Show TILLMAN JILLMAN AND THE NEGRO NE RO Senator Tillman TUlman like the mustard plaster of commerce may be useful as asa asa asa a counterirritant but b t he certainly fails falls as a steady article of ot diet His latest outbreak happened in Chicago where he delivered an address that was originally originally meant to discuss the advisability of Cuban annexation but was changed Into a fiery discourse on the race problem problem problem lem Because some Chicago colored folks made foolish threats the tIie senator was guarded by a special police detail whose chief value seems to have been as an advertisement of the lecture but needless need neediest less iest to say no attempt at violence was mado made although the address Itself fur furnished furnished provocation enough to incite an outbreak in some communities The gist of ot Tillmans talk was In his declaration that the law guaranteeing equality to td t all aU citizens without regard to race color or previous condition of servitude Is a dead letter in the south and always will be that the white race I Is of or superior clay cIa will not submit to negro domination and cannot be co coerced coerced coerced or scared into changing its atti attl attitude attitude tude In violent language he defied the law and charged the north with responsibility responsibility for much of the crime of or the negroes of or the south Modestly enough Mr Tillman said he was better bet er quaIl Qualified fied to speak on the subject than any other man In the country Now there can be no question as is to his sincerity or his knowledge of ot one side of the question but such talks as his do infinite harm harmIn In the prejudices they engender and the bitterness that follows The negro is handicapped by generations of or injustice at the hands of or the whites he has had no opportunity for development until within the past forty years whereas the white race has h s had centuries of or growth in comparative liberty m erty Whether the black Is fit for citizenship or hot the responsibility for his presence In this i country and for his future fate rests I with ith the white people of or America The problem is the greatest of or the age for forthe forthe forthe the American people it cannot be solved by such talk as Tillmans on one lne ne side eide or the misguided sentimentalISm sentimental m of northern philanthropists on the other It involves the economic and so social socIal social cial fate fat of or avast a v t territory and it has hiu unfortunately Involved the whole po political political fabric of or a very large section of the nation Familiarity Fa with conditions in the south precludes the notion that hat the negro will ever be permitted to dom dominate dominate dominate any southern state politically That would be a matter of or life and death in such sections as the black blak belt where the colored people outnumber overwhelmingly tho white element But and this seems to be the crux of or the question there Is no good reason In Ina ina a supposedly civilized land why a ne negro negro negro gro should not be equal before the law with any white man Tho white is pro protected protected protected in life liberty and the pursuit of or happiness by the laws of or the na nation nation tion Uon and tho the state why should not the negro be given the same protection The white is given a trial when accused ac ae accused the negro too often is executed without trial and without law The white works for tor whom he will without compulsion or restraint the negro in inmany Inmany Inmany many localities Js is in virtual slavery un under und under der d ra a nominal process of law x These are not matters of or social equal equality equalIty equality ity In the sense Tillman talks about nor are they Involved in the discussion discussion of race rule They are matters of at sim elm simple simple pie human justice the justice that all allmen allmen allmen men should be given no matter what the conditions of or social life Ufe or political exigency Senator Tillman has read history and if It he has read it aright he knows the injustice of or the white to the negro is responsible for the greatest war In all time and for the fearful suffering it In Inflicted Inflicted on north and south alike aUke More Moreover Moreover Moreover over if Ir he ho realizes the immutable laws that govern go ern men meri he knows that the white people of ot the south are still pay payIng payIng paying Ing the arrears of Judgment It Is quite as important for the dominant race that justice be done as It is for the negro A people disregarding the law Jaw habitually suffers for it and the sen senators senators senators notion that the law can cnn be defied i and contemned without injury to the is the foundation of or all civil an anarchy anarchy anarchy archy The salvation of or both races in the south lies Ues along the line of toleration evolution education Booker Washing tons exhortation to his own people that they fit themselves for good citizenship by Industry thrift morality Is worth more to the south than a thousand Till Tillman Tillman man a million dollars spent in industrial education for the negro under the leadership of at such men as Washington would be better spent than ten millions in instruments of repression repression repression I sion I It may have been a mistake to con confer conter confer I fer ter the right of suffrage upon the negro people before they could be fitted for forit forIt it ft but it is a still greater mistake to preach the doctrine of Injustice and de defiance defiance defiance fiance of or the law as Tillman does |