Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1904-11-24
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER "a, 1904
The PRESIDENTS POLICY.

upon the assumption that he is hostile to
the true interests of the South. fThe Rich
mond Times Dispatch two days after the
recent election published an editorial uu-
der the head, "The South's Interest in
Roosevelt" 1t says;
"The people of the South have not ap-
proved President Roosevelt's course, and
they took occasion to express their senti-
ments IN the election of Tuesday. While
Mr.. Roosevelt carried the North and Wet
by storm, he failed TO carry single State
IN the South. The South is solid against
him. and the States of the South neither
expect nor ask favors from the Republican
administration. But they do ask for a
souare DEAL No matter what was their
attitude in the '6O's, no matter what is
their present attitude toward President
Roosevelt and the Republican party, they
are sovereign States of this Union and are
entitled to the same rights and immunl-
ties and consideration 10 which other
States of the Union are entitled"
These remarks of our Richmond con-
temporary are evidently based upon the
idea that the President chershes some pc
culiar personal hostility to the Southern
States and people, and that such feeling
has been manifested by overt acts during
his present administration. These incl
dents or accidental occurrences have been
misunderstood, misrepresented and mag
niGed by partlsan press and political
leadership for the purpose of keeping the
South solid against the Republican party
and the Administration. By no single act
has the President shown that he considers
the Southern States not "entitled to the
same rights and immuDities and consider-
alton to which other States of this Union
are entitled"
Our Richmond contemporary has elect
ed, along With the entire Democratic press
at the South, to believe that the President
has been trying TO force social equality
of the races; and that, because the South
- i -.e.. - .,,;.,o lor.tord him unor
that important question, MIR. Roosevelt
may, possibly, be cruel and unjust in his
future dealings with this section Of the
Union. We confidently expect to see as
great change in the sentiment Of the South
toward MIR. Roosevelt as there was toward
Abraham Lincoln and William Mckinley.
There was a time when the people Of this
section were taught by the press and poll
-tcaus to think as i'll of Lincoln and Nc
Kinley rs they are now taught to think Of
Roosevelt The martyr Presidents are
now regarded as among the best friends
the S3nth has ever had in the Presidential
chair. This is proved true when such
!. an intense Southern man as Ben Tillman
declares that his chief objection to the Re-
publican party is that it is no longer the
party of Lincoln, and when the Demo
cratic press and leaders down here insist
on holding up the administration of Nc
Kinley as model for Roosevelt to pat
tern after. That the Times-Dispatch
has some premoDition Of what the South
will ultimately think of Roosevelt is indi-
Gated by certain of its declarations in the
above referred to editorial. 1t Gays:
"There are many things about Presi-
dent Roosevelt which we do not admire,
but We have always conceded that be is
man of honesty and courage, not to say
man of chivalry and magnanimity.
"We believe that President Roosevelt
earnestly desires to be the head Of homo
geneous and united nation. We believe
that 80 far as in him lies, he will strive justly
to interpret the aims and needs of the
p whole country, and will not voluntarily
lend himself as an instrument FOR carrying
into effect the prejudces of one section
against another. For this reason, be-
Cause we believe he desires rather to be
patriot than a partisan-we have in ali
temperatures called bis attention to the
conditions here in the South, which condi-
tons can be better ameliorated by wise
and sympathetic President than by any
other internal means"
1t is gratifying to haye so prominent
representative of the Southern Demo- |
cratic press expressing, even under the
impulse of after-election generosity-such |
a fair estimate of the character and pur-
poses of the President We are satisfied
that our contemporary will not be mis-
taken in its estimate of the President. He
will give the South and every section OF
the Union square DEAL" In recent
letter written by Mr.. Roosevelt to Col.
John S. Mosby the President said: 81
have always been saddened rather than
aDgered by the attacks upon me in the
South. l am half SOutherner myself;
and l can say with all possible sincerely
that be ntereste Of The South are exactly
as deal % me as tue Interests of the
North
These sentiments were expressed two