The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-02-14
ROOSEVELT DIPS
INTO THE RACE
PROBLEM
Leaders of Southern
Thought Clearing
the Way.
WORDS OF DRSTRANGE
Roosevelt Holds That All May Sub
cribe TO the Principles of The North
Carolina Bishop as They Touch the
Riqhts of the Two RacaS.

of honor at the Lincoln dinner Of the
epublican Club in this city tonight
President oosevelt made a speech on
the race problem. He appealed to rhe
North 10 make its friendship for the
South all the greater because of the
embarrassment of condition for
which she is not alone responsible
declared that the heaTtiest acknowl-
edgements are due to the ministers,
law officers, grand juries, public men
and great daily newspapers in the
South who have recently done such ef-
fective work in leading the crusade
against lynching," and said that the
problem was to $50 adjust the rcla-
tionS between two races of different
ethnic type, that the backward race be
trained SO that it NAV enter into the
possession of true freedom. while the
forward race is enabled TO preserve
unharmed the high civilization
wrought out by its forefathers."
Following the President, Senator
Dolliverv of Iowa, responded TO the
toast Abraham Lincoln:" Mr.. George
A. knight. of California, spoke on
The Republican Party" and James
NJ Beck. former assistant attorney
general of the United States on THE
Unity of the Republic"
banquet hall of the Waldorf-Astoria.
and in the number of guests and ela
borateness of decoration is said to
have exceeded any function of its
character ever held in New York.
The guests numbered more than
thirteen hundred including two hun
dred and seventy-five women, who
dined in the Astor gallery.
The President said among other
things:
"All good Americans who dwell in
the North must, because they are good
Americans feel the most earnest
friendship fer their fellow-countrynlen
who dwell in the South. friendshin
all the greater because it Is in the
South that we find in its most acute
phase one Of the gravest problems be-
fore our people: the problem of so
dealing with the man OF one color rs
to secure him the rights that no one
would grudge him II he We're Of
another color. To solve this problem
il is, of course. necessary To educate
him to perform the duties. a failure
that men can do for the betterment
alike of white and of black The at
titude Of the North towarn the neSro
is far from what il should be and
there is need that the North also
should act in good faith upon the prin
ciplcs of giving to each man what is
Justly dee him, Of treating him or his
worth rs 4. man, granting him no Spe-
cial faVors. but denying him no proper
opportunity for labor and the reward
Of labor. But the peculiar circumstan-
ces of the South render the problem
there lar greater an far more acute.
THE only safe principle upon which
Americans can act is that Of 'all men
up" not that Of "some men down.
II in any community the level of in
t.lligcnce morality, lnd thrift among
the colOred men can be raised. Il iS,
humanity speaking, sur that :he same
level among the whites will be raised
10 an even higher degree; and il is no
less sure that the debasement Of the
blacks will in the end carry With IL
an attendant debatement of the whites
The problem is so TO adjust the
relations between two races of diff
ferent ethnic type that the rights of
neither be abridged nor jeoparded;
that the backward race be trained so
that it may enter into the possession
of true freedom, while thee forward
race is enabled to preserve unharm-
ed the high civilization wrought out
by it's forefathers. The working out
of this problem must necessarily be
slow; it is not possible in offhand
fashion TO obtain or to confer the
priceless boons of freedom, industrial
efficiency, political capacity, and do
mestc morality. Nor is it only neces-
Sary to train the colored man; it, is
quite as necessary to train the white
man, for on his shoulders rests q
we'll night unparalleled sociological
responsibility 1t is a problem de-
manding the best thought the utmost
patience. the most earnest effort, the
broadest charity Of the statesman.
the student. the philanthropist: of the
leaders of thought in every depart
ment of our national life. The
church can be most important fac
tor i'm solving it Alright. But above
all we need for its successful solu
ton the sober kindly. steadfast, un-
selfish performance of duty by the
average plain citizen in his everyday
dealings with his fellows.
st is tru of the colored man, as it
is true OF the white man. that in the
long run his fate must depend far
more unon his own than upon the
efforts of any outside friend. Every
vicious, venal or ignorant colored
man is an even greater foe TO his own
race than to the community as 4
whole The colored mans self-rc-
spect entities him to do that share
in the political work of the country
which is warranted bv his individual