The accord so generally given to the appointment of ex-Governor Jones,
of Alabama--a Gold Democrat, having views on domestic order in harmony
with the Administration--to a Federal judgeship was destined to be
followed by a bitter arraignment of President Roosevelt for having
invited Booker T. Washington to dine with him at the White House. As a
passing event not without interest, in this era of the times, indicative
of "shadow and light," I append a few extracts from Southern and
Northern Journals:
SHADOW.
In all parts of the country comment has been provoked by the fact that
President Roosevelt, on Wednesday night last, entertained at dinner in
the White House, Booker T. Washington, who is generally regarded as the
representative of the colored race in America. Especially in the South
has the incident aroused indignation, according to the numerous news
dispatches. The following comments from the editorial columns of
newspapers and from prominent men are given:
New Orleans, Oct. 19.--The Times-Democrat says:
"It is strange news that comes from Washington. The President of the
United States, for the first time in the history of the nation, has
entertained a Negro at dinner in the White House. White men of the
South, how do you like it? White women of the South, how do you like it?
"Everyone knows that when Mr. Roosevelt sits down to dinner in the White
House with a Negro he that moment declares to all the world that in the
judgment of the President of the United States the Negro is the social
equal of the white man. The Negro is not the social equal of the white
man. Mr. Roosevelt might as well attempt to rub the stars out of the
firmament as to try to erase that conviction from the heart and brain of
the American people."
The Daily States: "In the face of the facts it can but appear that the
President's action was little less than a studied insult to the South
adopted at the outset of his Administration for the purpose of showing
his contempt for the sentiments and prejudices of this section."
Richmond, Va., Oct. 19.--The Dispatch says:
"With many qualities that are good--with some, possibly, that are
great--Mr. Roosevelt is a negrophilist. While Governor of New York he
invited a Negro (who, on account of race prejudice, could not obtain
accommodation at any hotel) to be his guest at the Executive Mansion,
and, it is said, gave him the best room in the house.
"Night before last the President had Prof. Booker T. Washington to dine
with him at the White House. That was a deliberate act, taken under no
alleged pressure of necessity, as in the Albany case, and may be taken
as outlining his policy toward the Negro as a factor in Washington
society. We say 'Washington society,' rather than 'American society,'
because the former, on account of its political atmosphere, is much more
'advanced' in such matters than that of any other American city of which
we know anything. The President, having invited Booker T. Washington to
his table, residents of Washington of less conspicuous standing may be
expected to do likewise. And if they invite him they may invite lesser
lights--colored lights.
"When Mr. Cleveland was President he received Fred Douglass at some of
his public entertainments--'functions,' so-called--but we do not
remember that Fred was singled out for the distinguished honor of dining
with the President, as Booker Washington has been.
"We do not like Mr. Roosevelt's negrophilism at all, and are sorry to
see him seeking opportunities to indulge in it. He is reported to have
rejoiced that Negro children were going to school with his children at
Oyster Bay. But then, it may be said, too, that he has more reasons than
the average white man to be fond of Negroes, since it was a Negro
regiment that saved the Rough Riders from decimation at San Juan Hill.
And but for San Juan Hill it is quite unlikely that Mr. Roosevelt would
be President today.
"Booker Washington is said to have been very influential with the
President in having Judge Jones put upon the Federal bench in Alabama,
and we are now fully prepared to believe that statement.
"With our long-matured views on the subject of social intercourse
between blacks and whites, the least we can say now is that we deplore
the President's taste, and we distrust his wisdom."
Birmingham, Ala., Oct. 19.--The Enterprise says:
"It remained for Mr. Roosevelt to establish a precedent humiliating to
the South and a disgrace to the nation. Judge Jones owes a duty to the
South, to his friends and to common decency to promptly resign and hurl
the appointment back into the very teeth of the white man who would
invite a nigger to eat with his family."
Augusta, Ga., Oct. 19.--The Augusta Chronicle says, in its leading
editorial, today:
"The news from Washington that President Booker T. Washington, of
Tuskegee Institute, was a guest at the White House at a dinner with
President and Mrs. Roosevelt and family, and that after dinner there was
the usual social hour over cigars, is a distinct shock to the favorable
sentiment that was crystallizing in the South for the new President.
"While encouraging the people in the hope that the Negro is to be
largely eliminated from office in the South, President Roosevelt throws
the fat in the fire by giving countenance to the Negro's claims for
social equality by having one to dine in the White House.
