Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-01-12
ATTACK ON PRESIDENT
Senator TiIIman on the Browns
vile incident.
DENIES EQUALITY OF RACES
Declares for the Superiority of the
Caucasians.
LIBERAL PRINCIPLES VIOLATED
Says That Negro Troops Should Not
Have Been Sent to Fort
LIBERAL PRINCIPLES VIOLATED

The announcement that Senator Tillman
would speak today on the race question in
connection with the proposed investigation
of the Brownsville affair had the effect of
attracting to the Capitol an exceptionally
large number of people Long before the
Senate convened the corridors were crowd
ed, and when the doors opened at
80 the galleries filled up leaving
many in the corridors. In the crowd there
was an unusual number of negroes, and in
terested as they were in the coming dis
cusson, they We're no more eager to get
inside the doors than were the whites.
Great Demand for Seats.
The effort to hear the South Carolina
Senator was so great that the broad pas
sages of the Senate leading to the CALLER
les were blocked with men and women
long before he took the floor. The pres
sure for seats was so great that the very
exclusive diplomatic gallery was given up
in part to friends of Senators. The gallery
reserved for families of Senators was
crowded. Mrs. Longworth occupied a seat
on the front row, which is known as the
Presidents reserved section, and Repre-
sentative Longworth was on the floor.
Senator Tillman in taking the position he
|
bers of his own party. He referred to this
fact in his opening remarks.
Senator Foraker listened intently to Mr.
Tillman's remarks and before the day is
over it is expected he will make an effort
to pass the resolution to provide for an in
quiry and there is no substantial opposi-
ton to its passage. The Senate almost with
out exception has agreed to the holding of
an inquiry differing only as to their views
President
and on the matter of his constitutional
power to dismiss soldiers in the manner he
adopted.
Senator Tillman opened his remarks in
very quiet manner. He had no speech pre-
pared except in the form of notes.
He began by detailing some of the circum-
stances of the Brownsville affair He said
that the President had acted as prosecutor
and executioner in this matter and had as
his attorneys in the Senate the senior
tor from Massachusetts, a republican. and
the senior senator from Virginia, a demo-
crat. Against his contention the
Tor senator from Ohio Mr.. Foraker He
himself would be regarded as going hand
in hand with Mr.. Foraker and said that
Mr. Foraker had been known as Fire
Alarm Foraker, and it was rather peculiar
that in this case he was acting with the
senator from South Carolina, who is sup
posed to have boiled negro for breakfast
every morning and who believes that this
is a white mans government and that
white men should rule it.
BlameS the President.
Senator Tllman read extracts of what
the President had said about respect that
is due the uniform of the United States
army. and he saiu that he believed that
the responsibility for what had taken
place at Brownsville rests upon the Presi-
dent. because he preached social equality.
The colored soldiers, he said had presumed
on what the President said giving them
a right to demand equality as they had
demanded it in saloons, and elsewhere
Senator Nelson asked whether the South
Carolina senator would object to extending
equal rights to white soldiers in a uniform
Certainly not" declared Mr. Tillman in
a shrill voice that brought echoes from the
far end of the chamber. II go as far as
any man in securing all rights to white
soldiers
Then why does the senator refuse to give
the same privileges to colored soldiers that
he gives to white soldiers provided they
conduct themselves properly"
simply because God Almighty made them
colored and did not make them white" re-
torted Senator Tillman.
lie then proceeded to charge that the
Presidents teaching of social equality,
equality for the negro because he wears
the uniform, was largely responsible for the
trouble.
Senator TilIman characterized the Pres-
dent action as nothing more nor
less than lynching He challenged any
one to produce in the army regulations or
articles of war any foundation for the
charge of conspiracy of silence. mutiny and
treason made against the soldiers. although
he declared there was doubt that the
soldiers were responsible for the outrage
at Brownsville
Mr.. Tillman held that it was contrary to
the fundamental principles of liberty of
English and American law that the limo
cent should suffer because OF the sins of
the guilty. also, he declared that man
l,.an H.. a.
proved guilty.
In this case" he said "one hundred and
sixty 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
protest of one OF the Texas senators and
the representative from that district. They
were sent there, he continued, with
wholly inadequate number of officers, as
there were only five officers for the three
companies.
This was done" Mr.. Tnman exclaimed.
without any thinght on the part
of the President Secretary of War as
to results. The first thought of the Presi-
dent was TO protect the negroes and to pun
ish the citizens by abandoning the post.
Especially Maj. Penrose and Capt. Mack
ln," Mr.. Tilman said, are shown to have
acted with gross negligence and incompe-
tence.'
All OF the soldiers who got in trouble were
from Macklns company. said Mr.. Tillman.
who added that Macklin did not believe that
negro had seized Mrs. Evans by the hair
and that he made effort to detect the
soldiers. This, he believed, raised the ques-
ton as TO whether or not Captain Mackln
in sympathy with the men In their
scheme of revenge.
Turning his attention TO Senator Foraker
Mr.. Tillman declared the Ohio senator had
belittlcd himself by attacking Ma jor Block
som as man whose father was copper
head. Are never to have an end of
the war and its bitterness?" he exclaimed
Are the people of the north and south
never to understand each other and to rec
ognize the rights of both sections?
1T is useless to deny that the race aues-
ton lies at the bottom of all this
1T is equally useless to say that these
troops were discharged because they were