Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1890-04-03
BILL ARPs PHILOSOPHY.

BILL ARPs PHILOSOPHY.
In The Atlantis Consultation of a recent
date "Bin Arp" has good letter on
the race question, Of which we here
give Q few extracts:
When man writes every week to the
public and dispenses his random
thoughts it il reasonable to suppose
that some people will join issues with
him. OF course they win, for We can't
see alike, and 80 have no right to be
offended when 1 receive letters that
question my position or deny my con-
clusions. But receive a good many
letters that make me feel sad and help
less and that discourage my hopes Of
harmonizing our northern brothers.
Some Of these letters are anonymous
and scandalous and vindictive and go
into the FIRE without a thought. But
some are sincerely written with good
intent and only show how ignorance
and delusion can make q fool of a
gO0d-hearted man.
The following letter is a fair sample
of some that have been sent US of late,
and it viii explain why I feel helpless:
WooDBURN, IowA.-Bin Arp: For
several years have been reading and
enjoying your weekly letters, and your
m0ralizing upon the common affairs of
life. But when it comes to the negro,
or the Niger, as you call him, you seem
to be entirely unable to see q man
under dark skin. do try for the sake
Of your influence with your people to
rise above your inherited preju1ices.
From the position you seem to be
taking, the negro has no right which a
white man Is bound to respect. Do
you want to fight it out on that line?
You don't seem to realize the changes
that thirty years have made. or you
would shudder at the consequences of
q conflict on such grounds. Did it
never occur to you how ridiculous it
was for your people to blame the negro
for theft, while you are stealing his
vote. implore you as friend, do
not stand in the way OF destiny. Many
Of our union soldiers would be glad to
see good homes provided for your poor
soldiers, but your cut throats and your
lawless classes throttle down every gen.
erous impulse. JOHN NEwsOME,
Old Army of the Potomac.
I believe that MIR. Newsome is at
heart . good man. He is one among
the thousands who are just as clever
and Just as ignorant, anc that is what
is the matter. Northern politicians
and northern newspapers have so long
deceived the masses that we cannot
undeceive them. They still believe
that secession was treason, and that
the negro is awfully oppressed. and
that our society is largely mixed with
cut throats and assassins. Mr.. New
some begs me TO rise above my inherited
prejudices. Perhaps he would be
surprised to learn that my father was
q native Of Vermont and was reared In
Massachusetts,, and that his prejudices
were all against the south when he
ventured here as a school-teacber, and
that he married q southern girl and
eventually became an owner of slaves.
If there ever lived a better, purer,
nobler man than my father in his hum
ble sphere never knew him. He out
lived his prejudices, and was 80 thor
oughly . southerner that his influence
and his money brought nearly all his
kindred and many of his New England
friends to Georgia, and they, too, be-
came slave owners. They did what
they could to civilize barbarous race,
and it is our comfort to know that
those who were our slaves are not
found in the jails or chaingangs of the
south.
Prejudice means a Judgment be-
fore"-that is, before investigating the
matter. I was born and raised with
negroes and have known and studied
them as q race, individually and col
lectively, from my youth until now and
can have no prejudices. Mr.. Newsome
has had no such experience; perhaps he
never saw hundred in his life; per
haps he never hired one or worked
with one or befriended one. He lives
. thousand miles away from them. He
never had to send his children to school
where there were negroes working in
the fields near by where his daughters
had to pass along. He knows nothing
of the apprehension that parents fee
| that live in the country and have tC
send their girls to school or on errands
to their neighbors, or who sometimes
have to leave wife and daughters unpro
tected at home. Only two weeks ago 9
.scut- throat" was lynched near Madi
son. The sweet and innocent child OF
only twelve summers was found in 8
L La<o., n