The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1907-1917, 1915-07-22
PAGE TWELVE
THE GRADUAL AND CERTAIN IN
CREASE OF NEGRO POLITI-
CAL INFLUENCE.

->Dear Sir: l write you on sub
act of only passive interest, per-
haps, at this time, but which will
some day become a gigantic prob
lem in American politics.
The fact that the negro is today
given political position means that
before long he will inevitably have
political power. If the public men
generally were taking the stand they
should take on this question, as
yourself and Hon. James K. Varda-
man are taking, the shameful pass
to which our Washintol public Of
ficesg have come could not long be
brooked, or condoned. / feel it to
be duty of paramount Importance
devolving upon every American
white man to arouse a sentiment
that will forever forbid the giving
of any political appointment whatso-
ever to negro, That our people
cannot or will not appreciate the
tremendous peril of such a course as
our Government is now following,
and has followed for many admins
trations, is matter Of mystery, to
say nothing of regret, to myself. |
sincerely deplore such state of af-
fairs as will Tolerate a policy which
can only breed in the negro a claim
of social equality-which the policy
of political equality necessarily
breeds.
There are in Washington today
young white girls whose grandfath-
ers owned hundreds of negro slaves,
and who are themselves the
passing of only two generations
working under a negro boss. Wash
ington City, the Negroes Mecca, his
Heaven, is such only because of Gov
eminent patronage and shameless
bid for votes. l cannot, for the life
of me, understand why our people
do not compel their Senators and
Representative to do something
about this awful state Of affairs. To
me it is a degrading condition to sub
NIT to. That we have come to such
a pass, that white girls and women,
working in Government offices in
Washington, and who cannot be ex-
pected to peremptorily throw up
their jobs when their living depends
on them, are compelled necessarily
to submit to social equality intima-
cies on the part of negroes who
even try to force their attentions
upon them after work hours, and
on OCCASIONS of pleasure, or who even
propose to them marriage-all Of
which things are daily happening in
that city say, that we have come
to such a disgraceful pass as to toll
crate such a condition is heartrend-
ing to even contemplate. Sir, L call
attention to the fact that the future
and inevitable political conflict we
are to have with the negro is to be
blamed on the present-day admins
trations at Washington. They have
all, in the last twenty years, crimi-
nally avoided this awful question;
and to their everlasting shame be it
done now--by Republican or Demo-
cratic bring such a condition to
stop.
Greatness, on the part of public
men, is a relative condition. Our
present President, and his 1mmedi-
ate predecessors, may properly be
called great in some respects, but
none of them are great in safeguard
ing social purity in our country, for
they have all allowed, even fostered,
this degrading stain upon American
political life: the stain of negro rec
ognition and power. Why, Sir, the
negro should not even be publically
recognized, to say nothing Of being
honored with political place! Is it
possible that men of today cannot
see to what an end it all will lead
us? Are we to be presented with
fho oynVco that tho mario no