The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1905-10-29
The Presidents Tour.

p. ~ =
a NJ The tour OF President Roosevelt through
IA the South was the most notable, and we
AZ may say the most successful tour made
4 an this generation BY any public man.
8S1 It was an ovation from the time he left
4 Washington until he left New Orleans,
s and there was no accident except that
81 on the government vessel which took him
Il down the river after the tour was ended.
ii Nor were there any untoward incidents,
~ any speeches OF circumstances that
were disagreeable to either the President
Al or to the people who received him. It
was a complete success from start to
finish.
Doubtless many Of our Northern friends
II are saying within themselves that the
4 Southern people are tickle; that they are
4 people who denounce man one year
and the next year take him to their
hearts The simple fact is that the
Southern people have not understood
4 President Roosevelt until recently. They
thought that he was disposed to treat,
them with contempt, to disregard their
traditions, and to defy their instincts.
It was not merely his act Of inviting a
negro to dinner and his further acts Of
appointing negroes to office, per Sc, that
offended the Southern people: It was
{ what they believed to be the animus of
his acts.
President Mckinley had appointed ne
sroes to Office, and the South did not
toL ria off boy \ b1,
It might have been, but we all thought
that Mr.. Roosevelt. as President of the
United States, meant by his various acts
to notify tho Southern people and the
world at large that he proposed, SO far
as he could, to obliterate the color line,
socially as well as politically. That was
y the reason the Southern people were so
bitter at one time against President
Roosevelt.
We are not afraid Of the race ques-
q tion. We have shown our ability to deal
with It. and we can. dcnl with it If the
Federal government will allow us TO do,
SO in our own way. We are not afraid
of the negro. either socially or politically.
we know how to get along with the
negro race, and we are getting along
admirably. But II there were a Presi-
dent OF the United States who had con-
tempt for our views OF the subject and
Tor our way OF dealing with the race
question, and VINO should undertake to
meddle. there would be no end OF COM
plicauons and trouble. There is but
one sensible and efficacious way Of deal
ing with that question. and that is com
plete separation. That plan is no cxpcr-
ament, but the conclusion of long years
OF study and experience on the part of
the South's leading men and women.
3 That plan Is in the interest of the black
race as we'll as the white race, ana IS
necessarily the best for good order good
happiness of the blacks as we'll as the
whites.
But we discovered some time ago that
NE had misunderstood President Roose-
welt. and his visit TO the South has con-
hrlned it. He has shown us that the
Southern blood in his veins is still red
md that his Southern Instincts are still
{fi dominant. lie haA shown us hat he not
only has profound respect for our view
OF this question. but that he is In sym
cathy with US, and he even went so far
as 10 say In one Of his speeches that
these questions were questions for tho
South to settle for itself We have found
Mr. Roosevelt 10 be sensible. brave,
chiyarous. friendly and sympathetic, aud
such man VIII always command our
respect no matter what an impossible
gulf may separate MS politically. There
is no 1ckleness about It. Our attitude
towards the President has changed be-
cause we have found him 10 be of us by
heredily and with us by instinct. instead
OF against us. And that Is the Who'll,
story.
observation-disclosures
Ea1ca Tea