Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1907-01-17
IIIMAM GETS HOT
Goes After the President With
His Pitchfork
BROWNSVILLE RIOT THE TEXT

Nothing Involved in Dismissal Of Ne
gro Troops Except Race question
Present Administration Response !
BILE for Present Acute Situation in
South-President Encouraged Ne
gro to Assert Equality Then
Wrought Vengeance On Whole
Battalion.
8 Washington, Special--The senate
listened to assdebate onthe ace cues
4tpnssSaturdaYs in which Senator Till
Aman. wassthe principal participant,
and Senator Patterson, of Colorado,
his opponent, which brought into
striking contrast the ideas Of the
South and North on this question.
President, he maintained, had en-
couraged the, negro to assert his
equality and then had wrought ven
,geance on a whole battalion for fol-
lowing that encouragement. He con-
demned the Presidents action in
both respects.
At this point Nh. Tillman was in
corrupted for the first time. Senator
Nelson asked: "Would you deny
J those privileges to white soldiers "
II will go as far as any mar in
| giving white men, either soldiers or
| citizens, their rights" answered Mr.
! Tillman.
"Why should not the cslored sol
der, if he conducts himself as a
| white soldier, have the same consider
ation7"
"For the simple reason that. God
Almighty made him colored. He did
not make him white" reterted Mr..
Tillman, who added that caste feel
ing was universal; that it pulsated
even in the bosom of the senator from
Minnesota (Mr. Nelson).
Mr.. Tillman characterized the
Presidents action in the Brownsville
matter as "nothing more or less
than lynching." He challenged any
one to produce in the army regula-
ton or elsewhere any foundation for.
the charge of conspiracy Of silence,
mutiny and treason made against the
soldiers, although he declared that
there was no doubt that the soldiers
were responsible for the "outrage at
Brownsville
"The whole issue involved is one
of race, and the President is pri-
marily more responsible than any
other man for the position the ne
groes in the South have taken On the
csestion of negro rights. He gave
recognition to Booker Washington in
a social way. He did it knowing he
was flying in the face Of caste feel
ing among seventeen. millions OF
Southern white men and against the
same feeling Of two-thirds or three
fourths Of the Northern people. He
does not understand the negro or the
deep and vital character of the issue
involved. He made, a mess of it in
the first instance and he has made a
worse mess of the last,
"The well-known attitude Of the
administration on the racial question
has been the cause Of a great and no
ticeable change in the demeanor and
action Of the negroes through the
South and the greater question of re-
lationship between the races cannot
be muck longer kept down." He pre-
dicted in the near future a race con-
fict to determine whether the negro
is the equal Of the Caucasian.
Something ahould Be Done.
! cit is. high time something was
being done to have this great and vi
: tai question brought before the coun-
try in some practicable and sensible
way. The deep interest shown il
the Brownsville tragedy is ample evi.
dence hat the people of the country
: are beginning to feel a deep concern
in the various phases Of this ques-
ton, and it is absolutely useless fol
: doctrinaries and politicians to I'm.
u dertake to pooh-pooh the question
and dismiss it. with a wave of the
\ hand and for one, I am ready to e
: to battle under the slogan 'Americs
q All LIZ ACdAAo, VI 1u1S ID IlS
white mans country and white met
6 must govern it.
y Senator Tlllman convulsed the gal
+ leries and amused many senators by
6 illustrating the discrimination be
0 tween the races i'll Washington. "Ne
e groes are not allowed to drink at al
: the bars in Washington, as you al
know he said. The last three
. words were given especial emphasis
! and the senator waved his hand to in
: clude the whole senate.
a Mr.. Tillman said there were som,
- times when he wished to be dispas
sionate and deliberate, and he hat
prepared in writing, his discussion O.
4 the race question and would read ii
! The war had settled the question O.
y slavery and also the question O.
whether we were to be a confedera
wv