The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1904-11-19
THE SOUTH IN POLITICS.
Fair-Hfinded View of the Negro Question
by an Independent Northern
Newspaper.
indianapolis News Independently

Newspaper
indianapolis News Independently
| The southern people must by this
time realize how far removed they are
from the main current of the nation s
life. With West Virginia, Delaware,
Maryland and Missouri all in the
Roosevelt column, the people of the
other southern states must feel that
they have lost touch with the great
| political forces of the day. The
country, and even many Of their own
people, turned an absolutely deaf ear
to the impassioned cry from the south
to save them from the perils involved
| in the race problem. On the contrary,
they elected the man whom the
southern people looked on as their
bitterest enemy by an unprecedented
majority. In other words, the south
did not exert the shadow Of an in
huence on the election. Il seems to rs
that this is most pathetic and dis
tressing condition. Our neighbOrs
beyond the Ohio river are intelligent,
patriotic and conscientious. They
desire nothing but to see their country
great, happy and prosperous. But
| they honestly believed that the election
of Roosevelt would be disastrous to
their section and their fellow-country-
| men simply refused to consider their
| case at all.
Now that the campaign is over,
| perhaps we may consider with some
| degree of calmness Mr.. Roosevelt S
| position on the negro question. II
we do this, it seems to US that there
was little ground for apprehension.
We are not now thinking of the race
problem itself, which we admit to be
exceedingly grave, but OF the presi-
dents attitude toward it. The only
sins Of which Mr.. Roosevelt was guilty
we're inviting Booker Washington to
lunch and appointing few colored
! men to Office, which latter had been
done by every president since the war.
That was all. Is not this q slender
found alton on which to base an in
dictment OF the president as an inciter
of race hatred? Truly it seems SO to
US. We think that the people allowed
themselves to be dashed into rage
by few Bourbon politicians and in
famed newspapers. Of course, it is
not meant to suggest that the south
should have supported Mr.. Roose-
I welt, but it is meant that it should
have supported Judge Parker just as
millions of people in the north sup
| ported him-that is, for national rea-
sons. We do not believe that the
president has the remotest idea of
| setting the races against each other,
nor do we believe that he has given
| anyone reasons for thinking so.
The News has never had any other
wish than to deal with the south In
spirit OF the utmost kindness. We
have protested against certin ill
| judged efforts OF sentimental and
| ignorant northerners to solve the race
problem. The people OF the north can
not appreciate the feeling Of white
| people who live in communities over
whelmingly black. Nor is it easy for
them to understand the demoraliza-
ton which a participation in politics,
under the lead of INSCRIPTIONS dem
agogues, has wrought among the ne
groes. We in Indianapolis know
something of it, for our negroes
have been shamelessly corrupted by
| the politicians of both sides. So we
have the utmost sympathy with the
people of the south. We believe that
they should be left largely to them
selves to solve the problem which
harnesses them. They have spent
millions Of money for negro edu-
cation. They have divided the school
fund equally between the two races,
though the whites contribute practi-
cally all of it. The burden resting on
the south is real and heavy.
But may it not be that the people
allow themselves to be too much OBJ
pressed with it? Do they not consider
it too much to the exclusion of every
thing else? Indeed, have not they
grown somewhat hysterical concerning
it, These questions are asked not for
the purpose or with the thought OF
minimizing the question, but rather
with the intention of suggesting that
in national affairs the south might
possibly, with entire safety, learn to
take more national view. Surely it
must be notifying to a grave and
high-spirited people to think that they
have practically no influence in the
councils of the nation. No one cares
how southern state votes. The ma
ton has done nothing to exclude the
southern people from national affairs.
They have, as it seems to US, gone
voluntarily into exile. There is no
feeling Of hostility ID the north. There
is nothing Of that old cry that solid
south must be confronted BY solid
north. The people of the north simply
60 on voting on national questions,
leaving the south to itself. And the
sad and painful result is that the
south is now-only temporarily we
hope-lost in the byways of politics. |
A better day will come, and we hope