Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-11-28
AS To THE NEGRO
President Roosevelt Defines
His Pos ton.
CASE OF DR.. CRUM
QUESTION OF COLOR NOT TO EN-
TER INTO IT.
Appointments Will Be Made Upon Fit
ness of Applicant in Any Section
Booker Washington's Statement.

The following communication Of President |
Roosevelt to a citizen of Charleston. 8. c..
defining his attitude as to the negro has
been made public at the White House:
WHITE HOUSE,
Washington November %, 1902.
My Dear Sir:
1 am in receipt of your letter Of November |
10 and of one from Mr.. -, under date of |
November IL. In reference to the appoint
ment of DR.. Crum as collector Of the port |
of Charleston.
In your letter you make certain specific |
charges against DR.. Crum, tending to show |
his unfitness in several respects for the
Office sought. These charges entitled to
the utmost consideration from me, and L
shall go over them carefully before taking |
any action. After making these charges |
you add as further reason for opposition
to him.. that he Is colored man, and after
recitng the misdeeds that followed carpet
bag rule and negro domination in South
Carolina you say that 1--WE have sworn
never again to submit to the rule Of the
African and such appointment as that
of DR.. Crum to any such office forces us to
protest unanimously against this insult to
the white BLOOD" and you add that you
understood me to say that l would never
force a negro on such community as
yours.
Mr.. puts the objection of color first,
saying. FIRST, ne Is c0lOred man, ana
that of itself ought to bar him from the
office" In view of these last statements
think I ought to make clear to you why
| am concerned and panied by your making
them and what my attitude is as regards
all such appointments. How any one could
have gained the idea that L had said l
would not appoint reputable and upright
colored men to office, when objection was
made to them solely account of their
color. | confess I wholly unable to I'M
derstand. At the time of my visit to
Charleston last spring L had made, and
since that time | have made, a number of
such appointments from several states in
which there is a considerable colored popu
| lation. For example, l made such ap-
| pointment in Mississippi and another in
Alabama, shortly before my visit to
! Charleston. | had at that time appointed
two coored men as judicial magistrates in
| the district of Columbia. l have recently
announced another such appointment for
| New Orleans, and have just made one from
| Pennsylvania. The great majority of my
| appointments in every state have been of
| white North and south alike 1t has
| been my SedulOus endeavor to appoint only
men of high character and good capacity,
! whether white or black. But it has been
! my consistent policy in every state where
their numbers warranted it to recognize
/ colored men of good repute and standing
/ in making appointments to office. These
appointments of colored men have in no
| state made more than a small proportion
| of the total number of appointments l am
| unable to see how l can legitima tely be
! asked to make an exception for South Caro-
| lima. In South Carolina to the four most
! important positions in the state / have APP
| pointed three men and continued in Office
fourth. all of them white men-three of
! them originally gold democrats; two of
! them, as | am informed, the sons of con-
| federate soldiers: | have been Informed
! by the citizens of Charleston whom 1 have
met that these four men represent high
| grade of public service.
| | do not intend to appoint any UNFIT men
! n1,x
! shall always endeavor to pay regard to the
wishes and feelings of the people of each
| locality; but | cannot consent to take The
| position that the door of hope-the door of
| opportunities to be shut upon any man, no
| matter how worthy, purely upon the
! grounds of race or color. Such attitude
! would according to my convictions, be
! fundamentally wrong If, you hold, the
| great bulk of the colored people not yet
| fit in point of character and influence to
| hold such positions. 1t seems to me that 1t
| is worth while putting a premium upon
| the effort among them to achieve the char
| acter and standing which will fit them.
The question of negro domination docs
not enter into the matter at all. 1t might
as well be asserted that when I was gov
ernOr of New York l sought to bring about
negro domination in that state because |
appointed two colored men Of good charac-
ter and standing to responsible positions
one of them to a position paying a salary
twice as large as that paid in the office now
under consideration-one of them director
/ raised by you and Mr.. - in the state
ments to which l refer is simply whether
| it is to be declared that under no circurl-
| stances shall any man Of color, matter
| how upright and honest, matter how
| good a citizen, matter how fair in rs
! dealings with all his fellows, be permitted
to hold any office under government.
[ certainly cannot assume such an attitude
| and you must permit me to say that in my
view 1t is an attitude no man should as
sumo. whether he looks at it from the
standpoint of the true interest of the white
man of the south or of the colored man of
the south-not to speak of any other sec
ton of the Union. 1t seems to me that II
is a good thing from every standpoint to let
the colored man know that if he shows in
marked degree the qualities of good Citizen
ship-the qualities which in a white man
we feel entitled to reward-then he will
not be cut off from all hope of similar re-
ward
Without any regard as to what my de-
cision may be on the merits of this partic-
ular applicant for this particular place. l
feel that 1 ought to let you know clearly
my attitude on the far broader question
raised by you and Mr.. - an attitude
from which l have not varied during ny
term of office.
Faithfully yours,
THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
Hon. -, Charleston, South Carolina