The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-08-25

| on the trust issue, and Bryan still talks his
| free silver issue, You ask me what the
| Democratic platform next year should have
to say about this silver matter. Well, the
free silver matter is settled II has been
| settled twice.
Twice it was referred to the people at
the polls and twice the people have said
that they wanted "A gold standard. The
| Republicans were shrewd enough to head
| the Democrats off and get on the gold plat
form first. | say the Democratic plat
form should accept the result. If the gold
| basis prove to be correct. let the party
that brought it about have the credit OF
| 1t, IL II prove TO be an error, let that party
bear the responsibility. l would have
| the platform built on those lines. frankly
accepting the silver issue as a settled issue
until events prove that the basis of settle
| ment Is not sound one.
Il spoke about Capitalization in the
Republican party. MIR. Roosevelt, for in
stance, seems to be leaning distinctly tow
! ard personal government | do not
approve his course in the coal strike.
think he went entirely beyond his authority
AS President Of the United States. The
primary fault in that case lay with the
Governor of Pennsylvania. He could have
brought matters speedily to focus had he
| exercised his authority as the law directed
| Had he said to those strikers:
| Here, you may quit your work il you
choose and refrain from work as long as
You choose. That is your own affair.
But you shall not inaugurate reign OF
anarchy in Pennsylvania. That is my
affair, and IL you persist in II will put you
down with the strong arm and the heavy
hand
| i do not approve Of all that Mr.. Cleve-
land did. AS a party smasher, he and Mr..
Bryan both were pretty effective. But l
do approve, heartily approve, OF MIR. Cleve-
lands course in the Chicago riots. When
| 1h1 s,,t, xxytth ShA ry,tt AI tna
Government in the exercise of its functions
whether of carrying the mails OF the en-
forcement of injunctions issued by United
States courts-he put down the mobs by
sending United States troops to the scene.
He did exactly right.
| II am firmly convinced that the country's
| peril at that time was greater than was
generally known. We were close upon
the borders Of revolution, or rather. n
| civil war to prevent a revolution in our
institutions, revolution that meant chaos
and the horrors of anarchy There were
l25,0o0 men virtually arraigned against
| the authority of the laws as they exist
All they wanted was a courageous, dashing
leader to become n serious menace. Debs
was a weakling but the danger was there.
Gen. Schofield spoke to me at the time
of its gravity. The public fancied that
the danger was central and confined to
| Chicago and vicinity. The General told
me that as far away as Denver and San
Francisco he had to put Regular army
soldiers on trains to protect them. IL
was time of peril and honor Mr.. Cleve-
land for the courage with which he arose
to the emergency :,
As compared with President Ceveland's
course in that crisis, the attitude of Mr..
Roosevelt toward the lawbreakers and
their representatives in the coal strike
appears in a light distinctly disadvan-
tageous.
aThere is another respect in which find
from conversations with many persons,
Republicans as well as Democrats. that
President Roosevelt IL criticised He
seems to carry the spectacularly personal
elemcnt-if I may so style it-of govern
ment to extremes.
ale apparently has the impression that
he il a sort of Emperor William of Germany
doubt if even the Emperor William would
have ventured to summon great fleet
from so far away as the coast of Maine
to line up in front of his house for his own
personal pleasure and glorfication. do
not know what the cost to the Government
of this singular act was. Perhaps In pro-
portion to the national wealth il was not
very great; but it is not so much the fact
OF the cost involved 1t is the principle.
And then there is the matter Of that
small fleet of vessels of the navy that are
in use as the Presidents private yachts.
Now | am not narrow on those things
believe in the President having liberal
| latitude in such matters. II there were
one naval vessel for instance, In attendance
on him as his private yacht one might not
feel inclined to make any comment, but
when IL comes to converting three OF the
Government war craft and putting them
at the disposition Of the President, his
family and his friends as private yachts,
run at the public expense, it seems little
too much.
Il have heard in many quarters very
| Ia raa ont for hil
And then there is Mr.. Payne with another
war vessel converted into private yacht
Adverse comment on things Of this kind
is OF course inevitable.
AS to the negro question, have 81
WAYS held and still hold one opinion on the
subject notwithstanding the TACT that the
people call me crank for so doing have
always held and still hold that the only
solution IL in the actual physical separation
of the races.
"If the negroes remain can see but one
issue and that il extinction by amalgama'
ton with whites to the Inevitable degrade
ton OF the whites. The amalgamatine
process is undeniably going on. Within
sight Of my house at Edgefeld there lives
, a white man with a negress. They have
many children. As the foreign element
comes in there is more OF this mixing up
The Continental people do not have the
prejudice against negroes that prevails
with those Of English speech and English
Scotch or Irish blood. After our State
census in 1880 Wade Hampton asked me
how many negroes in South Carolina
thought were of pure negro blood.
Il told him that | thought about IS pei
cent. He then informed me that the cen
sus showed that 80 l-3 were mulattoes
that another 80 l-3 per cent, had some ad-
mixture of white blood and that only 33 Is
per cent. of the colored people in South
Carolina we're pure negroes, And this
blood poisoning is still going on.
II entirely agree with THE sun in its
criticism OF Mr. Justice Brewers recently
expressed opinion regarding iynching
The accused must be protected in all his
rights, of having counsel and Of appeal,
think the Judges have been surrounded
with too many restrictions, for one thing
and | think the salaries paid Judges in
some Of the States are inadequate to getting
the best legal talent on the bench.
II can see the shadow of serious trouble
ahead in a clash between white and negro
labor in the South. The negro is coming
into competition with the white man In
the labor market White labor and negro
labor in the South are drifting toward the
same crisis | can see no way TO avert
disastrous collision. The portents of it are
already in the air,