The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1914-05-16
SCORES SEGREGATION
oswald Garrison Willard Grandson William Lloyd Garrison
Writes Strong Article for the North American Review

'a'.ASSo q SVAVA& al LlCle 10
On October 16. 1aas. woodrow. vii
son, then the Dem tic nominee fo,
PRESIDENT, declare tat: SHOULD ~ !
become President 10 the IInitod
states, they (the coll!red peoplel NAV
count upon me for absolute fair deal
ing and for everything by which
could assist in advancing the in4or
ests OF their race in the IIni+ad
otates. This utterance gave com
G1ete satasfaction to those leaders Of
tne colored people and the friends q
tne race who we're urging them tc
Dreak away from their thraldom t.
me Republican party and to vote fo,
tne Governor of New Jersey on the
ground that the country would profi1
most 0y the election Of the Democrat
&c ticket. Qualified observers believe
. tnat many more colored men voted
the Democratic ticket in 1912 thar
ever before. e'i
II was with dismay, therefore. tina,
early in the Administration of M
Wilson. whose Cabinet is eouall,
divided between Southerners anG
Northerners, there became noticeah1e
~ certain quarters a distinct hostilit,
10 the cofored people. For a Ions
t1me no appointments of Negroes
were made by the President. Their
ne nominated Adam E. Patterson q
Oklahoma for the position Of Regis
ter OF the Treasury, a place long hel6
Dy colored men. Patterson's nomina
ZION was the signal for outbursts from
the most violent negrophobes in the
senate; Senators like Hoke Smith o1
georgia, Vardaman of Mississinni
i1aman OF South Carolina, and others
ueclar1ng that Patterson should not
Ne connrmed, or any other colored
man, Tor an Office which would out
MN over white women clerks. With
aDJect cowardice Patterson rushed tc
tne White House and demanded that
MS name be withdrawn. UNWILLING
at this time to meet the issue TINS
raised, Mr. Wilson consented to his
request, unlike Presidents Cleveland
and Roosevelt, who, under similar cir.
cumstances, put the responsibility on
tne Senate by continuing to nominate
the colored candidates for Office and
by giving them recess appointments
wnen the Senate was not in session.
instead, Mr.: Wilson appointed a Cher
okee Indian as Register. - +
When group Of citizens holds so
lew Federal offices as do the colored
people, each one takes on a signif-
canoe lar beyond any question of the
salary or powers that may be attach
ed to it.. 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 bogie 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 &C.
copied this as notice from the White
House that the remaining offices here
tofore given to colored men were to
be 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 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
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. p.
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-Ofice Department, and
in the Office of the Auditor for the
Post Office, which is a 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 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 Administrations. Nor is it ex
planned why colored clerks are taken
out of rooms In which their sole com
pan1ons are white men, or why, il
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 an6
expressed their complete dissent from
the Governments caste undertaking
He Indignantly denies that poorer