KELLY MILLER'S
M0N0GRAPHI6
MAGAZINE
m m
■ m
NO. 2
"The Political Plight
of the Negro"
BY
Prof. KELLY MILLER
A. M. LL. D.
m h
m d
Published, say, once a month, by Kelly Miller, Washington, D.C.
Single Copy 10c
A Book You Must Have.
The most important document growing- out of the fiftieth anniver¬
sary of the Emancipation Proclamation.
The September issue of the Annals of the Academy of Political and
Social Sciences.
"The Negro's Progress in Fifty Years."
CONTENTS:
PART I.
STATISTICAL.
Negro Population in the United States.
Thomas Jesse Jones, Ph. D., Bureau of
Education, Washington, D. C.
PART II.
BUSINESS ACTIVITIES AND LABOR
CONDITIONS.
Professional and Skilled Occupations.
Kelly Miller, LL-D., Dean, Howard Uni¬
versity, Washington, D. C-
Unskilled Labor Conditions.
R. R. Wright, Jr., A. M. E- Book Con¬
cern, Philadelphia, Pa.
Development in the Tidewater Counties of
Virginia.
T. C. Walker, Gloucester Courthouse, Va.
The Negro and the Immigrant in the Two
Americas.
James B. Clarke, New York.
The Tenant System and Some Changes Since
the Emancipation.
Thomas J. Edwards, Dadeville, Ala.
PART III.
SOCIAL CONDITIONS AND PROBLEMS.
Work of the Commission of Southern Univer¬
sities on the Race Question.
Charles Hillman Brough, Ph. D., Professor
of Economics and Sociology, University
of Arkansas.
Fifty Years of Freedom: Conditions in the
Seacoast Regions.
Niels Christensen, Editor and Proprietor
"The Beaufort Gazette," Beaufort, S. C.
Fifty Years of Negro Public Health.
S. B. Jones, M. D., Resident Physician
Agricultural and Mechanical College,
Greensboro, N. C.
Conditions Among Negroes in the Cities.
George Edmund Haynes, Ph. D., Director,
National League on Urban Conditions
Among Negroes.
The Movement for the Betterment of the
Negro in Philadelphia.
John T. Emlen, Secretary and Treasurer
of the Armstrong Association of Phila¬
delphia, Pa.
Problems of Citizenship.
Ray Stannard Baker, Amherst, Mass.
Negro Criminality in the South.
Monroe N. Work, Tuskegee Normal and
Industrial Institute.
Churches and Religious Conditions.
J. J. Watson, Ph. D., Mercer University,
Macon, Ga.
The White Man's Debt to the Negro.
Mrs. J. D. Hammond, Paine College, Au¬
gusta, Ga.
Negro Home Life and Standards of Living.
Robert E. Park, Woliaston, Mass.
Relations of White and Black in the South.
W. D. Weatherford, Ph. D., Nashville,
Tenn.
The Work of the Jeanes and Slater Funds.
B. C. Caldwell, The John F. Slater Fund,
New York.
Negro Organizations.
B. F. Lee, Jr., Field Secretary, Arm¬
strong Association of Philadelphia, Pa.
PART IV.
EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS AND NEED.
Illiteracy in the United States.
J. P. Lichtenberger, Ph.D., Assistant Pro¬
fessor of Sociology, University of Penn¬
sylvania.
Higher Education of Negroes in the United
States.
Edward T. Ware, Ph. D., President, At¬
lanta University, Atlanta, Ga.
Negro Children in the Public Schools of
Philadelphia.
Howard W. Odum, University of Georgia,
Athens, Ga.
Industrial Education and the Public Schools.
Booker T. Washington, LL. D., President,
Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute.
Negro Literature and Art.
W. E. Burghardt Du Bois, New York.
Cloth $1.00; Paper $1.50. Send order to Kelly Miller's Magazine,
Howard University, Washington, D. C.
Kelly Miller's
Monographic Magazine
Copyright, 1913, by Kelly Miller, Washington, D. C.
Vol. I. MAY—1913 No. 2
Published monthly by Kelly Miller, Washington, D. C.
Each issue will contain a comprehensive essay on some
phase of the race question
In this issue
"The Political Plight
of the Negro"
by Kelly Miller
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on orders of 15 or more. Remittance invariably in advance.
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1913
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The Political Plight of the Negro
by KELLY MILLER
FOR the first time since his enfranchisement, the Negro
finds himself freed from the thraldom of party fealty.
The last election all but completely severed the historic
ties which bound the Negro, hand and foot, to the old line
Republican party. It has been estimated that sixty per cent
of the effective colored votes went to the Progressives, while
the remaining forty per cent was about equally divided be¬
tween the Republican and Democratic rivals.
The duration of gratitude, which has been called the
fairest flower that sheds its perfume in the human heart, is
dependent upon mutual appreciation. Its continuance beyond
the point where the benefactor becomes apathetic or un¬
gracious, indicates a spirit of obsequious subserviency. In
the light of subsequent experiences, no one expects the Hebrew
people to remain eternally gratefuul to the Egyptian nation
because a generous-hearted Pharoah at one time rendered that
race a saving service.
It is only the political mummy who yields everlasting
allegiance to the dynasty of the Pharaohs, albeit the ruling
monarch is oblivious of all the ancient obligations to Joseph
and his race.