"President Roosevelt has made a mistake, one that will not only efface
the good impression he had begun to create in the South, but one that
will actively antagonize Southern people and meet the disapproval of
good Anglo-Saxon sentiment in all latitudes.
"The South does not relish the Negro in office, but that is a small
matter compared with its unalterable opposition to social equality
between the races. President Roosevelt has flown in the face of public
sentiment and precipitated an issue that has long since been fought out,
and which should have been left in the list of settled questions."
Nashville, Tenn., Oct. 19.--The Evening Banner says:
"Whatever justification may be attempted of the President's action in
this instance, it goes without saying that it will tend to chill the
favor with which he is regarded in the South, and will embarrass him in
his reputed purpose to build up his party in this section."
Louisville, Ky., Oct. 19.--The Times of yesterday afternoon says:
"The President has eliminated the color line from his private and
official residences and with public office is hiring white Democrats to
whitewash it down South."
Atlanta, Ga., Oct. 19.--Governor Candler says:
"No self-respecting white man can ally himself with the President after
what has occurred. The step has done the Republican party no earthly
good, and it will materially injure its chances in the South. The effect
of the Jones appointment is largely neutralized. Still, I guess it's
like the old woman when she kissed the cow. As a matter of fact,
Northern people do not understand the Negro. They see the best types and
judge of the remainder by them."
LIGHT.
Philadelphia, Oct. 19.--The Ledger this morning says:
"Because President Roosevelt saw fit, in his good judgment, to invite
Booker T. Washington to dinner, strong words of disapproval are heard in
the South. Mr. Washington is a colored man who enjoys the universal
respect of all people in this country, black and white, on account of
attainments, character and deeds. As the President invited him to be his
private guest, and did not attempt to enforce the companionship of a
colored man upon any one to whom the association could possibly be
distasteful, any criticism of the President's act savors of very great
impertinence. But, considered in any light, the invitation is not a
subject for criticism. Booker T. Washington is one of the most notable
citizens of the country, just because he has done noteworthy things. He
is the founder and the successful executive of one of the most
remarkable institutions in the United States, the Tuskegee (Alabama)
Institute, which not only aims, but in fact does, educate and train the
youth of the negro race to become useful, industrious and
self-supporting citizens.
"Booker T. Washington is the embodiment of common sense and, instead of
inciting the members of his race to dwell upon their wrongs, to waste
their time upon politics and to try to get something for nothing in this
life, in order to live without work, he has constantly preached the
gospel of honest work, and has founded a great industrial school, which
fits the young Negroes for useful lives as workers and teachers of
industry to others. This is the man who was justly called by President
McKinley, after he had inspected Tuskegee, the "leader of his race," and
in the South no intelligent man denies that he is doing a great service
to the whole population of both colors in this land. It is evident that
the only objection that could be brought against association with such a
man as that is color alone, and President Roosevelt will not recognize
that prejudice."
The Evening Bulletin says:
"President Roosevelt night before last had Booker T. Washington, the
worthy and much-respected colored man who is at the head of the Tuskegee
Institute, as a guest at his private table in the White House. This has
caused some indignation among Southerners and in Southern newspapers.
"Yet all the President really seems to have done was an act of courtesy
in asking Mr. Washington to sit down with him to dinner and have a talk
with him. As Booker T. Washington is an entirely reputable man, as well
as an interesting one, the President doubtless enjoyed his company. Many
Presidents in the past have had far less reputable and agreeable men at
their table. If Mr. Roosevelt shall have no worse ones among his private
guests, the country will have no cause for complaint.
"The right of the President to dine with anyone he may please to have
with him is entirely his own affair, and Theodore Roosevelt is not a
likely man to pick out bad company, black or white, for his personal or
social companionship. The rumpus which some indiscreet Southerners are
trying to raise because he has been hospitable to a colored man is a
foolish display of both manners and temper."
Boston, Oct. 19.--Commenting on President Roosevelt's action in
extending hospitality to Booker T. Washington, President Charles Eliot,
of Harvard, said:
"Harvard dined Booker Washington at her tables at the last commencement.
Harvard conferred an honorary degree on him. This ought to show what
Harvard thinks about the matter."
William Lloyd Garrison: "It was a fine object lesson, and most
encouraging. It was the act of a gentleman--an act of unconscious
natural simplicity."
Charles Eliot Norton: "I uphold the President in the bold stand that he
has taken."
NO SYMPATHY WITH PREJUDICE.
