The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-02-16
TILLMAN TOUCHES
THINGS UP ONCE
MORE
In an Address to the New
York Press Club the Sen
ator Says the South Will
Not Be Ruled by Negroes
and That Bloodshed May
Yet Come.

NEW YORK, Feb. 15.-The thirtieth
annual dinner Of the New York Press
club was given last night at the Wal
dorf-Astoria. More than 800 club
members and invited guests occupied
places at the tables, including William
J. Bryan, Mayor Low. Shizoo Kondo,
Japan; Walter Damrosch, Senator
Tillman and Gen. D. E. Sickles.
President Joseph Howard Jr. an
nounced that President Roosevelt had
expected to be present, but had sent
his regrets at not being able to at
tend the dinner. MIR. Howard read a
telegram from the German ambassa-
dor, in which Baron Sternberg said:
-Four men met, negotiated in per-
feet harmony and good faith, and now
separate with best feelings of friend
ship. If four men can agree, there
seems to be no reason why four ma
tons should not be able. to agree.
feel confident they will as soon as they
trust and understand each other in
the same way as we did"
Ought to Get Even With the Press.
Senator Tillman's speech was the
feature of the night. He said in part:
Il cannot understand why L should
have been the only representative of
the august body Of which I am a menu
Der. Now, will not have much to say
to you. In my experience l have found
the less gentlemen listen to me, the
better they like me. I come from a
state where the people do their own
thinking and their own voting.
L think this is an occasion on which
n hn
You have S65 days in the year in
which to make and unmake public
men; but you don't make and unmake
them in South Carolina"
Referring to the negroes, he said
that President Roosevelt had raised
subject that will not easily down. 1t
had brought forth comments from
prominent men of the North, and had
raised a storm in the South. After
mentioning number of these COM
ments and the men who made them,
he said:
You have had this subject Roose-
velted, Hannaed, Irelanded and finally
Smooted, and now it seems to me it
is about time that we had someone
who knows something about it say
something. What are my qualifica-
tions?"
TiIIman's Qualifications.
First, he said, he had been nursed
by negro nanny. Then, although he
had not served in the Confederate
army, he had tried to join it, and had
been prevented only by an accident
that deprived him of an eye. Lastly,
he had been upon the ground and seen
the ravages of the war.
II know something of what this race
question has cost this country. Many
of you who write so f1ippantly about
+ a.
ued. and If you write about so grave
a subject, when you know nothing of
it, you are no less than criminals. MI.
Roosevelt was very wise in saying it
will take the best thought of both Sc
lions of this country to solve the prob
lem.'
After an imprisoned recital of the
perils to the white population of the
South threatened by the increase of
the powers of the negroes in the past
few years, he said:
1--WE are compelled by the exigencies
Of the situation to use the shotgun and
the tissue ballots, and we used both.
Why? Because in South Carolina
there are 10000 more negro voters than
white voters"
He said that they in South. Carolina
had established their free schools and
that ever since there had been more
negro children in those free schools
than white children.
Becomes Vehement.
do you think it was our purpose to
raise those negro children to a condi-
ton Of enlightenment in order that
they may govern us?" he asked by
the holy God, MOI" he cried.
Three months ago the president
wrote a letter in which he said that
when a negro showed himself qualified
to fill public Office he was unwilling to
shut the door of hope in his face"
Senator Tillman said that if the
present condition of education contin-
ued, and the negro is to gain control
of South Carolina and the whites be-
come subordinate, the deplorable result
would be that In hundred years the
population would be half mulatto. He
had no practical solution of the prob
lem, unless it be that the North take
its share of the blacks, 'if you love
them so WELL"
His address grew more impassioned as
he continued At first only applause
greeted his utterances, but toward the
end an occasional hiss was heard, and
finally he was interrupted by a voice cry
ing, What about your nephew?'
Won't Discuss Family Affairs.
Senator Tillman was at the moment
defending the summary measures adopt
ed in the South for the punishment of
negroes guilty of crime, and especially
against women. After the excitement
caused by the interruption had subsidized
Tfllman said there was much more he
would like to say, but that he regarded
it as highly inappropriate to refer in
public to family affairs He asserted that
if the policy of raising the negro into
power in the South was carried too far.
the result would be bloodshed, and it
would flow upon the heads of those who
nave tried to force the white population
into subsection to the black
Thls was not a threat he said. but
simply a statement of what he knew
from ms acquaintance with the condi-
lions in the South, would be the ineyi-
table result.