The Washington herald., 1919-01-07

from those who had never before been
known to praise anything Republican.
1t was at this point that the Booker
| T. Washington incident took place.
The President invited the educator to
discuss a special subject with him,
apd then asked him to stay to lunch.
1t was clearly not intended as an af-
front to the South. and apparently
the President had not considered its
possible consequences one way or the
, other.
The matter was at once taken up
by the Southern press, where the
| charge was made that the whole thing
was arranged for political effect. They
held that this one incident set a,
naught all the good things the Presi-
dent had done for the South. The
President was even warned to stay
out of the South. His position was to
| ignore the criticism entirely. He went
on appointing good Democrats" to
office. and found no difficulty in get
ting menbto serve; later he made an
extended tour of the Southern States,
and was everywhere received with
, cordiality. But he never made any
attempt to discriminate against ne
groes from fear of criticism or the
effect it might have on his popularity.
Two Typical Incidents.
! Two instances of his action in this
regard are worthy of note: that of
| his appointment of DR.. Crum, as
collector of the port of Charleston,
5. C., despite the protests of the
press OF the entire South, and whose
appointment was finally confirmed
by the Senate after being held I'd
for almost three years. The other
incident was that of the postmis-
tress at Indianola, Miss. She was
an educated and respectable negro
woman, who was driven out of town
by a mob in one of the anti-negro
outbreaks in that region. The
! Presidents action was characteris-
tic: instead of insisting on her re-
tention-a course which might have
resulted in bodily harm for her, he
abolished the postoffice altogether,
compelling her former patrons to go
| several miles after their mail.
| In the fall of 1902 the Presiden mt
adopted q course of action that
called forth considerable criticism.
The anthracite coal miners of Penn
sylVania had been on a strike since
the preceding May, and a serious
IL
President at length made up his
mind to act.
He rejected the advice of his
friends to wait and lay the matter
before Congress. on the ground that
the situation demanded Immediate
action. Therefore, after receiving
an exhaustive report on the subject
from Carroll d. Wright. Commits
sioner of Labor, on October 8. he
| asked the coal operators and John
| Mitchell. president of the United
Mine Workers, to meet him in con-
ference. at which Mitchell's proposal
| that the President appoint an arbi-
tration commission was rejected.
! subsequently, on October IS, the
President had a conference with ].
Pierpont Morgan, at which the latter
! agreed to refer the question to a
commission of five members, repre-
| sentative of certain designated
classes of interest. With the addi-
tion of another member. and the
! Presidents promise to appoint a rep
resentative of union labor as fuItilI-
ing the definition of "sociologist, "
the miners accepted the proposal
and the commission was appointed.
Step without Precedent.
4! The Presidents step was a bold
one, and entirely without precedent.
He was widely charged by the news
papers with usurpation of extra
constitutional powers. The report of
| the commission, which was not COM
pleted until winter. settled, however,
not only this particular strike, but
| fixed a point of departure for the set
/ -,
/ ture.
| In the second year of his admins
tration President Roosevelt was
called upon to act in the role of an
! international peacemaker. Venezuela
! in the fall and winter of 1902 became
! embroiled with England, Germany,
and Italy. as result of the failure
Of financial schemes of citizens of
/ these countries.
! The matter was laid before Presi-
! dent Roosevelt for adjudication, but
i instead of accepting the post of
arbitrator. he took occasion to re-
state even more emphaticalIy the
position of this country, and sue
ceeded in securing a reference of the
difficulties to The Hague tribunal.
| This action, it has been well said,
saved the life of the court.
| In the fall of 1904 he took the first
| step toward the converting of a sec
ond peace conference. IN the sum-
mer of 1906 it was through his good
offices, when European powers held
! back. that the negotiations were set
under way which resulted in the
meeting of Russian and japanese rep
resentatives on American soil, and
the negotiation of the Peace of Ports
mouth, which terminated the war in
| the Far East
1t was for this bold and unprece-
dented action on the part of the
| President that he was awarded the
Nobel peace prize for 1905.
Made Silent Campaisn.
At the Chicago convention in 1904
| President Roosevelt was nominated
to succeed himself by acclamation.
Charles Warren Fairbanks. of Indi-
ana, was named for Vice President.
On the opposing Democratic ticket
were Alton B. Parker, of New York,
for President, and Henry G. Davis,
! of West Virginia, for Vice Presi-
dent. President Roosevelt made no
political speeches.
| The campaign. was without great
interest, save in New York and sew
| eral other States. where a deter
| mined effort was made to bring out
large Democratic vote. Roose-
welt and Fairbanks were elected by
majority of the popular vote or
2.541,6S5 over the Democratic can
didate, the greatest popular major
Iity in the history of the country.
The ELECTORAL vote stood 336 to 40.
At the meeting of Congress- fol-