The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1880-05-06

ton with any lower caste. He mus
not touch one not Of his own caste
nor eat in his presence. The very
shadow of an inferior falling upon
him is polluting. And as for marry
ing out of his caste-impossible, not
to be so much as thought Of By dis
obeying any Of these rules, one ''loses
caste" B." and those who have lost caste
sink below the level Of the lowest
caste, and are regarded as utterly vile
To be baptized by white foreigner
has been to lose caste, and to become
contemplate in the eyes of every
| Hindu.
So great has been this obstacle that
the South Indian Missionary Confer
ence, at its last session, adopted a res
olution to the effect that caste lis dia-
metrically opposed to the Christian
doctrine of the oneness Of human ma
ture and the brotherhood Of all true
Christians, and that it is the duty of
all missionaries and churches to re-
quire it's remuneration, with all its out
ward manifestations, by all who desire
to enter the church of Christ" With
the spirit of this resolution Christian
men everywhere will sympathize. 1t
is so easy to condemn the sins of tie
heathen. We always feel better after
giving such proof Of our superior
virtue. But how about our own sins?
Are we equally prompt to rebuke end
protest against the spirit of caste
among ourselves?
It will be denied, of course, that
there is anything il this country cor
responding to the Hindu caste. There
is not anything precisely correspond
ing to it, but there is something very
like it in spirit. The Sanskrit word
for caste is varua, which means ''col-
or, and the origin of caste was the
prejudice Of the white Aryan invaders
Of India against the dark-skinned
aborigines (Sudras) whom they found
there. Is there nothing analogous to
this in our own country? The hatred
of the kearneyites for the Chinese, a
race prejudice, is suspiciously like it,
and needs nothing but the proper con-
ditions to develop into true caste.
Some facts that have transpired in
connection with the Whitaker affair
at West Point show the existence of
true caste spirit in that institution
From the time that the first cadet of
negro race was appointed, about ten
years ago, there has been tacit agree
ment among the white cadets to ig-
more and make uncomfortable-if pos
sible to prevent the graduation Of :
any colored cadet. No white cadet
will speak to a colored classmate ur-
less compelled to do so while on duty
No white cadet will sit beside a colored
cadet at the mess-table or on the reci-
tation bench, unless absolutely COM
PEELED to do SO. Any white cadet who
ventures to speak to a colored class
mate, to give him assistance in a diff
cult lesson, or in any way to treat
him like human being instead of a
dog, is ''sent to Coventry" by his COM
panions until he has been sufficiently
'disciplined'' to let the -colored cadet
severely alone ever afterwards.
The West Point school has great
many friends, and we have always
counted ourselves among the number
But if it is to be the nursery of snobs,
the breeder of spirit Of caste, many
will be ready to vote for it's abolition
Colored students have been admitted
to all of the leading colleges of the
country. In the classroom and on
the campus they have been treated
with courtesy by their white class
mates. In one case that came under
our own knowledge, a white Sopho-
more deliberately insulted colored
classmate, and was promptly informed
by the other white young men of his
class that repetition Of the offence
would insure him thorough drench-
ing under the college pump. The Of
fence was never repeated-in public,
at least.
A similar state of feeling ought to
prevail at West Point. 1t is not a
question Of social equality; it is mere
" question Of gentlemanly conduct
Nobody asks that the white cadets
should go out Of their way to be
friendly to colored classmate, but
that they should not go out Of their
way to insult him. This is surely not
asking too much. There has been a
popular notion that an officer in TIE
Army was necessarily a gentleman.
and that the West Point training was
such as to make out Of raw country
lads gentlemen and scholars. Appa-
rently this notion needs a radical re-
vision, to make it correspond with the
facts.
Glass distinctions are utterly out of
place in this country. Social differ
ences will exist as long as there are
differences in race, nationality, cul-
ture or wealth. They are natural, in
evitable, and nobody objects to them.
But the hateful spirit of caste, which
ostracizes a man and accords HIM such
treatment as should scarcely be given
to brute, is thing that the Ameri-
can people as a whole abominate. 1t
is as unchristian in West Point as it
is in Calcutta, and the Christian
churches and ministers of America
should require Its remuneration, with
all its outward mantle -tations," as enl-
phatically as the Indian missionaries.
The LaWIess "MO0nshinerS.'
The troubles caused by whisky are