The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1914-05-09
SCORES SEGREGATION

Oswald Garrison Willard, Grands
Writes a Strong Article for t
On October 16, 1912, Woodrow Viii
son, then the Democratic nominee for
PRESIDENT, declared that: "Should /
become President of the United
States, they (the colGred people) NAV
count upon me for absolute fair deal
ing and for everything by which 1
could assist in advancing the inter.
ests OF their race in the United
States. This utterance gave COM
plete satisfaction to those, leaders of
the colored people and the friends of
the. race who were urging them to
break away from their thraldom to
the Republican party and to vote for
the Governor of New Jersey on the
ground that the country would profit
most by the election of the Democrat
1c ticket. Qualified observers believe
that many more colored men voted
the Democratic ticket in 1912 than.
ever before. y
1t was with dismay, therefore, that
early in the Administration of Mr..
Wilson, whose Cabinet is equally
divided between Southerners and
Northerners, there became noticeable
In certain quarters a distinct hostility
to the colored people. For a long
time no appointments of Negroes
were made by the President. Then.
nominated n Do
Oklahoma for the position of Regis
ter OF the Treasury, a place long held
Dy colored men,. Patterson's nomina-
ton was the signal for outbursts from
the most violent negrophobes in the
Senate; Senators like Hoke Smith of
Georgia, Vardaman of Mississippi,
Tillman Of South Carolina, and others;
declaring that Patterson should not
be confirmed, or any other colored
man, Tor an Office which would put
MIN over white women clerks. With,
AFFECT cowardice Patterson rushed to
the White House and demanded that
his name be withdrawn. Unwilling
at this time to meet the issue thus
raised, Mr.. Wilson consented to his
request, unlike Presidents Cleveland
and Roosevelt, who, under similar cir
cumstances, put the responsibility on
the Senate by continuing to nominate
the colored candidates for office and
Dy giving them recess appointments
wnen the Senate was not in session.
instead, Mr.. Wilson appointed Cher
okee Indian as Register.
When q group of citizens holds SO
Few Federal Offices as do the colored
people, each one takes on signifi-
canoe far beyond any question of the
salary or powers that may be attach
ed to it. This is particularly true ST
the posts Of Minister to Hayti and
San Domingo. Not one of the stock
Southern objecttjons to Negro appoint
ments holds are these ministers are
accredit q ed people where
the bog equality cannot be
raised. ~ Wilson both of
these p nave. tone, temporarily.
it is Sal d doubtless for. reasons
satisfac 20 Mr.. Bryan. to white
men. solorsd people at large &C
cepted SIS n5atice from the White
House thlt the Remaining Offices here
tofore given to .,solored men were to
be takentfrom them. Alarming as this
was, on top of It came the startling
news that for the first time in the
history 81 the Fegeral Government
race prejudice was9 having full swing:
iDF of the 1T artments att Wash
IN What I'D not been dreamed
bf} Mr.. a;veland, though begun
in &:ttic' Ter Mr.. Taft. was be-.
inf So : 1nder Mr.. Wilson-the
Sc gait H$otN Negro clerks, both men
ar wome &5 appeared that the Sec
RI y of ne Treasury had planned
to put Patterson at the head of an ex-
clusively cdlored division upon the
plea---to use Mr.. McAdoo's own words
-"thct it would give the Negroes an
opportunity ST national dimensions, to
prove their fitness to run, unaided by
whites, an important bureau of the
Department" Just why this benefi-
cent undertaking was dropped as soon
as it appeared that an Indian and not
q colored man was to head the divi-
sion has not appeared; if it had all
the merit claimed for it, the colored
people should not have been deprived
of the opportunity Of collectively dem,
onstrating their worth, which, in the
individual, has long been known to
all familiar with the Governments
operations.
Careful inquiry by representative
Of the National Association for the
Advancement of ColOred. People, and
by newspaper men of the standing of
Washington correspondents of the
New York Evening Post and Boston
Advertiser, has developed the fact
that segregation of colored employees
exists and is increasing, especially in
the Bureau Of Engraving and Print
ing, in the POST Office Department, and
In the Office Of the Auditor for the
Post Office, which is part of the
Treasury Department, and that it has
begun in the Washington city post
Office. AS yet, segregation has not
been introduced in the Treasury
Building, where there are two hun
dred and seventy colored employees
in the corridors and Offices together
with white clerks. It is defended by
Mr.. McAdoo as AN effort to remove
causes OF complaint and friction where
white women have been forced unnec-
essarfly to sit at desks with colored
men," But there is no statement that
there have beenzmany such complaints
or that they were heard of under pre-
vi0us Administrations. Nor is it ex-
planned why colored clerks are taken
out Of rooms in which their sole com
panions are white men, or why, if
there should be segregation because
Of the women, the Government does
not segregate all it's women clerks
Nor does Mr.. McAdoo record the fact
that in many instances the white
clerks, without respect to sex, have