The Washington bee., 1907-03-30
THE ADMINISTRATION

c..~4rv afternoon was a beautiful
s~ The Second Baptist Church Ly-
-..-~- mas crowded with a representa-
.... audience. The singing and playing
..~ts- the direction of Mrs Height
-- we'll executed. At four o'clock
p-...fenr Mitchell called the Lyceum
=, order. and the chaplain, Rev. L. {.
Moore opened the exercises with praye-
After several vocal selections, I'M
s.- -he direction of Mrs. Height, Mr..
IA calvin Chase was introduced and
-sad paper entitled "Ihe Admins
.----r.o At the conclusion Of his ad-
5r..s the following persons participat-
~ IN the discussion: Mr.. George W..
1,rls7r. Mr.. Shelby Davidson, Attorney
4 w Scott. Attorney Gilchrist Stewart
of New York Mr. Gordon and others.
The following is the speech of Mr.,
Chase:
Mr.. President:
Are we Americans under the Consti-
+,-ion Of the United States or are we
4b. ravers of wood and the drawers of
r.,tar2 Have our A years of freedom
;ror7ved our condition or are we retro
o-sdirg? In the American body polite
We have retrograded, but commercially
we have kept pace with the so-called
A--r,- S,von civilization. Whatever may
be the shortcomings of the American
Negro he stands today the equal OF
+5s white man, notwithstanding the esti-
mate that the present administration
NAV Mace upon him. The colored Amer
lean has been used politically to such
extent that today he is regarded a non
entity in the body polite. By deception,
and political chicanery the present ad-
miristrati0n obtained its ascendency, and
drove to it the faithful black allies by
holding out to them a door-of-hOpe pol
lev. sandwiched in by the appointment
70 office of trimmers and apologistS,
whose laws are locked so tightly that
the rocks Of Gibraltar are as apologists
to them. By false hopes, broken prom
ises deception and political chicanery
the c0lored Americans stand alone on a
precipice. and in the deep beyond there
is a glimmering light and he looks, and
looks and says to himself, ''If go back
wards there is death, and if l remain
on this precipice I go into eternity"
What hope has he? What man among
YOU can direct him? Never before in
the history Of governments has the con-
diti0n of the colored Americans been so
depIorable. The Administration like
reptile. day by day feeds to the reptiles
the sacred bodies of men whose patri-
ousm IS never questioned, whose valor
has always been applanded and whose
ambition has been the diadem of past
ages.
Our government declares Equality OF
man and the Constitution says that the
rights of American Citizenship shall be
protected upon land and upon sea, ire
spcctive of color or condition. But IS
this SOP Are not the false declarations
of political parties the panacea Of polit-
ca, deception? Point out to me, if you
please. one among you who has been
placed in power and given position OF
honor and trust that will dare to say
TO the Administration that its customs
are barbarous and its acts brutal. In
every department of the general gov
eumeut do we not see and feel acts OF
discrimination? Do we not see our
women Isolated and Disseminated against
because Of their color, and the man who
has been elected by the votes Of the
American people. continues to feed the
reptiles by acts most damn45le and IN
the hour of despair he realizes the re-
suit of his false ambition? The apollo
gsts of the Administration are the con-
suuents of a betrayed race. The apol-
Ogists Of the Administration tell us that
It's acts are sacred and its promises shall
be realized. Q, what treacheryl A no
bic and great race betrayed as Caesar
was by those whose lives he saved. o,
Rome, whose regal splendor was once
the light of the world, a republic that
was overturned by arch traitors and
whose people suffered to satisfy false
ambitionl The colored Americans are
realizing the same conditions of the
Dark Ages or ancient Rome's civiliza-
ton. Men, that lived then committed
heinous offenses against those whose
deeds were most sacred and whose serv-
ices were most beneficial TO the republic.
The condition of the American color
ed man today is a recognition of ancient
civilization. We may ask the question,
how can man be so ungrateful? "Grati-
tude is the fairest flower that blooms in
the human heart; ingratitude is strang-
er than traitors arms" Out of Senate
mat represents over $50 million souls,
len millions Of whom are colored Amer
leans, it has one man who dares to de-