El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1915-10-21

Editor FL PasO Herald
4 FTER having peruse2 a letter in
n The Herald signed a Negro L
Ia am frank 10 admit nv inability
to discover any fact Indicating or show
ing therein that he was Disseminated
against in a jitne, or dlsregardeQ by "a
iifne driver. or tax collector. II uoeS
appear that what he wants is a marker
or board placed in jitnes. with appro-
pirate words thereos. indicating the
race for which certain space in JiLues
has been allotted The common carrier
laws of Texas require that such pro-
visions be made in trains, street cars
and interurban cars; that is all ] know
about il.
Now. il a Negro was Disseminated
against by a jitne. or refused the prlvi-
lege OF paying his poll tax by tax
collector. I claim such should not nave
been done. because an insignihcant
right becomes important when at
tackled. If "a Negro has the right
to walk down the street with mis-
coat off. and that right, though in
significant, is attacked, he should
claim it. because if il is denied him
effectively. his more vital rights would
be exposed 1t seems to me that j us
ticus's references TO the letter slsned
by "A Negro. are foreign to the sub
ject matter, cynical and based upon
patent sOphistry-
one of the greatest defects in the
reasoning of many who deal with
questions touching the vital interests
of our race is lack Of sufficient knowl-
edge Of our real interests. motives and
opinions.
Justicus has raised four important
points in his letter in which he at
tacks the interests OF our race.
/. The negro opposes the Jim Crow
system Of travel. but his motive for
white people or MeXicans or any others
The fact is overlooked that, on every
separate system Of travel I'm TINS
country, the negro is charged as much
for his accommodations as are the
whites (MeNicans are included in this
claEsl but the whites are always given
superior accommodations while the
black people are given inferior ac-
commodatiOns II is not a question of
the black people desiring to get away
from their race The fact is the black
people want this legalized robbery and
injustice removed We believe that
something other than a white SKIN
>. As to Justicus's second attack.
! beg TO refer him to q statement
from The News-Scimitar OF 1demphis.
southern white paper. This article
answers attack number two far better
than I can. In writing on Negro Ad-
vancement', the Scimitar says
IF all the colOred brethren were
Booker T Washington, remarks a
Chicago editor. the race problem would
vanish.
This is doubtful The chief griev-
ance against the colored man seems TO !
be his disposition TO rise to a leve:
with the white man. We are told by (
DR.. Tom Dixon. for example. that as
an ignorant laborer the colored man
is all right. but that education spells /
him a monstrosity-'
IF this is comprehensive at all it 3
seems that SO long as the colOred man I
is content to be little more than a /
mere animal. and TO do the whites /
dirty work. he is acceptable but that I
IS man, with a soul, and aspirations 1
and advancement. he is intOlerabIe. I
According to this view. Booker !
is a monstrosity and Just .
the sort of a man who is shaking the /
tranquility Of the whites. But this I
view can not be acceptable to the !
common sense OF humanity.
There is an element in the south ,
hat makes noise out Of all proper
ion 70 its numbers. which seeks to 4
lold the negro, through his ignorance. !
voluntary and perpetual slavery