The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1898-12-23
M'KINLEY'S TOUR
THROUGH THE SOUTH
BY ARCHIBALD W. BUTT


Washington. December Especial 1.-The
| president and his cabinet are enthusiastic
| over their recent trip to the south. The
president himself feels that the tour has
been worth much to him and to the coun-
| try He imparts his enthusiasm to oil
public men who visit him and dwells upon
| the hospitality and the genuine patriotism
of the south. The president said that he
felt all the time that party lines as well
as sectional lines had been forgotten; the
only thing being remembered was that
they we're the hosts and that he was the
president of the United States.
Much interest attaches to the trip from
| political point of view. 1t will take some
time to discover whether or not the presi-
dents words have done anything toward
making expansion really popular in the
south The expanslonists in the south look
] to see several southern senators modify
| their views on the question, IL they are
not brought to the actual support of the
| policy of territorial expansion. The gen.
| eral belief Is expressed that the presidents
| trip has rendered the ratification of the
treaty an easy matter.
| Before he made his speeches, however,
the policy had been partially adopted by
the democrats to let the treaty be rati-
| fed and to make the fight upon expansion
when the bills for the government of the
| Philippines should come up. By the time
| the holidays are over the senators will be
| in possession of the sentiment of their
| states.
But whether the president has made any
| friends for the policy he represents or not
| he has made friends for himself and has
! returned to Washington with something
| akin to love for the southern land. He
| says the odor of the magnolias will always
| mean something more to him than a mere
| pleasant sensation. 1t will bring to him
the happy hours spent in its home.
| The only criticism which has been made,
| and this has come from those who were
| not on the trip, was the incident in Macon,
| when the president was made to wear .
| confederate badge Some criticise the pres
| ident for doing this, and others say that
| 1t was very bad taste on the part of DR..
Hall to insist upon putting the badge, on
| the president. Those who would find fault
| with the southerner's enthusiasm say that
| it looked as If he was taking advantage of
| the deep feeling of the chief executive to
| impose upon him a badge which he could
| not desire to wear or else force him to
| decline to do so.
The president has made no criticism OF
the action at all, and those of his cabi-
net who were with him say that to prop
erly understand the offer of DIR. Hall. who
insisted upon the presidents wearing the
| badge, one must have been present and
witnessed the real sincerity of the welcome
extended to the president.
Secretary Alger says that this impressed
him more than anything on the trip There
was no veneer seen anywhere and he was
deeply touched by the evidences of sin
cere hospitality and the cordially of the
reception not only in the large towns but
in the smaller hamlets where the train did
not even stop. He said that which struck
| him and the other members of the cabinet
was The evident desire to treat the president
as a guest and not as a freak or curios-
ity; that each man who shook his hand had
the look of the individual southerner when
he receives a friend into his home.
About the only people who are not pleased
over the trip are the fanatical and over
Jealous members of the African race who
abound chiefly here and in New York.
They protest that the president Inundated
| the race by accepting the hospitality of
southern cities where no negroes were
| placed on the reception committees.
The negroes held meeting here few
| days ago and passed resolutions, the pre-
amble to which was directed at the presi-
| dent calling attention to the public that
| the chief executive had in no way con-
| demned the killing of negroes in the south
and had seemed to condone 1T by his
| speeches in Atlanta and elsewhere when
| he advocated caring for the confederate
| dead. The chief orator. miserable negro
| by the name of Fortune, from New York,
| tbaf tba had ad xuifl,
| treason to the negro and said he felt like
| stabbing him. His speech was such as
called for denunciation by even the Star
| of this city, whose columns have been open
| to every attack which anyone cared to
make on the south. 1t advocated the cause
| of the negro to the extent that 1t was in
| dorsed by the negroes in mass meeting
but the extent to which this license has
| gone has even seemed to ALLEVIATE this jour-
| nal from their cause.
| From the beginning the president has
| shown little interest In the claims of the
negro; that he was being prosecuted in
| the south and his recent trip there has con-
| WINGED him that the negro has the SYM
| pathy and encouragement of the southern
| whites wherever the negro tries to uplift
himself through industry and education.
| He has expressed himself to several
| prominent men since his return that In no
| section of the country is the negro as well
| off as in the south and certainly nowhere
| is he as happy. This is worth great deal
to the SOUTH the realization that those who
are in power fully understand the racial
| question as existing in the south and like
| wise their ability to impart it to others of
| their ilk and kind. A common understand
ing is necessary to create harmony among
all sections and by this trip the president
| feels that he has drawn the south to a
proper understanding of him and the north
| to a proper understanding of the south.
| WEALTH AND POVERTY
| New York letter in the Pittsburg Dispatch.