The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1901-10-10
PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT AND THE
SOUTH.

The late President Mckinley Dy
his kindly interest and sOlicitude for
every section Of the country and
especially for the South, had almost
wiped out the last vestige Of section
al feeling. His Atlanta speech, In |
which he declared that the valOr |
shown by Southern soldiers on every
battlefield during the civil war was
~ much . heritage Of the whole ma
ton o. the valor shown by the
Northern soldiers, and that that
combined valor, with equal loyalty
and devotion, to-day stood behind
the flag Of the greatest nation on
earth, and his other statement that
he would be glad TO see the Federal
Government take care Of the graves
Of the Confederate soldiers as well
as Of the Union soldiers, struck a
popular chord from ocean to ocean
and brought together the different
sections Ia closer sympathetic touch
than they had probably ever known
before. 1t Ii true there were few
croaks both from the north and the
south, but they were feeble and
soon died away.
President Roosevelt seems to be
the ideal man to follow up the pol
icy In this respect begun by Presi-
dent Mckinley. Mr.. RoOsevelt's
mother was Miss Bullock, of Georgia,
woman Of the true southern type,
and, therefore, he has In his veins
an equal amount of blood of the
north and the south. So far his ut
terances and actions as President
have shown that he will be the
President of the whole people and
that his greatest ambition will be to
forward the Industrial welfare of all
sections alike. In doing this his
policy no doubt will be to advance
the Industrial progress of the south
by liberalizIng, so far as possible, the
political conditions that exist In
many quarters Of the south. Indeed,
the intolerant, narrow and prescrip-
tive political despotism that has ex-
listed and still exists In many sections
has been and Is now the greatest
barrier to the industrial develop.
ment of this fertile and beautiful
Southland. With the practical
elimination Of the race question in
the south the opportunity Is ripe fol
building up . strong respectable
progressive and liberal party In op
position to the Democratic machine
In this State and other southern
states.
OF course there Is q certain ele
ment in the South which has to(
often and In too many places domi
mated the Republican party in thu
past that will oppose President
Roosevelt's efforts as vigorously, ant
probably rs effectively, If not more
effectively, than will the machin,
Of Democratic politicians. We re
fer to the remnant of the old carpet
bag element and those southern
born Republican politicians who fol
low carpetbag policies and VIII,
have no higher aspiration than tn,
Federal pie-counter. This class o
Republican politicians whereve
found In the South has Away
been opposed to building up stronI
and progressive Republican part.
for the reason that they feared the.
would not control 1t If such q part,
were built up. They knew tina
stronger and more Representative
and progressive men would be II
the lead and this meant that the,
could not hold the federal office
when the Republican party contro
cd the National administration
There are many Southern State
where this class of politicians still
completely dominates the Republi
can organization. Of course, so lon
Is they do, representative and pre-
gressive citizens, however niue
they may deplore and despise tn
methods adopted by the Democrat
machine. will either stay In til
Democratic party or else become II
active. We have recently notice
In the newspapers accounts ola nun
Der Of these pie-counter Republican
rushing to Washington since Nj
Roosevelt became President. G
course, they will advise him again.
any independent policy that wi
build up an opposition party to til
Democratic party.
We trust and believe the Pres
dent. Is broad and wise enough {
comprehend the situation and to
able to size up this class of Republ
can politicians and realize that the
are % much responsible for Ii
political conditions to-day In Ii
South, If not more 30, than Ii