Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1903-03-07
MR.. THOMAS NELSON PAGES
DELIYERANCES.

| MIR. THOMAS NELSON PAGE of Virgin.
Ia has contributed a most interesting
article TO GOLFERS WEEKLY on 1.-The
New Aspect of the Negro Question. ~
1t contains statements which it would
be well for every colored man in the
country to consider. BY degrees, every
thoughtful citizen will arrive at a con-
cluslon concerning President RoosE.
VELT's policy, which will be very much
akin to arousing drowsy man from a
sound sleep
1t viii no doubt be startling revela-
ton to some, who had been too quick to
reach conclusions. Inasmuch as Presi-
dent ROOSEVELT in recent letter, al
dressed to Mr.. CLARK HOWELL, editor
of the ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, names
Mr.. THOMAS NELSON PAGE as a referee
In the matter of appointments in the
South, his remarks therefore will have
a peculiar significance.
Mr.. PAGE says:
The Negro question has recently and
| somewhat unexpectedly appeared again
| at the South. After holding the stage
| Tor over thirty years to the complete ex-
| cIuslon Oh other questions, it has for the
last hve or SIX years seemed almost cas-
| good as settled" and the South has
Congratulated herself that this settle
ntenI was Tor the peace and well-b being
OF all classes of her people.
The colored race, more or less al;n;-
mated from politics, under wiser counsel
than had formerly prevailed. was an
plying Its energies TO building itself mn
lndustrlally. The white race freed from
tue incubus that had weighed it down
SO long, had Immediately begun to di-
VIDE on economic questions. With this
appeared to have passed the chief cause
! or misunderstanding hzs;v;;,;,;: A.. 49,,
sections OF the Countrywide North and
the South. The division was not
enough to break the solid South: but IL
was quite enough to contribute to the
election OF Republican President and
| Vice-President.
To illustrate: Fifteen years ago, the
ieadlng social club of Virginia, the
Westmoreland Club of Richmond, had
not Republican in it. Two years ago
majority of the members of that cI3b
voted Tor Mckinley and Roosevelt.
This is an adroit way to state an en-
barrassing question. If the division
was not enough TO break the Solid
South, when can it be hoped to exer-
else such a potent influence The
statement that the majority of the
members of WEsTMoRELAND CLUB sup
ported MCKINLEY is of small conse-
quence. 1t was not much more than "a
drop in the bucket" The members of
this club would have supported any 9TH
er man, provided the money question
was an issue as was the case during
the MCKINLEY campaign. The success
OF the BRYAN free silver policy meant
the ruination of the members of the
club as well as the financial destruction
of the club itself.
Still these peoples influence not only
failed to make any perceptible change
In the vote in VIRGINIA, but had no an
preciable effect upon the vote of even
the city of Richmond, where the great
est amount of capital is invested.
He continues:
When, in the Wilmington riot, North
ern men marched shoulder to shoulder
with Southern men, and when the Mis-
| slssippi Constitution passed the Supreme
Court of the United States, the South
considered that the Negro question was
at rest, and for the first time since the
war felt free to divide ON other lines of
public policy.
Vain hope this! 1t was murder in
both cases One was the murder of cit
lzens; the other, the butchery of the
law. No such settlements can last.
COP has decreed otherwise.
And again:
Such was the state of the case when
Mckinley and Roosevelt were elected.
| Mr.. Mckinley, by his extraordinary
| tact, won the goodwill of the Southern
people. His successor fell heir to this
goodwill, in addition to large amount
of popularity quite personal to himself
He was one-half Southern. by blood; his
career had been one to appeal peculiarly
to the imagination of the South; his
character commanded admiration; his
| brief but honorable military career es
| CaDusn eu Nun 1urther In her esteem. In
his command, for tho first time since
the war, Southerner found that to be
a Southerner did not operate against
! the chance for military preferment. 1t
| is probable that there was not a more
popular man In the South than Mr..
Roosevelt when he succeeded to the
Presidency His first Southern appoint
ments we're made from Democrats who
had supported Mckinley, and added to
his prestige.
Mr.. PAGE says further:
This was but year and half ago.
Within this brief time conditions APP
pear to have totally changed. The Ne
groes throughout the country are in a
state of upheaval. The popularity of
the President with the people of ire
South has suffered sudden eclipse.
The deepest feeling is beginning to be
stirred.
1t is claimed by some that this change
is due to the appointment of Negroes to
Office. But in the Judgment of those
. ~