The progressive farmer and the cotton plant., 1904-11-22

The campaign is over, but neither congress
nor the Legislatures are in session.; and IT 1T we're
not for the Russo-Japanese War the news pages
of our dailies would be very dull. AS 1T is, a
large part of the space is devoted to speculation
as to what Congress or the President will do in
regard to certain public matters.
President Roosevelt and the South.
There is especial interest in President Roose-
velt's future policy as to the negro in the South.
Immediately after the election it was announced
in several papers that the President would come
to Atlanta and make a speech addressed especial
ly to the white people of the Southern States,
but this has now been denied. 1t is evidently
true, however, Mr.. Roosevelt feels he has been
misrepresented by our campaign orators, and in
an interview with the Washington correspondent
Of the New Orleans Times-D Democrat last week,
he expressed himself quite freely on this point.
Speaking of the interview, this Washington cor
respondent wrote his paper as follows:
"Regarding the negro, Mr.. Roosevelt holds to
the opinions of Abraham Lincoln. He believes
that as there is no discrimination in business be-
cause of religion, there should be none in politics
because of race or color. The President thinks
that the test of qualification for voting and hold
ing office should apply to black and white alike.
Il Slu IudG IHdG "h1S1 uIopuuAAhCo q =
from the exercise of the elective franchise should
disqualify the white man also.
"The President feels especially keenly the
charge made by a portion of the press that he
favors social equality and miscegenation. The
President has said that he who would advocate
either of these would be an enemy to both races.
His views on the negro question coincide fully
with those of Judge Jones, former Governor of
Alabama, a Confederate soldier and a Democrat"
ton.
1t is undoubtedly true that the mass of people
in the South have a distorted idea of President
Roosevelt's attitude toward them. A great many
people have heard that he called Confederate
soldiers anarchists, while as a matter of fact,
his indefinite reference to anarchy can be made
to convey this impression only by putting it in the
worst possible light; and against such a construc-
ton there stands his very definite language in
his biography of Benton: "The world has never
seen better soldiers than those who followed Lee,
and their leader will undoubtedly rank as the
very greatest of all the great captains whom the
English-speaking peoples have brought forth, and
this although the last and greatest of his an
tagonists himself stands as the full equal of
Wellington and Marlborough" Mr.. Roosevelt
has also declared himself as extremely proud of
the fact that he had an uncle who served as
admiral in the Confederate Navy.
Similarly, the Booker Washington dining Incl
dent has been much exaggerated. Most people
have como to believe that the negro educator sat
down with the Roosevelt family in a social meal;
but we have been informed on good authority
that it was only a lunch eaten while the President
and Washington talked over some business mat
tiers. Of course, this was bad enough; but the
case was not so bad as it has ben represented,