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128

THE CRISIS

word, in any place that will give them shelter at night.  Hundreds are together in buildings with nothing to lie upon but the bare floors, and nothing to cover with but the scanty clothes they are in all day.  Their food is scant and many of the children are often crying for something to eat, while their fathers are away working for the own rations on the levees under the rule, "no work, no rations," which has been made strict, especially in the case of the colored refugees in the camps.

Many of the refugees will never return to the flooded territory.  It is declared that the floods have been "blessings in disguise" to a large number of the refugees, in that the waters brought them where they  had no easy way of coming in safety otherwise, on account of the opposition any attempt on their part to leave for better conditions always met.  They could not get away before the flood came, and, as it were, rescued them; but now that they are away and the old "debt charge" cannot restrain them, they intend never to go back.

The white refugees in Baton Rouge are being cared for in the asylums, public buildings and the best places obtainable for their comforts, and the work done by the men folk consists mainly in overseeing the working Negroes and acting as guards on the levees in place of the militia which has been withdrawn. 

Many of the colored churches and societies in New Orleans are making appropriations for the relief of the Negro flood sufferers, the amounts varying from $5 to $25. The colored people hope in this way to alleviate much of the suffering of the unfortunates.  In Alexandria and other towns of the State, the colored people are taking the same kind of steps to help the sufferers.  After the floods, when all will be free to talk, will be the best time to get the whole truth of the present flood situation. Rev. E. D. Sims is chairman of the colored flood committee, the other member being Rev. A. Hubbs, A. Richard, J. Johnson and J. Grandison.  Altogether, they carried 10,000 garments to the flood sufferers in Baton Rouge. 

N. B.-If you make sure of this, do not let my name appear, as it might be used to annoy me. 

The third letter runs as follows:

MR. VILLARD:

I am sending this letter to New York to be mailed to you from there. Should you speak of this letter through the papers please don't mention my name, as I am even afraid to mail it to you from here, as they saw your name, as publications are censored before printed in regard to conditions here. 

MR. OSWALD GARRISON VILLARD,
20 Vesey Street, New York City.

DEAR SIR:

I noticed in the afternoon paper published here that you have been making inquiries in regard to the working of the refugees who have sought safety here from the flooded parishes of this State.  I am truly glad that some have interested themselves enough to venture thus far in the matter, and perhaps I can give you some information, as I am a resident here and know the conditions that exist.  Now, so far as the working of colored men is concerned, they have been working any colored man they saw in the streets several days before a single refugee came to Baton Rouge.  Men were arrested and put to work without pay, and any man - I man colored man - who had no work was taken to the levee gang captain, and made with work without pay or food; while white men who never worked were crowding the river banks acting as guard to keep them there.  Now these poor unfortunate refugees, who have come here famished and exhausted from exposure, from battling with the flood, half naked and sick, are immediately put in charge of a guard with a gun and sent to work throwing up embankments and levees, given some salt meat and corn bread which the United States Government provides for them. They toil until exhausted and are taken back to camp for a new hours and then brought back again to work. 

Not only here in Baton Rouge does this exist, but at Fort Hudson, Shreveport, Natchez and all along the river men are made to do this same work that the Government has made appropriations for.  Colored men are forced to do it for nothing at the point of a bayonet; boys ranging from 15 to 18 years old have charge of gangs of men.  They carry a gun to intimidate and scare them, and they are driven like so many beasts. Don't believe any of that rot about white men being put to work there; they are driving "Niggers," as they say it here.

Something should be done, if possible, for these unfortunate creatures, who have lost home and all their belongings, and in many cases their families.  The colored people here have responded very generously and have given shelter to several thousands; every available hall and place of shelter has been turned into a camp for them.  On Monday night, at Wesley Chapel, in thirty minutes $120 was taken up for the relief of the babies and larger children, there being something over 300 of them in the various camps.  Everything possible is being done for the comfort of the women and children, while the men must slave on the levees for nothing.  I guess I have written about as much as I can at present, so I shall close. 
                 
Baton Rouge, La.

P.S.-Should you answer this, address me in plain envelope. 

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THE CRISIS FLOOD FUND.

The publishers of THE CRISIS will be glad to receive contributions for the victims of the flood to see to it that this relief is distributed to those most in need. We do not pretend to know the whole truth in regard to this situation, but we are certain that the real story of the wretchedness, suffering and oppression is yet to be told.

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POLITICS.

THE Southern delegates to the national Republican nominating convention are causing the quadrennial hurrah: "They represent nothing;" "they are venal;" "they ought to be eliminated;" all this we hear on every side. But of the one natural remedy we hear little. That remedy is: let the black delegates represent in reality the black disfranchised millions whom now they represent on paper. The wonder is today that the fifty colored delegates are as good a body of men as they are with so few of the heelers and gangsters. Yet the disreputable are among them, as we all know, and to get rid of them let us have real democracy in the South. Enfranchise the blacks and let them learn to weed out the rascals whom white politicians now appoint to represent the Negro race.

But Southern Negroes do vote, say some.

To the honest seeker for light the puzzling thing about the Southern situation is the absolutely contradictory statements that are often made concerning conditions. For instance, the New York Evening Post was some time ago taken to task by the Norfolk (Va.) Landmark for assuming that Southern colored men are largely disfranchised. The Virginia paper says: "No Negro in Virginia can be kept from voting, provided he measures up to the same requirements for the exercising of that right the white man must. The laws of the State will protect him in the right should election officials deny it him. That Negroes in this State may freely qualify to vote is fully attested by the fact that thousands of them do vote." Again the New Orleans Picayune declared with regard to the complaint of disfranchisement: "The arrant and absolute falsity of the specification in regard to the ballot is seen in the fact that every legal bar to the exercise of the ballot applies to whites and Negroes alike. Every elector (voter) must either be able to read and write or, in case of illiteracy, he must pay taxes on ordinary assessable property of the minimum value of $300. These laws are strictly in accordance with the requirements of the Constitution of the United States, and have been so pronounced by the courts."

Just so in earlier days before legal disfranchisement paper after paper and orator after orator declared that the Negro could and did vote without let or hindrance.

Despite this every intelligent person in the United States knows that these statements are false. The Southern testimony to this is itself open and convincing. Not only have we Mr. Tillman's frank and picturesque testimony on the past, but the Richmond Leader says that all is well in Virginia "since we disfranchised the Negro;" Congressman Underwood of Alabama says the Alabama Negro "does not count for anything politically" in that State; a prominent judge on the Mississippi bench says: "The Negroes in Mississippi do not vote and should not;" and in Louisiana it is a matter of plain official record that of over 150,000 Negro males