“I bought a ticket and went to Washington, there putting my case before the administration. I was told that the country was powerless,”Manly told the gathering. “Besides, it was too busy settling questions in the Philippines, and could not stop such pastimes as shooting down ‘niggers,’ or words to that effect. I said I was sorry that the nation had such a wide spirit of humanity that it could fight for the Cubans, but let the negroes be massacred at home.”
