The Sentinel=record., 1912-08-03
COLONEL GIVES HIS VIEWS ON RACE QUESTION IN THE
 BULL MOOSE PARTY.y
ACKNOWLEDGE IT IS SERIOUS
Nearo Domination of Party In South Would Mean Disruption--Would Leave 1t Up to Best White
 Men to Settle.

New Yorla August 2.--In letter written to Julian Harris of Atlanta, editor of Uncle Remus Magazine, and a son of the late Joel Chandler liar ris, Colonel Roosevelt expressed his views on the position of the negro in national politics and the representa- tion of negro delegates in the conven- ton of the progressive party in Chi. cago.
 In part, Colonel Roosevelt writes:
 "In pursuance of our conversation, I write you this letter There is q pc culiar fitness in writing it to the son of dhe man whose work made all Americans his debtors His life and his work tended to bring his fellow cuuntfymen 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 Fred Joe. and the rest of the World felt a deep anl most kindly interest in the welfare 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 bys citi- zens of the South ask that i declare that the new party shall be white mans party am unable to agree to either proposal.
 in fhfcs ,pfrr,f,s ,s4y tVss cannot parft1a. nently succeed, except on the basis of treating eadh man on his worth as man. We can fulfill our high mission 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 un- der the law his right to life, liberty, to protection from injustice, his right to 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 tno rigiitss oI others. For us to oppress any class of four fellow citizens is not only wrong to others, but hurtful to our- selves. Surely no man can quarrel with these principles.
 q believe that the progressive movement should be made from the one of the interest of every honest, industrious, idw@biding color. ed man, just as 1t is in tine interest of every honest industrious jaw abiidi- ing white man. l further believe that the surest way to render the move .sts s.rtf 4r white man or the colOred man, in those regions of the South where the colored man is most numerous. would be to try to repeat the course that has been followed by the republican par ty in those districts for so mapNg4 '.yeaR@yssars te endeayor in the states in question to build up a progressive party by the same methods which in those states have resulted in making the republican party worse than i'm potent
 "ln the South the democratic ma chine has sought to keep itself para mount by encouraging the hatred of the white man for the black, the re- publican machine has sought to per- petuate itself by stirring up the black man against the white: and surely the time has come when we should understand the mischief in both courses, and should abandon both I believe that wherever the racial is. sue is permitted to hecome dominant in our politics it always works harm to both races, but immeasurably most harm to the weaker race. l believe that in this movement only damage will come If We either abandon our ideals, on the one hand. or, on the other, fail resoutely to look facts in the face, however unpleasant these facts may be.
 Ill many of the states of the un- ion where there is a considerable col ored population, we are able in very fsiet and at the present moment, to bring the best colored men into the movement on the same terms as the white man. In Rhode Island and Maryland, in New York and Indiana. in Ohio and Illinois, in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, to speak only of states of which have personal knowledge. this is now being done. and from some or all of these states. colored delegates win be sent to the national progressive convention in Chicago.
 In the national republican conven- tions the colored members have been almost exclusively from the South, and the great majority of thcm have been men Of such character that their political activities were merely q source of harm, and of very grave