The Twin City star. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1910-19??, 1913-11-14
(Cont. from Page 1. Col. 81
THE APPEAL TO WILSON.

The APPEAL TO WlIoON.
under authority Of the National gov
eminent.
The President was impressed by the
protest and commented on It's strength
ana stated that It was deserving Of,
and should receive. careful considera-
ton.
The delegation said that the Presi.
dent seemed at first inclined to doubt
il the matters complained of had any
official canction. But he was handed
copy of an order issued by the au-
ditor for the Interior Department
which explicitly ordered separation on
account Of color in lavatories. Other
orders of similar import which had
been issued in other bureaus were en-
bodied in the matter left with the
President He then stated that per-
haps he was not well posted on the
matter. He said that he would go
into the matter thoroughly and would
endeavor to find solution satisfac-
tory to all concerned, and gave as
surance that segregation had not been
decided upon as an administration
policy. I'LL.
In their protest the spokesman OF
the delegation insisted that 1t was the
principle of segregation that was OBJ
iected to and not the manner in which
It was administered. He quoted let.
Ter written by Mr.. Wilson before cleo
tiou as follows:
"It is my earnest wish to see JUS
tice done colored people in every mat
ter, and not mere grudging Justice,
but justice executed with liberality
and cordial good feeling. Every prin.
riple of our Constitution commands
this, and our sympathies should also
make it easy" Commenting on this
the petitioners said to the President:
"Fairer words were never written
and their readers could not possibly
have expected their author to coun-
tenance the institution Of any new pol
icy in his own branch Of the Govern
ment, now admittedly based on racial
prejudice, against them; a policy of
caste which no president would dare
even hint for citizens Of any Of the
many other racial extractions which
make up our heterogeneous popula-
tion." ..
The petitioners laid particular stress
upon the order of Secretary McAdoo
requiring separate eating tables, and
on the segregation in the auditors
looms of the Postoffice Department,
The Navy, the Bureau Of Engraving
and Printing, and elsewhere. "Neces-
sity," says the petition, "can not be
pleaded as an excuse for this affront
and injury. Afro-Amerfcans and other
American employees have been work
ing together, eating at the same tables,
md using the same lavatories and
toilets for two generations. They have
worked in peace and harmony and the
Governments business has been well
Some Of the very Afro
American clerks taken from rooms
where Americans of other ancestries
worked, or from seats in juxtaposition
thereto, have worked for twenty-five
and thirty years. They did so through
two Democratic Administrations.
These Democratic administrations were
the nearer abolition of slavery of
Africans than yours, Mr.. President.
The same efforts to inaugurate this
segregation in Government service
were made under your illustrious pre-.
1ecessor, the late President Grover
Cleveland, and we're stopped by his
order. as we trust they will be in
short order by yourself"
At a mass meeting under the au-
spices of the League on Friday night,
which packed the large Nineteenth
Street Baptist Church, the delegation
made full report.
At this meeting It was urged that
The sending in of signed petitions be
continued. It was also advised that
etters of protest be sent to congress
men and senators by colored citizens