The Washington bee., 1907-11-09
ANSWERS HIS CRITICS


1t is very seldom that l pay any at
tention to newspaper comments upon
my actions on public questions OF to
newspaper imaginative comments upon
my speeches on such questions As a
public servant my actions upon vital
questions of interest to the race and to
the public have always been guided and
dictated to by my conscience and by my
sense of public duty. When such ac-
tions meet the appreciation of the pub
lie and my friends, | am glad; where
they do not ! am sorry; but l am not
at any time moved by these considera-
tions and have long ago become inn
mune to newspaper criticism when fight
ing for what / faithfully thought was
the best interest Of my race.
But when such a fragrant error in
stated by a newspaper, purporting to
represent the race, as the statement in
the editorial columns Of the New York
Age Of October y in commenting upon
imy support of fusion in the Republican
County Convention, and it deliberately
and unqualifedly issues a false state
met for the purpose of deCeiving the
public and its readers, | am constrained
to depart from my usual rule and make
a few comments upon the same in order
that none Of my friends throughout the
country may have any doubt as to where
| stand.
The Age. in its editorial, said: Mr.
! Stewart i'm the New York County Re
publican Convention, with much elo-
qucnce and emotion. urged the other
colored delegates in the convention to
stand by Congressman Parsons and 10
give him their unqualified support" I
said nothing of the kind. I supported
| fusion in my aldermanic and assembly
district, and made a speech in behalf of
fusion in nominating our candidate for
alderman before the County Convention
because / thought that it was the best
policy for the party in the county, and
not because Mr.. Parsons supported II,
/ Nor did | ask a single colored delegate
in the convention to support Mr.. Par
sons / did not mention the color ques-
ton in my speech. l supported it not
because Congressman Parsons supported
it, but in spite Of the fact that he sup
ported it.
l want to say to the editor of The
Age, Kill no fatted calf, and utter
no joyous note of Hallelujah" for my
position is unequivocaily just where it
has always been. am opposed to any
and every force in this State that IS
against the restoration of the discharged
soldiers Of the Twenty Infantry to
the army with all Of their rights and
! privileges of previous enlistment. 1t was
in the County Committee of this State
that | introduced and had passed resO-
luton calling upon the President to re-
scind his order; I enlisted at that time
over a wear ago-in a fight for this
/ glorious black battalion. When | saw
the strong men OF Companies B, c, and
d turn in their guns at Fort Reno shed
| ding tears. and their frames sobbing
with sorrow over their unjust and cru
el treatment, l consecrated my poor abil-
tiles and service to do everything in
political fields of activity and otherwise
to see that justice was meted out TO
them As l looked at their discharges
at Fort Reno, which showed that they
had fought on the snow-covered prairies
/ of the Dakotas, in the tropical swamps
of Cuba, upon the plains and mountains
in the Philippines; yea, wherever the
! flag floats, they have responded Loyalty
TO the call of the American Republic
to arms, whenever its flag was in jeop-
ardy, winning battles without cannon,
crossing rivers without bridges, making
forced marches without shoes. bivouac-
ing without spirituous liquors OF hard
tack. representing the acme of patriotic
black citizenship in the Republic, I re-
allied more fully the great wrong perpe-
trate dagainst them.