UNITED STATES. 



75,3 



rights. How much remains to be obtained you know 

 too well in the experience of life. Can a respectable 

 colored citizen travel on steamboats or railways, or 

 public conveyances generally, without insult on ac- 

 count of color ? Let Lieutenant-Governor Dunn, of 

 Louisiana, describe his journey from New Orleans 

 to Washington. Shut out from proper accommoda- 

 tions in the cars, the doors of the Senate Chamber 

 opened to him, and there he found the equality which 

 a railroad conductor had denied. Let our excellent 

 friend, Frederick Douglass, relate his melancholy 

 experience, when, within sight of the Executive 

 mansion, he was thrust back from the dinner-table 

 where his brother commissioners were already seated. 

 You know the outrage. I might ask the same ques- 

 tion with regard to hotels, and even common schools. 

 An hotel is a legal institution, and so is a common 

 school. As such each must be for the equal benefit 

 of all. Now, can there be any exclusion from either 

 on account of color? It is not enough to provide 

 separate accommodations for colored citizens, even 

 if in all respects as good as those of other persons. 

 Equality is not found in an equivalent, but only in 

 equality. In other words, there must be no discrim- 

 ination on account of color. The discrimination is 

 an insult and a hinderance, and a bar ; which not only 

 destroys comfort and prevents equality, but weakens 

 all other rights. 



The right to vote will have new security when 

 your equal right in public conveyances, hotels, and 

 common schools, is at last established ; but here you 

 must insist for yourselves by speech, by petition, 

 and by vote. Help yourselves, and others will help 

 you also. The Civil Eights law needs a supplement 

 to cover such cases. This defect has been apparent 

 from the beginning, and, for a long time, I have 

 striven to remove it. I have a bill for this purpose 

 now pending in the Senate. Will not my colored 

 fellow-citizens see that those in power shall no longer 

 postpone this essential safeguard? Surely, here is 

 an object worthy of effort. 



Nor has the Eepublican party done its work until 

 this is established. Is it not better to establish all 

 our own people in the enjoyment of equal rights be- 

 fore we seek to bring others within the sphere of 

 our institutions to be treated as Frederick Douglass 

 was on his way to the President from St. Domingo ? 

 It is easy to see that a small part of the means, the 

 energy, and the determined wul spent in the expedi- 

 tion to St. Domingo, and in the prolonged war-dance 

 about that island, with menace to the black Eepublio 

 of Haytij would have secured all our colored fellow- 

 citizens in the enjoyment of equal rights. Of this 

 there can be no doubt. 



Among the cardinal objects in education which 

 must be insisted on must be equality, side by side 

 with the alphabet. It is in vain to teach equality if 

 you do not practise it. It is in vain to recite the 

 great words of the Declaration of Independence if 

 you dp not make them a living reality. What is les- 

 son without example ? As all are equal at the ballot- 

 box, so must all be equal at the common school. 

 Equality in the common school is the preparation 

 for equality at the ballot-box; therefore do I put 

 this among the essentials of education. 



In asserting your own rights you will not fail to 

 insist upon justice to all, under which is necessarily 

 included purity in the government. Thieves and 

 money-changers, whether Democrats or Eepublicans, 

 must be driven out of our temple. Tammany Hall 

 and the Eepublican self-seekers must be overthrown. 

 There should be n'o place for either. Thank God, 

 good men are now coming to the rescue 1 Let them, 

 while uniting against corruption, insist upon equal 

 rights for all, and also the suppression of lawless 

 violence, wherever it shows itself, whether in the 

 Ku-klux Klan outraging the South, or ill icit Bunder- 

 takings outraging the black Republic of Hayti. 



To these inestimable objects add specie payments, 

 and you will have a platform which ought to be ac- 

 cepted by the American people. Will not our col- 

 VOL. xi. 43 A 



ored fellow-citizens begin this good work? Let 

 them at the same time save themselves and save the 

 country. These are only hints which I submit to 

 the convention, hoping that its [irococdiiiL's will tend 

 especially tc the good of the colored race. Accept 

 my thanks and best wishes, and belicv<- mo faith- 

 fully jours, CHARLES 



A number of conventions, for the purpose 

 of securing female suffrage, were held during 

 the year. They presented a uniform charac- 

 ter, with very little change in the persons who 

 were the prominent actors in each. The fol- 

 lowing resolutions brought before a Female 

 Convention in Baltimore, on December 7th, 

 express the objects for which all of the con- 

 ventions were held : 



Whereas, Governments derive their just powers 

 from the consent of the governed, of whom women 

 constitute a part ; and 



Whereas, All political power inheres in the people, 

 of whom women constitute a part ; and 



Whereas, Taxation without representation is tyr- 

 anny, and women are taxed as well as men : there- 

 fore 

 Resolved* That women are rightfully entitled to vote. 



Resolved, That a disfranchised class is always an 

 oppressed class, and suffrage is the only guarantee 

 of equal rights for woman, and it means " a fair day's 

 wages for a fair day's work," equal education 2 equal 

 opportunities, equal laws for husband and wife, for 

 father and mother, for widower and widow. 



Resolved, That woman suffrage, which means equal- 

 ity in the home, means therefore greater purity, con- 

 stancy, and permanence in marriage ; that the har- 

 monious cooperation of men and women is alike 

 essential to a happy home, a refined society, a Chris- 

 tian Church, and a Republican State. 



A Convention of the Heads of Police Depart- 

 ments and Chiefs of Police of the Cities of the 

 United States was held in St. Louis, on Octo- 

 ber 24th. Of the business of the convention, 

 the following reports, which were adopted, 

 are entitled to notice : 



The report on Industrial Schools for Aban- 

 doned and Destitute Youth, the principal fea- 

 ture of which was that Congress should estab- 

 lish National Industrial Schools, giving public 

 lands therefor; each school to be located on 

 lands given ; the land to be inalienable ; each 

 State, by its Legislature, to be the actuary 

 of the grant, etc. 



The report of the Detective Committee rec- 

 ommended the Legislatures of the various 

 States to adopt a uniform code of criminal 

 law, giving full power to the officers of one 

 county to pursue and arrest criminals in any 

 county in the State, and advised detectives 

 throughout the country to cooperate for the 

 purpose of detecting crime. AVhen felony is 

 committed in one city, immediate notification' 

 should be made to the chiefs of police in other- 

 cities, and the whereabouts of all criminals 

 and professional thieves be communicated to 

 all detectives. 



The report on the social evil question eli- 

 cited a long discussion, and was finally adopted, 

 declaring that the social evil problem, to be 

 solved practically, must be removed from the 

 exclusive domain of the moralist ; that, if it 

 cannot be eradicated as a fact, its evils can be 

 mitigated by police surveillance, and the vie- 



