The Montana plaindealer. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1906-1911, 1908-04-17

] B1ilLANAA AOApo.
IF the honest convictions ON pollt-
itical matters which | am now To- eN-
press do nothing more than furnish
to the race more examp;1 OF a
man exercising his divine right to
freedom of thought and expression
upon matters in which he has a- much
vital interest as any other American
citizen, ] feel that ! shall not have
spoken in vain.
Brownsville. q.
/ was and am of the opinion that
President RoOsevelt's course i'm refer
ence to the Brownsville affair was OPP
en- to criticism.
Normally the Anglo-Saxon race in
Europe and in America is an oath re-
speeding acc. But in some parts of
our country the sentiment has been
developed that perjury is no oiiense
against good morals where the race
question is involved. Often truth is
no required by the racial sem
timcnt than t%ruthfulness concerning
his army is expected of a prisoner tax
en- in war.
Thus, we have returning boards
swearing falsely and without q grim
ace as to election returns, and United
States Senators taking oaths to up
hold the Constitution Of the United
States, knowing the while that they
are going to be parties to the viola
ton of the fifteenth amendment to
that Constitution as much a part of
that document as any other part.
In view of the well known racial
feelinw which rendered the whole
Brownsville affair difficult OF straight
ening out, there was to my .'Ind q
wiser way for the President to have
handled the matter.
The Presidents Record.
But | am not one of those who
think that the President acted as he
did because the soldiers were colored
men. There is nothing in his whole
career upon which to Mound such a
conception of his character.
His nomination years Q of John
r. Lynch to be temporary chairman
OF a session of the National Repub-
lican Convention, his entertainment
in the executive mansion at Albany
of a noted cOlored singer who was
denied entertainment in thh hotels
his now famous courtesy to Prof.
Booker L. Washington in the White
House, his views as enunciated in the
crum case, the peonage prosecution,
all, all preclude the thought that he
was influenced by considerations of
race.
| go further and venture the as
sertion that no President that ever sat
in the chair has taken a more import
ant step than Mr.. Roosevelt in WHIP
.ng out the color line in politics so
lar as relates to federal appointments.
When he became President there
what might be called a system of
lin Crowism in appointments. Col
bred men had a restricted sphere in
which to aspire. The President
broke up this corner by pushing col
,red men on the judicial bench in
Washington, d. c., by the appoint
nent of Anderson in New York, +
-ewis in Boston and Trler to an audit ,
rship in the Navy Department, and {
Y other appointments in new fields. E
the appointes cited let it be OBJ +
erved are in territory never before 5
coupled by the race in the history +
f the nation, and a beginning has +
cen made toward the opening of r
he whole field of federal service to +
,egrO aspiration.
If t%heprecedent of regarding no e
e~rritory as forbidden ground to the +
,egro is followed. Jim Crowism in G
he federal service is doomed. =
To take an incident like the h
brownsville affair and twist it into +
color question with which to casti- i
ate a man with a record like that
t President Roosevelt on the color Y
uestion is indeed to my mind a I
evere Indictment of our judgment. +
Iistaken l believe the President to +
ave been. Actuated by race pre- +
ldice | do not believe him to have e
cen /;
| am frank to admit that in spite of +
lie Presidents mistakes, as | view b
lie matter, he has my support, and +
support him for the same reason i