Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1904-06-27
/ THE NEGRO PLANK
oe THE REPUBLICAN PLATFORM
oENOuNCED BY A UNITED
SOUTH.
slntlre,y Resurrection Of the Bloody
Shirt Will Make South More
Solid Than Ever.
ROOSEVELT is RESPONSIBLE.

From every section of the south
come denunciations of the negro plank
in the Republican platform adopted by
the Chicago convention. The resur
rection of the bloody shirt Is, in the
opinion of Republicans as we'll as
Democrats, calculated To make the
south more solid than ever
The threat to reduce southern repre-
sentation in congress is looked upon
as threat for which the president
himself is responsible, since he sane
toned every plank before the platform
was submitted to the delegates:
Here are some of the expressions
11received:
John Sharpe Williams Talks.
Memphis. Tenn, June 27.-John
Sharpe Williams, minority leader il
the house of representatives, has this
to say concerning the negro plank in
the Republican platform:
Give the Republicans rope enough
and they will hang themselves. They
have assumed the offensive. Let them
make themselves as offensive as they
choose. There is no use in our taking
a hand except in self-defense to pro-
tect our rights under the constitution
and our civilization. The Republi-
cans have put themselves on the de-
fensive by assuming the offensive
Malcolm r. Patterson, representa-
tive from the Tenth Tennessee dis
trict, said
The issue which the Republican
party has forced upon the south and
upon the whole country by placing the
negro question in its platform is de
plorable from every standpoint
think it is the most important as well
as the most difficult domestic problem
We have confronting us.
The action of the Republican party
shows it to be one based purely on
sectionalsm 1t had it's birth in sec
tionalism and lives on partisanship.
Its whole history ON the negro ques-
ton has been one of sham, pretense
and hypocrisy. Every intelligent
man knows that the best friend OF the
negro is the self-respecting and intelli-
gent southern man, and everyone who
has given this subject any considera-
ton must understand that the negros
opportunities for work and for prog
ross and for well-being are far better
in the south than they are or can ever
be in the north.
The issue which this sectional and
selfish party has forced to do incalcuI.
able harm. and more to the negro him
the white race will take care of itself
In the south, no matter what the Re-
publican party proposes to do. 1t has
taken determined and final stand
against the intermingling of the races.
let the cost be what it may, and it will
never abandon its position.
Il regard this plank in the Repub!l-
can platform which threatens reduc-
tion in the representation of southern
states as a revival of the worst days OF
the bloody shirt as an assault upon
southern manhood, and, for that mat
ter, upon American decency and intel
isence everywhere.
I'VE must look for a cause for all
this, and this cause is not hard to dis
cover. It is because we have candi-
date for president of the United States
IN the person of Theodore Roosevelt.
who is utterly without sympathy for
the southern people and whose ambi'
ton is as boundless as it is unscrupu-
lous. Roosevelt is responsible for res.
surrecting this twice buried issue. 1t
meets his approval and has had his ac-
tive. aid. There would be no negro
question were it not for the despicable
politics, Of which Roosevelt is the
arch type.
+ I regard Theodore Roosevelt as the