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292             THE CRISIS

Du Bois and Mr. Brinsmade went to Washington to attend the hearings on the bill and to interview Congressmen.
    The fight on this amendment lasted for over two days. A substitute, the Shafroth Amendment, was offered, passed by the Senate and then lost. But raising the issue had its effect. Although the allotment of funds is in the hands of the state legislatures, the final disposition really rests with the Secretary of Agriculture, and if he should permit abuse by the states in allotting these funds, the whole matter can be brought up again and thrashed out in Congress. The fight over this bill brought the whole race issue squarely before Congress and before the country, to the surprise and disgust of the more conservative Democrats who were anxious to keep it in the background and little dreamed of its becoming conspicuous as a part of an agricultural extension measure. The debate on the bill was printed in the Congressional Record. A letter of protest from this Association was read on the floor of the Senate and also appeared in the Record with comments calling attention to the prominent people the Association included in its membership. The name of this Association appeared again and again in the debate and speeches were made by Senators Jones, Clapp, Smith of Michigan, Sherman, Gallinger, Root and others championing our cause. Senator Works of California read a telegram of protest received from our Northern California Branch. Most important of all was the fact that our part in the fight was made clear to the people of the country by the press which gave it the widest publicity.
    We cannot close the account of the Association's work of the year in Congress without a mention of its activity in securing the reappointment of Judge Terrell who had been nominated by the President. Senator Vardaman had widely announced his intention of defeating Judge Terrell's confirmation. The Association sent an open letter to Senator Clapp which was published widely in the press to call the attention of the country to the fact that the Southern senators were openly making color a reason for declining to affirm an appointment of the President. Judge Terrell's record on the bench was such that these Senators were unable to find any pretext for this opposition. They were forced to come out in the open. Senator Clapp led the fight to secure favorable action by the Senate on the nomination and was successful.
    In order to bring the race issue before the incoming Congress a questionnaire was sent to all candidates asking them in answer to certain questions to state definitely where they stood. Their answers or their failure to answer were printed and distributed before election by the Association's branches throughout the country. Particular attention was paid to the pivotal states where the colored vote is of strategic importance. Results were also published in THE CRISIS, where the Association regularly prints a record of the vote on all legislation discriminating against the Negro. To quote the summary of the results of this questionnaire given in THE CRISIS: "Perhaps the most striking thing about all these answers is the number of people who frankly say they are not informed on the Negro problem. They simply 'do not know the facts.' This is the severest condemnation of the past attitude of the colored people and their friends that could possibly be made. It is the business of people who want wrongs righted to let the world know just what the wrongs are." Should the Associa-

[[right running head]]THE FIFTH ANNUAL REPORT[[/right running head]]       
[[right margin]]293[[/right margin]]

tion have followed the advice of Mr. Peter Ten Eyck, candidate for representative from the Twenty-eighth District of New York, one does not like to contemplate what might have been the position of the colored people in the District of Columbia and ultimately in the whole country. Mr. Ten Eyck in answer to our questionnaire wrote, "It is my advice to you to stop agitating the things which you have outlined in your letter until such time that you find that the wild rumors are liable to become a reality."
    We may congratulate ourselves on the fact that, despite the overwhelming Southern majority in Congress, not a single bill which was directly on its face intended to humiliate or repress colored men and women, was permitted to pass during the year 1914. We do not ask that all the credit for this achievement be given to our Association, but if this Association had never existed it is almost certain that some or all of these bills would have passed. The District of Columbia Branch has been on the firing line in all this work; circumstances have given it the post of labor and of danger and therefore the post of honor; and all men owe it a debt of gratitude for what it has accomplished.

[[left margin]]OUR STAFF[[/left margin]]
Before concluding it would be unjust not to express a word of appreciation for the work which has been rendered by our two heads of departments. THE CRISIS is our chief organ of publicity; it is also one of the standard bearers of the world's ideals. This position it owes to the talent and energy of its editor who, at his own suggestion, now receives the cooperation and advice of a special committee of the Board in the carrying on of his work. Our Secretary has devoted an extraordinary energy and resource to our many problems, and has performed the tasks of three ordinary men. Without her indefigable loyalty, it would have been impossible to carry on our work with so little help. It is only fair to add that the clerks in both offices have proved that colored men and women can work as efficiently as white men and women, and with at least equal loyalty to their daily tasks

CONCLUSION

The record of the American people on the race question now stands as follows. During the year just passed some seventy colored men and women were lynched without trial and in many cases with barbaric torture. Segregation ordinances restricting the property rights of colored people have passed or are pending in some of our largest cities, including Baltimore, Richmond, Louisville, and St. Louis. Legislation opposed to the interests of colored people has been introduced into the legislature of nearly every state in the Union during the last few years. Farm segregation is being agitated in the South. It is not unfair to say that this very moment an orgy of Negro-baiting is going on in Congress. Out of eleven million people, including 1,600,000 men of voting age who can read and write, only 550,000 were permitted to vote at the last Presidential election. The Supreme Court of the United States has virtually declared that the colored man has no civil rights, and has refused redress on one ground or another to every case that has come before it. All this does not take account
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