Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-01-12

ton OF relationship between the races can
not be much longer kept down..
After predicting in the near future race
conflict to determine whether the negro IS
the equal of the Caucasian, Mr. Tlllman
continued:
Question Presses for Solution.
Broadly stated, the white people of the
United States are face to face with the
vital issue as to whether the Caucasian race
shall share it's inheritance with the other
races of the earth. In Cuba the question
presses for solution and immediate action.
Shall that island be governed by negroes
or white men, Shall it be doomed to the
fate of San Domingo, or shall 1t be .aVed
for the white man? The question of pro-
tectorate or annexation and of the future
status of the peoplc there must be deter
mined in the near future. That is only one
phase of the question
''On the Pacific coast the relationship
between the MongolianS and the CaucasianS
is involved. The President announces him
self favoring the policy of absolute
obliteration of the race line the granting
of full citizenship to the Japanese. The
Americans of the Pacific coast, as under
stand it, are bitterly opposed to this policy
and without regard to party lines. Ihese
Americans ought to know what is for their
best interest and they ought to, and UNI
doubtedy will, have the sympathy and aid
of their fellow-citizens. north and south, In
protecting their interests But these two
phases of the race problem sink into in
significance alongside of the greater and
more vital question of the relationship OF
the races in the southern states OF the
Union.
Georgia Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and
Louisiana) in the aggregate the negroes
outnumber the whites. and in two OF them
CSouth Carolina and MISSISSIPPI the negro
preponderance is very heavy.
Legal Rights of the Negro.
Under the law these people possess every
right that white men have as lar as the
federal Constitution confers rights, and the
fifteenth amendment expressly forblds the
enactment of any law which shall dlscrim-
Large numbers of these negroes are dis
franchised at this time, but these laws are
only temporary and work no cure ana IN
the near future enough negroes viii De abie
to vote to make inevitable the struggle for
mastery between the races. In Cuba the
color line has been obliterated and mis-
cegenation is in full blast. At the north
the same conditions exist, and the large
number of mulattoes and quadroons with
white blood in their veins who have mi
grated there are the leaders of the doctrine
of absolute social equality, encouraged as
thew have been and are now by the Presl-
dent of the United States. Take this from
his message on the Brownsville affair: 1T
is of the utmost Importance to all our peo-
pie that we shall deal with each man on
his merits as a man and not deal with MN
merely as a member of given race; tnat
we shall judge each man by his conduct
and not his color.
and again every far-sighted friend OF
the colored race in its efforts to strive on
wa d and upward should teach first, as the
most important lesson, alike TO the Whlte
man and the black the duty OF treating the
individual man strictly on MS worth as ne
knows it,
Consider the full import and meaning or
these words, and consider whether or not
they are sincere and honest, or Whether IN
. nf ftyhf n r
ranted usurpation of power and exercise OF
executive authority the President forgot
himself and said more than he intended or
means To illustrate is it possible or desir
able that all consideration of race and color
shall be dismissed from our minds and not
govern our action; that racial instincts i'm
planted in by nature are to be ignored
and all men of all races to be judged and
treated on the basis of individual merit?
Are men to be made over and the caste feel
ing and race antagonlSm of centuries to dis
appear in the universal brotherhood of man?
Are there any senators in this audience who
subscribe to this doctrine who would have
the Caucasian, highest and noblest of the.
five races as is attested by history, descend
to the level of the others and share his
birthright with them with the inevitable re-
suit that pure white blood will disappear
from the face of the earth. and after the
mixing of centuries shall have completed
the amalgamatiOn have all men of one skin
and one type?
rs 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
Chinese, a Malay, an Indian or a negro
in accord with the doctrine laid down in
his message which l have quoted? We
all know he would not. and while fine
words butter no parsnips,' words like these
are a source of incalculable evils, coming
from such high source.
Resolution of the outh.
1.-The southern white men and women who
have for forty years resisted in every pos
sible way this doctrine of the equality of
the races are just resolved now as they
have always been not to submit to 1t or its
results. They are resolved to maintain con-
troll OF their state governments and to pre-
vent in every way possible social and poIiti-
cal equality with the inevitable destruc-
ton of their civilization which would fol-
low If they yielded. The conditions are
growing more and more aggravated every
day. Race antagonism increases in inten-
sity. Are things to drift until direful TRACE
dies multiply on every hand and blood shall
/ flow like water? Is the craftsmanship of
our time inadequate to cope with this oues-
ton just as the craftsmanship of 1860 failed
to prevent the dire catastrophe of civil
war? That war was fought TO settle the
race question, but forty years after its
termination We find conditions more threat
4
were in 1861.
1T is not possible for me to believe that
the theorists and sentiments lists at the
north who are responsible for the condi-
lions existing will be allowed to pursue
their policy OF absolute recognition of race
equanty much further. The question is not
a local one or a sectional one, except so far
as the negroes are nearly all at the south
while at the north there are comparatively
few of them II is high time something
was being done to have this great and vital
question brought before the country in
some practicable 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 ques-
ton, and II Is absolutely useless for doctri-
naires and politicians to undertake to pooh
pooh the question and dismiss II with a
wave of the hand and, for one, l am ready
to go to battle under the slogan America
for the Americans and this is white man 8
1 country and white men must govern IT.