The Washington bee., 1907-03-16


ment employees who do the same
work should receive the same pay
regardless of their color.
THE COLORED ATTORNEY.
One would suppose that the col
ored attorney in the District of Co.
lumbia had some get-up about him
when his civil rights are being de-
MED him. 1t is a fact, however,
that he remains silent when he
should protest and resent an insult.
Many of them do not regard the
rights of one another and neither
DO they regard legal ethics. There
is no use to talk to them about or
ganizing because they regard such
a proposition an insult. The re-
cent action of Ex-JuStice Hewlett
and his manly fight against race
discrimination is only sample of
how other colored lawyers act when
one of their number attempts to
do something. The Bee is in pos
session of facts in which one col
ored lawyer could not render his
client the service he desired, so he
recommended the client to another,
but admonished his client not to
pay the lawyer he had recommend
ed a fee until he succeeded in doing
what he had failed and couldn't do.
In many instances the ethics of the
white members of the bar are quite
different. The white member of
the bar will say if the colored law
yer cannot succeed, come to me
and | will see what | can do"
Efforts have been made in and
around the courthouse to put
stop to coping" but to a great
extent it goes on just the same, to
the chagrin and disgust of the
court. The colored lawyer will
sit and see his own rights slip from
him without protest. He will stand
behind locked doors and CritiCise
his more successful brother and
play the part of sycophant when
he gets a case. Many of them will
not try a case without having white
members of the bar associated with
them. Not even a case that many
students could successfully handle.
In the recent lunch room episode,
what do we see? We see one
manly colored attorney battling for
the rights of his fellow man and
others standing off criticising him.
We also see other colored lawyers
patronizing the lunch room whose
proprietress says that she will not
allow them a seat in the room set
aside for members of the bar. How
can the people they claim to serve
have any confidence in them or re-
spect for them? Is this humiliat-
ing action on the part of men who
practice the law never going to
stop? Is tliis generation of colored
men going to retrograde? If the
colored attorney sets a humlllatlng
and cowardly example, what is TO
be expected from the people they
claim to represent? There are
few colored men at the local bar
who deserve credit for expressing
their manhood. The court has on
more than one occasion condemned,
criticised and expressed certain col
ored members of the bar who have
a wav of creeping III the courts
private room tattling on other col
Ored members of the bar. The
court has no respect for these syco-
plants and indeed no one else can
have any respect or consideration
for such men. Every effort has
been made to organize the colored
attorney but without success. They
always frame some kind of excuse.
They can not be admitted to the
white bar association, although
they are amenable to the rules, laws
and regulations governing that as
| sociation. Many of the colored
lawyers sleep at their posts and
what the end will be is a question