NOVEMBER 15 1919 RAILROAD SPEECH IN HOUSE PAGE 8576 8577

Congressional Record 67th Congress 1st Sess. Vol. 58 Part 9, Nov. 15, 1919

On Page 8574. Nov. 15, 1919.

Amendment by U.S. Representative Madden to the Railroad Bill, H.R. 10453, to
provide for the termination of Federal control of railroads and systems of
transportation. Introduced by Mr. John A. ESCH of Wisconsin.
On page 8575 Nov. 15, 1919 is the Madden amendment. Martin B. Madden of
Illinois.

Note: When there were two members of the U.S. House with the same last name they
would be designated by state from which they were elected. Otherwise the state isn’t
mentioned.
Mr. SUMNERS of Texas. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, I want to appeal to my friends
on both sides of the House in behalf of both the white race and the colored race living in
the South to defeat this amendment. I believe my colleagues on this side of the House
will acquit me of any charge of being intensely partisan. My father was a Confederate
soldier, and I used to hear him and his old comrades talk about the days of long ago, and
when I was a little boy I made up my mind definitely that if I ever grew up I would get
me at least one Yank if I had to pot shot him. [Laughter.]

When I grew older and came in contact with the men on the other side of the line I
found them to be the same sort of folks as my folks. [Applause.] Now, gentlemen, let me
lay before you the situation. We are unfortunately situated in the South in that we are
trying an experiment which has never before succeeded since time began. We are trying
to have two races live in the same community where no white man is willing to iagine
that day when his granddaughter will mingle her blood with the grandson of a black
neighbor. We might just as well be honest about this. I do not know why, but when
people live under a condition where there are a large number of an antagonistic race,
with whose blood they are not willing to have their children mingle their blood, then
there comes to me the call of the race. I am speaking to many a man who does not
understand what I am talking about. Nature does not waste her energy, and unless you
live in the presence of that danger you never hear the call. Why God has put that in the
breast of the white folks I do not know, but it is there, and when that call comes men
respond to a call hat is higher than the call of the law of self-preservation, because it is
the call for the preservation of the race. I have seen many a man who came to the South
from a part of the country where that condition did not obtain, and after he came to the
South he heard the call. When that call comes – I am going to be honest with you – it
will not yield to reason. I make another statement, and make it deliberately. It has no
code of honor. It is the blind, unyielding, all-sacrificing purpose of the dominant race to
control the situation, and you might just as well argue to the moon as argue to a white
man who is not a racial degenerate not to listen to that call. [Applause.] I mean no
offense when I make that statement. I am not talking about a theory. I am talking about
what I have seen men do who came from New England, and I want you to listen to me,
men. We have a hard situation in the South. We are partly responsible for it, and so are
the other sections. We violated that great law of life which God announced to Adam at
the gate of the Garden of Eden, and you people in the North and we of the South also are
violating that law when we are bringing into this country to do our physical labor, the
folks who are now trying to tear down the country, and you will have to pay a penalty
also. We were not willing to do our own work; we brought an alien race to do it; we
violated that law; and we of the South are paying most of the penalty. We are dealing
with a hard situation.

The CHAIRMAN. The time of the gentleman has expired.

Mr. SUMNERS of Texas. I ask unanimous consent to proceed for five minutes more.

The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman asks unanimous consent to proceed for five minutes.
Is there objection?

There was no objection.

Mr. SUMNERS of Texas. Now listen to me, my countrymen. I am appealing to you as

statesmen now. The South is a part of this country. We are undertaking to deal with a
hard and a difficult situation. The races are compelled to commingle a great deal, but it
is my deliberate judgment, and I state it not as a southern man, but as a man who has
observed the situation, I make this statement deliberately and upon my responsibility as
a Representative in the American Congress that those laws which separate the two races
traveling upon the common carriers of this country are of a great if not greater service to
the colored man than they are to the white man. [Applause.] I make that statement
deliberately. And, gentlemen, when you interfere with the attempt of the people on the
ground to deal with a difficult and dangerous situation, you do no good to the people
who occupy a subordinate position racially.

Mr. LAYTON. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. SUMNERS of Texas. I yield to the gentleman from Delaware.

Mr. LAYTON. I have no objection to a word that the gentleman has uttered. The call of
race is just as strong in me as it is in him, but I am going to put a frank question to hi,
one that in my judgment lies at the heart of this whole matter. I believe that the North
absolutely in its heart recognizes the conditions that prevail in the South, and the reason
why the North has never attempted to exert political power in order to interfere with the
government of the Anglo-Saxon race in the South is because they are in sympathy with
the domination of the Anglo-Saxon race. [Applause.] But, gentlemen, this will always
and eternally be a burning question in this country until you people are willing to be
counted only for the white race in your representation in the political affairs of this
country.

Mr. RAYBURN. What was the question? The gentleman did not ask it.

Mr. SUMNERS of Texas. That is a question which I can not discuss now, because within
20 minutes this House, by its vote, is to speak those words which shall determine
whether or not the people of the South who understand this situation shall be privileged
to do the best they can to handle a difficult situation, or whether by national legislation
you will inject an irritating situation there that will make the streets of the southern
cities run red with the blood of the people you are trying to serve.

Gentlemen, do not misunderstand me. I do not mean that as a threat; I am trying to

state the truth. If ever that time comes in the South, and you will find the same thing if
you travel there, when this great horde of colored people, traveling to picnics, for
instance, come crowding in with your wife and daughter, you will not like the situation.
Bad Blood will be engendered and somewhere down the line there will come a
reckoning. I hope, gentlemen, you will view this matter from the standpoint of
statesmen, and I believe you will. I hope when you come to render a decision you will
recognize the fact which I admit, that it is a bad situation down there. I do not know
where the end of it is, but I do know that unless you permit us to draw some line of
separation somewhere, so that we can prevent the friction which inevitably results, you
add to the difficulty of both the whites and the blacks. Gentlemen, do not mistake this:
When a large number of white people and large number of black people come together
in intimate relationship friction does develop. Unless you give a chance to prevent the
friction which inevitably develops, then upon you and upon you alone, when you put
this amendment into effect, must rest the responsibility. [Applause.]