The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1905-10-27
Gm Wlessenger.
ROOSEVELT AND THE SOUTH.

TtDuDllCdh DdDOi. W. W.
quote from its editorials, for they are
not generally tasteful to our readers
but we will give them one here under
the above heading, because we think It
is a true sizing up Of the feeling OF thel
south toward the president the sue
cessful republican candidate for that
Office. Before Pesident Mckiniey's
death it was said he had done more TO
heal the breach between the democratic
south and the republican north than
any president we had had since the
war between the states. We think II
can be said now that Mr.. Roosevelt has
ACCOMPLISHED far more than did bis
predecessor, though in a very different
way. The New York Tribune or sat
urrday has this for it's leading edlto-
rial:
That the feeling of the south toward
President Roosevelt has undergone
q decided change is clearly Demon
strated by the welcome given him I'M
Virginia. North Carolina and Georgia.
A friendlier sentiment began to shoWl
itself nearly a year aeo-1uSt aIter
the presidential election. Mr.. Roose-
velt's popular triumph set the southI
to thinking. and ii did not take 1ntelil-
gent southerners long to real1Ze that
they had not only the pres
ident. but had grossly undervalued tne|
estimate put on his leadership in other
sections of the union. One sign of this
awakening was the public
ment by a member Of the electoral|
college from Virginia that he regret
ted having to cast his vote for Par
ker and not for Roosevelt. Other evil
dences were the exceedingly cord1ail
greeting given the president in Texas
last winter and the participation OF AMI
unusually large number of southern
governors and military organizations
in the Inauguration ceremonies. But
In heartfelt warmth the welcome now
given by the people of the south ex-l
ceeds any like tribute paid to him or
to any other republican president.
The reason for this change of atti-l
tude is not far to seek. The south
held for a time that the president had
deliberately chosen to affrOnt it's racel
prejudices. It took the Booker WaSh-I
ington incident as a challenge andl
read into that incident. as well as intoi
the Crum appointment. a purpose tOl
~antagOniZe southern views n '~ter-|
ests. But it has learned hat the MOI
tives it imputed to the president WereI
unjust and unfounded. The southern
people can see now that Mr.. Roosevelt
sought no quarrel with them or their|
ideas: that he was moved only oy al
sincere desire to carry into effect his
theories of a square deal' for every
class n for every section. If he Of
Tended their preiudices he did 1t out
Of n generous and honest impulse. and
out of loyalty to principles of fair
dealing-eVen with the humblest-
which must appeal to every right
thinking American.
Irritation due to misconceptions and|
misunderstanding has therefore grad
ually given way to general southern
confidence in the presidents inten-
lions to give every class and section a
souare deal" His railroad rate reg
ulatfOn policy. for instance. is based
on considerations of public equity He
wants to impose on the railroads the
legal restrictions necessary 20 insure
n public against determinations and
~oVercharges. He wants to substitute
publicity for secrecy in railroad man
agement. n to vest in the govern
ment the w to fix Il reasonable
maximum of rates. The south is as
much a sufferer from abuses by the
rate power as the north and
the west. and southern opinion is as
to sustain the presidents pro-
gramme of equity in shipping rates as
IS public opinion in any other part of
n unon. In appealing therefore. for
support on this issue Mr.. Roosevelt
puts himself effectively in touch with
southern sentiment and interests and
makes the south feel thai it. too isl
vitality concerned in the working ont
OF the administrations programme of
Justice for all and special favors for|
none.
Hitherto the south has held aIoof
from republican administrations aud|
opposed republican legislation on the
ground that it was republican. But
n policies which President Roose-|
Welt has lust now at heart are neither
sectional nor partisan. and the southI
can with full self-respect lend its aid
IN writing them into the statute b.ak
The south evidently feels-an1 feels
rlehtlY-that in greeting the president
TO-DAY IT IS not greeting the chief of
an u~nsvnlDathetic or hostile a lminis-
tration. bu the head of the whole ma
tlon. 1t welcomes not alone the chief
magistrate. but the leader and states
man BEN on promoting :coislation|
through which the interests IF every
section of the union VIII be suogrrvcd
The Tribune also calls attention to
the difference in the style of speeches
made by the president to the assem-
bled multitude of Virginians at Rich
mond and those to the North CAROLYN
ians! 1t says that in Richmond the
~aristocracy of the Confederacy turned
itself loose and claimed him as its own
in spirit and in heart" In North Car
DINA 1.-The tillers of the cotton fields
made him welcome to their humble
homes with almost as much vigor of
demonstration" We had noticed the
difference in the style Of the presidents
speeches in the two states before our
attention had been called to it by The
Tribune. In Richmond he tickled the
fancy of the people by eloquent allu-
sions to their ancestry. Gle made only
one mistake: he forgot to allude to the
fact that most of his hearers were de-
secndantS of PocOhontas). In the