The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-01-12
Many Could Not Get Seats and
Stood in the Corridors.
BROWNSVILLE AFFAIR
Was Made the Text for an At
took on the President.
Says ROOsevelt's Course Was No
Better Than Lynching.


speak today on the race question IN
connection with proposed investigation
| of the Brownsville affair had the effect
| of attracting to the capitol an excep-
| tionally large number of persons. Long
| before the session convened the corri-
doris were crowded and when the doors
| were opened at half past IL the gal
leries soon filled up, leaving many in
| the corridors In the crowd there was
| an unusual number of negroes, and II
terested as they were in the coming
| discussion, they were not more eager 10
] get inside the doors than were the
! whites.
ate completed it's morning business and
| the Brownsville matter was taken up.
i Many members of the house were in the
chamber and every possible space III
| the galleries was occupied when MI.
Tillman took the floor to make his ad-
| dress.
Senator Tillman characterized the
presidents action in the matter As
nothing more or less than lynching.
| He challenged any one to produce IN
the army regulations or articles of war
foundation for the charge of conspiracy
of silence, mutiny and treason made
against the soldiers, although he de-
ciared there was no doubt that the sol
diers were responsible for the outrage
at Brownsville
Mr. TiIIman held that it was contra
ry to the fundamental principles OF lib-s
erty of English and American law that
the innocent should suffer because OF
the sins of the guilty; also he declared
that a man shall be considered innocent
until he is proved guilty.
In this case" he said. "167 men
have been punished while not more
than 20 have been charged with parti-
cipation in the crime.
Mr.. Tillman maintained that the ne.
gro troops should not have been sent
to Texas They were sent there he said
1ir,-f f1aoT OF off, of l1o HNoxr-
as senators and the congressman from
that district.
Mr.. Tillman declared that Senator
Foraker had belittled himself by at
lacking Major BlocksoIn as a man
whose father was a copperhead.
Are we never to have an end of the
war and it's bitterness? % he exclaimed.
'Are the people of the north and
and to- recognize the rights of both
section?
''It is useless to deny that the race
question hes at the bottom of all this.
at is equally useless to, say that
these troops were not discharged be-
cause they are negroes. The whole is
sue involved is one or race and the
president is primarily more respon- |
sible than any other man for the posi- |
ton the negroes in the south have
taken on the question of negro rights"
After predicting in the near future !
a race conflict to determine whether |
the negro is the equal of the eau
casian, Mr.. Tillman continued: Brief !
ly stated, the white people of the !
United States are face to face with the |
vital issue as to whether the caucasian |
race shall share its inheritance with |
the other races of the earth.
"Is President Roosevelt ready to act !
up to his own theory and have his
children marry men and women of the
other races? Would he accept as a
daughter-in-law a Chinese, a Malay,
an Indian, or a negro in accord with
the doctrine laid down in his message?
Fine words butter no parSnips words
like these are source of incalculable
evil. coming from such high source |
1T is high time something was be. |
ing done to have this great and vita.
question brought before the country in
some practical and sensible way. The |
deep interest shown in the Brownsville |
tragedy is ample evidence that the
people of the country, are beginning to
feel a deep concern in the various
phases of this question and it is abb
solutely useless for doctrinaires and
politicians to undertake to dismiss il
with a wave of the hand, and for one
I am ready to go to battle under the
slogan, America for the Americans
and this is a white mans country and
white men must govern it,
Mr.. Tfllman prefaced his discussion
of the question with the characterize
ton that it resembled a case in court.
Certain enlisted men of the Twen-
ty-ffth regiment were under indict- .
ment," he said. The president of the
United States is the prosecutor as well ,
as the executioner. The array of ,
for the defense and prosecu- ,
ton is not yet complete. So far as
their names have appeared the ,
record there il an element of incon- ,
gruity and of the ridiculous. For in !
stance. as attorneys aiding the prose :
cution we have the distinguished
senator from Texas (Mr. Culberson),
a Democrat; the distinguished senator
from Massachusetts (Mr. Lodge, a
the distinguished senator
from Virginia (Mr. DanieD, a Demo-
crat and for the defense, if it shall be
so considered when 1 get through. I
will be put in the Record with the
distinguished senator from Ohio (Mr. /
Foraker.) OF course, being nothing
more than a corn field lawyer my !
to the legal discussion Of /,
he question will be very limited; ,
probably comparatively worthless.
: MY colleague and brother attorney :
MIR Foraker) himself realizes that so
'ar as legal assistance VIII go, he will :
get little or no aid from me, and thus
sor- / do not think he needs any. But r
he righteousness of the situation is !
again apparent when one considers J
hat the senator from the north,
VII ose radical and aggressive utter
past once earned for him the name of
Fire Alarm.
THE senator finds himself aligned
With that senator. fromsthe south (Mr.
himse1f). who. is usually sup
posed to have a broiled negro for {
orea kfast Qaughter), who is known to c
Justify lynching for criminal assault. I
md whose attitude, If not that of v
hatred to the negro, is a feeling akin