The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-10-10
The Presidents Southern Policy.

Chicago Record-Herald.
 President Roosevelt has inaugurated his Southern policy in an admirable manner by deciding to appoint ex-Governor Thomas Goode Jones of Alabama to a District Judgeship. Whatever may be the political effect of appointing an influen- tial Democrat to such an office, there can be no two opinions as to it's wisdom and the peculiar fitness of the appointee.
 Readers of The Record-Herald during the past six months have had frequent opportunities to judge what manner of man ex-Governor Jones is from our auo- tations from his letters and speeches and our approving comments on his. acts and views. He stands as representative Southerner facing the problems of his day and State with dauntless courage and supreme confidence in justice as the only safe guide in their solution. His high character. his ability and his daunt- less spirit have made him such a marked man in his State for many years that the propriety of his appointment on the grounds of worth and reputation alone overshadows its possible effect as a stroke of political wisdom and expediency. The ex-Governor was a Confederate soldier who distinguished himself by his bravery during the civil war, and when the war was over he began to practice law at Montgomery and soon rose rap- idly in his profession and In politics. He was Speaker of the lower house of the Legislature and was colonel in command of State troops at the suppression of the Birmingham riots. Later. when Cover | nor, he took personal charge of the mili- tia during a strike of miners and rail- | road men which was a menace to public order. and his administration was notable | for the firm hand with which he put down lawlessness under whatever guise | it appeared and for the determined and | successful effort he made to preserve the
 credit of the State by advocating an in- | creased tax rate at the risk of his popu- larity.
 Recently the splendid qualities of the
 man have been much in evidence at the
 State Constitutional Convention. He
 strongly opposed the hostile current | against the negro, both as lawyer and
 as a citizen The brain of man." he said | cannot conceive of qualifications which,
 without violating the (FederaD Constitu-
 tion. will shear political power from the | negro as a race, and at the same time confer the right of suffrage on the white
 men, save those convicted of crime" The
 quotation Is from an eloquent letter which he wrote to The Montgomery Advertiser l and which. after a remarkably able re- view of the legal points involved in the
 suffrage question, closes with this states
 manlike sentiment:
 l DCSlutSp uO LOL DSIicNS lHdL It IS TUT
 the good of either race that the negro
 race should be shut out from all hope,
 and that every individual of the race. no
 matter what his character. intelligence
 and interest in the community shall be
 forever debarred from qualifying him. | self to vote in a government which taxes
 him. punishes him, regulates all his con-
 cerns. and, in case of need, would de-
 mand of him to give his life In its de- fense."
 During the proceedings of the conven- | ton the ex-Governor also took a decided
 stand against mob violence and lynching,
 and he carried an amendment to the Con-
 stitution which empowers the Governor to
 remove a sheriff who fails to do his duty
 in defending prisoners from mobs. | President Roosevelt might have search | ed the South through and through with | out discovering a sturdier upholder of
 law and order, a more capable jurist a
 firm exponent of American principles and American manhood.