The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1912-10-27
FLORIDA REPUBLICANISM
Under Roosevelt and Taft

just as he mas uone 10 protect himself
and his interests, and self preservation
is the first law. The fifteenth amend
Fnent and the inability and refusal of
Republican presidents to understand
me south, its conditions and institu-.
tions. gave him the legal right and
the opportunity to do all ne has done
and his wonderful ability has enabled
him to go far.
these abilities and gifts that he
possesses had been exerted for the
welfare of his race, instead of for po-
fitical prestige and preferment for
himself, / believe his name would be
as well and favorably known today
as that of Booker Washington. And
very possibly there would be a respec-
table Republican party in Florida to-
day, as there is in Tennessee and
North Carolina, for instance.
Ever since he secured control. the
policy has been to make the party as
small as possible and to eliminate
every man from the organization"
who had individual opinions and re-
fused to be an abject tool Nothing
was considered beyond control of
patronage, and every Office holder was
required to secure resolutions of COM
mendation for Lee and Chubb leader
chip on every occasion offered, and if
J. did not watch out carefully he
would carry out some request or re-
quirement that would bring with it's
doing loss of self respect and then
they had double hold on him and he
was admitted to the inner chamber of
the organization
There are some very good men hold
ing Office in Florida under this regime,
and some not SO good, pretty tough,
. in fact. The latter are not taken up
to Washington for dress parade pur-
poses, but the former are when occa-
sion requires.
IT is hard for a man who takes his
religion or his politics seriously to
change them, and If he loses them,
knowledge of the loss usually comes
gradually.
Was a Good Republican,.
/ was a good Republican up to the
time during Roosevelt's first admins
tration, when l became satisfied that
after all his preaching for decency in
politics and the square deal for all.
that he was going farther and stoop-
ing lower, for effecting degenerate po-
litical machines in the south for ma
tional delegate purposes only, than
any man who had ever sat in the
presidential chair.
| knew Tom Plat and Matt Quay,
the latter very well, and had and still
have certain respect and admiration
for them, but abhor the man in poll
tics who holds a prayerboo1 up to
heaven in one hand and deals from
Acrooked deck with the other. And I
L.. L. - d v.J4
up to the time he first appointed me
&collector of customs at Pensacola, and
met him at close range. / hoped
aat he might be defeated in the cleo
n of. 1904, believing that if it were
VISIBLE that the Democrats could
hive possibly eight years in national
obDtrol that the rotten southern ma
tflfAes would be starved out mean
While.
This was the only chance I could
see OF the better element in the party
in the south getting control. see now
that that was only a pipe dream, as
the name Republican" in the south
was so tainted with the negro's affilia
ltion that a decent party in the extreme
south under that name can never be
/ possible. And so / remained in name,
at least, a Republican. and it became
pretty well known by the end of 1906
nat Roosevelt would have Taft nomi-
| hated to succeed him.
III About this time Mr.. Taft went down
II hto North Carolina and made
peech and excoriated the Republican
Examinations of the south and stated
hat he believed that the best way to
build I'D a decent party here, would be
a. ell rNf3n
IN the south to Democrats of stand
ing.
1t was a good thought and it gave
me some more hope. | was like the
Irish bod carrier who made bet with
a friend t lat the friend could not
carry him in his hod up the ladder to
the top of a six story building. On the
way up. at the fifth story the man
carrying the bod stumbled and almost
fell but recovered his footing and
succeeded in landing his passenger on
top of the building.
"Wen Pat" said Mike, I've won
I the bet"
Faith and you have Mike replied
Pat.h but when you stumbled at the
4fftk floor / had strong hopes"
When my time came for reap
pointment by Roosevelt. the organ
ization' met and endorsed for reap
poAtment about all the off1ce-Aolders
in the state. gracefully including my
self but excepting T. T. McGourin,
United States marshal for the north
ern district of Florida.
1 was convalescing from yellow fever
at the time. and had no opposition
from any source worthy of note. and
my appointment was made in Decem-
Der, 1905, at the suggestion of my
good friend. Geo. W. Allen of Key
west to President Roosevelt. Mr.. Al
len stopped in Washington en- route
home from New York and reminded
the president that his re-appointment
was due and that while he was ap-
pointing him, he might as well do the
same for me, although my term did
not expire for couple of months Mr..
Allen was able to tell him that the
organization had endorsed me SO It
was all right.
Had Done Satisfactorily.
had for the four years previous
followed the presidents orders gwen