The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-10-28
HARDING STIRS
UP FERMENT BY
RACE SPEECH
Demos Denost1ce, Re-
pubs Praise Utter
arace on Negro.
By DAVID LAWRENCE.
Copyright, 1921.


Washington, Oct 28.-President
Harding's speech at Birmingham,
Ala, advocating political and eco
nomic equality for the negro was
the talk of the town" today.
Southern Democrats privately de-
nounced it and predicted that the
hopes of the Republican party for
a white Republican vote" had been
absolutely dashed to the ground.
Republicans commended the utter
ance as LincolneSque. They called
it a courageous speech delivered,
as it was, in the heart of the south
itself.
Irrespective of the merits of Mr..
Hardings doctrine, there are GER
tain interesting aspects to it from
a political viewpoint Republican
candidates have in the past spoken
of political equality in their cam
paign speeches without creating
much of a ripple. Mr.. Harding said
virtually the same thing in his
presidential campaign, as he said
at Birmingham-it pleased the
negro voters and was hardly com
mented upon at the time But as
president no one has gone quite
as far in recent years in handling
the negro problem as had Mr.. Hard
ing. Theoretically, Republicans
and Democrats have admitted upon
occasions that true democracy
means political equality, but in act
ual practice both parties have had
their controversies about granting
that equality.
Break "SOlid South"
For several months the leaders
Of the Republican party have been
planning a real campaign to break
the Democratic hold on the solid
south" Some have advocated that
the way to do it is for some state
ment to be made which would as
sure the whites in the south that
they could vote the Republican
ticket without fear of negro domin-
alton. This has, indeed, been adVo-.
Gated by those Republicans who
hailed from the south and who
knew that some such utterance was
necessary before the whites could
be persuaded to desert the Demo-
cratic standard. On the other hand,
northern Republicans who have
been helped in recent years by the
influx of negroes into their con-
gressional districts have feared that
such a statement would be regarded
as hostile by northern negroes.
Mr.. Harding has tried a COM
promise. He declares he does not
believe in social or racial equal
ity. That's an important statement
Tor a president of the United States
tC make But while the South has
always insisted upon its own right
tC determine who shall or shall not
be considered social equals, the
trouble is that the true fear of
political equality is that it may
lead to social equality. At least
the southern Democrats here who
have made a study of the question
declare that the line between po-
litical and social equality is too
hazy to draw. They argue, more
over, that political equality means
the election to office of negroes to
rule over whites. Such a status,
they add, inevitably carries with it
social friction.
Is Mincing Words.
Republicans who defended Mr..
Hardings speech were vehement
in their expressions of approval,
pointing out that the president had
made a real appeal for a united ma
ton and had not minced words in
Contending for a genuine and not
an imaginary democracy. The fact
tnat the negroes in the audience
had applauded and cheered while
whites stood silent, as reported in
the dispatches from Birmingham,
was regarded as of lesser import
ance than the after-effects of the
speech on the mass of people who
read and did not hear the utter
alice One thing is certain, Hr-
Harding has said nothing that is
bound to be the basis for discus
sion. Indeed, it would not be sur
prising if the speech were answer
ed in congress by the southern
Democrats.