The party which stood as the Negro's philosopher, guide
and friend, in days gone by, has now lost interest in its ancient
ward. The former generation has passed away; a new issue
has arisen. The ruling Pharaoh knows not Joseph, the black.
To the personnel of the Republican party, at the time when it
wrought mightily in the black man's behalf, his gratitude is
deep and undying; but the debt which he owes to Lincoln,
Sumner, and Stevens, can not be transferred, in perpetuity,
to the political organization through which they wrought. The
Negro has become emancipated from his emancipator and is
now free to seek political affiliation in the light of living
issues. He stands hesitant and be-puzzled amidst formulated
party policies, which attract and repel, with varying intensi¬
ties of force and with undetermined resultant.
The Republican party gave the Negro his freedom, citizen-
Ship, the elective franchise, and whatever measure of civil
4 Kelly Miller's Monographic Magazine
privilege he now enjoys. As long as that party stood flat-
footed upon the foundation principles of its origin, the black
man was bound to support it by every consideration of grati¬
tude and self-interest. On the other hand, just so long as the
Democratic party stood for the negation of every positive
proposition brought forward in his behalf, he was equally
bound to antagonize it from every motive of prudence and self-
respect. But to-day both parties are forgetting the things
that are past, and are shaping their policies to the issues of
the present. No longer does the Republican party find the
basic principle of its creed in the political and civil equality
of all men, nor does the Democratic party seek its chief in¬
centive in antagonizing this doctrine. The issues involved in
the subjugation and annexation of the Philippine Islands called
forth a significant transposition of party preachments. Mu¬
tual inconsistency justified each in accusing the other of
political indirection and duplicity. The Republican party,
formerly committed to the full political status of the black
man at home, was unwilling to apply the doctrine to the
brown man in the Island; the Democratic party, on the other
hand, ardently espoused the political independence of the
brown man in the Oriental seas, though hesitant to recognize
the same privilege for the browner man within our own
gates.
The present-day attitudes of the two parties toward the
Negro, when divested of all artifice and cant, and stated in
simple terms of severe sincerity, can hardly be distinguished.
Broadly speaking, the contending parties do not stand upon
, radically different platforms, advocating wide-apart policies
of government, but are like rival suitors for the hand of gov¬
ernmental control, each seeking to win the victory by what¬
ever plea that may, for the time being, prove most persuasive.
It requires the keenest ingenuity of the political casuist to
point out to the American people any sharply decisive principle
on any vital issue.
For the past half century the Republican party and the
Negro have been under bond of mutual obligation; and it is
hard to say which has been the greater debtor. The situation
and circumstances of the Negro race furnished the motive for
the origin of that party, gave incentive for its initial victories,
and inspiration for its moral grandeur. Ever since his enfrari-
Kelly Miller's Monographic- Magazine 5
chisement the Negro has been a potent positive factor in its
political triumphs. Under normal conditions, the majority of
the white Americans have been steadily opposed to the Re¬
publican party. Without the Negro vote it can hardly calcu¬
late to win in any National election. The older and more
conservative leaders of the party at the recent Chicago Con¬
vention relied upon the black allies to save it from the infusion
of the Progressive spirit, fearing that the old bottle might not
be able to contain the new wine. The Republican party is
not a racial organization. Some extreme advocates claim this
distinction for its Democratic antagonist. In a polychrome
society a monochrome government is tyranny. As the Negro
constitutes an integral part of the American people, he should
also constitute an integral part of the Government which his
necessities help to create, and his contributions help to sustain.
None can refute, and few will be disposed, soberly, to dispute
this proposition. The cry that this is a white man's country,
where the colored man constitutes such an important element,
on logical analysis, proves to be as absurd as to claim that
this is a man's country when the female of the species consti¬
tutes half of its population. It is as short-sighted a policy to
attempt to ignore the element of race as that of sex. The
country belongs to the people now living in it, white and black,
male and female.
During the past half century the Republican party has been
the chief agency in upholding and carrying out the highest
ideals and practical aims of American institutions. As we look
backward in the clear light of sober reflection, it is evident that
had the Democratic party succeeded in its policies and pur¬
pose, this nation could not have attained, nor maintained, the
high degree of excellence it now enjoys. The pitiable official
recognition that has been accorded the Negro by the Repub¬
lican party is grotesquely disproportionate to his strength as
a contributing constituency. Actively or passively, he has
been an essential factor in all of its achievements. The bene¬
fits and blessings which have come to him through the agency
of the Republican party have been fully compensated for by
the service which he has rendered that party, and through it,
the nation as a whole.
