Booker T. Washington Part 3

In reply to a Western university professor who had asked his opinion of amalgamation as a solution of the race problem he wrote: "I have never looked upon amalgamation as offering a solution of the so-called race problem, and I know very few Negroes who favor it or even think of it, for that matter. What those whom I have heard discuss the matter do object to are laws which enable the father to escape his responsibility, or prevent him from accepting and exercising it, when he has children by colored women. I think this answers your question, but since there seems to be some misunderstanding as to how colored people feel about this subject, I might say in explanation of what I have already said: The Negroes in America are, as you know, a mixed race. If that is an advantage we have it; if it is a disadvantage, it is still ours, and for the simple reason that the product of every sort of racial mixture between the black man and any other race is always a Negro and never a white man, Indian, or any other sort of man.

"The Negro in America is defined by the census as a person who is cla.s.sed as such in the community in which he or she resides. In other words, the Negro in this country is not so much of a particular color or particular racial stock as one who shares a particular condition.

It is the fact that they all share in this condition which creates a cause of common sympathy and binds the members of the race together in spite of all differences."

To an embarra.s.sing question put by the society editor of some paper Mr. Was.h.i.+ngton replied by merely telling a funny story the application of which to the impertinent inquiry was obvious. In another letter he summed up his opinion of the much-mooted question of the franchise in these two sentences: "There is no reason why every Negro who is not fitted to vote should not be disfranchised. At the same time, there is no good reason why every white man who is not fitted to vote should not also be disfranchised."

From the foregoing correspondence it will be seen that one of Booker Was.h.i.+ngton's many roles was to act as a kind of plenipotentiary and interpreter between his people and the dominant race. For this part he was peculiarly fitted by his thorough understanding of and sympathy for each race.

Theodore Roosevelt, immediately after taking the oath of office as President of the United States, in Buffalo after the death of President McKinley, wrote Mr. Was.h.i.+ngton the following note:

[_Copy_]

_Executive Mansion_

_Was.h.i.+ngton_

_Buffalo, N.Y.,_ _Sept. 14, 1901._

MY DEAR MR. WAs.h.i.+NGTON:

I write you at once to say that to my deep regret my visit South must now be given up.

When are you coming North? I must see you as soon as possible. I want to talk over the question of possible appointments in the South exactly on the lines of our last conversation together.

I hope that my visit to Tuskegee is merely deferred for a short season.

Faithfully yours,

(Signed) THEODORE ROOSEVELT.

_Booker T. Was.h.i.+ngton, Esq.,_ _Tuskegee, Alabama._

This deferred visit finally took place in 1905, not long after Colonel Roosevelt's triumphant election to the Presidency, when he came to Tuskegee accompanied by his secretary, William Loeb, Jr.; Federal Civil Service Commissioner, John McIlhenny; Collector of Revenue for the Birmingham District, J.O. Thompson; Judge Thomas G. Jones of Montgomery, and a fellow Rough Rider by the name of Greeneway.

In response to the above note Mr. Was.h.i.+ngton went to the White House and discussed with the President "possible future appointments in the South" along the lines agreed upon between them in a conference which they had had at a time when it had seemed possible that Mr. Roosevelt might be given the Republican Presidential nomination of 1900, that is, while Mr. Roosevelt was Governor of New York and a tentative candidate for the nomination.

Upon his return to Tuskegee after this talk with President Roosevelt, Mr. Was.h.i.+ngton found that the judges.h.i.+p for the Southern District of Alabama had just become vacant through the death of the inc.u.mbent, Judge Bruce. Here was an opportunity for the President to put into practice in striking fas.h.i.+on the policy they had discussed--namely, to appoint to Federal posts in the Southern States the best men available and to reward and recognize conspicuous merit among Southern Democrats and Southern Negroes as well as among Southern white Republicans.

Being unable at the moment to return to Was.h.i.+ngton, he sent his secretary with the following letter:

_Tuskegee, Alabama,_ _October 2, 1901._

President Theodore Roosevelt, Was.h.i.+ngton, D.C.

MY DEAR MR. PRESIDENT: I send you the following information through my secretary, Mr. Emmett J. Scott, whom you can trust implicitly.

