The age-herald., 1901-10-09
THE PRESIDENTS
 SOUTHERN POLICY

From the Chicago Record-Herald.
 President Rooseelt 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 infiuen- tfal Democrat to such an office, there can be no two opinions as to its wisdom and the peculiar fitness of the appointee.
 Readers of the Record-IIerald during the past six months have had frequent opportunities to judge what manner of man ex-Governor Jones Is from our quo tations from his letters and speeches and our approving comments on his acts and views. He stands as a representative Southerner facing the problems or 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 marked man in his state for many years that the propriety of his appointment on the grounds of worth and reputation alone oyershadows its possible effect as stroke of political wisdom and expediency.
 The ex-Governor was 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 mil Iitia 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 a lawyer and as a C1tlZen. 1ne DTa1n OI lndu, He Sdiu
 cannot conceive of qualifications which, without violating the 0ederaD constitu- tion. will shear political power from the negro as a race, and at the same time confer the right of suffrage on the whit men, save those convicted of crime" The quotation is from an eloquent letter which he wrote to the Montgomery Advertiser. and which, after a remarkably able re- view of the legal points involved in the suffrage question. closes with this states manlike sentiment:
 Besides. I do not believe that it Is for 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 it's de- fense.
 During the proceedings of the conven- tion the ex-Governor also took decided stand against mob violence and lynching, and he carried an amendment to the con- stitution which empowers the Governor to