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Berger has been elected by an increased ma
jority over his first election. His case is
now on appeal to a higher court and if
if goes against him he will go to the peni
tentiary instead of lo Congress. It begins
to look very much like that the' same' de
fiant spirit that re-elected Brger will be a
powerful factor in the next presidential
election. Whether right or wrong mul
tiplied thousands of voters in this country
have' lost confidence in the government and
will vote for the proverbial "yaller clorg',,
if he', she' or it will but promise to strive
to overthrow the existing form of govern
menl ll* Unlet M. Wells, (i. P. Listman,
or some one' else of like' anti-government
stripe is not elected governor of the
State' of Washington them there is noth
ing in the' signs of the time's. If such a
castasthrope is to be' obviated let the
Republicans make' an effort to represent
the' people instead of the corporations and
may perhaps the threatened danger will
he' averted.
If Titlow of Tacoma ever gets in Wilson's
cabinet he will have to suck a higher teat
than the Washington State Democratic or
ganization.
Down in Puyallup, Paulhamus is planning
to jam the city. This is not the first in
stance' Paul has jammed things.
New presidential timber is being con
stantly discovered, the last being Victor Ber
ber of lied! and Damnation party.
Between the financial plunderers and the
union labor bandits former U. S. Senator
Beveridge is of the opinion Uncle Sam has a
mighty slim chance of getting by and he
seems about three-thirds right.
Caldwell's letter seems to us to be a bid
for the support of the Tripple Alliance. If
so, then it's another instance of "anything
to get that pretty liltle coon."
THE PASSING THRONG.
An editorial contributor to the Seattle
Post-Intelligencer is responsible for the
following paragraph:
When Henry R. King, returned from
the' South this fall he told of a Georgia
negro he had met who had nearly been re
lieved of his pulpit by the deacons because
lie persisted em preaching em. "Procrastin
-,7i n .*" It seems according to Mr. King,
that Dr. M. A. Matthewswho also hails
from that section—had been clown there
p "i I" el nn "Predeastination," and
this colored brother had been to hear
him. So, when called before the board of
deacons he orated "in this wise:
"Why, I don't believe you all knows
the meanin' of this here word, Proscras
tination. Didn't you all hear Dr. Mat
thews preach on dat very word at Atlanta
and he' am one' ob de leaders in our church.
Why, Procrastination. Procrastination, dat
am one ob de fundamental doctrines ob de
Presbyterian church."
If yon have ever talked to Mr. King
you would, after reading his bit of pleas
antry at the» expense "of a Georgia Negro,"
be of the' opinion that he was quoting him
self, and endeavoring to palm it off on
his ebony lined mental superior. The color
ed preacher in Georgia that would take it
onto himself to go to hear Dr. Matthews
preach is one of superior mentality and
would go to hear Dr. Matthews, because
he, the' colored preacher, was of like intel
ligence as Dr. Mathews. The colored
preacher of Georgia that would attract such
minds as Henry R. King is unable to read
his own name' in print, hence never, heard
of Dr. Mathews and has no faith what
ever in his white folks religion. Of course
its that class of colored preachers that at
tracts Mr. King as it gives him an oppor
tunity to come West and crack jokes at
his expense. This Mr. King is quite a plana
tation Negro story teller, which, I am
inclined to think, he acquired from constant
association with the illiterate "gals and
boys," down on the farm," and his stories
are always of a humiliating nature. You
never hear of him telling a story of how
colored persons in Georgia have outstrip
ped the poor white trash of that state des
pite the fact that the white people almost
weekly lynch some colored man, woman or
child for no greater excuse than because
they try to act like white folks. You never
hear of Mr. King quoting from some learn
ed colored divine, who is the mental equal
of Dr. Mathews and the mental superior to
himself, but that may be clue to the fact
that, Mr. King is himself too dense to
quote from such a personage."Where ig
norance is bliss 'tis folly to be wise."
Some time ago this same Henry R. King
was invited to speak in the assembly hall
of the Broadway High School and instead
of speaking to the edification of the stu
dents thereof he told vulgar stories about
Negroes of the South, and colored boys
and girls were compelled to listen to the
rot and become the cynosure of all of the
white boys and girls present. Within the
next few days thereafter the principal re
ceived a number of sharp letters from
colored parents, to which he kindly and
gentlemanly responded and apologized for
the insult and promised it would never hap
pen again. Recently this same Henry R.
King has been elected a member of the
school board of Seattle and the head of our
educational system thus black guards a
part of the patrons of the schools, whom he
was elected to uplift. If Mr. King himself
spoke other than in southern jargon his
jokes about the southern Negro might be
a bit more amusing—But, what fools we
mortals be.