The intensity of his attachment and the ardor of his loyalty
have been without parallel in the annals of party fealty. He
6 Kelly Miller's Monographic Magazine
espoused its cause and followed its leading with a blind re¬
ligious zealotism. He did not resort to an intellectual analysis
of his political faith; his feelings sufficed. Why appeal to the
intellect when guided by the impulse of the heart? To the
Negro in the earlier days of its moral virility, the Republican
party was not an instrument to be used, but an idol to be
worshiped. Frederick Douglass, who caught the political
inspiration of his day, and formulated it into a policy for his
race, taught the black man that "The Republican party is the
ship; all else is the sea." It was the one kindly light shining
amidst the encircling gloom. Deep and bitter was the Negro's
disillusionment when he was forced to suspect the validity of
his faith in the party of his troth. He was dumfounded at
the sudden coldness and indifference of the idol of his loyalty
and his love. Ordinarily, slighted affliction is sore to abide,
and changes the firmest friendship into fiercest enmity; but
not so with the Negro. Although the Republican party proved
apostate to its pristine professions, he still followed its fortunes
through force of inertia, and the promptings of prudence. Mis¬
treated in the house of his friend, he found none other that
afforded shelter or protection. The situation was pitiable and
precarious, and made him think rather of the ills he had than
fly to those he knew not of. The aphorism of Mr. Douglass
that the Republican party is the ship and all else is the sea,
has been amended by a more recent political philosopher, with
the observation that the ship is on fire, and the Negro must
elect either to remain on board and die in the flames or jump
overboard and try conclusions with the waves.
For the past twenty years the Negro's allegiance to the party
of his first love has been in the spirit of self-immolation, with
a plea of the rejected suitor; "though you slay me (or permit
me to be slain), yet will I serve you."
The trend of modern political thought and method is
towards economic interests, rather than human rights. The
"Grand Old Party" derived its appellation and its chief glory
from espousing the cause of the weak and the helpless, some
two generations ago. But to-day its energies are devoted to
practical issues involved in the problems of industrial and
economic progress. • If it has not repudiated, it has at least
ignored the former principles which brought it into being.
The shift of emphasis from human to property interests may
Keixy Miller's Monographic Magazine 7
indeed be inevitable in view of the loud economic demands
of the age, but it is hard to make the black beneficiary, who
misses his former benefaction, appreciate the inevitability.
The Negro has never studied deeply the complex problems
of government. He knows little of the intricacies of the tangle
of political and economic science. The complex problems in¬
volved in taxes, tariff, trade and transportation, regulation and
control of trusts, mean little more to him than rival theories
in chemistry or astronomy. His interest in politics is limited
almost wholly to the moral issue, as related to human rights.
He responds by a sure and unfailing instinct to the funda¬
mental appeals to the inalienable rights of man, as in the
water face answereth to face. Place the doctrine of human
rights at the top of any political document, and the Negro
cares little for the economic doctrines written underneath.
This has always been, and will always be, the attitude of any
class laboring under the heavy burden of oppression.
More than a quarter of a century ago the party of Lincoln,
Sumner, and Stevens began to feel that the black man's burden
was growing too heavy for its shoulders to sustain. At first
the party's Confession of Faith contained the strongest decla¬
ration concerning the political status of the newly-made
citizen. But each succeeding quardrennial avowal grew fainter
and fainter, fading into an inaudible whisper, preliminary to
its final disappearance. The omission of all reference to the
claims of the Negro in the last Republican platform does great
credit to the candor of that party at the expense of its cun¬
ning. So long were these meaningless asservations inserted
to beguile the simple-minded black voter, that they were
finally left out for the very shame of it. It is hard to see how
the party manipulators could meet in the street without
laughing in each others' face at the easy gullibility of the
Negro. But, after all, the black man is not so easily dupable
as the crafty politician was led to suppose. He makes believe
very much more than he really believes. His following of the
party for prudential reason has long survived his faith in it.
The traditional attitude of the Democratic party and the
Negro has been that of hostility and distrust. The Republican
party, shrewdly enough, has striven to foster and perpetuate
this feeling as a valuable political asset. In a democratic
form of government, it is suicidal for any dependent class of
8 Kelly r Miller's' Monographic Magazine
citizens to ally themselves permanently with one party, so as
to engender lasting hostility of its rival. In the fluctuation of
political fortune the other party will at some time gain con¬
trol, when the self-estranged class will be the victim of re¬
prisal and despite. Temporary affiliation may be necessary in
order to accomplish certain definite ends; but permanent
allegiance can only lead to ultimate disaster. The women
suffragists will, in all probability, ally themselves, for the
time being, with that party which seems most favorable to
their propaganda, but when the principles have become firmly
established they will wisely exercise the undisputable right to
support the best men and measures, regardless of party
affiliation.
In a country of many-sided relations and activities, no one's
politics should be predetermined by his race, his sex, or his
religion. The Negro will nevfer reach the fullness of the
stature of political manhood as long as he remains an unde-
tachable co-efficient of the Republican party. Much of the
hardship to which he has been subjected has been due to his
one-sided political adherence. The political reaction which
set in so violently against him on the overthrow of Republican
government in the South, gained impulse and vehemence by
reason of his political solidarity. In the absence of some
compelling issue, it is wise for the Negro to make friends with
both parties, so that when the one fails, the other will receive
him into its habitation.
Grover Cleveland did much to liberalize the spirit of the
Democratic party and to free the Negro's mind from the dread
of its national success. Up to that time the Negro was led
to believe that the .triumph of that party meant the undoing
of all that had been accomplished, and remanding him to a
position of virtual slavery. But, as a matter of fact, the black
man did not suffer the loss of a single national right or
privilege under his two administrations. Indeed, the recog¬
nition which Mr. Cleveland showed the race was out of all
He made it possible for the Negro to support the national
■proportion to the political support which he received from it.
triumph of that party without sacrificing his racial self-respect.
