The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-01-10
THE NEW Rebellion.

eral offices. AS the whites hole all the
ought not to object to the occasional APP
pointment of a colored person 70 a federal
Office for which he is qualified. In many
localities and in some Southern States the
negroes outnumber the whites, and as some
Of them are qualified to hold office II would
be gross injustice to exclude them from
doing so solely on the ground Of color.
The present protest is the more surprising
because for many years past colored men
have been holding federal Offices in the
South without exciting much opposition.
The case of the Indianola CMiss.) postoffice
has given that obscure town more no
toriety than 1t ever could have obtained
by decent or lawful means. Mrs. Cox, the
colored woman who was forced to resign
the Office. was not original appointee of
President Roosevelts. She had filed the
Office eight years to the entire satisfac-
ton of the department and had shown her.
self capable and trustworthy. Nothing
was alleged against her by the Indianola
people but her color. When she was forced
to resign and was virtually driven out of
the office closed, and now the people are
furious because they have to send to Green
vile, twenty-five miles distant, for their
mail. The order is denounced by the white
citizens of Indianola as piece of peanut
politics, and they say they will allow the
postoffice to remain closed for all time be-
fore they will permit the administration at
Washington to force black postmaster
upon them. II the rowdy element of In
dianola only knew it, the closing of the
postoffice is a mild punishment for their
conduct. Section 551S of the Revised
Statutes of the United States reads as fol-
lows:
II two or more persons In any State or
Territory cOnspire TO prevent by force, in
cepting or holding any Office, trust place
of confidence under the United States or
from discharging any duties thereof, or to
induce by like means any officer of the
United States TO leave State, district or
place where his duties as an officer are re-
CURED to be performed, to injure him in
his person or property on account OF his
lawful discharge of the duties of his Office
while engaged in the lawful discharge
thereof, or to injure his property so as to
modest, interrupt, hinder or impede him in
the discharge of his official duties. each Of
such persons shall be punished by a fine
of not less than $500 or more than S., 000
or by Imprisonment, with or without hard
labor, not less than six months nor more
than six years, or by both such fine and
imprisonment
Prosecution in the United States Court
under this section might cause the con-
spirators much more Inconvenience than
the closing of the postoffice. 1t is, of
course unfortunate that the closing of the
Office Furnishes the innocent citizens of In
dianola as well the guilty, but as the
whole community seems to be standing to-
gether it will not hurt them to realize that
the government is master of the situation
The incident has caused a good deal of
comment, by far the most violent being
from the New Orleans States, Demo-
cratic organ. That paper says:
In discussing the Indianola postoffice in
cident We do not believe 1T to be wise for
either the people of the South or their
newspapers to mince words. President
Roosevelt in closing the postoffice at In
dianola has suspended the law for the de-
liberate purpose of offending and insulting
the white people Of the South, and Incl
dentally to pander to the negro vote of the
Northern pivotal States. He has assumed
the role of car for the sole purpose of
cinching the presidential nomination in
1904, and ii is well that the South should
proclaim its knowledge of his motives and
also to impress upon the mind of the coun-
try the fact that If President Roosevelt has
made up his mind to outrage and insult
people of the South by appointing and keep
appointees will be killed just as the negro
appointees of other Republican Presidents
have been put out of the way. Some per-
sons will say, no doubt, that these are in
temperate and violent views, but we are
confident that they will be Endorsed by the
majority of the people in the Southern
States IL may be said also that If Mr..
RoOsevelt's negro appointees are killed or
run out of the country he will Dragon the
South with federal troops. In such an
event We are confident that the fact will be
quickly established that our people are
fully strenuous as their Knickerbocker
President. The people of the South were
dragooned during the dark days of recon-
struction,' and the history of that period
their own account. 1t was effective then
and ii is well for the President to know
that ii will be still more effective now.
If he desires. in order to serve his own po-
litical ends, to raise "a rough house" in
the South he can rest assured that the
game will be made entirely interesting for
him.
From this one might suppose that Presi-
dent Roosevelt had inaugurated a new poll
icy, but he has done nothing of the kind
Every Republican President for thirty
years past has appointed some colored per-
sons to Office in the South as we'll as in the
North, and In proportion TO the colored
population more in the North than in the
South. Such talk as that above quoted will
not be likely to deter the President from
doing what he thinks is just and right
Since the lndianola Office was closed the
postmaster general has received informa-
ton that a mob of white men at Beef
River. La, ordered a negro mail carrier
not to return with the mail on his route
or they would kill him. There are hun
dreds of colored letter carriers and rail-
way mail clerks In the North. and people
never think of questioning their right to
hold office. In Charleston s. c. where the
colored population is Sc per cent. OF the
whole-Sl.522 out of a total of 55,S07-the
white people are very indignant because
the President has appointed DIR. Crum. an
intelligent and competent colored man, col
lector of the port. The President told them
that IL they could bring anything affecting
his character or fitness he would hear
them They brought charges. but failed 10
establish them. so the President appointed
him. In his letter defining his position the