The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-03-20
A LAME SURFACE.

The conference of Presidents of South- bern negro schools and colleges which was | recently held in Chattanooga adopted cer- ! tain resolutions of which The Times of | that city says;
 Read between the lines. these reso1u-
 tions very eloquently said to President | Roosevelt and hIs advisers. Let this ne- gro question alone; you are simply mak- | ing conditions harder and doing the ne- gro positive injury. We can settle this Isquestjon right here Tn the South and do 1t with the utmost expedition and satis- faction if you politicians will only keep your ambitious meddling away from us. ." This interlinear reading is hard, sober. sense and by-and-by will have the effect of stopping the unwarranted interference of the self-seekers who are willing to destroy the harmony of a whole section and plunge it into diseord and riot If need
 be to carry their ends.
 Tn the same issue of The Times is an- other editorial, from which we take this:
 |. Mir. Roosevelt. we believe. wants to do what Is right by the negro. but he has been badly advised with relation to the question as it exists int the South by those who have selfish political interests to serve and who themselves have misjudged the effect the consequent agitation will have on their party among negroes who are working for the real good of the race. MT. Roosevelt would do we'll to halt these political meddlers whose influence. If ex- erted along the line indicated by the anti | lily-white movement, will be to set back many years the educational movement re- gently working so satisfactorily. MT. Roosevelt does not need the Southern ne gro in his business. and it Is unfortunate | that he has been led to believe that he | does.
 The Times is a prominent and high class Democratic newspaper, generally | fair to the South, but it habitually makes the mistake of posing as a defender of I the President. While the first extract quoted above is really a condemnation of him. the reference to "the self-seek- CTS" shows that it was others than Roose- welt who were charged with the troubles connected with Southern affairs. The
 other extract given. however. is intended
 as a defence of the President where no
 defence is possible. The Times places the
 President in the position of a guileless,
 unsophisticated gentleman who suffers
 himself used by any one who has ends
 to serve. This Is an unnecessary refec-
 ton on the President. It represents him
 as totally void of backbone or moral
 courage, and he will not thank any one
 for trying to deprive him of two of his
 most prominent traits.
 Mir. Roosevelt's actions disprove the as-
 sumption that he wants to do what is
 right by the negro" If he had made mis-
 takes at the beginning of his Presiden-
 tial career, and had afterwards tried to
 correct them. and had endeavored to steer
 clear of them in the future, he might be justified in the eyes of the Southern
 people, but this he has not done. He per-
 sists in the same indefensible blunders that first gave offence to the South. His
 organ of combativeness or self-esteem
 will not permit him to depart from the l couse he has marked out or to admit that
 he is in error. His continued adherence
 to Crum is without excuse. His persist
 ence in keeping the postoff1ce at Indian
 ola closed is without defence. He cannot
 lay his disregard for the white sentiment
 of the South to political intermediates. '
 He has had ample opportunities to inform
 himself, ard it is an insult to both his
 manhood and his intelligence to lay or
 the shoulders of others the blame for his
 acts. He is playing politics. that 1t all.