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Show I TEDDY TALKS ON J NEGRO QUESTION H i Chicago, Aug. 7. The troublesome H " southern negro question, which for H 1 a timo threatened dissension In the H i first convention of the Progressive H j party, finally was disposed of yester- H J day afternoon, when the convention. H ) without a dissenting vote and without H i discussion, adopted the report of the H i credentials committee unseating both H I the white and negro delegates from Hj Florida and throwing out the negro H delegates from Mississippi. H Colonel Roosevelt, during his "con- H fesslon of faith," at the convention H yesterday afternoon, was heoklod by H a spectator who Interrupted with the Hl demand: H "What about the negro question?" H Instantly the convention was in, an H uproar, hut Colonel Roosevelt silenced H those of his friends who objected to H the question with the statement that H no one could ask him a question he H was afraid of. H The colonel then proceeded at some H length to state his views He said he H hoped conditions might so improve H in the south that at" future Progros- H slvc conventions these states might H send as delegates, negrccs who would H ; have the character and standing of H ' the negro delegates from West Vlr- H ginla, who, he asserted, wore In those H respects the equal of their white as- Hl ! sociates. H ( Jn taking the stand he did to bar H r the negroes pent from the south as H contesting delegates to tht ctesenr H convention. Colonel RoospvcH ai9ert- H cd he was stifling in advance condi- HJj lions that had led to the "crushing jj r"I"ster and death of the grcar P.e- jj piblican party itself." 1 The report of the credentials com- Hti mittec, unanimously adooted. con- H taincd a resolution recognizing the Hl "constitutional and inherent right of oach and every state to determine tho H qualifications and manner of Section K of its delegates to national conven- B This resolution was regnided as B giving the southern states the right V to choose delegates as the? p'eated. H; It also was interpreted as not impos- W iug the direct primary system upon M any of the states B Roosevelt's Position.. H Tn replying to the interruption as to J H the negro question, Colonel Roose- Hij elt said in part: H' "Any respectful requests for infor- H matlon I will always hr.vo a answer H for, and during my administration I V never did anything I wa afraid to 1 be questioned about, and I shall not H,' begin in the Progressive party Hj "I think the American peopie is a H mighty good people to le.id and a Hr mighty poor people to drive. T think H. we can get the best results from our H. fellow Americans In other secMons H, of the country by treating them as H' we expect them to treat us. and hv H.' ourselves living up in our own homes H' to the principles that we profess. H: "In Republican national conven- H tlons hitherto there has been a largo H representation of colored men, all Hjl from non-Republican state", the vlr- K tuc of the Republicans of tha Hepub- Hj llcan slates taking only the form of H trying to make tho Democratic states H he" good The colored delegates all Ht came from the states tha never cast H; a Republican electoral voe, that i.ev- H er elected a colored mv to office. H where largely owing to the action l participated in for forty-five years by '' the Republican party, the colored man K has, ns a matter of fact, gradually Hl lost all his political right?. "So that the old policy of attompt- Hj ing to Impose on the rauthern states Bj from without, a certain rule of con- K duct tward the negro has in fact H broken down; and, friends, I regret H to say that every man who has ever t been to a national conversion knows H that the character of the groat ma- H Jorlty of the colored delegates from H tho south, from those old rotten hor- Hl ough states, was such an to reflect m discredit upon the Republican party H and upon the race Itself. H Bull Moose Rtmedy. H ''Now as soon as tho Progressive H party was formed I at once set about, H as many other men in different states H did, securing from the nor'.lien states H themselves, an ample recognition of H thp colored men. so that as & m?t- B ter of fact, there Is in this c-invon- H tlon a representation from the Re- J Hj pub'Ican states of colored men such Hj: as there never has been anything J Hr Ukc before In any convention of the j B - country. And more than that, a rep- Hl TCBentallon of colored men who, in H! point of character, intelligence and R good citizenship, stand on an ex- B act equality with any ol the whites B among whom they stand, B Maryland and West Virginia. j From Maryland and West Virginia B there have come to this convention H colored delegates; Eent because they M represent an element of colored men B who have won the esteem and re- B spect of their white neighbors, so that B all the honest and decent men can B join in sending the delegates of both B colors; and they Bend them bore bon- B estly and send them here of their fl own free will. m The system of trjing to force in B the far southern states conditions Hl that we cannot make exist there failed. I propose to take toward the south- Bf ern states the exact attitude wo took B toward West Virginia and Maryland, B and I believe In adopting that action H wo shall ecc from those southern H states tho repetitions of the condl- B tlons in West Virginia and Maryland, H so that in future Progressive natlon- V al conventions we will see colored H delegates come from tho south At- H lantlc and gulf states precisely as they H now come from West Virginia and H from Maryland. H Justice to Negroes. B We are standing against tho brutal- B. i ity of 'the Democracy, the hypocrisy B' of the Republicans. We are begin- - ning by taking the steps to do justice B to the colored men in our own states H' Now, I have advocated the action H which, as far as I am able to judge H my own soul, I believe with all my K heart is the only action that offers B any chance of hope to the black man B In the south, to the white man in the south, which has already given to B the black man in the north a better chance than he has ever had before, and if I had followed, or If I had ad- j vocatcd any other action, I should H I have been In the position of lnsin- H. cerely advocating for the purposes B of temporary political advantage, a H; course that has been followed for H forty-five years In the Republican Hf party and which during that period l has hurt the negro in the south, hurt B , the white man in the south, and HK, Anally hf brought to crusnlng dis- HI; aster and death the great Republican BL i party itself. |
