This is not race question" said Mr..
Mahany. Hundreds of thousands of white
men went down TO their deaths that you
and your descendants might be free for all
time. The men Of the Constitution League
are not dreamers or idealists. but prac-
teal men with practical methods In this
crusade This is question of right, OF
justice and of truth II is not race or a
social question, but the colored people are
made the excuse for monstrous wrong.
He predicted that political expediency"
will cause action IL the purposes of the
Constitutional League are not miscalcu-
lated. THE conscience of the white peo-
pie, once aroused. will be your best pro-
lection" he added
Mr.. J. Max Barber. a colored editor from
Georgia, described conditions IN the south,
and said he was suffering from a severe
cold as the result of riding from Macon to
Washington IN a Jim Crow car.
The organized colored people, he added,
"are going to hammer at the doors of OPP
portunity until they fly wide open. Hope
deferred In the south has made the hearts
of the colored people there sick. We feel
that every indignity in the category has
south are assuming authority the trainers
Of the Constitution and Its amendments
never dreamed of.
1T was never intended that the Constitu-
ton should be annulled at the within and
caprice of q section Of this country. The
democratic primaries in the south turns
the dignity OF the SlectIOH laws AHlO u
farce. \ nomination there means an cleo
ton and the atmosphere at election time Is
full of subtle intimidation.
Sham and Delusion.
1.-THE law has become sham and
delusion. We are taxed to support libra
ries we are not allowed to enter, for militia
we are not allowed to enlist In and to sup
port congressman who do not represent US,
but misrepresent US. Taxation without
representation is tyranny"
The speaker concluded by declaring that
the time had arrived for Congress to take
drastic steps to enforce the law and pro-
tect It's citizens. He criticised President
Roosevelt for his failure to- make recon1-
mendations in the interest of the colored
people in his annual message; said the
Speaker OF the House of Representatives
had been influenced by southern repre-"
sentatives against the negro, and declared
the worst thing that can happen is to be
stabbed in the house of your friends.
Beware concluded Editor Barber, "or
new party will grow up that will believe
in the fatherhood of Cod and the brother
hood of man. The fight is on. 1t will be
pushed from this on against the traducers
of our rights and our liberties
Mr.. Andrew B. Humphrey of Phlladel-
phia. in addressing the meeting, declared
that men high In power are suffering
from cold feet on the matter under con-
sideration. He gave an outline history of
the Constitution League, which, he added,
covers forty-tWo states, two territories and
Hawaii This powerful organization will
he said. demand the enforcement of the
entire Constitution and additional legisla-
ton, il necessary, to make the fifteenth
amendment effective. He believed the re-
duction OF southern representation in Con-
gress should be the first step. The Con-
stitution must be enforced without regard
to any state laws or enactments. Men who
go to Congress with stolen goods on them
should be treated the same as other
thieves We will make no covenant with
death nor hell, yet we will be heard
Mr.. Garrison Given Ovation.
Mr.. William Lloyd Garrison received an
ovation as he arose to deliver his address.
He said in part that the political rights OF
the negro IN the south are practically nuui-
fed by force and fraud and by "subservient
rulings of the United States Supreme
Court. The colored people," he said "'can-
net be too alert too jealous to retain the
guarantees of the fourteenth and fifteenth
amendments TO determine that the ballot, the
best safeguard Of the citizen, shall never be
withdrawn. The assertion Is false that
negro suffrage Is a failure. It never had
fair trial. While free ballot is denied in
the south race differences will never heal
1T is a monstrous usurpatton," he added
ito base state representations on stihed
Ininorities"
"In forty years" said Mr. Garrison, the
moral tone of the north has distinctly low
cred Material developments have turned
public attention from questions of right 90
those Of wealth. The south alone, in the
clutch of economic forces is bewtldered and
pe1pleXed."
In conclusion he babe the colored people
be hopeful DO not consider that this
cause is the negroes only, Why, the strug-
gle of the poor whites, fellow victims Of the
blacks under slavery. is his struggle also.
The day has dawned for them to rise. And
other fellow sufferers are to be seen in the
mill and mine and slum, helpless while the
few govern the many and congesting wealth
makes expanding poverty"
Considerable enthusiasm was stirred by
the address of Prof. William a. Sinclair,
who was introduced by Chairman Richards
as the distinguished author Of The After
math Of Slavery
King Among Men.
who Is fit TO follow the king? William
Lloyd Garrison is king among men" be-
gar-Prof Sinclair. Such great and mag
niacent gathering as this, with William
Lloyd Garrison as the central figure and
under the eyes Of Congress, sounds the song
Of hope. We have tremendous task on
hand but with the forces Of righteousness
and God Almighty on our side we are sure
to win. The Infamous black code is being
re-enacted today throughout the southland.
The Afro-Americans must srise In their
might to save themselves from the ravages
Of brutal southern aristocracy Ten mil
Hons OIL COIOIEu pSOplS dIu!SI III the cause
of liberty will be an invincible force We
find in the south today an olgarchy more
brutal and oppressive than that before the
war, including the un-Christian and bar
barous jim Crow and other laws. The life
of the negro in the south Is held as lightly
as that of sparrow. Conditions there are
q reproach to the civilization of the twen-
tieth century.
Prof. Sinclair favored the reduction of
southern representation In Congress. He
claimed that the southern oligarchy has
fifty votes In that body it is not entitled to.
These fifty" he added, should be put out
of business. Our Constitution shall not be
dragged down into the murky depths of a
new American slavery"
Other speakers were Representatives Cush-
man Of Washington and Bennett Of New
York who said he introduced the southern
representation bill in Congress, and who de-
olared there would BE- a vote on 1t this ses-
sion. DR. Robert Reyburn delivered the
shortest speech of the evening. He simply
said: "Oh, Lord, how long" Prof. Kelly
Miller delivered a short but stirring adj
dress, and several hundreds of those present
signed the membership cards of the Constt-
tuition League. The musical numbers in
Guided a song by the Amphion Glee Club,
solo by Miss Lola Johnson and selections by
the choir.