Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1898-12-19


ly redeemed from negro domination
and both white and black people
have learned a lesson from the past
which will bear fruit for some time
to come. To give these ignorant
negroes Office and political power is
aus if you we're to take your boy from
the kindergarten and send him to
Harvard; to start to build your house
from the top downwards instead of
vice versa. The Anglo-Saxons have
been trying hard since the Magma
Charta, many centuries, to learn how
to govern themselEes, and is the
negro naturally so intelligent that
he can learn all that lesson in thirty
three. years? If he is put in a posi-
tion Of authority will he not of
necessity be failure, and be either a
rascal himself or a tool of unscrupul-
Gus persons who influence him? The
North. Carolina episode proves that
the time is not yet for the elevation
Of the southern negro to position Of
power.
There has been much curiosity
north as to the exact language used
by the .colored editor, Alexander L.
Manley, in the columns of the Daily
Record of Wilmington, N. c., and
which aroused SO much public indig-
nation The article lis headed, Mrs.
Felton9s Speech, and is as follows:
"a Mrs. FELTON,, from Georgia,
makes a speech before the Agricul-
tllral Society at Tybee, Ga, in which
she advocates lynching as an extreme
measure. This woman makes a
strong plea for womanhood, and if
the alleged crimes of rape were half
so frequent as is Outlines reported,
her plea would be worthy of consider
alton. Mrs. FELTON,, like many other
so-called Christians, loses sight of
the basic principle of the religion of
Christ in her plea for one class of
people ais against another If a mis-
sionary spirit is essential for the up
lifting of the poor white girls, why lis
it. The morals of the poor white.
people are on a par with their colOred
neighbors Of like conditions, and if
any one doubts the statement let him
~ S1U cIIQO11S LuC1l1s IllC W11OIC lump
needs to be leavened by those who.
profess so much religion and showing
them that the preservation of virtue
is an essential for the life Of any peo-s
pie. Mrs FELTON, begins we'll, for
size admits that education will better
protect the girls on the farm from
the assaulter. This we admit, and it
,o+ NJ 10 RI, 10
any more than to the colored girls.
The papers are filled often with re-
ports of rapes of white women, and
the subsequent lynching of the al
legged rapists The editors pour
forth volleys Of aspersions against
all negroes because of the few who
may be guilty. If the papers and
speakers of the other race would
condemn the commission of crime
because it is crime and not try to
make it appear that the negroes were
the only criminals, they would ind
their strongest allies in the intelli-
gent negroes themselves, and to-
gether the whites and blacks wou1u
root the evil out of both races. We
suggest that the whites guard their
women more closely, as Mrs. FELTON,
says, thus giving no opportunity for
the human fend, be he white or
black You leave your goods out of
doors and then complain because
they are taken away Poor white
men are careless in the matter of pro-
tecting their women, especially on
farms. They are careless of
their conduct towards them, and our
experience among poor white people
in the country teaches us that the
women of that race are not any more
particular in the matter of clandes-
tine meetings with colored men than
are the white men with colored wo-
men. Meetings Of this kind go
on for some time until the woman's
infatuation or the mans boldness
bring attention to them and the man
is lynched for rape. Every negro
lynched is called a big, burly, black
brute, when, in fact, many of those
who have thus been dealt with had
white men for their fathers, and
were not only not black and burly
but were sufficiently attractive for
white girls of culture and refinement
to fall in love with them, as lis well
known to all. Mrs. FELTON, must be-
gin at the fountain head if she wishes
to purity the stream Teach your
men purity. Let virtue be something
more than an excuse for them to
intimidate and torture a helpless
people. Tell your men that lit lis no
worse for black man to be intimate
with a white woman than for white
man to be intimate with colored
woman. You set yourselves down
as lot Of carping hypCcrites; in fact.
you cry aloud for the virtue of your
women while you seek to destroy the
morality of ours. Don't think ever
that your women will remain pure
while you are debauchng ours
You SOW the seed-the harvest will
come in due time"
The indignation that this article
4