The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1901-10-11

tIUa which had grown up as % result ~
slavery ur t0 make fhr system ~ fInv.
.r, iuleubie. but with no bond Ut un-n
.u.pt m.e rounpuIty existing bee
tva.n W.m N oatycIuam had dec
uubal social organization that was
bad from ita very nature. hut had been
.UWru1rut,l hy rra,es the outprovth of
abnormal conditions. and lcu nothing
|n us place. 4 new adjustment was
necessary. but new adjustment In
/ which grave evils would not appear and
even dominate. must OF necessity be the
work ct years.
Politically the war and the recon
struction period left the south with the
negroes enfranohised and In the major
| ity. and the whites disfranchised and In
/ the minority Good government, even
/ tolcrable government was under the
circumstances Impossible. Slavery II
| there had been nothing else, would have
rendered the negroes incapable of car
ryng on government, and the whites
were disfranchised In large part. 1t
was the opportunity for the carpet bag
ger and he seized it, And there follow
ed the years Of SO called negro supre-
macy. but really the years Of carpet-bag
supremacy, which was ended only by
that the reaction which used force and
violence go restore law and order to the
throne.
1t was at this time and under such
circumstances that Pr ident Hayes at
tempted to solve the southern problem.
His solution which made him unpopular
for a time in his own party, but has
since received al prevail, was to keep
the hands of the federal government
off and let the south work out its own
| salvation. He withdrew the federal
troops, and white supremacy gained and
has maintained the ascendency. That
/ this ascendency was gained by depriv-
/ ing the negro of the ballot, first by
force and later through the forms of
law, is t. de and on abstract grounds is
to be regretted. But neither can it be
denied that in many ways it has worked
7
| in the south has been allowed to parti-
cipate in political affairs in a general
way to the extent that his character
and his advancement has justified. Not
always Of course in every individual
case but generally speaking as to the
race.
Hayes policy probably solved the
southern question as fully as it could
be solved by any action the federal
government could take, or at least it
put it in the way of being solved in the
natural and therefore scientific way.
The problem to which President
Roosevelt seems to be addressing him
self is quite a different problem. He is
. called on to find out how best a Repub
lican administration can administer
federal affairs in the south when there
is no Republican party there in the
sense that there is a Republican party
everywhere else in the country.
1t has happened, as was only natural,
that the Republican party in the south
composed as to its rank and file of
negroes whom slavery had made in
capable of intelligent self government,
should fall into the hands for the most
part of designing and INSCRIPTIONS men
who used the party for their own ends.
They came to the front at National con-
ventions controlling state delegations
not as so many men but as so many
votes. The scandals growing out of
this and the inequitableness of it led to
a proposal made by Senator Quay in the
last Republican National convention to
base representation in the convention
on Republican votes cast at the last
previous presidential election. The same
designing men who controlled delega-
tions in conventions, controlled the
party machinery in the states and
sought to control federal appointments.
Naturally they sought to control them
for their own advantage. How to make
appointments in the south that will re-
dound to the credit of the party and
the administration and secure good
public service, and at the same time
build up the Republican party in the
south is the problem to which President
Roosevelt is periodically addressing
himself. For it is still the hope, as it
must be, to eventually build up a gen.
uine Republican party there.
The solution Booker T. Washington |
offers is to turn down the gangs" the
office hucksters who have so long con-
trolled and embarrassed administra-
tons. He advises the appointment of
men satisfactory to local sentiment
even if Democrats have to be appointed, |
This view is probably the view of most |
colored men in the south whose opinions
are of value Booker Il. Washington