New York Herald: The President has absolutely no sympathy with the
prejudice against color. He has shown this on two occasions. Once he
invited to his house at Oyster Bay, Harris, the Negro half-back of Yale,
and entertained him over night. The other occasion was when he took in
at the Executive Mansion at Albany, Brigham, the Negro baritone of St.
George's Church, who was giving a concert in Albany and had been
refused food and shelter by all the hotels.
WASTING THEIR BREATH.
Philadelphia Press: President Roosevelt's critics are wasting breath and
spilling ink. There is an obstinate man in the White House. The cry of
"nigger" will neither prevent him from continuing to appoint to any
office in the Southern States the best men, under whatever color of
politics, who can be found under current conditions, or recognizing in
the hospitalities of the White House the best type of American manhood,
under whatever color of skin it can be found.
THAT DINNER.
New York Tribune: The Southern politician who criticises President
Roosevelt's action in inviting Prof. Booker T. Washington to dine at the
White House is likely to raise the query whether the manager of the
Tuskegee Institute or himself is really the more deserving and genuine
friend of the South.
DEMOCRATS HAVE CHANGED ATTITUDE.
Glad of Booker T. Washington's Help in Securing Office.
NOW JEER ROOSEVELT.
Berate President for Dining With a Negro.
Some Noted Occasions When the Alabama Educator Has Received the Plaudits
of the South.
Washington, D. C., Oct. 19.--President Roosevelt has a fine sense of
humor, and while he regrets that he has without malice stirred up a
tempest in a teapot for the Southern editors by entertaining Professor
Booker T. Washington at dinner, he cannot put aside the humorous side of
the situation. It is only a few weeks since a number of white Democrats
co-operated with Booker Washington in regard to the appointment of
ex-Governor Jones to the vacancy on the Federal bench in Alabama, and
Washington spoke for these white Democrats when he came to the capital
and assured President Roosevelt that Jones would accept the appointment
and that it would be satisfactory to all classes.
Washington had seen the President and had acted as his agent in
interviewing Governor Jones and others as to the appointment. The
Southern Democrats applauded the appointment of Jones, and they praised
Washington for using his influence at the White House to secure such an
appointment for a Democrat. Then they all spoke of Washington as a
gentleman of culture, who had the refined sense to cut loose from the
Republican leaders of the Negro party in the South and work in harmony
with the best class of whites. Now they are abusing the President for
dining with a "nigger."
Washington has entertained more distinguished Northern men and more
distinguished Southern men at the Tuskegee Institute than any other man
in the State, if not in the South. President McKinley and his Cabinet,
accompanied by many other distinguished gentlemen, were the guests of
Washington at Tuskegee two years ago, and they lunched at his table.
Washington was the guest of honor at a banquet in Paris three years ago,
when Ambassador Porter presided and ex-President Harrison and Archbishop
Ireland were among the guests. This same "nigger" was received by Queen
Victoria and took tea in Buckingham Palace the same year.
INVITATION FROM WHITE HOUSE.
When he returned to this country Washington received invitations from
all parts of the South to deliver addresses and attend receptions given
by white people. He was received by the Governors of Georgia, Virginia,
West Virginia and Louisiana. He spoke to many mixed audiences in the
South, where whites and blacks united to do him honor. When the people
of Atlanta wanted an appropriation from Congress for their Exposition in
1895 they sent a large committee of the most distinguished men in the
South to the National Capital to plead their cause. Booker T. Washington
was one of these distinguished Southern men. Congressman Joseph E.
Cannon, Chairman of the Committee on Appropriations in the House, says
that Washington by his force and eloquence secured that appropriation of
$250,000 for the Atlanta Exposition.
The Southern people had only praise for him when he was arranging to
take Vice-President Roosevelt to Tuskegee and Montgomery and Atlanta
this fall, and they were eager to co-operate with him in entertaining
such a distinguished visitor. They still hope to have President
Roosevelt visit the South, and if he goes he will go as the guest of
Booker T. Washington.
The President knows, too, that the real leaders of the South, white
Democrats, do not sympathize with this hue and cry of Southern editors
because Washington was a guest at the White House. Today the President
has received many messages from Southern men, urging him to pay no
attention to the yawp of the bourbon editors, who have not been able to
get over the old habit of historical discussion of "social equality."
Southern men called at the White House today as usual to ask for favors
at the hands of the President, and they are not afraid of contamination
by meeting the man who "ate with a nigger."
AMUSES THE PRESIDENT.
