URGED FOR A CABINET POSITION.
Soon after the election of Major McKinley to the office of President in
1896, the Washington Post, to the surprise of nearly everybody, came out
with a strong editorial urging the President-Elect to give me a place in
his cabinet. The name of the late Hon. B. K. Bruce was also suggested in
the same connection. This editorial created quite a journalistic
discussion which extended to all parts of the country. I give a few
extracts from newspapers that may indicate the character of this
discussion.
The Washington Post, which, I think was the first paper to discuss the
propriety of my selection as a cabinet officer, opened the discussion
with the following article:
“There is one problem which Mr. McKinley, if he be a just and grateful
man--as we think he is--will have to consider, and consider very
seriously. We have in mind the problem of what the Republican party
proposes to do by way of recognizing its obligations to the colored
voter. That party has owed much to the loyal and unselfish devotion of
the race in times gone by, but never so much as in the campaign which
it has conducted to a triumphant conclusion. What, now, will Mr.
McKinley do to testify his gratitude?
“At every stage of his personal fight Mr. McKinley has been indebted to
the Negro. It was the Negro contingent at St. Louis that made his
nomination certain. It was the Negro’s firm stand for gold that forced
the sound money issue upon the convention. It was the Negro’s vote in
such States as Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Delaware and
Indiana that made his victory possible. We all know now that McKinley
would have had next to no chance at all had not the St. Louis convention
declared emphatically and unequivocally for the gold standard. As
between a simple declaration for tariff revision on the one hand and for
free silver coinage without tariff disturbances on the other, the great
Eastern and Middle States would have had but a languid choice. It was
the solid sound money front presented by the colored delegates that
compelled the adoption of the gold clause in the platform, and furnished
Mr. McKinley with the issue upon which he rallied to his banner the
merchants, the manufacturers, and the moneyed corporations throughout
the land. Mr. McKinley could not have been elected but by the course
pursued by the Negroes before, during, and after the assembling of the
St. Louis convention. Now, in what fashion does he intend to recognize
and reward their service?
“It seems to us that at least one cabinet position should be given to
the race. Let us say the portfolio of Agriculture, for example. There
are many colored men of notable attainments, of large experience in
public life, and of the highest personal character, eminently qualified
to discharge the duties of this office with credit to the administration
and honor to themselves. We might name such men as Hon. B. K. Bruce and
Prof. Booker T. Washington. Mr. Bruce has been a Senator of the United
States, and it may be truly said of him that in that capacity he won the
respect and esteem of all his colleagues and served his country with
distinction. He also served a term as Register of the Treasury and
another as Recorder of Deeds under the District government, always with
notable ability. Prof. Washington is universally recognized as one of
the foremost educators in the country. The institute over which he
presides, at Tuskegee, Ala., has become conspicuous under his
management, and is to-day ranked with the most useful and admirable of
our seats of learning. The appointment of either of these gentlemen to
the control of one of the executive departments would be a graceful
acknowledgment of the obligations which the Republican party has
incurred, and which we should think it would be anxious to discharge.
We do not limit Mr. McKinley to these two. There are many other colored
men abundantly fitted for a Cabinet position. It happens simply that
ex-Senator Bruce and Prof. Washington occurred to us first in running
over the list of eligibles.
“Returning to the abstract proposition, however, it is clear to us that
Mr. McKinley owes his election, first to the fidelity and wise foresight
of the colored delegates at St. Louis, and secondly to the loyal support
of the colored voters in half a dozen states necessary to his election,
which could not possibly have been carried for him without their aid. He
is under obligations, which, as a man of feeling, he cannot well ignore
and which he could most felicitously acknowledge by asking some truly
representative Negro to enter his official family.”
The Canton (Ohio) Repository, after discussing in a long article a
number of men, white and black, suitable for cabinet material, concluded
as follows:
“Another able man is Prof. Booker T. Washington, the head of the
Tuskegee Normal School, of Alabama. Mr. Washington has been spoken of
for Secretary of Agriculture under the new administration, and is one of
the foremost leaders of the colored race in this country and a pioneer
in the industrial and educational development of his people. He is one
of the younger leaders of the colored people and fully understands their
needs and hopes. His address at the opening of the Atlanta Exposition
has been favorably commented upon by all classes of people. He is the
originator of the Normal college and is doing a great work in the
South.”
There were other articles of similar character in other papers at the
time, and still others of course that opposed vigorously the idea of
placing a Negro in the Cabinet of the President of the United States.
In a speech delivered to the colored citizens of Boston, Mass., soon
after this discussion began, I openly declared that under no
circumstances would I accept a political appointment that would result
in my turning aside from the work which I had begun at Tuskegee.
In the spring of 1897 I was invited by Dr. Francis J. Grimke, pastor of
the 15th St. Presbyterian Church, Washington, D. C., to deliver an
address in his church. My subject on this occasion was “The Things in
Hand.” It was just after President McKinley had been inaugurated as
President. Washington was full of people from all over the country and
among them not a few colored people seeking office. At this meeting I
urged as strongly as I could that the colored people should cease
depending so much on office, and give more attention to industrial or
business enterprises. This created a wide discussion among the colored
people, especially among those who were in Washington seeking office. I
have always held that the Negro has the same right to aspire to
political or appointive offices as the white man has, but in our present
condition we will be more sure of laying a foundation that will result
in permanent political recognition in the future by giving attention at
the present time in a very large measure to education, business and
industry, than merely by seeking political office. I favor that the
Negro give up no right guaranteed to him by the Constitution of the
United States, but I am also convinced that the way for him to secure
the opportunity to exercise his rights guaranteed to him by the
Constitution is to make himself the most useful and independent citizen
in his community.
In certain quarters, for a number of years, a certain element of our
people have opposed my plan for the elevation of the Negroes, on the
ground that they have felt that I was not in favor of the Negro
receiving a college education. This is an error. I do not oppose college
education for our people, but I do urge that a larger percentage of our
young men and women, whether educated in college or not, give the
strength of their education in the direction of commercial or
industrial development, just the same as the white man does. I have
tried to show my approval of college education by giving as many college
men as possible employment, and have on our pay roll at Tuskegee,
constantly, from fifteen to twenty men and women who have been educated
at the leading colleges throughout the country. The best way to approve
of college education is to give those educated at college something to
do. The great need for the next fifty or one hundred years among our
people will be the sending out among them of men and women thoroughly
equipped with academic and religious training, together with industrial
or hand training, so that they can lead the masses to a betterment of
their present industrial and material condition. The young white man who
graduates at college, in nine cases out of ten, finds a business waiting
for him that he can enter into as soon as he gets his college diploma.
This business has been created by his father, grandfather or
great-grandfather years before, but the black boy graduating from
college finds no business waiting for him; he must start a business for
himself; therefore, it is important, in our present condition, that the
Negro be so educated along technical and industrial lines that he can
found a business for himself. In the matter of technical or industrial
education the blacks are not keeping up with the whites. Every state
has technical schools for white boys and girls, and we can not expect to
retain our hold on the industries of the South, unless we give special
attention to preparing ourselves for doing the best work. In too many
cases the Negro carpenter, the Negro blacksmith, the Negro contractor,
and laundry woman are being replaced by white people who have come into
the South from the North. We can only retain our hold upon the
industries of the South by putting into the field men and women of the
highest intelligence and skill. We must learn to do the tasks about our
door in a thorough manner; to do a common thing in an uncommon manner;
to be sure that nobody else can improve on our work.