Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1903-11-14
A Wall FROM THE SOUTHLAND.

rights of this much discussed individual
are nullifiei.
If a question is settled and the Demo-
Gratis of LOUISIANA say that it is, why
is it necessary to be administering allc
pathic doses on the same subject?
In its issue of the Bird inst, il said:
1.-THE next Republican candidate for
the Presidency is determined above all
else to hold the Negio vote in the
Northern States solidly for himself and
his party in the next national campaign.
| When Senator German injected the
race issue into the campaign in Mary
land the President rushed into the fight
as the champ$on of the Negro, and now
! a friend of the President has given out
this as statement from him as to his
attitude on the subject of the president
ial canvass?
I" IF l C uld be absolutely assured of
my election as President by turning my
back on the principles of human liberty
az enunciated by Abraham Lincoln, l
would be incapable of doing it and unfit
to be President if l could be capable of
IT. A"
How is it possible for any one to un-
favorably question or criticize such a
statement? 1t squares with the presiden-
tial oath of office. Mr.. ROOSEVELT means
to say that for him TO do otherwise
would be for him to perjure himself,
and any man who would perjure him.
self would be unfit for the high office of
President of the United States.
But the TIMES-DEMoCRAT "begged
the question" and evaded the issue in
the following language:
"This is very pretty. indeed, but
what has the principles of human lib
erty as enunciated by Abraham Lincoln
to do with the domination of the Negro
in politics? Perhaps the President has
run across some expression from Abra-
ham Lincoln regarding the Negro aud
the franchise which has not yet been
given TO the public. Certain it is that
no man who ever entered American
political life has had so much POST NOR
IN policy mapped out for him as
President Lincoln. We have been
gravely informed that had Mr.. Lincoln
lived he would have favored this and
opposed that; that his policy as to the
Soeth would have been this and the
other. and his attitude on the Negro
Iquestlon would have carried him hither
and yon- These political spiritualists
do not have TO go into trance or 20 lis
ten to rappings TO state clearly and def
nitely what would have been Mr.. Lin.
coins position on any question what
lever"
1t then proceeded to show that Presi-
dent ABRAHAM LINCOLN was opposed to
the Negro to such an extent that he was
really at heart in favor of slavery. In
fact, after reading the TIMES. DEMO
Gratis diatribe on this lamented state
man, one would presume that it was a
historic sketch of the life and career of
Mr. JEFFERSON DAVIS.
From this. we infer that Mr.. LIN
COINS inner character was better known
III LOUISIANA than it was ILLINOIS, and
that southern men really submitted and
chuckled over the murder of one of the
greatest anti-Negro advocates tle world
has ever produced.
| We note, too, that with this journal
the enlistment of colored men in the
army of the United States and the issu
ance'of the Emancipation Proclamation
count for naught. We are led TO en-
quire though, Why it was that JOHN
] WILKES BOOTH, a southerner, should
have been urged to assassinate a man,
who was the equal of Mr.. JEFFERSON
DAVIS in his notions and according to
this journal, one of the meanest Negro
haters The country ever produced.
| TINS journal continued:
"Mr. Roosevelt does not desire the
votes of those who would close the
doors of hope against the Negro as a
citizen Here again is a matter that
requires some explanation before in
dorsement. Does the President know
what the hope of the Negro Is? Those
who have unfortunately known the Ne
gro all of their lives think they do, and
they are determined to slam shut the
door against some of his hopes and bar
it tightly after it is closed.''
OF course they are and the issue is
joined. The citizen of color is contend
for equal rights and equal opportunities.
1t continued:
The door of hope for the Negro
means social equality, tntermarriage
and even social superiority to the hum
bier class of whites. He desires wealth
that he may employ white buffers,
white typewriters, white maids and
white cooks and coachmen, even as
some wealthy Negroes are now employ
Ing whites in these capacities in Mr..
Roosevelt's city of New York The
New York Sun is authority for the
statement that there are at least two
hundred Negro families of wealth in
New York City whose house servants
are for the most part white.
| Some send their sons to English
universities. says the Sun, where there
is no prejudice against the Negro at all
They come back here with the same
social desires and tastes that you find IN
young white folk of similar training /"
We should like to know what all of
this has to do with the political rights
OF the citizen Of color under the law.