The relation of the two great parties with the Negro has,
from the first, been coincident with lines of geographical
cleavage. Political alignments have followed closely divisions
:■ KELLVVMIIXEK'S ' Moi^Mi'RAFHic. .-Magazine :: 9
&£ latitude! '.Tire Republrcan party, sor farias: the-whitie.mee is
•concerned, has'always beema loyal-party. :i It represents, the
majority- of ■ the white citizens-1 of :the; North against' practical
solidarity of the'white race in: the South.- Its "strength in. the
far Southern" States consists::of-the fag-end:of the.-.carpeWbag
contingent, reinforced r.by more, recent.immigration from the
North, with a very slight sprinkling of men of genuine native
birth.In. these States the white Republican contingent can
generally be guaged by :the: number of Federal offices to-be
filled.. On the other hand, the Democratic party consists of the
almost solid strength of the white race in the South, with a
strong-militant minority, which often becomes a majority in
the other States of the Union. In the distribution of its ele¬
ments-it can justly lay higher claim to be called the national
party, looking at the question solely from the white man's
point of view. The Negro has been the uniting element that
has redeemed the Republican party from the reproach of a
local organization, and made it national, both in range and in
spirit. This race has all but universally favored and followed
the party of the North. The anti-slavery crusade developed
in the North against the pro-slavery obsession of the South;
the one upheld the cause of liberty and union; the other was
devoted to secession and slavery; the one imbibed the spirit of
progress; the other, that of reaction; the one stood for the
rights of man, the other for the .arrogance of race. The
Negro's cause was caught up in the vortex of the whirlwind of
patriotic fervor, sweeping from the higher latitudes and lash¬
ing itself against the barriers of the lower tiers of States. The
Republican party rode triumphant on the storm, while the
Democratic party bore the brunt of its fury. Sections and
parties for the time being became connotative, like up and
down in ethics; the North was snyonymous with patriotism;
the South with disloyalty. To the mind of the uncritical Negro,
the North and the Republican party were one and inseparable
in advocacy of all his political and civil rights, while the South
and Democracy were united in the bonds of iniquity to antag¬
onize his progress. And yet, the Southern white man's atti¬
tude toward the political status of the Negro has always been
determined by circumstances of racial situation rather than
from any abstract theory of government. His political tenets
are the outcome of circumstances and environment rather than
lo Kelly Miller's Monographic Magazine
of any inherent principle of the Democratic creed. The differ¬
entiating principle, which lies deeper than lines of political
division, is that communities with heavy Negro population are
hostile to political equality, while those with thinly scattered
numbers are eithef friendly or indifferent to that proposition.
There is no psychological division of the white race determina¬
tive of the status of the black, member within their midst. In
the North the Democratic party not only professes, but gives
effective expression to its profession of cordial disposition
towards the full citizenship status of the black man and
brother. In such States the security of the civil and politi¬
cal rights of the Negro are as safe in the keeping of one party
as in the other. In the municipal government in such cities
as New York, Boston and Chicago, the Negro has generally
been able to secure fuller official recognition from the Demo¬
cratic party than from the Republican rival. The majority of
the colored voters in these cities usually follow the fortunes of
that party in purely local elections. In the City of New York
there is a single Negro Democratic organization, with a mem¬
bership of over six thousand voters. This organization is
recognized by the victorious party in the distribution of pa¬
tronage on the basis of the number of votes contributed to the
general result.
On the other hand, the Republican party in the South is
assuming the same attitude towards the Negro as the Demo¬
cratic party in that section. The declared policy of "lily
whites" is to eliminate the Negro from participation in the
organization of the Republican party, which they assert must
remain wholly in the hands of a monochrome management. In
Virginia and North Carolina, where the Republican party has
a considerable native white basis and shows some sign of local
vitality, the Negro is, to all intents and purposes, as com¬
pletely eliminated as he is from the Democratic party in those
States.
The Negro, not unnaturally, expresses dread of National
triumph of the Democratic party, because the Southern ele¬
ment has been loudest and bitterest in denunciation of his
political claims; but it must be remembered that the South
constitutes less than one-third of the total population. It is
a gradually lessening factor in our numerical equation. Even
with a solid South, it is impossible for the Democratic party
Kelly Miller's Monographic Magazine it
to gain National control without the aid of a strong reinforce¬
ment from the North.
The majority of President Wilson's electoral votes, as well
as that of the Democratic membership of the present House
of Representatives, came from the Northern and Western
States.
The Northern Democrats have about the samfc attitude
towards the rights of the Negro as the Republicans of that
section. They always have been, and will likely continue, to
be disproportionately influential in the deliberations of the
party council, because they speak with a voice of the most
populous and powerful States, and represent the feelings and
convictions of the more vigorous and progressive element of
the nation. They can not be easily induced to join the South¬
ern brother in radical reaction against the rights of the black
man. This bifurcated party has always been duly deferential
to this Northern branch. No man of avowed Southern atti¬
tude has ever been nominated for the Presidency. It is signifi¬
cant that those who have been loudest in denying political
equality to the Negro have had little or no influence in the last
two National Democratic Conventions. Locally, they are
already triumphant, so far as the Negro issue is concerned,
with the Republican party in full Federal control. Nationally,
they will hardly be more effective with their own party in
power. Opposing the supposition that the national triumph
of the Democratic, party would embolden the Southern ex¬
tremist to nationalize their Negro policies, stands the practical
certainty that the sobering responsibility of power will dispose
the victorious party to uphold the highest traditions of the
Nation and to vindicate its moral reputation in the eyes of the
world.
