516 Presidential Addresses 



have appointed a white man to succeed a colored 

 man. In South Carolina I have similarly appointed 

 a white postmaster to succeed a colored postmaster. 

 Again, in South Carolina I have nominated a col- 

 ored man to fill a vacancy in the position of col- 

 lector of the port of Charleston, just as in Georgia 

 I have reappointed the colored man who is now 

 serving as collector of the port of Savannah. Both 

 are fit men. Why the appointment of one should 

 cause any more excitement than the appointment of 

 the other, I am wholly at a loss to imagine. As I 

 am writing to a man of keen and trained intelli- 

 gence I need hardly say that to connect either of 

 these appointments, or any or all of my other ap- 

 pointments, or my actions in upholding the law at 

 Indianola, with such questions as "social equality" 

 and "negro domination" is as absurd as to connect 

 them with the nebular hypothesis or the theory of 

 atoms. 



I have consulted freely with your own Senators 

 and Congressmen as to the character and capacity 

 of any appointee in Georgia concerning whom there 

 was question. My party advisers in the State have 

 been Major Hanson of Macon, Mr. Walter John- 

 son of Atlanta both of them ex-Confederate sol- 

 diers and Mr. Harry Stillwell Edwards, also of 

 Macon. I believe you will agree with me that in 

 no State would it be possible to find gentlemen abler 

 and more upright or better qualified to fill the posi- 

 tions they have filled with reference to me. In 

 every instance where these gentlemen have united 



