The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-11-04
REPLIES TO GORMAN
MAKES PUBLIC
 POLITICAL VIEWS.
Tradition and Precedent Are Violated by Action-Defends Negro
 Patronage With High
 Sounding Phrases,

Washington special to Chicago Chronicle.
 President Roosevelt has indulged In
 another wide departure from the tradi- Itions that have surrounded Presidents from the inception Of the government Yesterday he submitted to c newspaper Interview, which while it was given to
 only two newspapers that are earnest organs of his administration, obviously
 was put out with the expectation that 1t
 would run through the press of the coun- try in various forms for at least two
 months to come. ~
 Heretofore when Presidents have felt in- tspired or compelled to indulge in unofficial lutterance bulletins were issued from the
 White House in the form of impersonai lstatements and spreadbroadcast by the press associations. On at least one oc- lcasion President Mckinley permitted an interview with himself that was attribut-
 ed to the highest authority" President
 Roosevelt. however. seemingly was too deeply interested yesterday in having his
 views presented to the public to admit
 ue subterfuge of any sort. The inter-
 viewers. instead of identifying themselves
 as correspondents, said they were
 "visitors'' and that was the only depart
 ure from the accepted form of newspaper interviewing.
 The moving cause of the Presidents radical departure from White House I l Senator Germans excoriation of his lack of taste in dining with Booker T. Wash ington at the White House. German has been making that incident and others in which questions of negro patronage are involved a leading feature of the Mary land campaign.
 Takes Fling at Opponents.
 Obviously the Maryland Senator's eriti- cism touched the President in 8 tender l,~N RAnN NA~A ktaA.. wtSA ~nA remain unanswered and he sent for the correspondents of his personal organs. | If could be absolutely assured of my reelection as President" he Is quoted as saying to them, "by turning my back on ! the principles of human liberty as enun- ciated by Abraham Lincoln I would be incapable of doing and unfit to be
 Presadent if could be capable of it." The President is further quoted as hav- ing said to his visitors" ''I do not ex-
 pect to be reelected President by he trust
 promoters who are fighting for special privileges nor by the radical labor union
 men who would shut out all other men 1 from opportunity to work nor by those
 who would close the door of hope against the colored man as a citizen"
 l It will be seen that the President utilized the opportunity presented by his
 visitors to take vigorous kick at the forces and influences which generally are 1 credited with being hostile to his ambi- | tion and which are supposed to be located | in and near Wall Street. By trust pro- motors he undoubtedly means all flnan- ciers. merchants, bankers. manufacturers and everybody else whose possession of a fortune or a saving account causes them to regard the Roosevelt brand of states manship with suspicion and alarm. The President has understood for a long time that the financial and business interests of the country are hostile to his desire to be elected president for another term. and now he meets their opposition by cheerfully designating them as trust pro- motors who are seeking special privileges.
 De6es Precedent and Tradition.
 This certainly is the bo1dest and most novel political utterance any recent Pres l ident of the United States ever indulged | in. It is believed to betray determina- | ton on the part of the President to fur | ther defy precedent and tradition to the l extent of fighting his own battles on the | stump and in the newspapers The fact | that the President is so airily disposes of | the opposition by chasing 1t as trust l promoters seeking special privileges" l proves that he is unaware of the char l acter and extent of the widespread de- | factions from hIe leadership that have oe- | cured and are occurring daily in all sec 1 tions of the country, of the almost uni- | versal desire of business men and others | who believe that the prosperity of the | nation has been imperiled by the extraor- | dlnary conduct of its chief executive for | a change in the White House.
 The President concludes his interview in | the following words: They (the trust | promoters) are all demanding special | privileges which cannot be recognized by | the President whose oath of office binds . him to execute the laws for all alike and | ] Nk. reelected to this high office it must be | on my record as the executor of the law l without favor or discrimination" A consideration that probably influenced l the President to give out this interview 1 was the fact that Senator German Is l known as a candidae for the Democratic I nomination for President. Tn the course l of future events German may be Roose- | velt's competitor. That contingency. | however. appears to be rather remote to l persons who know something about the | plans and hopes of Northern Democrats. 1 no thing Is certain and that is that the l | President has placed his attitude toward | | the negro on higher grounds than have his friends who are supposed to enjoy the | privilege of speaking in his behalf. Moves to Win Negro Votes. l Thus 1t will be seen that the Presidents l
 friends were of the belief that he had l
 
 tiles by consciously and gratultously | championing the black mans cause at a | l time when the black man was ceaSing to l be a factor in our national politics. 1 l These same friends were not slow to take , advantage of the sentiment that the Pres 1 | idents conduct created among the negro | voters in the North. They caused to be |
 manufactured many thousands of but ] l tons bearing a photographic reproduction | l of the scene at the White House ia ble | on the occasion when Booker T. Wash | | ington dned with the President. Some 1
 persons insist, and apparently with cause, |
 that the photograph for this button was
 taken by fashlight on the day Washing l
 ton was a guest at the Presidents table. |
 To believe this story would imply that l
 the invitation to Washlngon was extend l | cd only after a careful analysis of the | | probable political consequences and that |
 full preparations to make the most of 1t
 in a political way had been made The button may have been an afterthought. | bnt that is not likely. Thousands of ne-
 groes are wearing 1t in Northern cities. uFa Aaa A..x