The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-01-17

earenstly to me: Judge l believe 1t gave me as much pleasure, under all the circumstances. to help thaa old peg leg Confederate soldier as f did you to ask it.
 "No one can be with Theodore Roose- welt and talk with him about the South without being deeply impressed with the conviction that the mans heart Is full of kindness for our people. He takes great satisfaction in the fact that he had 1t in his. power to honor the son of the great cavalry leader, Jeb Stewart, and the grandson of Stonewall Jackson. In his appointments to the army and navy from the South his choice, has been frequently turned by the consideration that the young ap- plicant was the son of some good Con federate soldier.
 The Booker Washington Incident.
 Was the Booker Washington inci- dent discussed?"
 The differences which the South drew from 1t were freely discussed. The President Is every inch a man. and his discussion of that subject was also manly. I may say Tn this connection that we of the South cannot compre-
 bend the. feelings of the people at the North on this subject, any more than they can comprehend our feelings on the subject Our people. living in the midst of great numbers of negroes, moSt of whom are ignorant. naturally feel that any breaking down of Che barriers as to things which we at the South include in the term social in-
 tercourse" can only lead to evil. Con sequently a barrier has been erected
 against the race as a race as to these matters, which on grounds of inexora- ble necessity the people of the South
 have felt should admit of no excep- tions. however worthy or distinguish cd the individual negro.
 At the North, on the contrary, where there are comparatively few negroes and numbers of them well
 educated, honorable and industrious
 the line is very frequently drawn not
 upon the race, but only upon individ
 uals. In many communities of the
 North if negro has made his mark
 in the world and is of good character
 and attainments. the highest and best people in the land do not hesitate, if he interests them. to dine with him. They do not consider this social equality in the sense which we of the South use
 the term social equality But these same people as a rule. are as averse
 to tntermingling the blood of the two races as we are and would shrink from it with as much adherence as you or l.
 They resent the idea as bitterly as we
 do.
 The President has a high apprecia-
 tion of Booker Washington and re- gards him as doing great work for his people. Having him to lunch at
 the White House. or whatever 1t was,
 was not studied. but merely inn promptu affair, the President desiring
 to continue a talk with Washington
 about matters concerning the welfare n f ta T-f dent he had lunched, as many of the
 foremost people of the North had. with Washington. It would be unjust to
 the President to say that in his talk
 he conceded. in the remotest degree
 that his action upon that occasion
 abstractly or ethicaIly was in any way
 wrong or improper or that he regretted it. but it is equally true that he did
 regret the unfounded deductions which
 were drawn from it-that he favored
 in any sense the admixture of the
 races, or what we at the South term
 and consider social equality" No | man now realizes more acutely than he does the improper inferences which
 ignorant negroes draw from such an
 incident, and the change which might
 thereby be effected in their relations
 to their white neighbors, and in public
 tranquility and contentment in the race
 relations and conditions at the South. Justice and Fair Play.
 ''rhe dominant trait in the Prest-
 dents character which pervades and ! tinges all his actions, is his American
 love of fair play or square deal Experience in his great office and the discussions which have arisen since he became President have brought him to
 a full mindfulness of the difficulties of
 our problem at the South. Like every
 other thoughtful man. he is aware that many of the conditions of what ts call
 ed the negro problem exist equally in The North as we'll as in the South, and life for him in some res-
 poets may be harder at the North
 than at the South. He does not shut ms eyes to the fact that in many re- spects at least, the difficulties of the problem are identical throughout the whole country. His views as to the civil equality of tho races; that is. the right to have justice administered with
 out respect Of persons-are In no wise dlHerent from the views of all thought
 ful men at the South. That such ius- | tice should be dispensed to the negro everywhere is one of his aims-just as
 would be the case if any other race were subjected to wrong from race an tlpathies In the battle of life and pur- suit of happiness. He realizes as fullv | oS SN' Ol tHdt an ignorant suffrage is
 an appalling calamity to the country
 fils position in this respect is not dif-
 terent from that taken by many South ern men and Democrats who insisted
 that Tn sunrage regulations, the white | man should not be given easier modes Of reaching that privilege than the ne-
 gro' and that fixing an easy test for | "hltes and hard one for blacks for | admission to the electorate. as accom- l plished by the grandfather clause" and
 the like. Is unwise, as well as unjust to the white man himself, as implying he
 could not stand tests which the ne- groes could.
 | The Presidents Ideas about the lily
 white movement have been greatly
 misunderstood. His position was sim ply that negro should not be exclud : | ed from Republican councils merely because he was a negro. As was to be expected. some of the Republican oppo- | nents of the lily whites used the Pres | idents views to favor their own ends ana put the negroes in prominent places | In their party councils simply because | they were negroes. This unquestion- | ably was as foreign to the Presidents
 ideas as that negroes should be exclud- | ed from the Republican conventions ! merely because they were negroes Good Officials at the south, While the subject of appointments
 was not under discussion In any par ticular case, l may say that the Presi-
 dent has been extremely anxious that
 our people should have good officers Naturally. being a Republican, he has | been desirOus save in the case of non- partisan places, that men of his own