The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1921-10-29

people were segregated and the dis
patches say, Gin the white section
there was a silence which was abso-
lutte and stony, only one light futter
Of applause came when the President
said, "The Negro should be encour-
aged to be the best possible Negro
and not the best possible imitation of
the white man." This seemed to
please a few of the whites who, evil
IDENTIFY visioned a "good Negro" of
slavery days, who hat in hand bowed
low when "ole massa" approached.
When Harding was a candidate for
President, THE APPEAL doubted
that he would give colored people a
square deal and was not disposed to
support him but we were treasured
by letters signed by Chairman Hays
and Secretary Miller and many lead
ing Republicans, as well as the jim
crow campaign bureau that he would
be just to his allies. Also Editor Will
liam Monroe Trotter said that he had
had a personal interview with the
President and he had promised to aid
in eliminating segregation. Then
came speech to a number of colored
| delegations from the Harding front
porch, which began with, <.Fellow
Americans" and ended with, "Colored
| men, America will not fail you."
These assurances caused THE APP
PEAL to give candidate Harding
enthusiastic support. Our support,
probably, had little to do, with the
| victory, but is mentioned to show that
this paper was not prejudiced against
him.
! Soon after the President assumed
his duties it was noticed that he
seemed to forget his promises. Sc
gregation in the departments at
Washington was continued, three or
four jimcrow colored men were ap
pointed to jimcrow government posi-
lions. Colored youth were segregated
IN the army training camps and COL
| ored men were not allowed to enlist
IN the navy. In every way the Hard
ing administration has stood for the
segregation Of colored citizens and it
is sad to relate that some jimcrow
men accept this jimcrow settlement
of matters.
THE APPEAL does not believe. as
Mr.. Harding puts it, that there is a
Fundamental, eternal and unescap-
able difference between the races"
10 DO so would be to challenge God
and Christianity. It is distinct de-
parture from the ideals of the found
ers of the Republic who declared that
"all men are created equal and en-
dowed by their Creator with certain
inalienable rights, among them life,
liberty and the pursuit of happiness"
After his argument in favor of
distinct place for the black and COL
ored people, Mr.. Harding tells US that
the zone thing we must most sedu-
lously avoid is the development of
group and class organizations in this
country" He argued against the very
thing which he has previously argued
for. There are just as many differ
ences between the individuals of any
one race as their are between the peo-
pie of any number of races. The
| idea of race differentiation in any
form in the law, in the functions Of
the government, and in public asso-
| citation is contrary to a just concept
Of democracy in which all men are
presumed to be equal, and is repug-
nant to the highest ideals of the
Christians God, who is declared to
have made of one blood all nations
of men. If Mr.. Harding is right,
Christianity is wrong.
If Mr.. Harding had had the time
to study the question and he had
studied it with an open mind he would
have found that in France, Spain and