The Colorado statesman., 1917-07-14
DENVER, COLORADO, SATURDAY, JULY IA 1917

the principal address and urged the
white people to give mis- race better
treatment, and referred to lynching
and insufficient school facilities as
some of the causes of Negro migra-
tion.
Some Negroes" said Davis, think
that God is better to the white man
than he is to the colored man. That
is not true. The white man works
harder than we do. God gives him
health and strength just like He gives
us, but the white man works and
makes every lick count. l have more
respect for the man who owns his
home or a farm and has bank ac-
count than / have for some bare
headed, empty-pocketed philosopher
who sits on the street corner and
whines about his rights
Continuing, Mr.. Davis said:
But the Negro is not going to be
disloyal. He is going to do his duty
as the highest evidence of his worth
and of what he deserves at the hands
of the government. Our government
cannot enter the world war, demand
ing, freedom for Ireland, freedom for
Russians, freedom for Belgians under
the yoke of aristocracy and despotism,
so long as ten million loyal citizens at
home are denied industrial and polit-
ical freedom; so long as we are de-
MED the right to vote and the right
to have say-so about who shall make
the laws and who shall execute them.
Before the law all men are equal.
There is nothing wrong in the law.
There is nothing wrong in the genius
of our institutions. The wrong is in
the executors and administrators of
the statutes on the books.
in every state in which subterfuges
have .been invoked to cut down the
Negro vote, to molest and intimidate
him into that degree of physical fear
where he will not present himself
to exercise his manhood rights, that
state is not democratic, and it's gov
ernment is unjust. The Negroes of
this country, owning a billion dollars
worth of property, are without a rep
resentative in any legislature or con-
gress, or filling any representative
function in this great republic. Ten
million people are governed without
their representative participation.
Laws are made for them, and they
have no voice in their enactment.
These are the rights for which we
must fight. These are the blessings
of democracy which are now denied
us, and let us get together for the
common betterment of all, forgetting
prejudice within the race; forgetting
denominational, religious and racial
strife, and fight for the right to sit
upon the jury, for equal and fair suf-
frage laws, for a free ballot and
fair count, for equal accommodations
on the railroads, for better, broader
and higher educational facilities. Let
us tell the white man that his dis
tribution of the public school funds
is little less than a misappropriation
that any system of education or dis
tribution of public funds that provides
ample and modern school houses for
the education and uplift of white chill
dren and affords starvation salaries
for Negro teachers and provides no
house at all for the Negro children,
is a misuse of public funds and is in
consistent with the democracy for
which we fight
The preliminary address was deliv-
cred by Dr. S. Melville Pitt of Elber-
ton, Georgia, a prominent member of
the Order, and he said in part: at
is significant that we should dedi-
cate this magnificent building on this
the nations birthday. This Order
stands for progress, for advancement
and for growth in community spirit
and race consciousness. This build
ing stands as a monument to the in