The advocate. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1901-1913, 1912-05-23
Huntington / | 4 1
Convention
SELECT NEGRO ALTERNATES TO
THE REPUBLICAN NATION
AL CONVENTION.
Two Fl From Districts
}. II. Taylor, of Charleston, and DR..
{. c. Barnett, Huntington, Un-
anmiously Selected by The State
Convention to Represent The
Race at Chicago.

J West Virginia Negroes will have
four representatives at the ChicagC
National Convention Of the RepublI
can party when Theodore Roosevelt
IS nominated for the esidency Al
Huntington In; the state convention
Thursday Of last week, j. H. Taylor
OF this city, was elected alternate tc
delegate at large, Gov. VIM. e. Glass
cock and DR.. Barnett, Of Huntington
alternate to Senator Smith, of the
same city. On the preceding day
in the district conventions held fol
the third and fifth districts, at Char
lesion and Huntington, respectivelyr
DR.. S. F., Clay, of Lewisburg, was
elected alternate in the first and M.
L. Whittico, editor OF the Mcdowell
Times, alternate in the second named
! city. All these elections were unani-
lmous - ..--- -.-
| An unusual honor came to the race
| at the state convention when Phil
Waters, deputy clerk of the state su-
preme court, and Chas. E. Mitchell
business manager Of the W. Va. Col
ored- Institute, were made assistant
secretaries. Mr.: Waters acted as read
ing secretary and performed his du-
ties so satisfactorily as to win the
applause on more than one occasion
of the thousand or more delegates and
spectators.
An earnest effort was made by a
few members of the race present at
the State convention to bring about
| the election of a Negro delegate-at-
large, but to no effect. Five candi-
dates, one from each congressional
district, had been agreed upon by the
delegates from these districts and the
leaders or the Roosevelt movement
some days prior to the meeting of the
convention. When they arrived at
Huntington they brought irresistible
pressure to bear upon Governor Glass
cock to accept the sixth place, advanc-
ing the argument that the honor
rightly belonged to him as leader of
the fight to place West Virginia in
| the Roosevelt column. Governor
, Glasscock yielded after he saw resist
ance was futile and accepted the hon
| OF, so justly due him, under protest.
! The movement for a Negro delegate
had no more staunch supporter than
the Governor and it can be said au-
tthoritatively that the regret of no
one in the failure Of the movement
was keener than his.
Much cheap talk on the streets was
engaged in by a small number of Me-
gro peanut politicians about carrying
the fight for a Negro delegate to the
floor of the convention, but, when the
opportunity arrived, they had yielded
to either realization of the futility
Of such an attempt or cowardice. ],
was. noticeable that the fght-on-the-
floor aggregation did not have in its
lineup single person who had con-
| tributed in any way to the Drelimi.
| nary effort to secure the selection OF
a Negro AS delegate. AS was antici-
pated by the few who had taken an
active part in =, the movement, those
who did nothing to advance it were
the first and loudest in complaining OF
PTS failure. 1t was also nDticeable
that these same persons who were sc
solicitous at Huntington Of the well
fare Of. the race in general when they
saw that their alignment with the
Taft forces handicapped them, have
not been conspicuous in their endeav-
| ors to advance the cause of other Ne
groes, If by any hook or crook they
could advance their own.
| With the few objections noted above
it was very generally conceded tina.
considering the apathy Of those who
pride themselves upon being race.
leaders, forward step in the Negro's
political status in West Virginia was
| taken at Huntington.
|
Dhi1 WofD,,e, ie, A., |,