Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1903-03-14

s'aeenueHe enat ne mas taken reputable
Democratic white men in the South in
to his confidence co the practical exclu-
sion OF the Republican Party machinery
which has controlled the policy and
named the office-holders in every south
ern state since the foundation of the
Party itself The proposition to do this
met with opposition on the part of those
most affected. Mr.. ROOSEVELT was
pledged TO carry out MIR. McKINLEY,s
policy. He is keeping that pledge and
"going him one better"
1t seems that every Republican Presi-
dent since the the time of Hon. RUTH
ERFoRD b. HAYES has been permeated
with an unreasonable desire to be the
means of bridging the chasm" be-
tween the North and the South and
cementing "a union in this direction by
the celebrating of all sectional lines
and incidentally the sacrificing of "the
brother in black Vain hope! Presi-
dent GROVER CLEVELAND couldn't do it
with eight years service in the White
House and it is the height of absurdity
to think that Republican could do il
even with a twenty years service on the
same pinnacle. The South rankles un-
der the defeat of forty years ago and it is
handing down the lesson of hate to its
children.
The Negro is really not the issue. 1t
is deeper than that. To eliminate the
the black man then is only to bring
about complications without effecting a
cure.
President RoosevELT took these
southerners into his confidence and no
doubt reached basis of agreement by
which white Democrats were to be in
stalled into all of the offices in the
Southland without making the distin-
guished New Yorker amenable to the
charge of drawing the color-line. These
Democrats had evidently assured the
President that their opposition to the
Negro was due to his condition, his ig-
norance, his poverty, his vicious habits
and not to his color. Where these
faults were found not to exist in auy
Negro, he would be satisfactory to
them and their people. This new poll
cy affected not only the colored Repub-
hcan office-holders, but the white Re-
publicans as well.
T. . tight here, 10 doubt Si,at ines,
southern Democrats needed the skillful
hand of a recognized colored leader. and
their minds involuntarily turned to
that prince of conversationalists and
king of persuaders, BOOKER T. WASH
INGToN, A. M. His doctrine is and has
been that the Negro should eschew pol
tiles and shun political office. And
yet, he was invited to the White House.
The interview was so satisfactory that
an invitation to dine followed and as
Prof. WASHINGTON well said, it came as
a command and he had no alternative
but to obey. To do otherwise would
have been TO snub or to insult the Presi-
dent.
II was evident that the President was
delighted. Or ihe one hand, by the
of MIR. WASHINGTON in this
he was solidifyipg the Negroes
both North and South and In the elimi-
nation of the colored brother from poll
tics in the South, he was winning gold
en opinions at the hands of such ster-
ing Democrats as those named by him
n his letter to Mr.. CLARK HOWELL.
But Mr.. ROOSEVELT had miscalculat-
I'd the distance which he was to lump.
Every southern white man who had
never enjoyed such privilege or never
'een accorded such an honor as that of
lining with the President was bowling
Ingry, while every Negro considered it
distinction, just as though he had
,een the guest himself.
The furry raised caused the disguise
% be thrown off and expose the falsity
If the representations made to the dis
inguished Chief Executive, when these
had averred that it was the
Negroes ignorance, poverty and vicious
habits that caused the antipathy to his
folding office or being accorded politi- J
al recognition
1t was also asserted that a white
gentleman of prominence was named
or judge-ship upon the recommen-
lation Prof. WASHINGTON and this
has evoked no denial from the
educator. The President
md the great advocate Of manual train
ng seemed to have lost sight of the fact
hat when he vouch-safed information
long these lines, Prof WASHINGTON
vas violating the very rule of conduct
which he had laid down for he was
'utting his hand in politics while his
eet stood on the out side of it.
He was giving advice that properly
'elonged in the field of JUDsoN W.
IYoNs, HI. A. RUcKRR and WIN. A.
LEDGER of Georgia, JAMES HILL of
CHAs. w. ANDERSON of
Jew York, T. THOMAS FORTUNE of
Vew York and New Jersey, ALExAN-
'ER WALTERS of New Jersey, GEORGE
MT