Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1903-01-10
house he Is said 70 have lost very large.
sums Of money.
Bret Harte left but 1880. yet his name.
win doubtless outlast that f-schwab.
for instance. -
NEGRO oFF1cEHoLDERs.

Save In the more rabid organs of his
party, President Roosevelt is getting cold
comfort in the matter Of his appointment
OF crum collector Of Charleston. and his
action with respect to the Indianola post
Office. Pretty generally the more con-
sentative Republican papers-even papers
Of that stripe that are known to be pos
sitively friendly to Mr.. Roosevelt
cate his course. in more or less plain lam,
guage, while by some Of the Independent
Republican and Democratic Journals he
is being scored OF course. we refer to
Northern papers. But the most significant
feature Of tho discussion Of the Presi--
dents policy IN foisting negro ofhce-hold-
ers upon the South, is found In the hard
nut some Of our contemp oraries are Civ.
ing him to crack, by comparing his Office
holding policy in the two sections.
The Pittsb11rg Post presents the nut to
him In a series of questions and cold
statements of truth, which place Mr..
Roosevelt in an especially indefensible
position. Referring particularly to the
Indianola affair. the PoEs comedies that
''on the face Of the questions involved. the
administration holds a strong position be-
cause postof1ice discipline must be MAIN
tained.'' All the same, it thinks 1t compe-
tent to Inquire: s'WI1at explanation Is
nnade of the appointment Of negro post
masters at the South, where the prejudice
or opposition Of the people to such ap-
pointrnents Is well known, and the refusal
to appoint negroes to postofces at the
NORTH, where 1t is claimed the race pre-
judice does not exist?'' But. continues
our contemporary. as matter Of fact,
race prejudice at the North is as strong
as at the South, and It makes bold to ask
eff the right Of negroes to fill such offices
is to be maintained, why is tho expert
ment not made In the Northern States?"
Next the Post remarks that 1t fails to
recall that Mr.. Roosevelt, since he has been
President, has selected q negro postmas-
ter for q Northern town or village. and
ventures the suggestion that it is in the
North tho President should ''vindcate his
principle and reject race prejudices.
Then, it thinks he would be in better
attitude to call on the Southern people
to accept negroes in their cities and towns
as postmasters, seeing that race preju-
dice exists at the South with some reasons
justifying or explaining it that do not
exist In the Northern States" In con-
clusion, the Post says that the real rea-
son why Mr.. Roosevelt does not apply
the doctrine North as well as South, is
that 1t would not be tolerated at the
North, and the whole performance is a.
play to manufacture Southern Roosevelt
delegates to the National Republican
Convention.
That's the whole story, and 1t utterly
discredits all claim of Mr. Roosevelt that
he is acting in the interest Of the negro
What the President has succeeded in do
ing is to show that he would eacri-
fee the best interests Of the negro
on tho altar Of his mhition, and to bring
the North to the confession that its
pretended zeal in tho cause of the man
and the brother is tho veriest hypocrisy
The Post, although it puts the case
little more strongly than most Of its con-.
temporaries, is not the only paper that
admits that the appointment Of negro
off1ceholders at the North would be as
fierceiy resented there as 1t IS at the
South. And that admission carries with
Il Volumes of zrecanta ton