The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1904-04-22
ONCE MORE.

governor, has broken out again an,
y once more the newspapers Of thu
country are giving him space becaus,
3 OF his recent u%tterance c%oncernin,
President Roosevelt. The governo
was at st. Louis last week and amons
a lot of other extremist talk and rant
ings of a prejudiced and narrow mind
ed partisan he delivered himself a:
follows on the president:
president Roosevelt, politically
speaking, is more to be feared than
war, pestilence or famine. He is re,
garded in the south as the embodi.
ment of all that is bad and dangerous
for the country. The Booker T. Wash
ington incident and many other high
handed acts have lost him the t
OF the SOUTH"
From almost any other man in a DC
sition of prominence, and therefore
supposedly possessed of a higher or
der of intelligence than the common
rabble, such an utterance would sound
strange, but coming from Vardaman
it was to be expected. Race prejudice
and intolerable bigotry find the acme
Of exposition in the man and he seems
to be insane on the subject of repres-
sion of the negro. Because President
Roosevelt saw fit to recognize Booker
L. Washington as the leader of his
ace in America and treated him as
such, Vardaman declares him to be
regarded in the south os 'the embodi-
ment of all that is bad and dangerous
for the country"
The incident to which the blatant
demagogue and frebrand referred is
too we'll known to demand even pass.
ing reference in the way of explana.
ton. An important conference was
in progress between the president and
Washington, in which matters of i'm.
port to the black mans race were the
subject of consideration. They were
Interrupted by the arrival of Mr..
Roosevelt's lunch hour and in a natu-
raj way he asked him to eat lunch
with him. This simple act of decency
and courtesy has induced Vardaman
to villify and traduce the nations ex-
and to declare him to be a
menace to the country greater than
war, pe~stilence or famine"
In the minds of all others than
Vardaman himself and a few more
ike him, Booker T. Washington is
regarded as the superior of any man
who is capable of making such a silly
and absurd speech. 1t is safe to saw
hat long after Vardaman's mann has
oeen forgotten that of Booker T. Wash
ngton will live in history as one of the
most remarkable and intelligent men
he nation has produced. He is Ger.
ainly a better citizen than the Missis.
lppian and of greater value to the 5
country. His only offense is that he >
negro blood in his veins and
his, in the opinion of the southern r
loWhard, is a crime that overshadows c
IL the good he has done or the future '
God he is capable of ACCOMPLISHING. Y
so long as the people of the south :
willing to accept as their leaders q
len OF the Vardaman stripe, so long a
lust they expect to be continued in e
place in everything that makes
IT progress and enlightenment and y
Re ultimate advancement of all the n
OF their section of the country. a
ney must not expect the negro to d
axe advance in the direction of &c
10 hlgner citizenship Of which they =,
eplore his present lack as long as :,
icy persistently and SYSTEMATICALLY
loeaVor to keep him down and under 6.
heel. To men like Booker T. fl,
ashlngton they must look for the ic
movement of the negro and his ele. ne
f0 a n1qnn of ;xJ- r-