The age-herald., 1897-09-21
A Burning Question.

The New York Herald sees the sig
 nificance of the Hogansville, Ga, post
 office incident, and looks forward to the
 possible troubles which may result from
 the appointment of negroes to certain
 important offices in the south
 In response to its request the Herald
 publishes telegrams from Senator Ba-
 con and Gov. Atkinson, of Georgia, in
 regard to the shooting of the negro post
 master at Hogansville. Senator Bacon
 is quoted as saying:
 The appointment of colored men to office in the south will certainly lead to race antagonismS and estrangementS which would otherwise not exist. Such
 appointments are of small benefit to the
 few negroes thus appointed, and are of
 very great injury to the masses of the
 negroes in the i'll feeling engendered be-
 tween them and the whites, upon whose
 friendship and good will they are wholly
 dependent
 The personal relation between the
 whites and the negroes dn the south is
 exceedingly kindly. Harsh treatment
 and violence are the comparatively rare
 instances. The general rule of treat
 ment affecting the millions of negroes in
 the south is one of kindness and con-
 SlQ6Tdl6 penSOIldl interest on the part
 of the whites. The white people of the south nevertheless do not disguise their assertion of superiority as a race and their unwavering purpose to be the rulers of the country both in the making and in the administration of the laws. The appointment of negroes to office necessarily initiates against this posi- tton and against this purpose and en- courageS and gives opportunity for vie- lence on the part of the law1ess element which is not approved by the great
 masses of the white people, who are law
 abiding and opposed to violence While
 unaltera ble in the maintenance of their superiority and of their rule, it is the'r
 desire and purpose to effect this through peaceful means and not through violence.
 The senator goes on to say that if the administration is determined ito appoint
 negroes to office, such appointments
 the people do not object to ithen-com-
 munities north of the Potomac.
 Governor Atkinson promises to do
 everything in his power to enforce the
 laws, but he says:
 In the same spirit of candor I will say
 that the opinion is also quite as unani-
 nous that the man who appointed him
 to the position which he holds, over the
 protest of almost the entire property
 holders of the community, those repre-
 senting ninety-nine one-hundredths of the business of the office and substan- tially every force which represents the commerce and civilization of the con- munity, knowing when the appointment was made by him that it was not neces- sary to secure the services of a good officer and that it would be considered by the people of Hogansville as a de- liberate effort to insult and humliate them, is himself, from a moral stand- point, an accessory to this lamentable crime. Those who express themselves in this way do not hesitate bo say that it is proper for the republican party to give some positions to negroes. but insist that they should be given positions which do not bring them in such close contact with communities which are so violently opposed to them as officers. You ask what will be the result of the feeling against colored officials
 which now seems to be prevailing in Georgia. I answer, the result will be the same here that it would be in Ohio if similar conditions existed there. What would be the result in an Ohio | town if it were there, as 1t is in Troup county Ga., where this offenSe occur red? If there the white man was in the | minority, and therefore jealous of race supremacy; if, in addition to the race question, tAs president should insist upon appointing a man who was obnox- ious to almost all the people to be served, the property owners, the forces which are sustaining and upbuilding their civilization. and especially if this man who was so objected to was to fill position in which he must come in daily contact with wives and daughters of the community?
 This is the severest and boldest ut terance of a governor in condemnation of president since the days of Troup
 Tn plain English the governor holds President Mckinley, from moral standpoint, "an accessory to this la- mentable crimew More than two gen. erations ago Governor Troup found it