The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-08-11
SOUTHERN sTATESMANsHIP.
Southern Paper Says Of IL, I'm Eject
There Il None"

There Il None"
Memphis Commercial Appeal.
The exclusion of any class or section
of people from the presidential Office
places it on a level with those citizens OF
foreign birth who adopt this country as
theirs. No foreign-born citizen may serve
as President Of the United States and can
only reach the Senate where all beyond -
impossible 10 him. sacred ground upon
which he must not set his foot. The law
is a wise one. as it prevents the Eu-
ropeanizing OF the country and the dom
nance of foreign methods and ideas.
There is a custom or sentiment which
provides that no Southern man may a.
pire TO the presidency. and this custom
seems to have reached the point when IL
would be more honorable in the breach
than in the observance.
1t is an unwise CUSTOM and IL should
be abandoned. 1t is an injurious Gus
tom. and because it arrests the devel-
opment of Southern statesmen and de-
prives the nation OF their services The
discrimination is not geographic merely.
but photographic as well. There can be no
denying the fact that the purer and bet
ter Americanism is found in the South.
and that here the ancient and cherished
ideals are preserved and aspired TO. Yet
in the home OF Americanism no one may
hope TO reach the highest American honor
Men develop when given opportunity
and remain stunted when denied opportu-
nifty. Conditions must be favorable TO
produce mental as well as physical
growth There are no Republican states
men among the younger generation in
the South because conditions have been
hostile 10 development Southern Re
pub1canS have grown only TO the measure
Of their cramped environment. Where
statesmen should take an active part
shrewd pap hunters busy themselves. A
few OF the cOlOred brethren are called
together and white man is nominated
Tor congress, not with any hope or be-
ing elected, not with any view of discus
sing national issues. solving national
problems or educating the people from
the stump, but with sole purpose OF be-
ing in line with a ba sket ready 10 catch
any crumbs OF public patronage that hap
pens 10 fall Conditions like these do
not permit the growth OF craftsmanship.
/ They produce a species OF low cunning
/ quite unworthy American citizenship. Were
/ il possible for a Southern man TO be NOM
/ mated on the Republican ticket for Presl-
dent, craftsmanship would be cultivated
more assiduously by the few Republicans
/ IN the South. AS II Is, they are entirely
/ effaced.
With Democrats it is not quite as bad.
/ but the injury is greater because so many
/ more are made TO suffer. The Southern
! Democrat may entertain political aspira-
! lions, hut only in a restricted measure
! He goes to the lower house of Congress
! after spending a probationary period in
minor offices and he is expected there 10
! legislate for the entire nation. But he
! cannot see beyond his own bailiwick. He
/ ostenslbly addresses the nation. but his
works are intended really for home con-
sumption. His district is his all TO him.
and he cares nothing for other parts of the
| vineyard. National problems of the hugest
] proportions are dealt with in a purely pro-
vincial manner. Nothing is looked at i'm its
/ larger relations. Questions Of national
moment are crammed into the procrustean
| bed of a particular district. No effort is
| made TO win national applause and every
effort Is made 10 win an appropriation for
| a particular constituency. There is
! reaching and broadening out, no growth
| along national lines. nothing of the larger
NE that comprehends not only this en-
! TIRE nation but which extends 10 all ma
tons. The statesman is destroyed by the
worm % circumstances in the bud, the mere
politician fiouTishes in a contracted orbit.
No man reaches his full stature II con-
| gresham ventures beyond his own dis
trict and to the farthest limits of his State.
he ventures on perilous mission but he
may be rewarded by an election 10 the Gov
ernorship, 1.-The highest office within the
gift OF the people OF a State, il is called.
but priced by the politician only because
il places in his hands the political ma
chinery which he may use 10 have himself
| elected to the United States Senate. And
in the Senate he may not function as a ma
| tional faccor. He must be sectional and
confine the orbit of his vision chiefly TO
his own State. He has reached the highest
height and he must have concern for the
ladder upon which he climbed. He pre-
sents a case of arrested development. He
cannot make an impress upon the nation,
or, like Clay, Calhoun, Webster Benton
and others reach such national stature a Is
TO force himself upon his State from with
out
Morgan. Of Alabama, is an exception less
real than ostensible. He has achieved a.
national prominence by his persistent plod-
ding in furtherance of a transisthmian
| canal. The politicians of his State tried
to retire him, and would have retired him
were it not for his national character
which was strong enough TO Withstand the
Vaccinations of his enemies. AS il was
| he had a close call. Senator Morgan
try, but his beloved Alabama was chiefly
in his mind He saw her mountains preg-
nant with coal and iron, and he yearned
for the day when short route TO the
| Orient would give his State absolute COM
mand of the iron markets. Multiplied bill
lions Of dollars will be spent I'm the coming
| years for steel rails with which TO grid
| iron Asia and Africa; and, as Alabama can
produce iron cheaper than IL can be pro-
| duced anywhere else in the known world.
that State will be the chief beneficiary.
Hence Morgan's canal is a national enter
prise inspired and impelled by provincial
interests.
Some years ago Daniel Daugherty. the
prejudice in this country against electing
a Catholic to the presidency that is strong
er than a constitutional inhibition. The
same may be said of the Southern man.
whether Democrat or Republican He is
looked upon as a citizen by adoption, who
may have what his particular State gives
him. but who must look for nothing from
the Nation, the powers and hOnors OF which
belong to other sections. This should not
be. SOutherners are not adopted citizens