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 MR. WASHINGTON: By direction of the President I send you herewith for your private information a copy of letter from the President to Mr. ----, dated February 24, 1904. Please return it to me when you have read it. Yours very truly, WM. LOEB, JR., Secretary to the President. _Principal Booker T. Washington, Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, Tuskegee, Alabama._ This was the letter enclosed: [_Copy_] [_Personal_] _White House,_ _Washington, February 24, 1904._