The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-11-02
FEDERATION CoUNsELLED.
Shall the Race Question Establish Anew the Mason and Dixon Line

Atlanta Constitution.
 Is 1t not time for a few words of sober | ness and truth in regard to the discus
 sion uf the negro question. upon which such diverse views are held by people | North and South?
 Is 1t not the part of common patriotism | to adopt a line conservative of national
 unity and good feeling? Does the man, North or South, who would create or Wid- | en a breach between the whole people serve the best interests of the country?
 There are several truths to be taken into consideration. The people of the
 North, with the problem absent from
 their own affairs, have one view as to how to treat the negro. The people of
 the South. with the actual burden, have | another. Both are fixed in opinion. If | the people of the South, in addition 10 in sistng upon their own rule of conduct at home should antagonize the North for | it's views on the color question, 1t would | have but one result-the remark'nG of the Mason and Dixon line. If the people of the North, not content with the exercise of their own domestic economy, should desire to force it upon the South. then they would be responsible for the draw | ing of the line. This is the danger point
 of the controversy, which It Will take | strong self-control and patriotic motive l to avert.
 Fortunately, the people of the South | have had the first opportunity to answer, | and they have spoken in a maaner which
 shows that they do not intend to be re- sponsible for the establishment of a pro- paganda which could only result in evil to the country. Savannah. representing the most ultra Southern feeling in the country, has become the spokesman. President Roosevelt had been invited to that city, where he had been assured or
 a grand ovation. Fear that the Wash ington dining might have altered the pur- pose of the people of Savannah led to inquiry. Speaking for the people, and in
 dorsed by the individual councilmen, the Mayor of that city saysi
 hnu should rescind the invitation and l have | heard no discussion among the aldermen | to indicate that they want to take such action. I am certainly of the opinion that l 1t should stand. The entertainment of
 Booker Washington. I consider, was the
 act of an individual, not that of Roosa
 velt as President We invited Roosevelt
 an individual, and certainly the invita- | ton should stand"
 This is a sensible as well as a patriotic
 view, and will De sustained by the whole people of the South as indicating their | line of conduct. The people of the North l have their views, to which they are en- l titled. Theodore Roosevelt Is a Northern of the people among whom he was born | Those people-or rather such of them as
 have spoken through their religious and educational bodies or through their pub lie agencies, both press and pulpit-are outspoken in defense of the theory that
 no offense was committed against the so- cial institutions of the country by the Presidents invitation to prominent ne-
 gro to become his guest at his family | fireside. Strange to say, the Democratic | press of the North is equally. if not more, outspoken than the Republican newspa- | pers in support of this theory, and all | seem to have forgotten, or overlooked,
 the memorable words of Lincoln, often quoted by The Co1stituti Dn, in which the 1 great abolitionist said, in 1858:
 | ''I am not, nor ever have been, in favor | of bringing about in any the social | and political equality of the white and | black races 1 am not. nor ever have | been, in favor of making voters or jurors l of negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white pCO- ple and l will say in addition to this | that there is physical difference be- tween the white and black races which believe will forever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality"
 The dinner at the White House was em- phasiZed at Yale University by Judges of the Supreme Court. college professors
 and Northern leaders of thought. who
 were ostentatous in their display of ap-
 probation. The Democratic Brooklyn Eagle and The New York World have
 been more out-spoken on the subject than
 are the leading newspapers of the Repub-
 lican party. The Democratic Chicago | Chronicle is authority for the statement
 that former President Grover Cleveland
 entertained Booker Washington as his guest at Princeton; and certain it is that l Fftderlck DOuBldSS was Ildue u pTOnl-
 nent guest at the White House during
 the Democratic administration of Presi- dent Cleveland.
 The North, then. is united in this mat
 ter. It does not agree with the South
 any more than docs the South agree with it,
 Such being the case. the people of the South are confronted with d great prob
 lem. They utterly nd absolut lE rrpudi-
 ate the idea of social intercourse of any kind between the races. They are irrr-
 vocably welded to this opposition. Th,y believe that any alteration of the social
 code which would permit or even sug-
 gest, ,he possibility of social intercourse between the races would be destructive