Windham County reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1901-1906, 1901-10-25
r,., uooLer Washington Dinner.

is the outbreak OF Wrhlh an wv
South at President Roosevelt enter
tainment at dinner last week OF hocKef
n Washington, the great negro ednca-
tor. "Humilistng to the south anu
disgrace to the nation, is the BIZ
mineham Enterprises way OF descrip
inc il "A blundef that is worse thah
crime, and no atonemnt OF future ac'
of his can remove the salf-imprlntea
stigma says tue Memphis CONNER
ial-Appeal. One Democratic congress
man SAYS 1t will make the South solio
for anotb,r 90 years. 1.-The Souto can
never take to its heart any man VINO
has had colore1 man al lhe 'apio
with him. adds ar Other doV
Gambler of Georgia is quoted as say
ing that mo selt-respecting Southern
man can ally himself with the Presi-
dent after what has occurred, ana eoe
Richmond News declares that by this
act the President ''has put himself
further from us than any man VINO
has ever been in the White House.
Even that section of the Southern
press that has been most disposed TO
Republicanism joins in the yell at It's
bitterest. The Memphis Scimeter, Tor
ms lance, declares that there Is no en-
cuse for president that went out
of his way and extended a special IN
vitation to a niger to sit down at
the table with hm-a niger whose
only claim tt distinction is that by
comparison with the balance OF MS
race hes been considered somewhat
superior " And the frenzy was at It's
height at Richmond when the preSi-
ldeuts name was Kissed 10 theater
ard his picture turned to the wall
The thing has its comic side as well
as tragic. If there is q man in the
land that measured by the good he
has dore in his time and by the far-
reaching bepehcence of the "o'k IN
which he is engaged, deserves honor. OF
that bv uniform tact and good sense
and good advice to his fellows has
ben potent influence in allaying race
prgiudice, that man is Booker L wash
ingtor. Queen Victoria entertained
him at her table, and eX-Presdent liar
rison sat with him at a banquet 10
Paris. and reither felt otherW Dan
houored 10y his company. II wa
proper for Roosevelt as president OF
, the whole American people, rot OF
: any sect or color or class. to recognize
him as one of the greatest ofAmerieans
and for Roosevelt the man to Invite
him to a quiet dinner was nobody
else business. Cleveland as preSiden'
, gave Frederick Douglas. the same so
!. cal recognition as he would white
man in his place ard back in the
DAYS when the House and Senate con
tanned negroes their access to Wnlt'
, House social functiorS were the same
=, as others; it could not be otherwise
ard in Blanche X Bruce, TO. instance,
there was no more thorough agentlemar
9 anorg auv of his associates.
This hubbub then is comical in tb'
. artificial element that is plainly 10 i
=. In partisan fear that the South Il
. Slipping away from Democracy. unde
9 the influence OF the president ; ap
q continents as well as the new queS
o lions before the country, and 50 th'
faucied necessity of pumping old pas
sions into fresh activity. But there il
also 10 it recognition or the coun
r try : changed attitude towards in
: ferior peoples and the duty ant
p 'destiny" of keeping them inferior
: Why shouldn't the old slave drive
o shout when he finds what was once th
party of lincoln and Sumner echolnt
/. his philosophy exactly
q The incident ought to be thought
q compelling one in its revelation of TN
n effect of the Philippine wrong II
l. consolidating the American ideal an'
a in complicatiug the negro problem, al
a ready well-nigh infinite in its gravity
l. Really the Southern feeling toward
the negro in its last analysis is of tn
V same thing as the justification of tn
= cuuntry's adventure of imperialism. Ih
q Southerners feel little of the repulSio
:, towards the black man that even th
e most iust-minded Northerner finds
e so hard to overcome. The Southerne
If has no objection to mere assGciatlo
with the black. as cook or servant j.
his house. as his valet or barber, as
It nurse to fondle his children, or a
l. playmate for them or ss mistress TO
n himself, as the hundreds of thous1nos
It perhaps milliorS, of mulatloes testify
n 1t is only when the association
% clothed with dignity of manhood o
f womanhood when it means 'socla
Ie equality that this fury comes.
', matter of fact social equality
3 something that can be trusted to b
10 self regulating, on lines of individus
st taste and individual merit, and any al
tempt at forced regulation, or artlfi
cial control, such at this outbreak sug
gests, can be productive only of harm
Occasionally a consciousness of tn
& absurdity of the thing and an attemr