The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-11-28
More Suuared-Toe Rooseveltism.

The presidents letter the appoint
ment OF DR.. Crum (colored) to the COL
lectorship of the port Of Charleston. ad-
dressed to southern protestant against
the appointment of colored men to office,
is characteristic Of his high sense Of pa
triotic duty and loyalty to the constitu-
tion Of the United States. The protestant
against the appointment, who declares
that it Is an insult to the white blood, y
must understand. through the presidents
letter, that he will not discriminate
against the negro race in making appoint
ments where good citizenship, honesty and
adequate qualifications inhere in the sub
ject for appointment. The president, in
deed, suggests that, granting the back
ward condition Of the colored race In the
south, it is the obvious duty Of the white
race to adopt all rational measures to up
lift it and make the negro feel that he
Is not absolutely cut off from promotion
when he has shown himself fit to receive
It, II the negro is so unfit to hold federal
position as the southern protestant af-
firms, the president declares that lit is
worth while putting Il premium upon the
effort among them to achieve the charac-
ter and standing that will fit them
This position is ailable from pa
triotic and constitutional standpoint Sew
eral millions of negroes in the south, citi-
zens of the United States, are, as Booker
Washington says, liable under the law for
taxes and military service, and are pun
ishable for infractions of the law, while
they are without representation in con-
<gress, and several southern states have
passed laws designed to prevent them
from exercising the right of suffrage
through such devices as the grandfather"
clause. 't" .- Il!
: Whatever may be said about the pro-
priety of the war amendments which freed
the negro, made him citizen Of the
United States and conferred upon him
the right of suffrage, the fact remains
that the right is an indsputable fact. The
legalizing Of negro suffrage may have
been. under the the then existing condi-
tions, a. stupendouss blunder,. but it would
be worse than a blunder to attempt to
annul the constitutional amendment. suf-
frage having been conferred, the nation
must make the best of it and the south,
in close propinquity to the negro, is all
the more In duty bound to make the ne
gro, through the most liberal educational
processes, fit to exercise the important
duties of citizenship. Better far, indeed,
would it have been if the federal govern
ment had provided for a slow and gradual
acquisition Of political rights by the negro
under standards of time, education and
property Thirty-fiye years ago the ne
groes of the south were. only inhabitants
and an alien race in the states wherein
they lived and were treated as outcasts
and pariahs. The reconstruction period
was q dark shadow upon our history, but
it has not been without its disciplinary
benefits. The southern negro has emerged
from it, restricted it Is true in his polit-
ical action, but the possessor at the pres
ent time of large and increasing educa-
tional advantages, backed by a perceptibly
growing conviction of southern statesmen
Of the absolute necessity for promoting
the intelligence of the colored race. In
time they may see that 1t will be we'll to
modify the extreme severity Of electoral
qualifications Of several southern states,
and even to recognize the right of a
qualified negro citizen to aspire to and
accept federal appointment to office.