The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1907-01-14
PRESIDENT TO BLAME.
SENATOR TlLLMAN HOLDS EXEC
UTlVE RESPONSIBLE FOR Me-
GRO AGGREssiVENEss.
DISCUSSES BROWNSVILLE INCIDENT
cHARAcTERiZEs ACTION TAKEN
AS "NoTHINe MORE NOR
LESS THAN LYNCHING."

LESS THAN LYNcHING."
Washington, Jan. Ex-senator Till
man spoke on the Brownsville Incl.
dent in the senate during the day. He
characterized the presidents action in
the matter "as nothing more nor less
than lynching." He challenged any
one to produce in the army regula-
lions or articles Of war any founda-
ton for the charge of conspiracy of
silence, mutiny and treason made
against the soldiers, although he de-
clared there was no doubt that the
soldiers were responsible for the out
rage at Brownsville"
Mr.. Tillman held that it was con
trary to the fundamental principles of
liberty of English and American law
that the innocent should suffer be.
cause of the sins Of the guilty; also
he declared that man shall be con
sidered innocent until he is proved
guilty. I'm this case," he said, "167
men have been punished, while not
more than twenty have been charged
with participation in the crime
Mr.. Tillman maintained that the
negro troops should not have been
sent to Texas. They were sent there,
he said, against the protests of one of
the Texas senators and the congress
man from that district
Mr.. Tillman declared that Senator
Foraker had belittled himself by at
lacking Major Blocksom 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 the
South never to understand each other
and to recognize the rights of both
sections? s.-..
Race Question at Bottom.
1T is useless to deny that the race
question lies at the bottom of all this.
1t is equally useless to say that these
troops were not discharged because
they were negroes. The whole issue
involved is one of race and the pres
ident is primarily more responsible
than any other man for the position
+ 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 equal to the Caucasian Mr.
Tillman continued: =.-. --=.s
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
daughter-in-law a Chinese, a Malay, an
Indian or negro in accord with the
doctrine laid down in his message?
We all know he would not and while
fine words butter no parsnips' words
like these are source of incalculable
evil, coming from such high source.
1T Is high time something was done
to have this great and vital 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 abso-
lutely useless for doctrinaries and poll
ticians to undertake to dismiss it with
wave Of the hand and Cor one am
ready to go to battle under the slogan,
America for the Americans; this is a
white mans country and white men
must govern It,"
Element of the Ridiculous.
Mr.. Tillman prefaced his discussion
of the question with the characterize
tion that it resembled case in court.
Certain enlisted men of the Twenty
fifth regiment were under Indictment
he said. "The president of the United
States is the prosecutor as well as the
executioner. The array of counsel for
the defense and prosecution is not yet
complete. So far as their names have
appeared on the record there is an ele-
ment of incongruity and Of the ridic-
ulous. For instance, as attorneys aid
ing the prosecution we have the dis
Culberson), a Democrat; the distin-
guished senator from Massachusetts
(Mr. LODGE, Republican,; the dis
senator from Virginia, (Mr.
DanieD, a Democrat
"And for the defense, if it shall be
70 considered when get through, 1
will be put in the record as aiding the
distinguished senator from Ohio (Mr.
Foraker). or course, being nothing
more than cornfield lawyer, my con
tribution to the legal discussion of the
question will be very limited; prob
ably comparatively worthless
But the righteousness Of the sit
uation is again apparent when one
considers that the senator from the
North, who, by reason of his radical
and aggressive utterances and prob
ably actions in the past, acquired the
name of Fire Alarm, finds himself
aligned with that senator from the
South (Mr. Tillman himself) who is
usually supposed to have a broiled
negro for breakfast; who is known to
Justify lynching for rape and whose
attitude, If not that of hatred to the
negro, is feeling akin to 1t. And so
this alliance is an odd one
Senator Tilllnan's address was lis
tened to by an immense crowd, the
galleries being thronged.