The evils of which the Negro complains, in so far as con¬
cerns governmental action, local or national, may be classi¬
fied under the following heads:
(1) Failure to enforce the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amend¬
ments to the Federal Constitution,^
(2) The effective disfranchisement of the Negro by revised
State Constitutions;
(3) "Jim Crow" cars in local and interstate travel;
(4) Lawlessness and lynching;
(5) Racial segregation.
^&Sfi^--.M'ittSRiSAMQN66RAp-i3:rc."MAGazENfe
■ - Moi^ 'of^thfe'sfe- evils larer.likely:tor be promoted* .'of! tefcifded
by the success or failure of either of the. outstanding; political
jiaYtie^ 'The Fourteenth • aad -Fifteenth ^ Amendment's -tt© I'the
'C&nStitutio'rt'-Will 'neither be'.enforced .'nor. repealed by either;
buttheir: annulment' will "be tacictly: acquiesced: in' by'-'both.-
The constitutionality of the Grandfather Clause, and. other,
dunning- devices!,' and'tricky contrivances in the revised: con-
situation's of- the South, are as likely to be held valid: by'the'
decision of the Supreme Court; whether its personnel.-is de¬
termined by ^' Republican or Democratic administration:.' Jim'
Crow cars for interstate traffic have been sanctioned by the
Republican Interstate'Commerce Commission. The unabashed
lyncher,-wreaking" vengeance'upon the helpless Negro, shakes
his red finger of' defiance in the face of the courts and laughs
at the nullity of the law. Race segregation regulating the
metes and bounds of the black man's habitation grows apace.
All of these evils have grown up and thriven like a green bay
tree, while the Republican party was in full control of all of
the agencies and powers of the Federal Government.
It is true that no Republican State has ever enacted any such
iniquitous laws and regulations, nor could it do so without self-
stultification. Such action would not only lead to its disad¬
vantage, but its undoing. The North has always enjoyed the
moral reputation on the race issue, growing out of its geo¬
graphical situation. This was true as respects its attitude
towards the institution of slavery. It is equally true with
respect to the present issue. It would be more accurate to say
that no Northern State, rather than no Republican State, has
enacted hostile Negro regulations, for neither the Democrats
nor Republicans, when in control of this section, have indulged
in such enactments. But while the general moral attitude of
the Republican party has not been hostile to the Negro, yet
it has been so impotent and passive as to have no effective
influence on the local situation. It has been rather in the
passive voice, subjunctive mood, and imperfect tense. It has
not been effective in checking reactionary legislation in a
single Southern State. It has played the role of a passive
friend, who expresses regret at seeing the Negro mistreated,
but is too indifferent to interfere with or stop that mistreat¬
ment. Such a friend is of very little help in the time of trouble
In such a predicament the Negro may not unnaturally be ex-
pect^d.to make tse-r|ii§.with.;the erstwhile,spigro^^.i:,to ^ek;th,e
allegiance„ofr.the,:pq.rty that.wojyld be. .a-friend in. d&ed a§.wejl
as in-.n.arrie. . ,... " ,, - ^ :■. , •
, The. political status of the Ne.grp is also determined by his
geographical distribution. In thg.ol^ free, States,.of the .North
there is a Negro voting population of about three hundred
thousand: Here the race is secure in the free and uritrammeled
exercise of the suffrage by mutual consent and'support'df btith
political parties. 'For" this' reason; twenty thousaild Negro
voters in Indiarfa have more effective weight than two'hundred
thousand potential 'oiies in Georgia. It seems that thd effect¬
iveness of the black man's vote depends upon the distanced of
its removal from the center of mass of the race. By ia nice
poetic compensation the Negro vote in the North is so pivot-
ally distributed among the States as to constitute" a determina¬
tive factor in our National elections. It may thus react im¬
portantly upon the political conditions of the race in the South.
In the border States of Maryland, West' Virginia, Ken¬
tucky and Missouri, where there is a strong native white Re¬
publican basis, political victory fluctuates between the oppos¬
ing parties. These States contain about two hundred thousand
Negro voters, whose solid support is essential to Republican
success. In these States this party is bi-racial in its constitu¬
tion, though not always so in the complexion of its manage¬
ment. This Negro vote is not fully free, but is constrained to
adhere to the Republican party by reason of a constant threat
of the Democrats to enact hostile racial laws. This policy
grows out of a spirit of reprisal and the hope of perpetuating
Democratic rule, rather than from any inherent race antipathy
beyond that shown by the white element of the rival party.
Those who claim that the Negro should be eliminated from
politics because his participation is detrimental to the general
welfare, will find their position fully refuted by the experience
of the semi-Southern States. In no instance can it be shown
that the triumph of the Republican party, based upon Negro
support, has lowered the influence and power of a State in the
national councils, or impaired its internal progress.
In the far South, where the great bulk of the race resides,
two million potential Negro voters are completely disfran¬
chised. They do not exercise the slightest influence upon the
choice of m^onal or local officers. The intendment of the
14 Kelly Miller's Monographic Magazine
last two amendments to the Constitution is completely an¬
nulled. The potentiality of the Negro population in the Con¬
gressional representation and in the Electoral College is ex¬
ploited by his political adversaries as a weapon that may be
snatched from the weaker man and turned against its owner.
