Evening star., 1921-10-28
PRAISED
FOR BOLD SPEECH
Republicans Call Him 'Cour-
/ ageous Denounced by
| Southern Democrats.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

President Harding'S speech at BIZ
mingham. Ala. advocating political
and economic 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 alb
solutely dashed to the ground Re-
Iublicans commended the utterance
as Lincolnesque. They called it
courageous speech, delivered. as II
was, in the heart of the south ITSELF
Aspects Are Interesting.
Irrespective of the merits OF Mr.
Harding'S doctrine, there are certain
interesting aspects to it from a po-
litical viewpoint. Republican candi-
dates have in the past spoken of po-
litical equality in their campaign
speeches without creating much of
ripple. Mr.. Harding said virtually
the same thing in his presidential
campaign as he said at Birmingham
1t pleased the negro voters and was
hardly commented upon at the time.
But as President no one has gone
quite as far in recent years in han
ding the negro problem as had MIR.
Harding. Theoretically. republicans
and democrats have admitted upon oc-
casions that true democracy means
StStuti pi az
tice both parties have had their con-
froversies about granting that equal
ity.
For several months the leaders of
the republican party have been plan
ming Il real campaign to break the
democratic hold on the "Solid south"
Some have advocated that the way to
do 1t is for some statement to be
made which would assure the whites
in the south that they could vote the
rpDuhlican ticket without fear OF
negro domination. This has indeed
been advocated 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 democratic
standard. On the other hand, north
ern republican who have been helped
in recent years by the influx of ne
groeS into their congressional dis
tricts have feared that such state
ment would be regarded as hostile by
northern negroes.
Has Tried Compromise.
Mr.. Harding has tried compromise.
He declares he does not believe in
social or racial equality. That's an
important statement for a President
of the United States to make. But
while the south has always insisted
upon its own right to determine who
shall and shall not be considered So
cial equals. the trouble is that the
1T may lead to social equality. AT
least the southern democrats here
who have made a study of the ques-
tion declare that the line between po-
1itical and social equality is too haZy
to draw. They argue, moreover, that
political equality means the election
to office of negroes to rule over
whites. Such n status, they add, in
evitably carries with it social friction.
Strong in Approval.
Republicans who indorsed Mr..
Hardings speech were vehement in
their expressions of approval, point
ing out that the President had made
real appeal for a united nation and
had not minced words in contending
for a genuine and not an imaginary
democracy. The fact that negroes in
the audience had applauded and
cheered while whites stood silent, as
reported in the dispatches from
Birmingham was regarded as of less
Importance than the after effects of
the speech on the mass of people
who read and did not hear the utter
ance One thing is certain. Mr.. Hard
ing has said something that is bound
TO be the basis for discussion. Indeed.
it would not be surprising if the
speech were answered in Congress by
the southern democrats.
iCopyright, 1871