The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1901-10-12
1nf souTEs REPREsEN1AIIONIN CONGRESS.

from % DemocratI
1t has been nferenal suggested that the Presldent
high resolve to appoint only of proven ability and
high character to Office in the South is of itself not pol
lev but merely part of general plan, and that Mr.
larger purpose Ito recognize the body pc
lite in the Southern States Precisely what these some
what indnte words may may not at rst blush ac
curatey be determined but it understood that thsy sig
nifty little less than the reduction of Southern represen
taton in the House of Representatives In view OF tnt
fact that Mr. Roosevelt has expressed his sympathy WIFE
the life and institutions Of the South It rs hardly 10 Dc ex
peced that be will at the outset Of his administration at
tempt to do that which Mckinley, in concrete pressure
of partisan camor emphatcaly refused to counteuace
Certainly it is not within the range of probabilities that the
President will seek to revive issue which the great ma
iority of thinking persons the nation hope las beer
buried beyond the possibility of resurrection.
There are however, indications that tend to give credu
lity to the report There can be no question that MI
Roosevelt is partisan or least party man, whose ar
dor has failed to cool with the quckgoing He is,
every of his blood and in every fibre OF his frame
Republican, and Republican who has been educated IN
the political school of which Alexander Hamilton was the
founder and of which Henry Cabot Lodge OF Massuchu-
ses has been the leading disciple in recent years in all
that has been written and spoken of President Roosevelt
by Americans of the Southern States there has not been
absent the warning that though the Southern people would
sustain and support the Chief Magistrate of the nation IN
every intelligent effort ito preserve the peace prosperity
and honor" of the country yet there could De little sym
pahy in this section with unnecessary Federal interior
ence in the administration OF State governments That
the people of each state have the right safeguard within
the limits of the Federal Constitution the right of the
elective franchise and that they most wisely protect
that right by regulations adopted by the solid of
each state convection deep and abiding that it can
never for instant be shaken and it is clear that
any policy Of the Presidents which fails to respect that
cearcut popular verdict will even in spite OF other re-
deemng features be opposed by tho intelligence chai
acter and conscience of the South.
In making that statement The Times Democrat is not
uumndfu of the President consderateness dsympahy
and tne sense of civic virtue which have been freshly ILL
ustraed in the appointment of former Gov Jones, Dem
ocrat to the Office of United States district Judge in the
State of Alabama 1t is not much to say that in thus
cretely transating his ideas of political reform into the
practical administration of the government. President
Roosevelt has emphasized not only the hope but the
pecaton that the political ringsers who have disgraced
manya Republican administration, would be promptly
banshhd from power the appointment of Gov Jones,
coming swiftly it has upon the reported new policy OF
the President has sent into the hearts OF all good
citizens and dsmay into the ranks of
1t is mere common place to state that for the de-
parure by Republican administration the Southern peo-
pie aren not little grateful
1t would be erroneous however, to suppose that by
son of this single act of this policy continue
throughout his administration President Roosevelt could
persuade the Southern people that representation in Con
should be determined by the number of votes cast at
elections instead Of by population. If there Repub
dans who imagine that such revolution in public sent
ment can be worked the South they should prompt
Iyrecognze that they dealing with people whose
temper and tastes and political convictions they little
derstand and If these decpes of the Henry Cabot Lodge
school seek to lead the President along dangerous
path we sincerely hope that safer counseors will
him of the precpice Once and for all shoudbe known
that what Senatar Hoar recently characterized the
and constancy of the Southern people"
be eithor dsmayed shaken by fanatcsm though
Mr. Roosevelt should lead in the assault
The South has passed through long and bloody sweat
the lessons taught by the ordeal fixed in the public
1t is needless to repeat here what those
lessons are 1t goes without saying that of intel
gence throughout the nation not unmindfu of the
porance If President Rooyel contempates cutting down
congressional representation in the South he should un
dersand at that he is attempting to do that which
will array the South soldy against his administration
OF all peoples earth the Southern people will be th,
last to sell their birthright for mess of pottage