The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1902-12-02

AS further proof of the rrepressiblenes of the
negro problem, tits interesting to observe that two
of the most noteworthy press dispatches sent out
last week were those setting forth the views of
President Roosevelt and Booker Washington as to
the negro in politics.
President Roosevelt expressed his views in an
open letters to a Charleston man who had written
him in regard to the appointment of the negro
Crum as collector. The gist of the document is
contained in the following extracts:
"The question is simply whether it is to be de-
clared that under no circumstances shall any man
of color, no matter how upright or honest, no mat
ter how good a citizen, no matter how fair in his
dealings with all his fellows, be permitted to hold
any Office under our government. I certainly can
not assume such an attitude, and you must permit
me to say that in my view it is an attitude no man
should assume, whether he looks at it from the
standpoint of true interest of the white man of
the South or of the colored man of the South, not
to speak of any other section of the Union. It
seems to me that it is a good thing from every
standpoint to let the colored man know that if he
shows in marked degree the qualities of good cit
izenship, the qualities which in a white man we
feel entitled to reward, then he will not be cut off
from all hope of similar reward. If as you hold,
the great hulk of the colored people are not yet
III III PC1hG VI CL1d4 ~ LIN L1LuC41S I O4O OuCA
positions it seems to me that it is worth while
putting a premium upon the efforts among them
to achieve the character and standing which will
fit them"
In all this there is nothing novel or sensational.
The Wilmington Messenger, in our opinion, sets
forth the situation very accurately in the follow
ing editorial paragraph:
Mr.. Roosevelt announces most emphatically as
a general proposition that he would not refuse to
appoint a negro to office for the sole reason that
he was a negro. No one expected the President
of the United States to admit that he would. The
President is careful in this letter to guard against
any rush of applications by negroes for office as a
consequence of his statement by emphasizing the
point of disqualification of character and ability
likely to exist in cases of negroes. The letter not
ifes the people of the South that the President
will continue to now and then appoint a negro
to office, as he has done in the past, but there is
nothing in it to startle or brighten those Republi-
cans who are trying to build up a white Republi-
can Party in this section. It is a shrewd political
document, meant to catch the negro vote for
Roosevelt's nomination and at the same time to
allay the fears and check the growing ~animosity
of the lilly white faction of the party"
Booker Washington's letter appeared on the
same day as President Roosevelt's. For several
months now there have been rumors of pernicious
political activity on the part of the negro educa-
tor, who, as everybody knows, has always insisted
that the negroes in their present condition should
not seek political preferment, but should bend all
their energies to the development of a spirit of
thrift, industry and honesty among them. The
press DISPATCHES of late have persistently repre-
scented Prof. Washington as forsaking these prin-