The age-herald., 1901-10-02
Walter wellman, in the Chicago Record


 Walter wellman, in the Chicago Record Herald.
 Washington. September 29.-Booker T. Washington was at the White House for several hours this evening in conference
 with President Roosevelt. Mir. Washing ton came by invitation. as the President
 wished to consult him in regard to his southern policy. It was a curious cir cumstance that the man who had been in- vited to the national capital for con ference with the President of the United
 States thought 1t necessary to go to cheap 'nigger'' hotel in an unsavory part of the city. By experience Mir. Washing ton had learned that the regular hotels of this city would not make him well come
 President Roosevelt is said by MT. Wash ington to be very much in earnest in his desire to find some satisfactory solution of what is known as the southern political problem. In this MT. Washington's state ment coincides with the best information which members of the cabinet and others hade had as to the attitude of mind in which the new President takes hold of that part of his work pertaining to the future political status of the south.
 President Roosevelt is by no means sat isfied to permit matters to drift along as they have been going. and a new de- parture Is confidently expected by those who have conferred with him on this subject. The new departure, in a word,
 
 means a cutting loose from the old lines and the appointment of the best men to federal offices throughout the south, even if they prove to be Democrats.
 Some months ago the then Vice. Presi- dent Roosevelt had a long talk with Booker Washington in New York. Colonel Roosevelt asked Mir Washington what. in his opinion, should be done to improve the outlook for the party in that section and to get 1t out of the clutches of the professional politicians and office -huck- sters who have so long ruled 1t. Colonel
 Roosevelt wanted to know what was best for the party and best for the negro Booker Washington's reply was that the
 best policy which could be adopted by the party leaders at the national capital was u but III QOWA tilc Olu BdilBS dIlu IO
 appoint highly respected white men to federal offices-white men who held the
 confidence of their neighbors and of the
 public fin general; that such appoint ments should be made without much re-
 gard to party lines; that if the man a community wanted for postmaster or col lector happened to be Democrat that fact should be no bar to his selection "If you want to build up the Republican
 party in the South and make of 1t some
 thing besides byword and reproach." said MT. Washington. "you must broaden
 1t out, You must get the better element
 of the whites in it. That is best for the party and for the public service. It is also best for the negro"
 The leader of the colored race in the South went on to explain to Colonel Roosevelt at that interview that at the present time and for many years past the Republican party in most of the Southern states has consisted simply of two rival gangs of professional leaders and office traders. They claim to be able to deliver
 the negro vote and to fix up all the dele- gations to the national conventions. The
 only energy they display Is in their rival ry as to which gang Is to control and en- joy the emoluments. AS rule one is about as disreptuable as the other. Neith- CT represents the people of the South. Both are obnoxious to public opinion. They do nothing for the negro beyond
 giving out few minor jobs here and
 there. They do nothing for the educa- ton or uplifting of the race, and by dis gusting the whites with their rotten borough rule in federal affairs make 1t impossible for the party to which the negro belongs to have any real voice in public affairs.
 Mir. Washington explained that he voiced these views to Colonel Roosevelt not as a politician. as he was not a politician and never expected to be. but