: E 185 .61 .N276 Copy 1 * A. A-' 1 ^ ,^ _^ V %>. * o * o ' o,^ , w ; o > ^1 s r. ^0* o o o >°v 4 o * or ^ ^ .0 •\o> ** ^ False Friends are More Dangerous than Open Opponents" THE CASE AGAINST Tart and Roosevelt From the standpoint of the Colored Voters Pamphlet No. 8 ISSUED BY The National Independent Political League Headquarters: Lewis Bld'g. Cor. 6th & Louisiana Ave. N. W, WASHINGTON, D. C. Our Mission: "The Political Emancipation of the Colored man in America' - EXCEPT the so-called "money barons," all the people have good grounds for rejecting both Taft and Roosevelt, but the Colored people have special reasons of their own- In their general principles of action — and also of non-action — so far as Colored people are concerned, these two, Taft and Roooevelt, are very much alike. In the first place; both of them heve bid for us, and they think bought us, for fools or children. Mr. Taft in his Greensboro address specifically referred tousas ki political children/ 1 He followed that up by openly announcing, in his inaugural address, a policy, which carried out,. would mean, that the people of our race, particular!}^ the eight millions who live in the South, would be shut out from even~ place of honor and trust and worth-while emolument, under the Government. And } T et, this man stood on a political plat- form, one plank of which was an affirmation of special friendship for the Colored race and a pledge to maintain and enforce the War Amendments, which, as ever3 T bod} x knows, were intended to prevent just such discrimi- nation and unfairness as Mr. Taft's announced policy would perpetuate and aggravate. Not only did the Republican platform on which Mr. Taft ran contain the usual pledge of spec- ial friendship, but Mr. Taft in his acceptance speech made reference to this plank and made a solemn asservation of his approval of it and of .his intention, "if elected, to live up to it in % 'letter "tad spirlV , Gill •C ^ if £ S Fold-out Placeholder This fold-out is being digitized, and will be in future date. Fold-out Placeholder In Arkansas a similar constitutional'amendment was up for ratification this year, but not a word was heard from Mr. Taft or Mr. Roosevelt or any of the Republican leaders against it. The reason is clear. Arkansas will probably go Democratic whether or not black men continue to vote there. Hence these worthies — our professed guardians — let us fight it out for ourselves, as we did, and with the help of thous- ands of high-principled Democrats in Arkansas, as in Maryland, we won. Roosevelt, taking a leaf from the Taft book, has definitely announced that any amelioration of our condition, especially in the States where we need help the most, is not a part of bis program. That these men have no regard for the opinions of Colored people is evidenced by their acts in other affairs. For example, Roosevelt wines and dines the men, who in contempt of the Supreme Court, permit- ted a colored boy to be lynched in Chattanooga. Taft hastens to pardon men convicted of holding Negroes in peonage. Roth have gone about telling us that our race is ''on trial'' and that we must "prove ourselves" innocent of this and that. Both had a part in the measly treatment that the Colored officers of the Spanish American War received. And last but not least, both have shown contempt for the best and most enlightened opinion of our race by their persistent refusal to seek or to heed any ad- vice or counsel outside the toadying, truckling, time- serving class. And if any of the dwindling few Col- ored men appointed to office by them was not of that class, thev did not know it. pD 1.0. < More and more men are coming to have regard for the character of candidates rather than the past his- tory of parties. It is true that Lincoln, Grant and Sumner were at one time in the Repuhlican party. But the Republican party of that time, in principles and purposes, had little in common with that of Hanna and Harriman, of Roosevelt and Taft. Let any honest, intelligent Colored man make a list, no matter how long, of the disabilities, legal and civic, which vex and beset us and which hinder our progress as a race. Let him check off those which he thinks will be removed or even mitigated by theelect- ion of either of these men. If, as is most probable, he finds none, then let him check off these which were bettered [and add the names of any that were removed] while either Taft or Roosevelt was in power. Let him study the results, and ask himself, what will it profit us to re-elect either? The maxim, "Let well enough alone," can scareJy appl^ to the present situ- ation, so far as we are concerned. It is as morally certain as anything can well be that it is useless or worse to expect any relief from either of these. Have they not been thoroughly tried and found wanting? Is is not time to try another? The men whom the Dem- ocrats have selected to lead their party have been Governors of great states and in public life for years. Search their writings and records. Do you find any rottenness?— any slandering of our race?— any recog- nition of time-servers?— any unfulfilled promises? — in short, any reason to doubt their sincerity? If Repub- lican presidents have prevented their party from do- ingitsduty by us— supposing the party has desired to do it: may not these honorable Christian gentle- men, Gov. Wilson of New Jersey and Gov. Marshal of Indiana, lead their party into the right path — ever) supposing the party does not at present desire to go'! They desire and deserve a trial and ask your help. 6 V a^ V %. *0" ^ '^9- ' ,G** ^6* ^ ' » o S ' <' V V ^ * O H ° «, / V .0 c ° " G « O ST. AUGUSTINE /^S^ FLA. W32084 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS