The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-07-07

To the Editor: I note that some
very able and respectable writer's in
cline to the idea that the plank in the
National Republican platform favor
ing a reduction of Congressional rep
resentation i'm those Southern States
which have disfranchised the negro.
is designed only as bait to catch the
negro vote of the North.
L hope that they are correct, but
fear that they are. not. The Presi-
dents record toward the South and
toward the negroes affords strong
ground for believing him fully capa-
Bile of doing what he has threatended
He expressed his indifference or his
contempt for the good will and IA
vorable opinion of the South by ad-
hitting a negro to his dinner table
at the White House.
He emphasized those sentiments, II
they were capable of being empha-
sized, after what had preceded, by APP
pointing Crum to the collectorshhip
of Charleston and keeping him in Of
flee in defiance of law.
There are not wanting signs or a
concerted movement, backed bl
money and influence, to give the ne
gro both political and social influence
in the South.
For some time a magazine and
newspaper crusade looking to that
end has been in full blast. In this
connection / desire to call attention
TO a recent article in McClure's from
the pen of Carl SchurZ, which in
bitterness of tone and ignorance of
the situation deserves to rank with
the most lurid anti-Southern utter
ances of reconstruction days.
There is every reason to believe
that Roosevelt is more or less in symt
pathy with that movement. His pc,
litical associations are with the mosI
radical pro-negro sympathiZers of his
party.
Senator Lodge, of Massachusetts, is
said to be one of his most intimate
political advisers; and Lodge is the
author of the Force Bill. In all
matters pertaining to the race ques-
ton, it is evident that he relies mucli
upon the opinion of Booker Washing.
ton in matters relating to the race
question, and while this negro leader
nominally eschews social equality foi
the negro, / have yet to hear that
he ever refused to accept such recog-
milton when extended to himself, GER
tainly not at the now famous DIM
ner.
He was also, if 1 mistake not, ar
honored guest at the board of yer,
excellent lady and leading societ.,
light who had but lately been remar-
ried, her first husband having divorc
ed her on account of some trlfiing
breach of the Seventh Commandment.
She afterward wrote verv patroniZ-
ing and scornful article, holding up
to ridicule the attitude of the South
ern people toward race equality; and
it doubtless caused them a world OF
trouble that nobody ever heard of.
they being highly sensible to criti'
cism from the wise and good. 1t is
also worthy of note that the distin-
guishhed Doctor did not manifest any
sdueamishness about taking an elab-
crate breakfast with his dusky con-
freres in the dining-room for white
people at a Hamlet restaurant, whilj
the lowly representatives of the race
for whom the apartment was con-
structed, cooled their heels and par
took of hasty meal on improvised
tables in a common waiting room.
Some of these whites, among the
number Senator of the United
States and an eminent specialist, l
believe, murmured at the arrange
ment and went breakfastleSS rather
than stay the pangs of hunger at that
particular hosiery. Anyone who will
take the pains to read Washington 6
writings can hardly fail to see thai
his respect for the white race is not
Altogether ineffaceable. For instance,
i'm one of his books he relates with
evident satisfaction how a certain ne
gro contractor when tWitted about
having lost money on a particular
job, replied that he was willing to
lose that much just for the, sake OF
having white men work under him. :
There spoke ambition.
1t is quite the mode in certain cir
cles to preach that the South is averse
to giving the negro a share in its
government which does not need
much demonstration, and that ou,
people should be taught the error OF
their way, which is rather a di<er
ent affair.
Altogether the influences surround
ing our gentle, modest and conServas
tive President are not such as to
cause the Southern people unmixed
JOY when they contemplate the pro-
liability of his reelection; especially
since the Northern negro voter, al
ways insolent, always violent and al
ways like the owl at nOOn-day, blind
to what all the rest of the world sees
now clamors for vengeance upon the
white men of the South, who have
disfranchised his race. Previous Ia
the campaign of 1888 there were in
troduced into the Senate resolutions
by Senator Chandler and other broad
minded Republican patriots who loved