Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1902-12-03
CHARLESTON, s. c. Nov. p, 1902.

CHARLESTON, s. c. Nov. q, 1902.
NV Dear Mr.. President: I thank you
most warmly for your very frank and
considerate letter Of the 10th instant.
If I was mistaken-as Of course / must
have been-in understanding your pol
icy in the south to be not to refuse the
reappointment Of q Negro to office
where he had faithfully and efficiently
discharged the duties Of the office, but
to confine your new appointments here
to the white population, 1t was proba-
bly, because the wish was father to the
thought; inasmuch as felt 1t was for
the good Of both the white and colored
people Of the south, and the good Of the
whole nation, in opening the door to a
very large portion Of 1t to political free
dom, where the people could have a
voice at the ballot box in national
questions.
I most heartily agree with you that
hope of political reward should not be
closed to the Negro, and am earnestly
pleading that the best and most worthy
Of that race be not shut Off from any
hope Of having a voice in that govern
ment which really affects his material
welfare; that Is local and state govern
ment.
The Negroes of the south are now
Republicans; not because it means to
them what Is for the national good,
but because 1t means antagonism to
the southern white man, and an Op-
portunity for Office holding. It con-
veys no other idea to their minds, and
80 long as something Is not done to
eradicate this idea they cannot grasp
that reward for which they should
strive, but which in. my judgment Is
being effectively withheld from them
by these appointments to Federal Of
fee in the south. The entire govern
ment Of the south, save in Federal pat
ronage, is in the hands Of the white
man, who has had to wrest It by des-
perate struggles from the Negro in
years past, and who Is not going to
permit the possibility of relapse in
the interest of civilization and human
ity.
In your earnest appeal for the people
Of Cuba and the Philippines, you do
not realize that the condition Of the
south for many years subsequent to
the civil war was far worse than that
Of the people Of either Of these coun-
tries. Men and women Of the highest
refinement, education and civilization,
were ground under the heel Of an ig-
norant and brutal race suddenly con-
verted from slave to master. Since
those early days education has assist
ed in eradicating OF suppressing some
Of these instincts, and 1t has also
taught the best Of the race that naught
but harm could come from keeping
alive that antagonism to the southern
white people which was 80 sedulously
cultivated in them by the representa-
tiyes Of the Republican party who came
a,.th ~ %I,A Ill 10 nfxyf1x
What possible good can come to the
Negro race at large to have a Federal
Office held out to one Of his number in
each state, at the sacrifice Of the good
will of the entire white race among
whom he lives, by whose laws he is
governed, and from whose councils he
Is thereby kept excluded no matter
how deserving he may be. BY such
appointments that very door Of hope
that door Of opportunity-to which you
refer, is shut upon the Negro no matter
how worthy he may prove himself, and
for the benefit Of few Office seekers,
who have not one-tenth the regard for
the welfare Of the race as either you or
I. Take the case before US: DR.. Crum
was nominated for the postoffice by
Mr.. Harrison. His confirmation was
opposed before the, committee, which Of
course was Republican. It was was
there brought out by Senator Walcott,
that DR.. Crum had gone to the Nation
al Republican convention pledged to
vote for Mr.. Blaine, and had sold his
vote to Mr.. Harrison for that very ap-
pointment. This, together with the ev-
idence then given the committee as to
his unfitness, brought an almost unan-
imous report against his confirmation,
in which report the senate concurred.
If a Republican senate in the days
when the appointment Of Negroes to
Office was common, found DR.. Crum
unfit to discharge the duties Of the
postmaster, there must have been very
grave reasons therefor. Is it such a
class of Negroes that should be en-
couraged? Is 1t astuteness In ascer-
tanning when and where to sell his
vote to the successful Republican can
didate that should be held up as the
goal for which the race should strive?
Yet such Is the idea which the south
tics has today, and such only will he
have until he be made to understand
that he must enter the political arena,
not as the enemy Of his white neigh
bor not as q mere office-seeker for his
personal gain, but from a. higher, purer
motive, that will elevate him to plane
where door to noble aspirations and
lofty purposes may open to him.
In the northern states he had to win
his way to recognition by merit, and it
Is impossible to appreciate the very
different motives inspiring the two
races here. and how impossible it Is to
place the Negro on higher plane un-
til these motives are obliterated and
replaced by such as now exist at the
north.
And now I must apologize for my
presumption in expressing at such
length views so divergent from those
which you seem so emphatically to en-
tertain, but you have always been an
earnest seeker after truth. and I feel,
therefore, my earnest zeal in present.
ing to you another view Of this very
important question, from one who is.
and has been In the very midst Of its
field Of operation for many years: who
earnestly wishes the welfare Of the en-
tire south, whether white or black. and
believes that in that welfare the nation
at large will benefit much.
Sincerely yours, r. G. RHETT.
To the President,
White House, Washington, D. c.