The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-11-25
An Era of Good Feeling.

balumore sun.
 A few months ago Col John s. Mos
 by sent to the President a letter he had
 received from Judge Roulhac, of Ala
 bama, a Confederate Veteran. This
 letter contained an expression of kind
 ly sentiment toward the President which seems to have gFatified him. He sent the following 10 Colonel Mosby: Oyster Bay, N. r., Sept. 10, 1904 My Dear Colonel Mosby:
 That is fine letter of Roulhac's. and
 saddened rather than angered by the attacks upon me in the South. I am half Southerner myself, and I can say with all possible sincerity that the interests of the South are exactly as
 dear to me as the interests of the
 Theodore Roosevelt In this expression of friendship for the South there is no reason whatever Is by parentage just as much a South ern man as he Is a Northern man. He possesses In a marked degree many of the characteristics of his mothers peo- pie, and. from what Is known of him,
 that he would deliberately turn against them to do them injury is most im- probable That he has been maladroit
 in dealing with the negro question and
 badly advised tn insisting upon the appointment of a negro to the chief Federal office in South Carolina the | Presidents best friends cannot deny But that this appointment was sug- gested by any feeling of hostility to
 the South is not to be believed. It was rather more intended as an act of ehivalrous generosity to what the Pres ident has perhaps been taught to con- slider as an oppressed race. He has
 never been in the south sufficiently long to understand the excitable nature of the negro, the profound ignorance and credulity of the great mass of them
 and how easy 1t Is for those in au-
 thority to arouse false hopes, stir up
 race antagonisms and demoralize the | labor system.
 The time has now come for this feel ing of arrangement or antagonlsm be- tween a large and important section
 of the country and their Chief Magis- trate to cease. In order that it should cease there must be cooperation with this common purpose in view between
 the President and the Southern people. bow of the promise of better things is plainly to be seen.
 The President has an opportunity for obliterating the last remnapts of the strife of the Civil War, such as has come to none of his predecessors. He has an opportunity Go lnaugurate an
 era of good feeling such as this eoun- try has not seen since the admlnistra- ton of Monroe. The line of cleavage
 between the two great parties Is less clearly defined at this time than 1t has
 been within the memory of any man
 now living. The time was when the
 cred an act of hostility against the South. The time was when any access
 sion of territory was considered an act
 of hostility to the North. That time
 has passed. The slavery quarrel has
 been settled and the South is no long
 CT devoted exclusively to agriculturei 1t no longer prefers to deal with old
 England rather than with New Eng
 land: The sld causes Of disssnsion ana ana arisen, but they are more easy of set clement than those which could not be determined but by the great Civil
 The votes of the recent election were
 hardly counted befOrs invitations to visit the South began to come to the President This is the olive branch,
 the message of good win. If the Pres ident can nnd 1t possible to accept g result in incaiculabIe good. Wherever
 he goes among the Southern people he
 will meet hospitality and courtesy. and
 there Is no better way to dispel preiu-
 brought face to face. In this way the President will learn how to deal with questions which interest the South so
 as not to excite antRgonisms and prej-
 udice, and the South will learn to es- teem the President for his generous ua- ture and admirable personality. In dealing with the South the President
 should get his information and advice from those patriotic Southerners who have the good of the country at heart, and not from of1ce mongers. who thrive and fatten upon strife and who find 1t to their advantage to array the ne- groes against the white people among whom they live and upon whom they are dependent
 The threat of extreme Northern par tisans to reduce Southern representa- tion should not be countenanced by pa trlotic Northern people. Such an act would injure the North more than the | South in the times to come. The North l is face to face with dangers and prob ! iems which have not appeared in the south. The Southern representation in | Congress, as to all these things, Is the l con servative force upon which the | North must largely depend. To attack ! the South fin this quarter would be to | rekindle the dying embers of sectional strife into a furious flame. The South ern people upon their part should dis- | countenance attacks upon the Presi-
 dent They should treat him with courtesy and consideration. They should await Che progress ol events with confidence. Let us have naaee.