The Nashville globe. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1906-193?, 1912-08-09

White Men TO Lead.
New York, August 3.-In letter
written to Julian Harris, of Atlanta,
editor Of Uncle Remus Magazine,
Col. Roosevelt expresses his view Of
the position of the Negro in national
uolitics and the representation of
Negro delegates in the convention of
the progressive party in Chicago.
Col. Roosevelt writes:
In pursuance of our conversation
/ write you this letter. There is
peculiar fitness in writing it to the
son of the man whose work made all
Americans his debtors. His life and
mis- WORK tended to bring his fellow
countrymen, North and South, into
closer relations of good will and un-
derstanding; and surely it should be
needless to say that the author OF
Uncle Remus' and of Free Joe and
the Rest of the World felt deep
and most kindly interest in the wei
fare of the Negro.
MANY letters dealing with the sub
ject of which you spoke to me have
been sent to me within the last few
days. Those written by men living in
the North usually ask me to insist
that we get from the South colored
delegates to the national progressive
convention Those written by citizens
OF the South ask that / declare that
o,.fr cho1 ha xuhitn e
party. l am unable to agree to
either proposal.
Individual Worth.
TN this country we cannot perma-
nently succeed except upon the basis
of treating each man on his worth as
man. We can fulfill our high mis-
sion among the nations Of the earth,
we can do lasting good to ourselves
and to all mankind, only if we so act
that the humblest among us, so long
as he behaves in straight and decent
fashion, has guaranteed to him under
the laws his right to life, to liberty
to protection from injustice, his right
10 enjoy the fruits of his own honest
labor, and his right to the pursuit OF
happiness in his own way, so long
as he does not trespass on the rights
of others. For us to Cypress any
class of our fellow-citizens is not
only wrong to others but hurtful tC
ourselves. Surely no man can quar-
rel with those principles.
believe that the progressive move
ment should be made, from the be
ginning, one in the interest of every
honest, industrious, law-abiding col
ored man, just as it is in the interes
of every honest, industrious law-abid
ing white man. further believe
that the surest way to render thu
movement impotent to help ethel
the white man or the colored man, IL
those regions of the South where tn
colored man is most numerous, woult
be to try to repeat the course tina
has been followed by the Republican
PARTY in those districts for so man!
years or to endeavor in the states il
question to build up a progressive
PARTY by the same methods which il
those states have resulted in making
the Republican party worse than i'm
potent.
Machine Method.
"In the South the Democratic ms
chine has sought to keep itself para
mount. by encouraging the hatred o
the white man for the BLACK; the re
publican machine has sought to pei
petuate itself by stirrig up the blac
man against the white, and surel
the time has come when we shoul
understand the mischief in bot
courses, and should abandon both.
believe that wherever the racial Is
she is permitted to become dominan
in our politics, it always works harI
TO both races, but immeasurably mos
harm to the weaker race. / believ
that in this movement only damag
will come if we either abandon on
ideals on the one hand, or, on tn
other, fail resolutely to look facts l
the face, however unpleasant thes
facts may be.
In many Of the states of the Unto
where there is a considerable colore
Donulation we are able in very faC
and at the present moment to brin
tbe best colored men into the NOV
ment on the same terms as the whit
man. In Rhode Island and Mar,
land. in New York and Indiana, j
Ohio and Illinois, in New Jersey an
pennsylvania, to speak only of state
Of which have personal knowledg
this is now being done, and frol
some or all of these states colore
delegates will be sent to the Nations
Progressive Convention in Chicago
Colored Delegates.
"In the Republican National Coz
ventions the colored members hay
been almost exclusively from tn
south. and the great majority of the
have been of such character that the
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