The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1915-01-02
THE PRESIDENT AND SEGREGA-
TON.

fFrOm the New York Evening Post.)
1t is a sad blot upon the Wilson
Administration that it has tolerated,
nay, drawn the color me, without
real cause, save, as Mr.. Trotter truth
fully put it, the racial antipathies Of
Messrs. Burleson, John Shelton Will
liams and McAdoo. For an Admins
tration which talks about New Free
dom and boasts of having bestowed
new liberty upon business men, not
only to be blind to the wrongs of full
ten millions of American citizens, but
TO add to them is truly discouraging.
MIR. Wilson can feel keenly for the
governmental wrongs of the Sub
merged So per cent" of the people of
Mexico, Of whom so many are Indians
and of mixed parentage, but he has
yet to say really sympathetic word
about the wrongs of the millions in
the South who are without voice in
their own government.
The difficulty lies, of course, in put
ting yourself in the other fellows
place, in having some appreciation Of
what it means to be the victim Of
prejudice and injustice, to be wronged
without the power to remedy the
wrong. That Mr.. Wilson is unable to
visualize this is, we repeat, the more
disappointing because there are so
many injured persons with whom he
does sympathize so understandingly.
His unusual vision and imagination
leave him, however, when it comes to
the disfranchisement of women and
to permitting his subordinates to in
fiict indignities upon American cit
liens in the immediate vicinity of the
White House. If he could only be one
Of the submerged 10 per cent of our
people in Washington for forty-eight
hours he could never have palliated the
wrong done, as he is reported to have
yesterday, by saying that segregation
was enforced for the comfort and best
interests of both races, in order to
overcome friction. He would know
then that it makes neither for the
comfort nor for the best interests Of
the races, but invariably leads 10
added friction and creates deep and
lasting unhappiness among the segre-
gated. This problem has vexed him
and caused him heart-ache more than
once in his Administration, and it will
not cease to plague him until he lays
down the law that sets up equality Of
treatment of all employees in the Gov.
eminent service.
Again, Mr. Wilson is reported to
that if this discrimination were not
ended, the Afro-Americans who voted
for him would vote the Republican
ticket, and to have declared that this
was political blackmail" But this
Is the time-honored American way of
showing disapproval of an elective
officials conduct. When Mr.. Wilson
was a candidate for President in 1912,
he declared: "Should become Presi-
dent of the United States, they (the
colored people) may count upon me
for absolute fair dealing and for every
thing by which I could assist in ad-
vancing the interest of their race in
the United States. On the strength
Of this many colored people and their
white friends advocated Mr.. Wilson's
cause, who would rather have cut off
their hands than have aided Mr.. viii.
son If they had known that he was
intending to draw the color line in the
departments upon the excuse that
there is a certain point in the rela-
tons of the races where friction must
occur. To them that is neither abso.
lutte fair dealing nor advancing their
cause, but putting 1t back, because it
sets the stamp of governmental ap-
proval upon color prejudice. To ex-
oect after this that the problem can
be kept out Of politics, as Mr.. Wilson
is quoted as urging, is to expect the
impossible.
With Mr.. Wilson's feelings as to
the ultimate solution of the race prob
lem, we are not today concerned. He
may or may not have constructive
programme to suggest. The issue is
simply whether hateful East Indian
caste shall be established in Washing
v Z. = I