The potentiality of the Negro vote is still recognized in the
national nominating convention of the Republican party. The
use of this power up to the present time has not served to im¬
press upon the nation that the privilege has advanced the
political prospects of the race. Southern delegates do not
pretend to represent the sentiment of the mass of the people,
but merely the wish and interest of the office-holding bosses,
entrenched behind the breastwork of Federal spoils. The
South is regarded as the hunting ground for the delegate
seeker, because the actual basis is so flimsy that the claims
of one set of delegates can always be made to appear as valid
as that of another. Such instruction as they are accustomed
to receive has no more binding force, either in morals or sound
public policy, than a coil of smoke.
Under the policy of President Taft, to exclude the Negro
from Federal office in the South, these two million Negro
voters would speedily lose the last vestige of political power,
even in nominating conventions. A race which is not deemed
eligible to hold public office in the community in which it
resides, will certainly not be considered fit to conduct or con¬
trol local political organizations. The elimination from office,
which is the logical result of Mr. Taft's policy, means speedy
elimination from politics. The sixty-six Negro delegates, who
stood for the renomination of President Taft at Chicago, voted,
consciously or otherwise, not only for their own political doom,
but for that of the two million voters whose exponent they
were supposed to be. Bryan, at Baltimore, grasped the
exigencies of the situation and transcended his instructions
imposed by a sovereign constituency. Had these sixty-six
Negro delegates risen to the high level of race statesmanship
and sagacity, and burst asunder the rotten cords of technical
instruction imposed by a handful of tricky Federal office-hold¬
ers, and voted for the man whom the Republican party,
through its free suffrage had demanded, the fate of that party,
as well as the political fortune of the Negro race, would now,
Kelly Miller's Monographic Magazine *5
■indeed, be different to relate. But, alas, for the lack of political
sagacity and comprehension at that critical hour I *
But a new party has sprung up out of the West, startling
the nation with the suddenness of its emergence and the lusti¬
ness of its appeal. We are reminded of the origin of the Re¬
publican party half a century ago, only the present basis, while
npt quite so intensive, is broader and more comprehensive.
The acting principle of that propaganda was based upon the
interests of a section and the wrongs of a race; the motive for
the modern movement grows out of the welfare of the rank and
file of the nation regardless of race, sex or section. The spirit
of the Progressive party, like that of its Republican prototype,
places human rights above material value. It believes that the
ideal of liberty, equality, fraternity, is still to be hoped for as
a reasonable reality. It is the expression of the moral energy
of a people, whose altruistic devotion freed the slave and saved
the nation. This movement, as one ofi its great leaders has
told us, grows from the grass roots, and demands social jus¬
tice and industrial justice. No special plea is made for the
Negro or for any specific class, but its principles are broad-
Tjased and all-embracing, applying alike to all who are heavy-
ladened and overburdened. It might have been well, if this
■movement could have been kept free from the tangled issues
of race. There seems to be little for the Negro to gain by the
direct appeal for the enforcement of regulations intended for
"his special and peculiar benefit. The public conscience has
become immune to such beseechment. Repetition of specific
■complaint, when long understood and unheeded, but hardens
the heart of the modern, as of the ancient Pharaoh. The Negro
will more surely gain full recognition of his human rights and
•citizenship prerogative by identifying his claim with' the
Progressive forces that are moving toward the objective, carry¬
ing all before it with irresistible glacial energy. The whole
is greater than any of its parts. That which applies to the
whole must affect all of its parts. The chief beneficiary of
•general principles are those who need them most. The ex¬
ponent of the Progressive movement is the conservation of
human resources. Enlightened self-interest demands that the
Negro ally himself with the forces that make for righteousness
and that count for the common weal. Any propaganda that
tends to shift the center of benefit from the apex toward the base
li& latr- JffiiiAtate5 MoNb&RA^isrc: MAG/WEN®
©£'"the-Social- pyfamid, brings it. near-er: to a-deyeLofrtheKm&Q'
farthest dow-ri. The gospel of -the tank' and: file/-the righfc.iGf
the people to-rule in their own affairs, the juste demands c>£ the
laborer to participate in the fruits: ofi his toil,'appeal :\£o the
Negro as tidings of great joy. "He is" no whit afrighted by the
alarm of schisms or the cry of anarchy, .or the charge of- 'over-
weaniftg'ambition of its leader. : He will not be put:to; flight
by an epith'et. The Negro, who is a conservative,-'expresses
thereby that he is a simpleton. 'He cannot be satisfied with, the
present status of things. If, under the pressure of his pres¬
ent lot, he fails'to feel the restlessness of a'divine: discontent,
he will thereby prove that he lacks the stuff which■ constitutes-
the true American citizen. Surely he can rely .upon the patri¬
otic judgment of the great rank and file of the American peo¬
ple to avoid the Samsonian folly of involving the whole nation
m social ruin. The new movement has for the time being-
fallen under the leadership of Theodore Roosevelt, a peerless-
personality and matchless leader of men. He is not the origi¬
nator of the Progressive spirit, but has imbibed and embodied
its principles beyond any other living human being. With
impulsive ardor and intensity, native to his character, he now
outruns the older disciples.