President Roosevelt cannot help seeing the humorous side of the
situation he has created by asking his friend to dinner, and he is
pursuing the even tenor of his way as President without worrying over
the outcome. He has, in the last two weeks, given cause for much
excitement in the South. The first was when he appointed a Democrat to
office and ignored the professional Republican politicians, who claimed
to carry the "nigger" vote in their pocket. He was not disturbed by the
threats of the Southern Republican politicians over that incident, and
he is not disturbed by the threats of the Southern Democratic editors
over this incident.
As to the Southern objection to dining, with a Negro, Opie Read, of
Chicago, tells a story about M. W. Gibbs, who has just resigned his
position as United States Consul at Tamatave, Madagascar. Gibbs is now
in Washington on his way home to Little Rock. He resigned to give a
younger man a chance to serve his country as a Consul. Here is the story
Opie Read told about Gibbs dining with white men at a banquet in honor
of General Grant in Little Rock:
In the reconstruction days a Negro by the name of Mifflin Wistar Gibbs
located in Little Rock, Ark. He showed the community that he was keener
than a whole lot of its leading citizens, who had kept the offices in
their families for generations. Under the new order of things he was
appointed Attorney of Pulaski County. His ability and the considerate
manner in which he conducted his relationship with the whites gave him a
greater popularity than any other colored man had ever before enjoyed in
that place. His influence increased, until General Grant, then
President, appointed him Register of the United States Land Office at
Little Rock.
GIBBS' SPEECH THE BEST.
"When General Grant visited our city a banquet was prepared, and it was
finally decided that for the first time in the history of the 'Bear
State' a Negro would be welcomed at a social function on terms of
absolute equality. I was then editor of the Gazette, and my seat was
next to that of Gibbs. The speaker who had been selected to respond to
the toast, 'The Possibilities of American Citizenship' was absent. I
asked Gibbs if he would not talk on that subject. He consented, and I
arranged the matter with the toastmaster. The novelty and the
picturesqueness of the thing appealed to me. Every guest was
spellbound, and General Grant was astonished. Not only was the speech
of the Negro the best one delivered on that occasion, but it was one of
the most remarkable to which I have ever listened.
"The owner of the Gazette was a Democrat of the Democrats, and a strict
keeper of the traditions of the South. Moreover, his paper was the
official organ of the Democratic party, and we were in the heat of a
bitter campaign. In spite of all this, however, I came out with the
editorial statement that Gibbs had scored the greatest oratorical
triumph of the affair. Perhaps this didn't stir things up a little. But
the gratitude of Gibbs was touching. He is now United States Consul at
Tamatave, Madagascar. In my opinion he is the greatest living
representative of the colored race. We have been close friends ever
since that banquet."
BOOKER WASHINGTON THE VICTIM.
(From the Washington (D. C.) Post, October 23, 1901.)
Quite the most deplorable feature of the Booker Washington incident is,
in our opinion, the effect it is likely to have on Washington himself;
yet this is an aspect of the case which does not seem to have occurred
thus far to any of the multitudinous and more or less enlightened
commentators who have bestowed their views upon the country. Criticisms
of the President are matters of taste. For our part, we hold, and have
always held, that a President's private and domestic affairs are not
proper subjects of public discussion. A man does not surrender all of
his personal liberties in becoming the Chief Executive of the Nation. At
least, his purely family arrangements are not the legitimate concern of
outsiders. The Presidency would hardly be worth the having otherwise.
The country, however, has a right to consider the incident in the light
of its probable injury to Washington and to the great and useful work in
which he is engaged.
* * * * *
In closing this page of "Shadow and Light" I am loath to believe that
this extreme display of adverse feeling regarding the President's action
in inviting Mr. Washington to dine with him, as shown in some
localities, is fully shared by the best element of Southern opinion. Few
Southern gentlemen of the class who so cheerfully pay the largest amount
of taxation for the tuition of the Negro, give him employment and do
much to advance him along educational and industrial lines, fear that
the President's action will cause the obtrusion of his bronze pedals
beneath their mahogany. Trusting that he will be inspired to foster
those elements of character so conspicuous in Mr. Washington and that
have endeared him to his broad-minded countrymen both North and South.
The best intelligence, the acknowledged leaders of the race, are not
only conservative along political lines, but are in accord with those
who claim that social equality is not the creature of law, or the
product of coercion, for, in a generic sense, there is no such thing as
social equality. The gentlemen who are so disturbed hesitate, or refuse
such equality with many of their own race; the same can be truthfully
said of the Negro. Many ante-bellum theories and usages have already
vanished under the advance of a higher civilization, but the "old
grudge" is still utilized when truth and justice refuse their service.