n's habit of never losing an opportunity to advance
constructively the interests of his people is well illustrated by the
following letter to President Roosevelt:

[_Personal_]

_March 20, 1904._

MY DEAR MR. PRESIDENT: It has occurred to me that there are
a number of ways in which the colored people of the United
States' could be of service in digging the Panama Canal,
and personally I should be glad to do anything in my power
in getting them interested if deemed practicable.

First: I think they can stand the climate better or as well
as any other people from the United States.

Second: I have thought that a reasonably satisfactory number
of them might be useful as common, or skilled, laborers.

Third: That in the Health Department our well-trained nurses
and physicians might be found helpful.

Fourth: If the United States should assume any
responsibility as to education, that many efficient colored
teachers from our industrial schools, and colleges, might
prove of great benefit. And, then, besides the presence of
these educated persons would, in my opinion, both by
character and example, aid in influencing the morality of
the darker-skinned people to be employed at the Isthmus. I
believe that these educated colored people could get closer
to the masses than white men.

Yours truly,

BOOKER T. WASHINGTON.

_To President Theodore Roosevelt, Washington, D.C._

Nothing came of this suggestion except an acknowledgment and an
assurance that the matter would be considered. About two years ago,
however, when Doctor Washington and Surgeon-General Gorgas met on a
train the Surgeon-General said to Mr. Washington: "The biggest man at
the canal was the Negro," and he added that when they came to the
dedication of the canal at its formal opening some Negro should have a
place on the program.

In recent years a certain section of the Republicans in the far
Southern States have tried to free themselves of the reputation of
being "nigger lovers" by vying with their Democratic rivals in seeking
to deprive Negroes of civic and political rights. Republicans of this
particular stripe are known colloquially as the "Lily Whites." In this
connection the following correspondence is of interest.

[_Copy_]

[_Personal_]

_White House,_
_Washington, March 21, 1904._

DEAR