Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-10-29
HARDING SPEECH
At BIRMINGHAM
TALK Of CAPITAL
Southern Democrats Criti-
cize Utterance, While Re-
pubIicans Commend, Call
ing 1t "LincoInesque">
BY DAVID LAWRENCE


Copyright, 1921
WASHINGTON, Oct. 2S.-Presi-
dent Harding's speech at Birming-
ham, Ala, advocating political and
economic equality fer the negro was
the talk of the town" today,
Southern Democrats privately de-
nounced Il and predicted that the
hopes Of the Republican party for a
white Republican vote" had been
absolutely dashed to the ground. Re-
pubhcar.s commended the utterance
as Loncolnesque." They called it
a courageous speech, delivered as it
was, in the heart of the south itself.
Irrespective of the merits Of MIR.
HardingIs 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 presi-
Dental campaign as he said at Biz
mingham-it pleased the negro vot-
ers and was hardly commented upon
at the time. But as president. no
one has gone quite sas far in recent
years in handling the negro prob.
lem as had Mr.. Harding. Theoreti-
cally, Republicans and Democrats
have admitted upon occasions that
true democracy means political
equality but in actual practice both
parties have had their controversies
about granting that equality.
Campaign Planned
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 assure
the whites in the south that they
could vote the Republican 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 de-
sert tn Democratic standard. On
the other hand northern Republic
ans who have been helped in recent
years by the influx of negroes into
their congressional districts have
feared that such statement would
be regarded as hostile by northern
negroes.
Mr.. Harding has tried d compro.
mise. He declares he does not be-
lieve in social or racial equality.
That's an important statement for a
president Of the United States to
make. But while the south always
has insisted upon it's own right to
determine who shall or shall not be
considered social equals, the trou-
bic is that the true fear of political
equality is that it may lead to So
cial equality.
Answer Likely
At least the southern Democrats
here who have made study of the
question declare that the line be-
tween political 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 status,
they add. inevitably. carries with it
social friction.
Republicans who defend Mr.. Har-
ding's speech were vehement in their
expressions of approval. pointing out
that the president had made a 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 had in the
audience applauded and cheered
while whites stood silent, as report
ed in the dispatches from Birming-
ham, was regarded as of lesser I'M.
portance than the after effects of
the speech on the mass of people
who read and did not hear the ut.
terances. One thing Is certain. Mr..
Harding has said something that is
bound to be the basis for discussion.
Indeed, it would not be surprising
if the speech were answered in con
gress by the southern Democrats.