Firm Stand For Negro

FIRM STAND FOR NEGRO

PRESIDENT REFUSES TO SHOW PARTIALITY IN APPOINTMENTS.

MAKES A STRAIGHTFORWARD STATEMENT IN A LETTER

TO A SOUTH CAROLINA MAN WHO TRIED TO INFLUENCE HIM.

Washington, Nov. 28.- The president has sent a communication to a prominent citizen of Charleston, S. C, which reads in part as follows:

"Personal.

"Washington, Nov. 26, 1902.

"My Dear Sir: I am in receipt of your letter of Nov. 10, and of one from Mr. _____ under date of Nov. 11, in reference to the appointment of Dr. Crum as collector of the port of Charleston.

"In your letter you make certain specific charges against Dr. Crum, tending to show his unfitness in several respects for the office sought. Those charges are entitled to the utmost consideration from me, and I shall go over them carefully before taking any action. After making these charges you add, as a further reason for opposition to him, that he is a colored man and, after reciting the misdeeds that followed carpetbag rule and negro domination in South Carolina, you say that 'we have sworn never again to submit to the rule of the African, and such an appointment as that of Dr. Crum to any such office forces us to protest unanimously against this insult to the white blood.' and you add that you understood me to say that I would never force a negro on such a community as yours. Mr. ____ puts the objection of color first, saying 'first, he is a colored man, I and that of itself ought to bar him from the office.' In view of these last statements, I think I ought to make clear to you why I am concerned and pained by your making them and what my attitude is as regards all such appointments. How anyone could have gained the idea that I had said I would not appoint reputable and upright colored men to office, when objection was made to them solely owing to their color. I confess I am wholly unable to understand. It has been my consistent policy in every state where their numbers warranted it, to recognize colored men of good repute and standing in making appointments to office. Those of colored men have been in no state made more than a small proportion of the total number of appointments. I am unable to see how I can be legitimately asked to make an exception for South Carolina.

"I do not intend to appoint any unfit man to office. So far as I legitimately can, I shall always endeavour to pay regard to the wishes and feelings of the people of each locality, but I cannot consent to take the position that the door of hope - the door of opportunity - is to be shut upon any man, no matter how worthy, purely upon the grounds of race or color. Such an attitude would, according to my convictions, be fundamentally wrong. If, as you hold, the great bulk of the colored  people are not yet fit in point of character and influence to hold such positions, it seems to me that it is worth while putting a premium upon the effort among them to achieve the character and standing which will fit them.

"I certainly cannot assume such an attitude, and you must permit me to say that in my view, it is an attitude no man should assume whether he looks at it from the standpoint of the true interest of the white man of the south or of the colored man of the south - not to speak of any other section of the Union.

"Without any regard as to what my decision may be on the merits of this particular applicant for this particular place, I feel that I ought to let you know clearly my attitude on the far broader question raised by you and Mr. ____; an attitude from which I have not varied during my term of office."

Faithfully yours,

"Theodore Roosevelt.

"Hon. _______, Charleston, S. C."