At first the Negro flocked to his standard as a candidate for
the Republican nomination on the basis of Progressive policies,,
not less because he appreciated the spirit of the new move¬
ment, than as a rebuke to President Taft for his declared policy
of eliminating him from Federal office. The issue of Browns¬
ville, though not forgotten, was overlooked, as the two con¬
tending rivals were equally involved. In the Northern and
Border States, Roosevelt received easily nine-tenths of the
Negrb vote in the Presidential primary. He would doubtless-
have received a like proportion in the South had there been*
free expression of racial sentiment. The Negro race, practi¬
cally with one voice, without direct emphasis on the race issue,
was ready to join in the Armageddon song. But, alas, the race
issue has no pity for the composure of parties. It was injected
with the suddenness and shock of a shot by a cannon ball. Sev¬
eral Southern States sent to the new convention contesting
delegates, selected on the basis of race. Ont must be chosen
and the other left. The issue was forced upon the attention of
Colonel Roosevelt, who reaches conclusions by an unfailing-
Kelxy, Mielbr's MonoCraphic" Magazine 17
instinct and forces them by impulse. He has visions, but is
not a visionary; he has ideals, but is not an idealist. If he
•dreams at night, he executes the next day. With him politics,
ideally, is a problem of pure ethics; but in actuality, it is a
parallelogram of forces. The pyramid may have its apex in
the air, but its base is in the solid earth. Politics is war, in
which many of the standard regulations of society are laid'
aside under the exigencies of political necessity. Besides all
this, our religion, ethics, and laws, all fail in their logical rigor
and consistency when applied to the race problem in the
South. Roosevelt looks before, and after, with equal range
of vision in both directions. He has political imagination and
can penetrate as far into the future as the ordinary politician
can see into the past. If he seems to become different things at
different times to different men, under different circumstances,
it is only in order that he might promote his ultimtae aim of
social salvation. An aristocrat by lineage and rearing, he has
become the tribune of the people; he is a Southerner in the
South, and a Northerner in the North, but an American every¬
where. If he adopts some of the measures and methods of the
Socialists, it is only to save the nation from socialism. Mili¬
tant by instinct and outgivings, he holds the Nobel prize for
promoting the peace of the world. If the rich man follows in
his train, it is not in order that he might sacrifice, but safe¬
guard his riches. If the erstwhile boss is attracted by his
personality and preachments, it is only that he may be weaned
from the evil of bossism and turn his talents to wise and salu¬
tary leadership. Although Mr. Roosevelt may appear to agree
with his adversary, in the end it will be found that the adver¬
sary is in agreement with him. If he seems to be catering to
the white South, it is only that he might lead the South into
the larger vision. While there may seem to be madness in
his method, there is method in his seeming madness. To the
man of superficial judgment and short-sighted vision, it
seemed that Mr. Roosevelt belied the gospel which he so
lustily preached by denying its application to the people who
needed it most. The politician is not likely to offend any ele¬
ment of the people whose support is essential to the success
of his project. Compromise is a handy tool for the practical
statesman or crafty politician, but it is a dangerous instrument
for the preacher of moral regeneration. But with more than
18 Kelly Miller's Monographic Magazine
Pauline facility, Roosevelt becomes all things to all men, in
order that he might win them to the right view of things.
His method is redeemed from the reproach of charlatanism
and demagogy only by an underlying moral consistency often¬
times too deep-seated for casual discovery.
Mr. Roosevelt believes that there can be no hope for the
political rights of the Negro in the South unless there is de¬
veloped an opposition party, with persistence, energy and
courage to compete with the Democratic adversary for local
control. Whether or not his policy will accomplish this result
may give rise to honest doubt and difference of, opinion. But
there can be neither doubt nor difference of opinion concerning
the effect of the prevalent policies of the Republican and Dem¬
ocratic parties. The Democratic party, o£ course, will not
foster opposition in a field where it has for so long exercised
uncontested sway. On the other hand, forty years of failure
clearly evinces the futility of the Republican method. This
party has grown so feeble and ineffectual that it no longer
places a local opposition ticket in the field. South Carolina
sent eighteen delegates to the Chicago nominating convention,
every one of whom voted for the successful nominee. In the
ensuing election this State cast less than 500 votes for the
Republican ticket. This is a fair sample of political conditions
in the South under the manipulation of the Republican regime.
If this policy should continue for the next forty years it would
not add one inch to the black man's political stature. Mr.
Roosevelt sees that at present in the South, the Democratic
party is composed of one race and the Republican party of the
other. Both fail utterly to meet the just political needs of the
situation. The Progressive party must be composed of both
races, in all sections of the country. He deems white leader¬
ship in the South best calculated for the present to promote
this end. But the door of hope is still left ajar. Let it be
granted that this policy is not ideal. Who has proposed a
better?
The colored race, naturally enough, was aggrieved and stood
stunned and sorrowful. When the feelings are aroused, there
is no time for sober analysis. Coming, as it did, in the midst of
a heated campaign, the politician raised the loudsome cry of
hostility, and besought the race to return to the Republican
party, notwithstanding its apostacy and indifference. The
Kelly Miller's Monographic Magazine 19
whole Progressive propaganda, by this pronouncement, seemed
to be materially weakened in the strength of-its moral appeal.