Judge Bruce, the Judge of the Middle District of Alabama, died yesterday. There is going to be a very hard scramble for his place. I saw ex-governor T.G. Jones yesterday, as I promised, and he is willing to accept the judges.h.i.+p of the Middle District of Alabama. I am more convinced now than ever that he is the proper man for the place. He has until recently been president of the Alabama State Bar a.s.sociation. He is a Gold Democrat, and is a clean, pure man in every respect. He stood up in the Const.i.tutional Convention and elsewhere for a fair election law, opposed lynching, and he has been outspoken for the education of both races. He is head and shoulders above any of the other persons who I think will apply for the position.

Yours truly,

BOOKER T. WAs.h.i.+NGTON.

P.S.--I do not believe in all the South you could select a better man through whom to emphasize your idea of the character of a man to hold office than you can do through ex-governor Jones.

[_Copy_]

Mr. Scott described what occurred on his delivery of this letter in the following report to his chief:

_Was.h.i.+ngton, D.C.,_ _October 4, 1901._

MY DEAR MR. WAs.h.i.+NGTON: I called to see the President this morning. I found him all cordiality and br.i.m.m.i.n.g over with good will for you. That pleased me much! He had received the telegram and had made an appointment for me. He read your letter, inquired if I knew the contents, and then launched into a discussion of it. Wanted to know if Governor Jones supported Bryan in either campaign. I told him _no_. He wanted to know how I knew. I told him of the letter wherein he (Governor Jones) stated to you that he was without political ambition because he had opposed Bryan, etc. Well, he said he wanted to hear from you direct as to whether he had or not, and asked me to write you to find out. I am now awaiting that wire so as to call again on him. As soon as I see him again I will wire you and write you as to what he says. He is going to appoint Governor Jones. That was made apparent. While I was waiting to see him Senator Chandler with the Spanish Claims Commission called. They saw him first. I heard the talk, however, which was mostly felicitation. Incidentally, however, Senator Chandler said that the Commission was afraid it would lose one of its members because of the vacancy in Alabama, referring to Hon.

W.L. Chambers, who was present and who is a member of the Commission. The President laughed heartily. Said the Senator always sprung recommendations unexpectedly, and so forth and so forth. He did not inquire as to any of the others--the applicants--seemed interested only to find out about Governor Jones.... There were many correspondents there at the door, but I told them I was pa.s.sing through to Buffalo, but had stopped over to invite the President to include Tuskegee in his itinerary when he goes South again.... Will write again when I see the President again.

Yours sincerely,

(Signed) EMMETT J. SCOTT.

As soon as he had received Dr. Was.h.i.+ngton's telegram in reply, Mr.

Scott went again to the White House and wrote thus of his second call:

[_Copy_]

_Was.h.i.+ngton, D.C.,_ _October 5, 1901._

MY DEAR MR. WAs.h.i.+NGTON: You have my telegram of to-day. I sent it as soon as I had seen the President. I had a three-hour wait to see him and it was tiresome, but I "camped with them." When admitted to the general reception room the President met me and was cordial and asked me to wait awhile, till he could dismiss two delegations, then he invited me into the office, or cabinet room, and read very carefully the telegram received from you last night--Friday night. His face was a study. He was greatly surprised to learn that the Governor voted for Bryan, and walked about considerably. At last he said, "Well, I guess I'll have to appoint him, but I am awfully sorry he voted for Bryan." He then asked me who Dr. Crum[1] is and I told him that he was a clean representative character, and that he was favorably considered by Harrison for the Charleston postmasters.h.i.+p, etc. He did not know him and asked me what place was referred to. You had not discussed it with me, but I told him you most likely referred to the place made vacant by the death of Webster. He then called Mr. Cortelyou, Secretary, into the office and asked him if he knew Crum. He said he didn't but that he had heard of him and always favorably.

The President then asked Cortelyou what place a man named B.

was being considered for, and he said the place made vacant by Webster's death. He then turned to me and said that he was sorry, that he would certainly have considered the matter if he had had your word earlier. He asked me to tell you that if you wish Dr. Crum considered for any other place that he will be glad to have you communicate with him. I then asked him what I should tell you in the Governor Jones'

matter, and he said: "Tell Mr. Was.h.i.+ngton without using my name that party will most likely be appointed--in fact I will appoint him--only don't make it that strong by wire."

