The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-08-28

| could be stamped out Without thin n fs as Idle to preach and pray againse lynchings, as 1t would be to blow one's breath against a gale of wind. But ! know of no special or strsnuous SEEovts on the part of the negro race or itn chief leaders. or of those of the whlts races who ar, considered or consider themselves the negro's special cham- pions to extipate this crime. Hamp~ tion. Tuskegee. the Ogden sducattonas trust. the American MQssionary go- ciety, all are alike silent, 70 far ns q know, or engage In no special e0oIta to root out this foul crime. the diroco cause of % much woe to both rnceo There is in the whole range of tho problem under discussion no duty 70 imperative. none SO neglected, as that of focusing efforts, to the neglect, H need be. of all else, on the arousing ok the negro race itself to the necessity of extirpating this one form Of. crfuna, If a1I the agencies now working Tor Eno negro race were turned to this ainSle end for the next decade morn could bo done to forward the negro's welfare than all the Hampton or Tuskegee or all the other educational and religioua appliances have done or can ever do. l marvel that no great voice proclaimn lthis duty; that no great agency is di~ rected solely to this work Tn the tu-
 
 note is heard calling attention to thi9 most necessary. this absolutely fndis- pensable. of all remedies or efforts. What Now Do We Seer
 We see race problem fin it's orfgin
 artificial. artificialy complicated and intensified by rash and vain attempts to lift a backward or interior race-in- ferior certainly in present attainmenta I--into equality of social privileges and standing and of political power with race long accustomed to rule the back ward race and filled with what at least we must recognize as fierce prejudices and apparently unconquerable repur< nance to equality of any kind between the two races. We see further thesx
 relations and iong-standing feelingx aggravated to the pitch of madness and frenzy which overrides all law. in a natural and uncontrollable exaspera- ton at the prevalence of a crfma which no community of our race would tolerate or give to the orderly punish-
 ment by the usual methods Of the law. bnA Ne8 shall here venture to ask anyone to point out error, or mistake. or mis-
 statement in this summation of the conditions of the race problem.
 | Query Recurs, What to Doy
 Negatively, I am quite prepared to say that we must avoid our past mis-
 takes of relying on statues, or consti~ | tutional provisions, or congressional action. to bring on or bring back a bet< ter state of things. The evils to be
 abated cannot be reached by legal methods or appliances. Who does not see how important how aggravating of our evils. have been all our essays ak | settling the problem or ameIioratina the situation by the application ffom
 the outside--I mean outside the stated or community in which the problem ia most serious-of legal remedies2 The movement, under such treatment hax always been from bad to worse And lyet a recurrence to such means is now called for and recommended by few high authorities. One of the ablest,
 best-edited newspapers I have ever known. a paper heretofore widely dis- | tinguished and widely influential by
 reason of it's reasonable, sane and con.
 servative views is now calling vigor- ously on the government, and especial< ly on the Republican party. to take up the question as a political partisan issue, and particularly to put in oper- Rtion by congress what it regards as q power conferred by the fourteenth Iconstitutional amendment. In my | Judgment, that way lie danger and disaster. as they have lain in the past. If read alright, this country cannot
 
 | The beacons of warning stand too thickly along our history since 1885. As a party issue 1t cannot be made att, | tractive to the only political party that might be expected to regard it with favor.
 | Three Roosevelt Grimes.
 What then? I can perhaps best tlus- trate my view of a proper or hopeful policy. In this regard, by referring to certain well known acts of President Roosevelt in dealing with this prob- lem. Three of his most conspicuous acts, related to the negro problem of our south, are CD the Booker Wash | tngton incident (2) the Crum appoint- ment at Charleston. and (3) the India
 nola post office affair. Of his cons duct in each of these cases I thorough- ly disapprove, and will tell why. | CD The first problem was an invi- tation by he president to Mr. Wash- ington to lunch at the White House an invitation which was accepted.
 have already spoken of the feeling unversal, or nearly so, among the white people of our south in the mat
 ter of social equality. Whether the feeling Is just or unjust natural or fic- titious we'll founded or mere preju- dice, I do not now and here stop to inquire. It exists. It merely becomes intensified by every act of defiance of l 1t, and 1t is quite beyond the reach lof legal or political treatment UndeH | these conditions. I say emphatically that 1t is unwise. a wanton and most reckless playing with fire" to do any act in this relation which conspicuous | ly affronts the white people of our south I care not how clear may be the right of a private individual to act in this matter according to his own will and choice: care not if social re- Ilations. such as were established be- tween the president and MT. Washing ton are approved at the north. as they | arke not, except to very small ex- Itent: a sense of duty. propriety and odicial decorum should have restrain ed the president from giving the tnvi- tatton. Mir. Washington seems to me quite guiltless of offenSe. He could not be expected to decline the presi- dents invitation, though I am glad to | add that believe Mir. Washington has, l in bis own relations and conduct, al- ways recognized the feeling of our southern white people and has scrup- uously deferred to it shall not fail
 to add here that probably no man ap- preciates the ability and great services of Mir. Washington. his social and per- sonal worth, more highly than do; but that the president failed of his | duty, acted contrary to good judg- ment, or possibly, acted in mere wan
 tonness of spirit--I prefer the former alternative-is perfectly clear to me. IChrtatain nVipcinla the rrfncfnIa or,r.