The chain of consistency seemed suddenly to snap, or at least
to slip a cog, when applied to the man farthest down. The
battle cry of Armageddon can hardly become a clear, clarion
call to the conscience, like the Battle Hymn of the Republic,
unless it applies to all of God's human creatures. How can the
devotee of the new evangel shout this battle cry without
quake of voice and qualm of conscience, unless it includes the
least of these?
But the movement is more than the man. Not even Mr.
Roosevelt, even if he so desired, can shunt the evoked spirit
of progress from its destined end. We can no more limit
political progress or shut it up in air-tight racial compart¬
ments than we can so restrict science, or culture, or religion.
The Negro cannot afford to reject the Christian religion be¬
cause some distinguished ecclesiast may misinterpret and mis-
apply the doctrine of the brotherhood of man. The gospel of
progressiveness, like the tidings of salvation, will pursue its
onward way till all the sons of want are blessed.
Thus the black man stands amidst the erstwhile hostility of
the Democratic party, the hypocrisy of the Republican party
and the disappointing frankness of the Progressives.
The results of the recent election have but emphasized the
tendencies herein set forth. The Democratic party has swept
the nation with a triumphant victory. The Republican party
has been defeated and demoralized almost beyond recovery.
The Progressives have sprung up as if by magic, and become
one of two great competing parties in the republic. The
Republican party has little hope of redemption, except such
as usually lies in the anticipated failures and blunders of its
Democratic antagonist. The old-time faction of the party lacks
the recuperative power inherent in moral health and energy.
The young aggressive manhood of the nation, which faces the
east and the rising sun, is found alligned for the most part
with its Progressive or Democratic rivals. Its manipulation
is left in the hands of the bosses of a departing generation,
who have had their way and must shortly cease to be. To
complete the climax of demoralization, this grand old party of
high moral pretensions was charged with the theft of the
Presidential nomination before the grand jury of the American
20 :Kelly. Miller's Monographic Magazine
people, who, in the recent election, returned a true bill of in¬
dictment.
The only plea which it makes for its own rejuvenation is its
reverential adherence to the traditions and theories of bygone
times. It harks back to the Constitution, but not to the latest
addenda to that document, the Fourteenth and Fifteenth
Amendments, which made it a charter of liberty, indeed. The
appeal which such a party, in such a plight, can make to the
Negro, is feeble almost beyond the point of audibility. If the
dry bones of the old party is to live again and be clothed with
flesh, and blood, and power, the old body must be inoculated
with the germs of Progressivism. If the two warring factions
are to unite in one triumphant party, the decadent faction will
furnish the requisite efficiency and skill in political organiza¬
tion, while the Progressive element will supply the quickening
spirit.
The Negro's future attitude towards the Democratic party
will depend largely upon developments of the next four years.
As Mr. Taft magnanimously pointed out, President Wilson
is in a fortunate position to handle the race problem. By rea¬
son of his birth and traditions, he has ready access to the
sources of influences and power in the South. He is a man
of enlightened judgment, broad human sympathies, and patri¬
otic impulse. If this party, in the full flush of power, will deal
with this problem in a broad national spirit; if it will not
further humiliate the black man by enacting hostile racial
legislation, and by fostering hostile racial sentiment; if it will
deal sympathetically, and not despitefully, with ten million
American citizens, as an integral part in every feature and
function of the Federal Government; if Mr. Wilson will carry
out his fine declaration, to treat the Negro with patriotic and
Christian consideration and regard—then his party may hope
to win the Negro from much of his received animosity, and
attach many of them to its permanent political fortune.
The Progressive principles, under whatever party guise they
may appeal, however, hold out the chief hope to this race.
If it will persist in its high moral purpose, and complete its
imperfect organization, and gather up the scattered fragments
of the old Republican organization, not hopelessly bound to'
thej idols of the dead past, it will thus present an appeal that
will be irresistible, not only to the Negro, but to all who
want and work for hope.
Kelly Miller's Monographic Magazine 21
In any event, the black man's political emancipation is
now complete. Never again will he be regarded as an unde-
tachable coefficient of any political party. He will hereafter
cast his vote, just as the white man casts his vote, according
to local conditions, personal preference and judgment, and
according to the men and measures involved in the campaign.
Some, through tradition and enertia, will cling to the party
of their first choice; some with hope of assuaging the ancient
adversary while he is in the way, will support the Democratic
party; while some, I think, the gerater part, will find their
chief hope in the new Progressive movement.
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HOWARD UNIVERSITY
Washington, D. C.
A University for the education of youth in the
Liberal Arts and Sciences"
National in Aim and Scope—
Competent Faculties—
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Up-tc-^late Course?.
Student body of Fifteen Hundrt from thirty-eight1'siates
and nine foreign countri s.
Local advantages of residence in the National Capitol.
ACADEMIC DEPARTMENT?.
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I. The College of Arts and Sciences Kelly M^ler, A. IS(I.
Dean
n. The Teachers' Colleges L. B. Moore, Ph. D., Dean
III1. The Conservatory of Music Lulu V. Childers, B. M.,
Director
IV. The Academy George J. Cummings, A. M., Dean
V. The Commercial College George W. Cook, A.M., Dean
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PROFESSIONAL DEPARTMENTS.
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III. The School of Law Benjamin F. Leighton, LLD., Dean
Stephen M. Newman, A. M., D. D., President
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Edwards L. Parks, A. M., Treasurer