So I consider the matter closed.

The colored brethren here are scared. They don't know what to expect, and the word has pa.s.sed, they say, that you are the "Warwick" so far as they are concerned. I hope to find you well in Chicago.

Sincerely yours,

(Signed) EMMETT J. SCOTT.

[Footnote 1: This refers to a suggestion made by Mr. Was.h.i.+ngton in his telegram recommending the appointment of Dr. W.D. Crum, a colored physician, to a South Carolina vacancy, so that the President could thereby announce at the same time the appointment of a first-grade Southern white Democrat and a first-cla.s.s colored man.]

This precedent-breaking appointment of a Southern Democrat by a Republican President, made primarily on the recommendation of Booker Was.h.i.+ngton and Grover Cleveland, was acclaimed with enthusiastic approval by all Democrats everywhere, and in fact there was no dissenting voice except from the officeholding Southern Republicans who naturally resented this encroachment upon what they regarded as their patronage rights. At first appreciation was almost universal of the efforts of the Negro leader in helping a Republican President to make this far-reaching change in the Federal officeholding traditions of the South. Soon, however, some Southern newspapers began to question the wisdom of allowing a Negro to have even an advisory voice in political matters notwithstanding his advice had in this instance been so acceptable to the South. This criticism grew so insistent that Judge Jones found himself in an uncomfortable position because his appointment had been made, in large part, on the recommendation of a Negro. He tried to soften the situation by giving out a statement to the effect that his endors.e.m.e.nt by representative white men would probably have a.s.sured his appointment even without the a.s.sistance of Booker Was.h.i.+ngton. Later, however, the Judge expressed to Mr. Scott privately, after listening with deep interest to the recital of all the incidents connected with his appointment, his appreciation of what Booker Was.h.i.+ngton had done for him.

Aside from this appointment, Booker Was.h.i.+ngton had a voice in many others, including those of Gen. R.D. Johnson as Receiver of Public Moneys at Birmingham, Colonel Thomas R. Roulhac as United States District Judge, and Judge Osceola Kyle of Alabama as United States District Attorney in the Panama Ca.n.a.l Zone. During the administrations of both Presidents Roosevelt and Taft hardly an office of consequence was conferred upon a Negro without first consulting Mr. Was.h.i.+ngton. He did not strive through his influence with Presidents Roosevelt and Taft to increase the number of Negro appointees, but rather to raise the personnel of Negro officeholders. During the period when his advice was most constantly sought at the White House, Charles W.

Anderson was appointed Collector of Internal Revenue for the Second District of New York City; J.C. Napier of Nashville, Tenn., became Register of the Treasury; William H. Lewis of Boston was appointed successively a.s.sistant United States District Attorney and a.s.sistant Attorney-General of the United States; Robert H. Terrell was given a Munic.i.p.al Judges.h.i.+p of the District of Columbia; Whitefield McKinlay was made Collector of the Port for the Georgetown District, District of Columbia; Dr. W.D. Crum was appointed Collector of Customs for the Port of Charleston, S.C.; Ralph W. Tyler, Auditor for the Navy Department at Was.h.i.+ngton, D.C.; James A. Cobb, Special a.s.sistant U.S.

Attorney in charge of the enforcement of the Pure Food Law for the District of Columbia, and Charles A. Cottrell, Collector of Internal Revenue for the District of Hawaii at Honolulu. In all these notably excellent appointments Mr. Was.h.i.+ngton had a voice.

In 1903, in commenting on a speech of Mr. Was.h.i.+ngton's in which he had emphasized the importance of quality rather than quant.i.ty in Negro appointments, President Roosevelt wrote him as follows:

MY DEAR MR. WAs.h.i.+NGTON: That is excellent; and you have put epigrammatically just what I am doing--that is, though I have rather reduced the quant.i.ty I have done my best to raise the quality of the Negro appointments. With high regard.

Sincerely yours,