The Hawaiian gazette., 1902-12-09
the NEGRO QUESTION.

The letter Of President Roosevelt IN
answer to the protest Of citizen or
/ Charleston, :. c., against the appoint
ment of a negro to the position OF col
| lector of the port. is not only charac-
teristic OF the man but indicative OF
the position the Republican party must
occupy IL 1t would be OF the highest
service TO the country. In the last
named respect it rebukes the movement,
/ in the Republican organization Of GER
tam southern States, towards an alli-
ance with the whites against the blacks.
The President says plainly that while
he viii always endoaVOr to regard the
legitimate feelings and wishes of the
people Of each locality, ne cannot con
sent to take the position that the door
Of hope, the door of opportunity, Is to
be shut upon any good man, no matter
how worthy, purely upon the grounds
Of race and color" We may add to
this that the South itself can as little
afford to do ii as the President; indeed,
the Executive, as a politician, might
make votes by courtesy TO white preju-
dices. but the South, as a social and
Industrial body, must build up the ne
gro or see him become, by the sheer in
crease Of mis- mass, "A more dangerous
problem 10 deal with as the years go
by That is to say, if nine millions of
ignorant negroes are hard to manage,
how viii a white population, which Is
not increasing i'm their ratio, manage
eighteen millions?
The negro Is in the South to stay and
to keep out white labor immigration,
the latter because OF his wage scale
and his adaptability to the peculiar vo-
cations of the soil He cannot be sent
to Liberia; he cannot be induced to
move either north or south. He is an
American and as such does not care
to live in an alien country; he is of
scmi-tropical blood ana cannot thrive
in a cold country. Moreover the South
accepts him as fixture and needs him
to do its hard work. lie IS going to
stay where he is and increase until
perhaps his numbers will be greater
than those of the whites. The question
therefore is, shall he be trained for good
citizenship or left to grow and gain
strength and potency in bad citizen
ship?
He cannot be made a good citizen if
the rights of citizenship are denied him.
He is taxed, he is subject TO military
duty, he is equal to the white man be-
fore the law; he naturally feels that
If he makes himself the equal Of the
white man mentally and morally, he
has right to participate with him in
the higher duties and rewards Of Citi-
Zeuship. But here white prejudice steps
III and tells him he shall so no further.
lie may have a ladder of ambition but
it must be a short one. Nothing could
be better calculated than this to drive
him back to barbarism. 1t is like tell
ing a certain number of college students
that, no matter how hard they may
strive nor how much they may learn,
they cannot hope for a degree. In that
case they will not strive at all. They
will get out Of the college and become
enemies Of the institution. So with the
negro. II higher citizenship is denied
him, with all it implies, he win lapse
into lower citizenship, and it is in thai
relation that he becomes a burden uPon
and a menace to white society, The
South has expelled him from Congress,
from State Offices, FROM politics gem
orally and the result "a seen in its in
creasiRs peril from the black mass.
Shall 'he Fcderal power join in and de-
bar hin from such service as he may
be fitted to render the public interests
of the United States2 President Roose-
Welt says no, and every true and un-
prejudiced friend of the southern people
says no.
Let Us paraphrase the words of Abra-
ham Lincoln and say that the South
cannot exist half slave and half free.
| There Is, In the immense and growing
negro population, the potential elements
/ of great evil and great good. There is
/ the material for a more dreadful up
heaVal than the French revolution
which was the work of a mob 100 0OC
strong; and there Is che material for
a sober thrifty, God-fearlng middle
class which will produce men fitted il
every way to mount higher-men like
Frederick Douglas and Booker T
Washington. Which element shall b'
. built up? 1t is for the South to say
not in the language Of prejudice agains
Z color but in the language of charity
of reason, OF historical common sens
/ and In fun recognition Of the DANCE
!, that viii come from taking false stel
$