The Twin City star. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1910-19??, 1914-04-17
SIMPLE JUSTICE
FOR OUR RACE
Chicago Jurlst Pleads For It
In Stirring Address.
RACE HAS PROVED ITS WORTH

Judge Marcus A. kavanaugh In Dis.
ousslns the Negro Problem Suggests
| Three Methods For its Solution,
Which He Believes 10 Not Impossible
70 Accomplish.
Chicago.-The speech of Judge Mar
Gus A. Kavanaugh Of the superior
court In this city not long ago, In
which he gave his views concerning
the SO called race problem, has attract
cd wide comment. 1t has been sug-
gested by some Of our people that the
speech be printed in pamphlet form
and distributed broadcast That would
be wise thing to do, but for the bene-
at Of the readers of this paper especi-
ally and the race generally the full
text Of Judge Kavanaugh's speech II
here given. .s
It was delivered before the Irish
Fellowship club and is as follows:
Among the many grave problems
pressing upon this people there is, It
seems to me, one neglected question
Of crying importance: How much have
We freed the Negro? The other day
Q semiprofessional concern advertised
for Negro girl cashier. There were
sixty-four applications for that one DO
dtion. The majority Of the girls who
applied had high school educations, be-
cause the Negro will make the most
pitable sacrifices to give bis children
learning. These were neatly dressed
modest appearing and intelligent The
one who succeeded had made fifty-two
other fruitless efforts to get position.
l do not like to let my mind follow
the sixty-three unsuccessful young
girls In the weary, heartbreaking
search they are still pursuing, and yet
1t will be demanded Of these young
women that behind their dark, humil-
lated cheeks they keep white souls
burning. To their infinite credit most
OF them will. This instance illustrates
the attitude Of the American public
toward the Negro. Let q black man
get work Of equal rank among white
brick masons, electricians, clerks,
cry white employee will quit the job
a. though the place had been covered
BY pestilence. There Is not q great
store In Chicago that dare put Negro
clerk behind its counters. no matter
how competent he may be. There 70
not a street railway that dares to put
q Negro to work on one of its cars.
The everyday story of Negro hunting
q house In which to live il filed with
burning humiliation and injustice. And
yet the Negro Of pure African blood
IA rare; many Of them are almost
with white mems
brains, cursed with white mems
hearts, hopelessly consumed with white
mems ideals and aspirations.
II ask you this afternoon to put
yourselves and your families In the
place Of an honest, respectable Negro,
with his own wife and little children.
To do that you will have to crush out
all the strongest warnings and highest
longings Of your hearts. Then see
what a dismal place you have made Of
It Think for minute that your little
children, no matter how wise they may
become or how good they shall remain.
must never hope for public esteem or
general honor What incentive remains
behind your darkened lives? d.
when we complain Of the Negro we
should remember that one cannot
measure the capabilities Of race by
its lowest members. but by the attain
ments Of its very highest. We have
pushed the Negro out into freedom
Free to do what? To become porter
In q saloon or waiter In q dining
car. Which was better. the drugged
contentment of the slave or the hope
less, endless humiliation and burning
subsection Of the freedman? If the
Negro may not use his education it Is
q cruelty to educate him. II he may
not use his freedom 1t was a crime to
set him free.
'Still he has progressed wonderfully.
The general social and intellectual con-
dition Of the American Negro in the
north today Is vastly superior to that
of the white inhabitant Of any civil
liked country In the seventeenth cen-
tury. Yet three generations ago he
was a slave. chattel. a thing. Not
withstanding this, II was essential to
slavery that the slave should feel him
self physically and mentally a slave.
Generation after generation this idea
was ground into his soul. Let the
general community today unite in its
estimate as to any Of US, and Inn
perceptibly we will sink or rise to the
limits of that estimate. If we brutalize
q man we have no right to complain
when he acts like brute. To begin
making a man respectable we must
commence respecting him. To keep
him honorable II is often necessary to
honor him.
do you realize that In spite Of this
handicap there are Negro homes In
Chicago, and not few of them. the
squalls in actual refinement to almost
any white mans? Have you consid-
cred that there are working in this
republic black men. and not few,
In the various professions that are the
equals intellectually and In many cases
the superiors Of their cOmpehtorsf
One OF the best lawyers In Chicago Il
q Negro. and rich man besides. The
polite learning Of the ages Is familiar