The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1901-10-30


with the presidency. lie docs SO NJ his
perm and at the peril Of the country nm
with respect to the Booker washington
Incident, this Is precisely what Mr. Rooss
welt has done. The worst that We baTe
said of 1t Is that Il was q solecIsm In
social ethics, a breach Of tact and iadg
ment. a needless raising 0f q dangerous
issue, indicating the absence Of sound cam
mon sense, most excellent thing to have
handy about the house, and especially about
the White House.
The black man Is not To be rogenerpted
by social Establishment. Even in Enropp
where African slavery never existed. ana
where black men arc so rarely seen as TO
he objects of curiosity, the color line
| though not drawn so tant rs In the United
states, vet Is drawn. IT Is drawn nj TIC
North. where the disproportion Of whites
10 blacks Is as an hundred TO one What
wonder that at the South. where the num-
Der Of whites and blacks so nearly npprov
mates, II should constitute an lmpassable
barf1erp Mr. Roosevelt Is carried awav Nv
mistaken sentiment by a onesidcd view
Of a many sided question:. and, being
man Of ready apprehension. he viii dis
cover this DlrRly enough as time passes
We discount the exaggeration Of those who
can not speak, or write, without SOM
foolish ontcry We discount the preiudces
OF the more unreasoning and nnrplentlng
among those whites who behold in the
negro working competitor aud nj The
same time a social menace These aside.
It can he truly said, that there is no draw
Ing room IN any one Of the great cities Of
the North. from Boston to Milwaukee,
! from Philadelphia to St. Paul, where
/ black man, no matter how worthy. wopld
not be considered ont Of place ana ba
kept at arms length by Il mixed company
| Of ladies and gcntlemen. If the president
! shows himself poor judge of human ma
ture ana no judge at all Of actual condi.
tons.
There is strong consensus of opinion
among intelligent people having knowledge
Of the subject that it is best for both races
that they be kept apart NIlsceeenation
does not improve the species. It seems to
undermine it. Social equality is as unde-
sirable as 1t is unattainable and this holds
equally true among sensible people Of both
races The color Of the skin, the odor of
the body, the poison of slavery in the blood
must be exuded, eradlcated--to say nothing
about the lifting of the memory ana the
shadow of long ages of barbarlsm and serf-
dom-before the racial antipathy between
the African and the Caucasian fades and
dies In the light of the promised mlen-
mum, when we are assured that even the
| lion and the lamb shall lie down together
| lt seems quite certain that the millennium
| is not here yet, and that 1t can not be
! FASTENED by social amenities ont of tune
/ and out of time, at war with conventions
| which, however artificial, are fixed aud
! universal and tending rather TO indame
! than to allay existing prejudice. In think
/ ing Ii can he the president shows himself
rather a bumptious young man. than
| wise one.
| The Courier-Journal has been the steady
| unremittlng friend OF the negro. 1t stood
for him When it cost something to do So
| Conceiving that the happiness aud pros
perty of the whites We're ineNtrcably IN
| terwoven with the happiness and prosperity
| of the blacks-since we are here ana are
| obliged to remain here-it devoted ten
years to the work Of hablllstng these
| poor people in the new and strange rights
| and duties which had oyertaken them. Inc
| right to their freedom. and its just oScr-
| else; the right to testify in the courts
| the right TO the same guarantees OF Ate
| and property enjoyed by the Wlites-In
a word, the repeal of the black laws OF
| the old slave dlspensation-were brought
| about in Kentucky with the smallest
! amount of friction and disturbance mainly
1 through the efforts of the Courier-Journal.
| We were greatly Observation-Disclosures
/ grossly misfepresented ana maligne9-uS
unthinking partisans on our own size ol
of the house. But the event INDICATED our
| forecast. The result Is that we nave hnd
| more cOntented and orderly black popuH-
| ton, and less violence and tragedy, lnaH
| has marked any of the former SlaVe'holdlng
| communities.
Detestlng human slavery in all its forms,
and everywhere, temperamentally an IRE
pressihle optimist, by nature and haolt az
ways for the under dog in the hght. we
had the rosiest hopes for the future oil ln'
emancipated blacks. The fulhllment thus
far has not met the promise OF this hope
We are bound in candor 80 confess that me
developments of the last thirty years III
| the experience of negro citizenship are not
encouraging and to declare that the negro
in affairs is a distinct menace to private
morals and political integrity. lie Is gen
| orally for sale to the highest hldder ne
/ is the creature of impulse largely racial
He is permeated as a body by no puotie
| opinion He knows not the value OF lne
| ballot, except as a commodity, nor ~
beauty Of his franchise as an essehllll
principle; is without the instinct ol Ilte
dom; is Derverse, suspicious. and the cay eas!
prey of bad Influences and bad men. lhuS
1 the race question at the South IS pi"ps
lem an awful problem the. solution "
which the wsest have not heeh aDle ="
compass, the end of which the most ~
gacious can not sec. The most thouSut,
full people among MS have long ceaSed 70
theorize as the president seems 10 W
doing They are content to DO the nesl
they can as occasion requires; for the resi-
throwing themselves back with a slmplv,
4 childlike faith in God, who can raise up as
He has cast down, and who doeth all t"tps'
well .o
The tried, the true friend IN no sense e
the possible enemy of the black man, n LEI
we stand -Jping for the best, yer Win t i'rn
like Theodore Roosevelt to STIR the Na'e'''
faa pRn t1an