The advocate. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1901-1913, 1912-08-08
Col. ROoSeVeN'S Letter
EAfHESSlNG VIEWS ON THE
AL POLITICS NEGRO DELE
GATES IN THE NATIONAL PROGRESSIVE


, to develop our gratest strength, and
we hope TO see these men of such
) character that their activity shall be
of benefit not only to the people at
large. but especially to their own
race.
For As years the Republican party
has striven to build up in the South
ern states In question a party based on
the theory that the pyramid will un-
supported stand perma nently on it's
apex instead of on it's: base. For As
years the Republican party has er,>
deavored in these state to build IN q
party in which the NJ egro shordd ba
dominant, party consisting almost
exclusive of Negroes. 1Nhosye who took
the lead in this eXperim ent were aetna
ted by high motives, an no one, should
now blame them becaus of what. with
the knowledge they th' sn had and I'M
der the then existing circumstances
they strove to do. Butt lin actual prac-
t1ce the result has been lamentable
from every Standpoia at. It HAS boon
productive of evil to the colored men
themselves, it has beer productive on
ly OF evil to the wh ite men of the
South and it ha 8 worked the gravest
| injury to, and fl aally the DISRUPTION
| and destruction Of. the great Republi-
can party itself
There has in the past been. much
venality in Republ iran national con-
Ventlons in which talere was an active
| contest for the nomination for Pres
ldent for the most nart
among the Negro d elegates from these
Southern states. Finally, in the con-
Vent1cn at Chicago last June the
breakup of the Republican party was
| forced by those rc,tten- borough dele
gates from the South. In the pri-
| mary states Of the North the colored
| men IN most places voted substantial
iy as their white neighbors voted, Bur
| In the Southern States, where there
was no real Republican party, and
where colored men, Or whites selected
the convention, representing nothing
but their own greed for money or Of
nee, the majority was overwhelmingly
antiprogressive. Seven eighths Of tho
colored men from these rotten-hor-
ough districts upheld by their votes
the fraudulent actions Of the men who
in that convention defied and betrayed
the WiH Of the mass Of the plain peo-
! pie Of the party.
! 1T would be not merely foolish, but
criminal, to disregard the teachings
or such lesson. The disruption and
destruction Of the Republican partv
and the fact that 1t has been rendered
absolutely impotent as an instrument
for anything but mischief in the COIN
try at large, has been brought about
In large part by the effort to pretend
that in the Southern States a sham
rs a faot, by the insistence upon treat
ing the ghost party in the Southern
states as real party, by refusing to
race the truth, which Is that under
S "o"uH"iollo tlere IS not and
cannot be in the Southern States a
party based primarily upon the Negro
| vote and under Negro leadership or
| the leadership of white men who d.
rive their power solely from Negroes
with these 45 years Of failure of this
policy in the South before our ewes.
and with catastrophe thereby caused
to great national party not vet six
weeks distant from us, it will be GRIM
1nal for the progressives to repeat the
course Of action responsible for such
disaster, such failure, such catastro-
phe.
1T would be much worse than usc-
less to try to build up the progressive
J party in these Southern States where
there is no real Republican party. BY
appealing to the Negroes, or to the
mon who in the past have derived their
sole standing from leading and mandp-
ulating the Negroes
Il earnestly believe that by appea1.
ing to the best white men in the
south, the men Of Justice and Of vis-
Ion as we'll as Of strength and lead
ersh1p, and by frankly putting the
movement in their sands from the
outset we shall create a situation bv
! which the colored men Of the South
Will ultimately get justice. as it is not
possible for them to get justice if we
are to continue and perpetuate the
present conditions. The men to whom