The Lafayette gazette., 1903-04-04

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toms at Charleston, >. c., and,
for the second time also, he has
reappointed Addicks' man,
Byrne, to be United States at
torney for the district of Della
ware. Mr.. Roosevelt has done
this though the Senate had in
each case twice refused to con-
firm the nomination. Inasmuch
as the Senate has adjourned and
will not again meet until Decem
ber these two appOinteeS of the
presidents will fill the Offices
! for which they have been named
certainly until the Senate's next
session. In the case of Crum,
an officer who is distasteful to
80 per cent of persons who do
business with the customs house
at Charleston will be forced
, upon that comm unity. In the
case OF Byrne, man who is
known to have been the main
stay of one of the most corrupt
politicians that ever disgraced
this country, will be foisted
upon and fixed upon the people
of Delaware. And for what rea-
son? Merely because Mr..
Roosevelt persistently refuses
to bow to the will not merely of
the United States Senate but of
the enlightened citizens of
Charleston and of Delaware
The spirit of independence in
public men is always admirable,
and the independent mind that
Mr.. Roosevelt has often illus
trated in his political career has
won the respect of his country
men. Stubbornness is not, how
ever, Independence. Bullheaded
ness is not resoluteness. There
was something exceedingly fine
in Luther's. Here stand I. I
can none other. God help me-"
and there was something equally
noble in William Lord Garrison's
Il shall not evade. 1 shall not
equivocate. I shall not recede
one single inch: and I will be
heard" In each case the whole
moral nature of him who spoke
was compressed into the words |
he uttered. How is it with the
What moral question
is involved in the appointing of |
an Addicks adherent to a Fed |
eral Office in Delaware: What |
service is done the State when
Mr.. Roosevelt persists in thrust
ing this cOmrade of a corruption
ist into the United States dis
trict attorneys office at Will
mington or Dover? Does the
really suppose he can
enlist public sympathy in the eff
fort he is making to provide a
berth for this follower of Ad-
dicks: Is it not sufficient for
the president that the Senate
has twice resented the manner
in which he has joined hands
with the venal Addicks 'ring'
in Delaware? Is he determined
to be not only in such company
but also of it? Is he resolved to
pervert the machinery of the
Federal government into an en-
gine by which the Addicks
crowd in Delaware may be win
dlcated?'
The appointing of Crum differs
from the appointing of Byrne.
The Charleston negro enjoys an
honorable reputation among the
people with whom he lives. For
reasons of weight, however, he
is persona non grata' to almost
all citizens of Charleston with
whom he, as collector of Gus
toms, will be brought in contact.
The laws of nature-thrOugh no
fault of his or of the people who
protest against his appointment
have made him impossible as
a collector of customs at Charles
ton. There are hundreds of
men in South Carolina who
would perform the duties of the
office as well as would the presi
dents appointee and who would
also be quite acceptable to per
sons who have business with the
Charleston customs house. What
is the reason that Mr.. Roosevelt !
will not select one Of these many |
available white men in South I
Carolina? Why does he persist |
in butting his head against this !
of public opinion in, the
South and in the United States /
Senate? His reply is that he
does SO because he is not salts
fed with the Senate mittee's
report and is determined to-
force a vote on the question in
the executive session of the Sen
ate. His quarrel seems, there
fore, to be with the Senate.
If this be true, is it fair
in him now that the Sen