The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1914-02-14
Oswald Garrison Willard Grandson William Iloyd Garrison
Writes Strong Article for the American Review

scy.I--.s <, --.tlsSSs,'AuSAts VI Tue United
states, they (the colored people) NAV
count upon me for absolute fair deal
mg ana for everything by which /
could assist in advancing the inter
ests OF their race in the United
states This utterance gave COM
Rlete satisfaction to those leaders Of
Ine coiored people and the friends of
tne race who were urging them to
Dreak away from their thraldom to
the republican party and to vote for
tue governor Of New Jersey on tha
ground that the country would profit.
most Dy the election Of the Democrat q.
&c TICKET. Qualified observers believe
tnat many more colored men voted
the democratic ticket in 1912 than
ever before. sn -
II was with dismay, therefore. that
early in the Administration 81 NJ
Wilson, whose Cabinet is emua1lv
divided between Southerners ana
Nortnerners, there became noticeable
~ ceftaln quarters a distinct hostility
70 the colored people. For a long
Time no appointments of Negroes
were made BY the President. Then
ne nominated Adam E. Patterson of
Oklahoma for the position Of Regis
ser u the treasury, a place long held
Dy colored men. Patterson's nomina-
lion was the signal for outbursts from
the most violent negrophobes in the
senate; Senators like Hoke Smith Of
Georgia, Vardaman of MississipDi
Truman OF South Carolina. and others
declaring that Patterson should NOT
De confirmed, or any other colored
man, Tor an Office which would mt
MIN over white women clerks. With
AFFECT c0Wardice Patterson rushed to
Inc Whlte House and demanded that
MS name be withdrawn. Unwilling
at thls time to meet the issue thus
raised, Mr. Wilson consented to his
request, unlike Presidents Cleveland
Z ana roosevelt, who, under similar cir
cumstances, put the responsibility on
the Senate by continuing to nominate
the colored candidates for office and
by giving them recess appointments
when the Senate was not in session
instead, Mr.. Wilson appointed a Cher
okee Indian as Register = )"
When group of citizens holds so
rev Federal offices as do the colored
people, each one takes on a signifi-
canoe far beyond any question of the
salary or powers that may be attach
cd to 1t. This is particularly true of
the posts of Minister to Hayti and
San Domingo. Not one of the stock
Southern objections to Negro appoint
ments holds here; these ministers are
accredited to colored people where
the bogle OF social equality cannot be
raised. Under Mr.. Wilson both of
these posts have gone, temporarily,
1t is said, and doubtless for reasons
satisfactory to Mr.. Bryan, to white
men. The colored people at large ac-
copied this as notice from the White
House that the remaining offices here
tofore given to colored men were to
De taken from them. Alarming as this
was, on top of it came the startling
news that for the first time in the
history of the Federal Government
race prejudice was having full swing
in some of the Departments at Wash.
ington. What had not been dreamed
OF under Mr.. Cleveland, though begun
IN one Office under Mr.. Taft, was be-
ing attempted under Mr.. Wilson-the
segregation OF Negro clerks, both men
and women. 1t appeared that the Sec
rotary OF the Treasury had planned
to put Patterson at the head of an ex-
cluslvely colored division upon the
plea-to use Mr.. McAdoo's own words
that it would give the Negroes an
opportunity of national dimensions. to
prove their fitness to run, unaided nv
whites, an important bureau of the
Department. Just why this benefi-
cent undertaking was dropped as soon
as 1t appeared that an Indian and not
q colored man was to head the diyi-
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
0y 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
P0st-O Office, which is a part Of the
Treasury Department, and that it has
begun IN the Washington city post
once. 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
MI. McAdoo as IAN effort to remove
causes OF complaint and friction where
white women have been forced unnec.
essarily to sit at desks with colored
men. But there is no statement that
there have been many such complaints
or that they were heard of under pre-
vious Admins trations. Nor is it ex-
planned why colored clerks are taken
out OF rooms In which their sole COM
pan1ons are white men, or why, if
there should be- segregation because.
OF the women, the Government does
not segregate all its women clerks.
Nor does Mr.. McAdoo record the fact
that In many instances the white
clerks, without respect to sex, have
gone to their colored associates and
expressed their complete dissent from
the Governments caste undertaking.
He Indignantly denies that poorer
quarters have been given to the segre-
gated, but eye-witnesses have told of
colored women shut off in an unpleas-
ant alcove In one Office: Of others
quietly forced out of the lunch-rocm
thew had heen ,,c;no for ninn Years