The Chanute times. [volume] (Chanute, Kan.) 1897-1913, 1903-03-06

excitement than the appointment
Of the other am wholly at loss to
imagine. [ need hardly say that to
connect either of these appointments,
or any or all my other appointments,
or my actions in upholding the law at
IndianoIa, with such questions as
social equality and negro domina-
tion is as absurd as to connect them
with the nebular hypothesis or the
theory Of atoms.
| have consulted freely with your
own senators and congressman as TO
the character and capacity Of any ap-
pointees la Georgia concerning whom
there was question. Ny party advis-
erS 10 the state have been Major Han
son, of Macon; Mr.. Walter johnson, of
Allan Dta-bOth OF them eX COnfeder-
ate soldierS-and Mr.. Harry Stillwell
Edwards, also Of Macon. | beieYe
you will agree with me that in nosLate
would it be possible TO find gentlemen
abler and more upright or better quail
flied to fill the petitions they have
filled with reference to me. In every
instance where these gentlemen have
united in making recommendation
| have been able to follow their advise,
Am | not right in saying that
the federal office holders in Georgia
throughout your state are, as a body,
men and women of a high order OF
efficiency and integrity? If you know
of any federal of1iceholder in Georgia
nf whom this is not true, pray let me
know at once. | will welcome teSti-
mony from you or from any other rep
uCable citizen which will tend to show
that given public officer Is un worthy;
and most EN- phutically short will be
the shrift Of anyone whose lack of
worth is proven. incidentally, may
mention that a large percentage Of
the incumbents of federal offices in
Georgia under me are, as | understand
it, of your own political faith. But
they are supported by me in every
way as long as they continue to rem
der good and faithful service to
the public.
This is true of your own state; and
by applying to Mr.. Thomas Nelson
Page, of Virginia; to General Basil
Duke, of Kentucky; tu Mr. George
Crawford, of Tennessee; to Mr.. John
McIlheny, OF L uiSana; to Judge
Jones, Of Alabama, and Mr.. Edgar 5.
Wilson. of Mississippi, all of them
Democrats and all Of them men of
the highest standing In the respective
communities, you viii find that what
have done in Georgia stands not as
the exception but as the rule for what
| have done throughout the South.
have good reason to believe that my
appointees in the different states
mentioned, and as the sum of the
parts is the whole, necessarily IN the
South at large, represent not merely
an improvement upon those whose
places they took, but upon the whole
higher standard of federal service
than has hitherto been attained in
the communities in question. | may
add that the proportion of colored
men among these new appointees is
only about one in hundred,
In view of all these facts l have
been surprised and somewhat pained,
at what seems to me the Incompetent
slble outcry in the South about my
,actions-an outcry apparently started
in New York for reasons wholly un
connected with the question nominal
" at issue. / am concerned at the
attitude thus taken b. So many of the
Southern people; but am not In the
least angry; and still less will this at
titude have the effect of making the
swerve one hairs breadth, to one side
or the other, from the course | have
marked out-the course l have con-
sistently followed in the past aud
shall consistently follow in the future.
With regards. Sincerely yours,
THEODORE ROOSEVELT.