Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1912-10-09
ROOSEVELT AND THE SOUTH.


voters. and will urge them to 81
port his ticket.
Before the southern people give
him respectful audiences, before any
of them cast their votes for him in
preference to Governor Wilson, it
may not be out of place to refer to
some of hs frmer u%tterances concern
ng the South its ideals and its war
heroes.
Mr.. Roosevelt has been at times
more d~isrespectful to the South than
any man of his age now living. Some
years ago, for example. he wrote n
magazine article in which he severe
ly criticised Jefferson Davis, denoun-
cling him as another Benedict Ar
mold. He wrote among other things,
that when Jefferson Davis was COVER
Of Mississippi he vetoed the act
Of the Mississippi ,eg Stature which
proposed to recognize and pay the
bonded debt Of the state, thus add
insn dishonesty to treason"
The fact is that Jefferson Davis was
never governor of Mississippi. Mr..
Roosevelt probably did not know that
when he wrote his magazine article.
Mr.. Davis was the nominee OF his
party for governor, butwas defeated
by Henry G.. Foote by only n vote.
Later Governor Foote was sent to the
Confederate senate, and while that
body was n session at Richmond he
deliberately abandoned his seat. be-
trayed the confidence of his people
and passed through the Federal lines
beyond the Ohio river. Foote never
returned to the South.
In the same article Mr.. Roosevelt
denounced jefferson as a Benedict
Arnold. Having never been governor
Of Mississippi, Mr.. Davis could not
have vetoed an act of the legisla-
ture of that state. The only way in
which Mr.. Davis could have become
a Benedict Arnold would have been
for him to have betrayed the Confed-
crate forces into the hands of the
Federals. In view of the fact that
he did not do so, so he can not be
convicted of the crime of treason.
When President of the United tates
Mr.. Roosevelt took advantage of his
position in more than n instance to
offend Confederate soldiers and out
rage the finer sentiments Of the peo-
pie Of the South. In the course of a
Memorial Day speech at Arlington
Cemetery he said that every man who
subscribed to the principles of the
acts of the secession of 1860 and 1861
was an anarchist. The audience was
composed principally Of old soldiers,
several hundred C~onfcderates among
others. Mr.. Roosevelt's utterance Of
Tended the Co~nfederates and humili-
ated' the Federals, whose guests the
C~onfederates were on the occasion.
During the convention that nomin-
ated Mr.. Taft at Chicago an excerpt
was reproduced in a local newspaper
from one of Mr.. Roosevelt's speeches,
when president of the United States,
in which he said that a negro was
the equal of a white man. This speech
was made in New York, the occasion
being the dedication Of a negro
church. The excerpt from this speech
is now being used as campaign lit
era'ure by the regular republican or
CARNATIONS in Tennessee and Ken
lucky. and probably elsewhere.
The late Senator Carmack of Tenn
essee once declared on the floor Of
the senate that President Roosevelt's
~favorite gait vas running away, and
that he would gallop a hundred miles
for an opportunity to offend the
southern people. Mr.. Carmack and
practically all of his Southern
colleagues were well aware that Pres
ident Roosevelt had no love for the
southern people, Notwithstanding the
fact that his mother was descended
from the Bullock family of Georgia.
IF he ever entertained respect for
the ideals of the old South the fact
is not revealed in any of his mes
sages, speeches or writings. On the
other hand, he al be convicted by
his own work as in the case of his
assault upon Jefferson Davis of dis
history for the purpose Of
giving ~offense to the southern peo-
pie.
When Mr.. Roosevelt invades the
southern states on the hunt for votes
his first words should be an apology
to the southern people. for the Of