The Savannah morning news., 1904-03-29
RACE QUESTION
UP IN The HOUSE
GILLETT FOR THE NEGRO.
MASSACHUSETTS MAN GAVE VIEWS
ON THE "PROBLEM."

That Booker Washington Dinner at
the White House Is Like BanquO's
GhOst-SIaydeh of Texas Declared
That GilIett Was ApoIogizing for
the President, Whereupon GilIett
Said He Admired Roosevelt for
What He Had Done.
Washington, March 2S-Although
the sundry civil bill constructively was
under discussion in the House of Rep
Iresentatives to-day, the o. debate took
wide range, Mr.. Gillett, of Massa-
chusetts, devoting considerable time to
answering some of the statements re-
Gently made on the floor by Mr.. Spight,
of Mississippi, regarding the race ques-
ton.
Mr.. Gillett said he did not believe
it fair or wise for the Democrats of
the South to say that they intend
participation in government. There are
100000 negroes of the South, he said,
who cannot stay as they are who
either have got to go up or. down. No
body, he declared wants the South to
submit to negro domination, but the
outrageous thing was that they say
the negroes cannot be developed into
the faculty of voting or becoming citi-
zens. He was surprised, he said, that
no one on the Democratic side of the
House had denounced lynchings.
The overwhelming proportion Of
lynchings, he asserted, occurred in the
South. Some occurred ing the North,
too, he said. In the North, however,
1t was the disorderly element which
conduoted the lynchings, but the great
mass of the people openly disavowed
1t, whereas, in the South, he said, they
did not. Respect for the law, he con-
tended, should be always present, but
every time man was lynched, ii in
fringed that respect for law without
which no Republican government could
endure.
Matter of Preference,
People of the North recognize, he
said, that mob violence ought to be
stopped, not because of sympathy for
the criminals, but from the results that
are expected to come from it. In
many cases burnings are not too good
for the criminal, and no punishment
is too severe for him, but, he said, it
is much better that the criminal should
escape his punishment than to have
the law transgressed.
Answering a question by Claude
Kitchin of North Carolina, Mr.. Gill
lett declared that he condemned lynch
ings on any terms.
Mr.. Richardson of Alabama inter-
rupted to say that whenever the ne
groes cease committing the crime of
rape, the lynchings and burnings will
cease with it.
Mr.. Gillett declared that the feeling
in the North toward the negro is
stronger than it is in the South. In
| the North, he said, there is a stronger
natural repugnance toward the negro.
At the same time, he said, the people
of the North don't recognize this pre-
posterous talk of social equality and
inequality" He supposed, he said,
there were no social grades in this
country Every man, he said, can
choose his friends and can associate
with whomsoever he pleases. All
classes socially are equal, he said, but
that don't mean we are all going to
associate together. Every man, he
continued, selects for his associates
those most in sympathy with himself
He spoke of the Booker Washington
incident at the White House. and said
no one had the right to say it was
a disgrace to invite Booker Washing-
ton to the White House.
Not ApOIOgizinS for Roosevelt.
Mr.. Gillett was asked by Claude
| Kitchin If he had ever invited a negro
to his table.
| Upon Mr.. Gillett's answering that he
had not, Mr.. Kitchin remarked: II
want you to practice what you
preach
A statement by Mr.. Gillett that IT is
not blood that makes caste brought
Mr.. Slayden Of Texas to his feet, who
insisted that 1t does make caste in this
country.
1T does in some parts of the coun-
try" retorted Mr.. Gillett.
You are apologizing for the Presi-
dent" remarked Mr.. Slayden This
Mr.. Gillett denied, but he said he adj
mired the President for what he had
done.
1T was" he said. IAN evidence Of a
big heart and done by man who had
both breeding and cultivation"
Champ Clark of Missouri declared
that only when men Of all races cease
committing rapes will lynchings cease.
He had, he said, known white men TO
be lynched for rape and he added.
they ought TO be lynched II you want
my opinion about IT,"