Www
Last Monday's Associated Press dispatch
es gave an account of the lynching of a
colored man down in Georgia—an ex-ser
vice man—Who fought in France to make
the world safe for democracy, and he was
lynched because he was suspected of be
ing implicated in the killing of a white
man, but that is nothing new, for Georgia,
it will be remembered, is the breeding
ground for sabbotage committed on color
ed folks by white folks. It was in Georgia
where a colored woman was hung up by
her feet and then disembowled, and the
fetus that fell from her stomache was
stamped to pieces by Christian white men.
It is in Georgia that the lynching record
leads all the other states in this union It
was in Georgia that Henry R. King first
saw the light of day and it was in Geor
gia, that he grew into the habit of hu
miliating colored folks, because public sen
timent in that state favored such a modus
procedure. In all human probability if you
would ask Henry R. King, why the above
Negro was lynched he would reply in his
broken English, because he outraged a
white woman. In Seattle Mr. King runs
a chain of stores for men and I am told
he has a large colored trade. They doubt
less are not aware of the fact that the
owner of those store's is one and the same
man who humiliates them every time he
gets an opportunity."
* * a
As 1919 passes into history it can be
said of the colored citizens of Seattle that
they acquired more real estate during
its existence than they had in all the
years past. Its next to impossible to speak
with exactness of the amount of real estate
they purchased last year or the value there
of, but the' amount is not only in the hun
dreds of thousands of dollars, but even
more, and the craze to grab more is still
on and unless there come an unexpected
lull the amount they will purchase in .1920
will double and then some the amount they
purchased in 1919.
Moralizing for a moment on this real es
tate buying among the colored citizens, and
especially those who have purchased the
greatest amount in Seattle its a freakish
turn of human nature that is difficult to
explain. Had many of them who purchas
ed expensive homes in Seattle last year,
had have been of a like turn of mind ten
years ago, and they were equally qualified
to have done so then as now; and the
spirit to get the dirt abided with them
until now, it is safe to say they would
have by this time owned in and about
Seattle not less than ten million dollars
worth of real estate. You doubtless think
this an exaggeration, but the reason you
think so, if think so you do, is because you
have no idea how many colored persons ac
quired titles to parcels of real estate in
Seattle last year.
The colored man, as a rule, is not com
mercially inclined unless he has large num
bers of colored citizens to draw upon for
trade and this seems especially true of
those living in Seattle. They,' however,
have kept a watchful eye on' the Japan
ese of the city and after comparing the
Japanese with themselves they were not
favorably impressed with the commercial and
financial progress they had made and this
seems to have been the moving spirit that
drove them into the real estate market, for
be it remembered, they have purchased as
much real estate as a business investment
as they have for actual homes. Even
much of the resident properly that have pome
into their possession is now rented and
will continue indefinite so far as they nowr
know. Real estate, in Seattle is more val
uable to one of moderate means than a like
amount of money invested in bank stock.
For an example a colored man purchased
a business corner and paid $12,000 for the
same. He is receiving about $100 per
month rentals for the place, which is poor
ly improved, and at the expiration of the
prseent lease hold the same property will
bring a monthly rental of $200. No bank
stock would give a like dividend on the
actual cash invested. It stands to reason
that the colored person of limited means
will do better to invest his or her money
in real estate than in even high class se
curities. Buy the dirt and you wont get
hurt nor break the locket thats in your
pocket:
Speaking about colored persons buying
real estate in Seattle I talked with P.
Frazier, a Seattle realty dealer and he
said, "I, perhaps, have sold to about one
third of the colored persons who have
purchased real estate in Seattle within the
past twelve months and I have sold to
forty-seven different persons, the whole
amounting to $360,125.00, averaging about
$5,350 per tract. In addition to the sales
he has made to colored folks he has made
many sales to Jews and Japanese and on
the whole he has enjoyed a very prosperous
year.
m # *
According to the omens Hugh M. Cald
well is about to announce himself a con
didate for the nomination of Mayor of
Seattle and in this he is exercising his
great American privilege, but his move in
that direction had no soner been made,
when many politicians looked wise and de
clared he was a dead sure winner because he
had been over there in the service. The ex
service man is deserving of a great deal of
consideration, when they are really deserv,
ing, but they are deserving of no con
sideration from that view point when they
use it as a club to knock some other fel
low out of the road that their personal am
bitions may be attained. Mr. Caldwell is
a practicing attorney and, I understand is
doing well in his profession, which takes
him out of the dependent class. In plain
English Mr. Caldwell should not be given
more consideration than Mr. Fitzgerald be
cause the former has been to war and the
latter has not been. I believe Mr. Fitz
gerald will make a thousand times better
chief executive of Seattle than Mr. Cald
well and the two men should be measured
and compared on their merit and not their
war record. As between Caldwell and
Fitzgerald, I am most decidedly in favor
of Fitzgerald, and, do not understand me
as having fully dcided to support him if
Others enter the mayorality contest, but
that he who runs may read, as between
