The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-02-25
ROOSEVELT COMMENDED
GOVERNOR WAKEFIELD SPEAKS ON
 THE RACE PROBLEM.
Had Abraham Lincoln Lived Szonu- mental Blunder of Ignorant suf- fraRe Would mot Have
 Occurred.


 New York, Feb. 2A.--rn the course of a speech at the annual dinner of the Maryland Society oe New York at the Hotel Astor tonight Governor Edwin warfeld of Maryland commended the speech Of President Roosevelt on the negro problem made at the Lincoln dinr ner of the Republican Club in this city. Governor warfield said in part:
 we have Q grave question confront ing us now, one that Is usually the theme of speakers from the South on occasions like this, the race problem.
 T was pleased that President Roose- welt followed the wake of our South- ern orators and took such Q fair and patriotic stand on this question in his speech at the Lincoln banquet. What he said convlnces our people that he ls giving thoughtful consideration to this paramount problem and that he ts beginning to realize the true status of the negro in she South. We interpret what he said as an earnest effort of his determination to aid in maintaining the relations now prevailing in the south and which are fast being accept ed throughout the iand as the proper relations to exist between the races in every section of our country. He has my approval In the policy he suggests to advance the negro along lines that will make him better, a more useful man and fit for the grave Fesponsibili- ties of citizenship.
 Had that great and patriotic Presl- dent, Abraham Lincoln. been spared the South would never have been called on to contend with the race problem as it now oonfronts us. Lincoln would never have approved of the racial re- construction plan forced on the South by Thadeus Stevens and his partisan supporters. The negro would not have been enfFanchised until he had qualified himself for the high and sacred right of suffrage. The fifteenth amendment to the constitution of the United States would never have been forced to adoption, but the Southern States would have been left to handle this question in a way to encourage frugality, thrift, industry, intelligence. economy In the negro.
 such a course would have prevented the greatest political blunder of the history of the world, a blunder that elevated to the proudest privilege of American citizenship an ignorant, shiftless, inexperienced, dependent race of human beings just liberated from bondage to be the tools of scheming and corrupt political adventures in car rying out their dIssracefnl plot against the welfare of the intelligent. substan- tial white people of the South.
 Tt will be suggested that the solu- ton of the race problem lies in the re- peal of the fifteenth amendment, thus leaving with each State in the Upion power to adjust the question of suf- frage to suit its special social condi- tions. The privilege to vote could then be bestowed in a way to place the electorate upon an intelligent basis without respect to the expedient of unwise constitutional amendments that strain the conscience of our best people and arouse criticism.
 "The solution of the problem in this way would result in benefit to the ne- gro, would prevent laWlessness and crime, improve labor conditions and bring to the deserving and worthy me- gro the recognition recommended by the President In his patriotic utter ances-the recognition that worth al- ways wins.
 we have this race problem now confronting us in Maryland. A strong feeling has grown in the State against the negro in politics because of the blind way in which he follows the dic- tates and lead of designing Republican politicians who use him for their per- sonal gain. After forty years of free- dom and thirty-three years of enfran- chisement they stand in solid array
 
 State and vote as a unit under the die tatIon of corrupt and selfish political bosses many of them allied themselves with the Republican Party after the enfranchisement of the negro because they saw the opportunity for uSIng him to advance their ambitions.
 Had the negro shown a disposition to discriminate in voting and to exer- else an intelligent judgment In casting his ballot on public questions, the op- position to him would never have de- veloped. But few of them have shown a desire to improve their condition mentally, morally or. financially, and the great majority of them are no bet ter able to exercise the right of suf- frage intelligently and discriminat- lngly today than when first given that privilege.
 The Governor also referred inci- dentally in fatterinG terms to the fact that President Roosevelt is giving recognition to the best element of the people of the South in the matter of appointments.
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