The Colorado statesman., 1919-08-09

world is now passing is that
all sorts of people are be-
~ coming class-conscious. The
conflict of class interests,
always latent, has become acute. On
all sides, individuals are finding
poignant reasons for Analysing their
status, discovering those whose in
terests appear to be allied or opposed,
and are tending to unite with their
fellows. Such result was only to
be expected from the work of the
"self-determination," whirring up
and down the lanes of world prog
ress, has brought out into the open
every nation, race or class having a
particular grievance to require
correction. And amid countless
claims with which the world is I'M
familiar have come, resurgent, some
of those older claims, those prob
lens, that have long been awaiting
attention.
1t is not surprising, for example,
that the Negroes in the United States
have seen in the present situation
an opportunity for self-determina-
ton. Perhaps they did not at first
realize the potential effect of the
American Negro as a soldier in the
United States army in this war, but
they realize it now. They are point
ing out that the Negro was on a par
with the white man as a fighter, and
are pressing the logic of the situation
to secure his recognition on a par
with the white man in civil life. This
appears to be dominant phase of
Negro thought in this country just
now, and it is being applied with
such emphasis to the evil of lynch
ing as to create a new feeling
throughout the country, that this
form of lawlessness must be reached
and ended. Along with this claim
for consideration on the basis of ma
tional service is another claim, less
readily expressed in words yet per-
haps even more assertive, namely,
the claim of the Negro to considera-
ton as factor in industry. We
hear it said, here and there, that the
war was the industrial salvation of
the Negro" We see Negroes, in the
northern cities, at least, more numer-
Gus and better dressed than before
the war, often with every appearance
of what the world calls "easy cir
cumstances." There is very little of
the old-time shiftlessness. The Ne
gro of the industrial centers is, gen.
eraHy, more alert than he was before
the wave of good jobs with good
wages was sufficiently widespread to
include him.
But what makes it clearly appar-
ent that Negroes are now unitedly
thinking of their status, and defi-
nitely pressing for the betterment of
Negroes as class, is their activity
in organizations having that for an
object, and the industry and skill
with which they plead their cause in
print. Not the most active of the
terested in the European peace terms
has more effectively circularized the
newspaper offices in this country
since the armistice than have the
Negroes, through publicity matter
and personal letters. They believe
they know what they want, and they
are using all proper means to bring
their contentious to public notice.
That these contentious are becoming
known throughout the world is indi
Gated by the fact that the Pan-Afri
can Congress, having had its initial
meeting in Paris early this year. has
been organized as a permanent body,
and has adopted resolutions of
which perhaps the two most signifi-
cant paragraphs are as follows:
Wherever persons of African de-
scent are civilized and able to meet