"In other words," he said, "it is a well-known fact that there are thousands of colored men who vote the Republican ticket at many important elections,--not from choice but from what they believe to be a necessity.

If the views entertained by me on this subject should be accepted by the Democratic party, as I hope and believe they will be, that necessity,--real or imaginary,--would no longer exist, and the gradual division of the colored vote would necessarily follow." He went on to say that he had not hesitated to express himself fully, freely and frankly with members of his own party on the subject, and that he had informed them of the course he intended to pursue; but that he had been advised against appointing any colored man to an office in which white women were employed.
"Now," said the President, "since you have been at the head of an important bureau in the Treasury Department during the past four years, a bureau in which a number of white women are employed as clerks, I desire very much to know what has been your experiences along those lines." I informed the President that I would take pleasure in giving him the information desired.

I assured him that if my occupancy of that office had been the occasion of the slightest embarrassment to anyone connected with the public service,--whether in the office over which I presided or any other,--that fact had never been brought to my notice.
On the contrary, I had every reason to believe that no one who had previously occupied the position enjoyed the respect, good-will and friendship of the clerks and other employees to a greater extent than was enjoyed by me.

My occupancy of that office had more than demonstrated the fact, if such were necessary, that official position and social contact were separate and distinct.

My contact with the clerks and other employees of the office was official, not social.
During office hours they were subject to my direction and supervision in the discharge of their official duties, and I am pleased to say that all of them, without a single exception, have shown me that courtesy, deference and respect due to the head of the office.