Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1908-08-15
COMMISSIONER DOHERTY-S AS

SERTIONS.
The following from a Detroit
newspaper. culled from a report Of
the proceedings of the National
Association OF Labor Commits
sioners viii be read with surprise
by the thousands OF property-own-
ing. tax-paying Negroes. who are on
the higher plane of industrial and
business intelligence and who are in
the wage-earning and money-saving
arena. where worth makes the man
and lack of it the fellow"
"Charles I. Daughtery. commits
sioner of labor for the State of Ok
lahoma. and Commissioner John b.
DOherty. OF Richmond. Va. are two
delegates TO the convention of labor
commissioner. who have the faculty
OF telling stories about the local con-
ditions in their districts which are OF
more or less public interest.
The Virginia Doherty is a typical
Southerner, and like all residents OF
the South ne is interested in the Ne
gro question. He expressed himself
as surprised at the difference he finds
between the Negro of the north and
those OF his native state.
81 met "a Negro yesterday. en-
ployed as a caller on one OF the tour
ing cars. whom I look upon as per
feet gentleman. said Doherty. This
type Of Negro is not 20 be found In
the South. 60 they were. you northern
people would never hear OF our trou-
bles with them down there Our ma
tive Negro is generally lazy. and
cleanliness is foreign 20 their nature.
A mar who can keep chickens
I'm that country deserves a medal.
I had SO fine specimens and 35 Of
them disappeared in one night I
gave the other one 20 an old darkey
and told him 20 see what ne could
DO with &C. The old man knew his
business an right. for that fowl was
into a pOt-pie before the sunset.
The uOrthcrners who only come
I'm contact with the Negroes OF the
North. have no conception of what
the people OF the South are up a.
gainst. The problem Is an entirely
different one than e. is with the peo-
pie OF the North
What could have been Mr.. Doher-
tvs purpose in exploiting the north
ern Negro az the expense OF those Of
his own state is a mystery. The gen
tleman must have been a regular at
tendant OF the Police Court OF Rich
mond. rather than a communicate or
a sight-seer az some one OF the pa
latlal Negro churches or an observer
OF the progress OF the Negroes In
some one of their many industrial
and business enterprises.
The Negroes OF the state pay tax
rs on property. real and personal
valued at twenty-five million dol
lars and they did not accumulate this
wealth by stealing chickens either
Right here in Richmond. where we
are operating four banks with a com
bined deposit Of eight hundred thous
and dollars. a seems 20 us that Mr.
DOherty should have made his in
vestigations before going up 20 his
farm somewhere in Virginia. where
they pay Negroes fifty cents per day
with the expectation that they steal
the other nifty cents from the white
folks hen-roosts at night. Moreover
we noted recently that a white preach
er was tried and convicted OF steal
ing chickens by the wagon load.
Moreover. Negroes do no; consider
chicken as much OF a luxury as they
once did. True. white folks often
eat stolen chickens from some OF the
green groceries without knowing It.
for It is really the white men who
traffic in the disreputable Negroes
weaknesses that make the business
profitable. But the intelligent Ne
groes. those of the better class and
they are in the large majority have
best policy and despite the fact that
white men throughout the country
are stealing thousands and tens of
thousands of dollars and grating in
ument groan, so 10 speak, they are
pursuing the weather-beaten way as
defined in the Scriptures.
Mr. Doherty should come home at
once and study the New Negro and
then he viii Toe in position to speak
before an audience of northerners,
who no donbt are better posted with
reference to the actual statistical pro
gress Of the Negroes than he seems
to be.