The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1901-10-26

THE SOUTH AND THE NEGRO.
one fact in the Booker washington cpl
sode which does not escape comment
here is that a social phase OF the always
pressing negro question should have come
up for settlement at the White House
within the very first month Of Air- Roose-
veIt's administration, before the period
Of official mourning was over. although
no Republican presidents for thirty years
had tested il. says the Washington cor
respondent OF the New York Evening
POST This illustrates Mr.. Roosevelt s
habit of throwing himself IN medias res
where other men commonly move on
tiptoes. Nj Washington has been IN this
city many times IN past years, and has
often called at the White House on bus
mess relating TO bis work. His address
has long been known - the executive
clerks. so there could have been no trOu-
bic in getting an invitation 10 him But
no ore here recalls that Southern ne
gro was ever before invited 20 cine N
the White House. II has been suggested
that perhaps Senator Bruce, of recon-
struction DAYS. may have dined quietly
with the president; but, if 50. the quiet
ness OF the entertainment is what most
entities il to notice. Yet every presi-
dent has had to face this question in
some form. and it is safe 10 say that
none has failed 10 become exceedingly
weary Of the extremes upon which the
South insists Nor did the only Demo
cratic president since the war escape an
experience with this phase Of Southern
prejudice.
During the presidential contest Of 1872
a Democratic worker who saw the cor
respondence received at the national COM
rnittee's headquarters and by the candi-
dates says that a stranger 10 our Gus
toms would have supposed that the main
.,f rf.r- 10
if, or the currency. or the Force bill,
but whether or not Mr.. Cleveland had
in his first administrati ton invited Fred
erick Douglass TO q reception at the
White House. The POpulstic wing OF the
Southern Democracy asserted that he did;
the other side denied IT, and seemed 20
want a daily bulletin to that effect from
the national committee Unfortunately
for the self-appointed defenders of the
Democratic candidate the allegation was
true. Frederick Douglass. when he was
recorder of deeds for the District, had
been invited 10 a White House reception
with all the other officers OF his grade.
and the Democratic president, also New
Yorker, saw no harm in it. He persist
emily refused 70 make any reply 20 the
questions which poured in upon him con-
corning the episode, although some Of
them were from persons otherwise "a
tional.
OF course, the Frederick Douglass at
fair was greatly exaggerated in the Popu
nstic prints, and an undue social import
ance ascribed to it. But the discussion
which it engendered revealed many curl
GUS phases of Southern feeling. One en-
thusiastic Alabama Democrat wrote 10
mis- candidate for the presidency for in
formation to decide a bet, saying that
one leading citizen, a Judge, had wasered
that Mr.. Cleveland would be willing 10
be shaved in the same barber shop with
a negro; while another leading citizen,
colonel, had staked an equal sum that
he would not. The bet was never set
tied.
The experience of a colored member OF
the Massachusetts, legislature who went
South with committee OF his body six
years ago, is interesting. The brunt OF
that affair fell upon Governor O'Ferral.
Of Virginia, who had IN advance invited
the Massachusetts committeeman TO re-
ception, and was too polite when they ar
rived 10 remove the colored man by the
''nape of the neck" This was regarded
in virginia as an exhibition of fatal
weakness on the governors part, and it
was freely asserted that the episode
would do him no good
II should be said in justice that there
is a small minority in the South who see
the Stiffness of much OF this business.
man remarked 10 q caller, an old Con
federate soldier and q man OF some
prominence in politics and literature, that
she should have been unable TO have
had him as a guest at dinner the even
ing before, as Booker Washington had
been present. He promptly replied that
as Confederate soldier Of thirty-five
years ago, ne should have been much
pleased to dine with Booker Washing
ton. for whom ne had the warmest adTui-
ration. While this mans view Is some
what unusual IL is also to be noted that
some of tho gentlemen who appear
worst aggrieved by the affront put upon
them by a presidents inviting great
man 20 dinner regardless Of his color
would never receive a similar invitation
themselves on account of their fame for
certain eccentricities OF table etiquette
one satisfaction Of the Roosevelt cpl
sode is that it can have no adverse p0-
litical effect, although he woald have
been the last man to think Of this In en-
tertaining Booker Washington. The col
Ored people constitute a very consider
able voting element in Ohio, Indiana and
New York. where their votes are count
ed. In the South. Roosevelt could never
expect any electoral support, and the
more the Southern newspapers tear their
hair in rage, the more solid VIII become
his support in the North. And that is
only part of the story. Thousands OF
Northern men, while sympathetic toward
the South IN most matters growing out
OF the race problem, are very weary 81
this sort OF thing, and would rebuke II
by voting for Roosevelt were il 70 be-
come IAN Issue. The North has not
wholly forgotten the results Of the war
even II it ponders them less continuously
than the South. a Frederick Douglass
may go to the White House for a recep-
zion OF a Booker Washington for a dinner
without its costing the president. Demo
crat or Republican. any support In the
North, and in the South It would not
make much difference either way. in
the border states Ike Maryland. the
people are already divided pretty nearly
on the lines raised 10y THIS issue, and
little change would be made BY its get
ting into the campaign. The Washington
dinner viii doubtless De heard from in
1903, and wherever people have nO busi-
ness or other worthy interests - engage
their attention Il vii certainly be worth
talking about.