Cayton's weekly. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1916-1921, 1919-06-14
THE PASSING OF JUNGLE TOMS"

that Tor the past Is years | have been one
myself Eighteen years is not considered
long service record but it does give one
an unusual opportunity to study the Pull
man porter as he really is today.
Magazine writer's Of national regulations
take slam at the porter through some
popular magazine, but always the picture
IS drawn of a class of men who are de-
c1dedly in the minority A writer in The
Saturday Evening Post recently said. BE
cause OF his contact with white people the
Pullman porter makes a desirable citizen'':
another says Il find the Pullman porter
above the average of his race in intelligence -
but none OF these writer's have ever taken
nm seriously, none ever forgot he was a
Negro and bore traits characteristic of his
race and none could close without the GUS
tomaly and threadbare chestnut that all
Pullman porters liked their chicken. would
steal watermelon or if one produced pair
OF craps you could part him from his money
and If asked a question his inevitable reply
would be "Yessa Boss. -
Another writer says to become a Pullman
porter is the height Of the colored mans
ambition, and if he can get into the Pull
man service he is willing to take his chances
on getting into Heaven, and so on. Every
article, while stating few facts always
ends in a humorous vein.
10 picture the Pullman porter of today
III this light is as inconsistent as it would be
to place an old wooden lamp-burning
stove-heated car on modern limited train
No live organization stands still and the pro-
gress the Pullman Company has made in it's
twentieth century equi pment, so has the
twentieth century porter succeeded the Uncle
Toms.
When [ mention men Of the old school of
porters as Uncle Toms | cast no reflections
whatever at the many progressive men who
carry service stripes enough on their arms to
give them the zebra effect in which cOnnec-
ton | might mention Mr.. K. w. Macky, St.
Paul; John Hammond, Washington, d. c.,
and j. b. NeWsome Chicago. The combined
service Of this trio nearly reaches the cen
fury mark and to converse with either of
them would soon convince the most skeptical
that they are among the most brilliant and
progressive men we have in the service today,
and there are any number of these od-timers
that really credit to the craft and to
build such a story around this class of men
would indeed be a great injustice.
[ am referring to the ante-bellum days,
when the Pullman porter considered a smile
from ear to ear as part Of his equipment
and the handiest word in his vocabulary was
"Yassa, Boss and if you called him Sambo
or Rastus it only provoked greater smile,
and so goes the story Of those good old days.
These may have been happy days Even
if he left sick wife or child at home, he
smiled; if his mortgage was past due, he
smiled; in fact, because he was supposed to
smile, for no one ever expected him to look
sober, not even the day he attended his own
funeral.
When Mr.. Withers wrote the article "a
Hundred Per Cent Efficient short while
ago, he paid the Pullman porter fine trib-
ute In his conclusion he says: "Education
fits men for civilization, and civilization for
service' Education is the first stepping
stone to success 1t enables one to master
many complex situations that arrive in your
daily task. It teaches you to meet discour-
tesy with courtesy In fact, education means
everything.
1t is by no means pleasant to have one
several years your junior to call you boy,