Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-08-07

West Virginia or New York would have
sent them if they had been told they
had to? They wouldn't have You had
to let the movement come from within.
From Maryland and Pennsylvania you
have delegates. yes, and New Jersey.
From Maryland and West Virginia there
have come to this convention colored
delegates sent because they represent an
element of colored men who have won
the esteem and respect Of their white
neighbors, SO that all the honest and
decent men can join in sending the dele
gates OF both colors; and they send them
here honestly and send them here of
their own free will. That is what we
progressives have finally succeeded in do
ing in the north. We have done 1t by
SIMPLY encouraging the best men in the
north to act as Squarely by the colOred
man as they would by the white man.
We have not done by trying to dragon
the White man into that action.
Effort to Force Conditions.
'"The other system of trying to force
in the far southern states conditions that
We can not make exist there has failed.
l propose to take toward the southern
states the exact attitude that we took
toward West Virginia and Maryland, and
believe in adopting that action we
shall naturally and spontaneously see
from those southern states the repetition
OF. the conditions in West Virginia and
Maryland. SO that in future progressive
national conventions you will see colored
delegates come from the south Atlantic
and gulf states precisely as they now
come from West Virginia and from Mary
land.
4 ask you to look carefully at the let
ter ! wrote; you have had copies. of it
the letter I wrote to Mr.. Julian Harris.
have just received from him an answer.
&c aP
Uncle Remus Harris, a delegate to this
convention, and in this letter, in speak
Ing OF my action, Mr.. Harris shows that
his mind and my mind have met in the
speaks look at it just as l would have
hoped they would look at it. He writes
as follows, after speaking of the new con-
ditions 1t has produced:
Under these conditions it will become
Tor the first time possible that the negro
who shows the quality which entities him
to respect and confidence will, with the
cordial will Of his white neighbors, do
his part in healthy political work for the
common good (Applause.)
Worst Foes Of the Negro.
Now. friends. l hold that the white
man and the colored man who endeavor
to make the colored man discontinued
with what we are doing are the worst
foes of the colored race. We are stand
ing against the brutality of the democ-
racy, the hypocrisy of the republicans.
We are. in the first place. beginning
where all charity must begin, at home.
We are beginning by taking the steps to
do justice to the colored man in our own
states.
I'VE are setting the standard in semi
southern states like West Virginia and
Maryland here in this convention at this
moment, and setting standard to which
we can have a reasonable hope that our
brethren of the south when We no longer
attempt to drive them, when it is a mat
ter of honorable obligation with them as
with US, to which We have a reasonable
right to hope that they themselves will
come up and to which my correspondent
a delegate in this convention from Geor-
gia himself says he believes they will
come up.
Now, friends, the crazy thing for me
to have done in this matter, if l had been
interested only in my own political ad-
vancement. was to have repeated the
years by the republican party; to have
uttered insincere platitudes about the
black man and kept him out of the north
ern delegations and brought him in from
the south as cheap method of paying
any obligation to him. That might have
helped me; it would have helped me with
those people who accept fine phrases as
a substitute for honest action. 1t might
have helped me. 1t would have driven
still further down the black man of the
south. 1t would have kept the white men
Of the south sOlidified in an angry, vim
dictive. defensive alliance against any
party that did justice to the negro: and
it would have sown the seeds at the out
set in this progressive party. the seeds
of dissolution which We saw blossom into
perfect flower in the republican conven-
ton in this city six weeks ago
On1v Hone for the R1ack Man
Now. / have advocated the action
which, as far as 1 am able to judge my
own soul, I believe with all my heart
is the only action that offers any chance
of hope to the black man in the SOUTH
to the white man in the south: which has
already given to the black man in the
north a better chance than he has ever
had before, and if l had followed or If
/ had advocated the following of any
other action / should have been in the
position of insincerely advocating. for the
purposes of temporary political advan-
tage, a course of action which has been
followed for forty-five years in the re-
publican party, and which has during
that period hurt the negro in the south,
hurt the white man in the south. and
finally has brought to crushing disaster
and death the great republican party it.
self.
Now. friends. I think l can say that /
have at any rate met perfectly fearless
ly and conscientiously the question you
have put to me-.
When the colonel had finished the con-
vention proceeded at once to adopt the
report Of the committee on credentials
and also a rule requiring that all reSolu-
lions submitted from the floor be sent to
Permanent organization was postponed
until today.