Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1898-12-09
low State Register
Is Wrong.
Their Artic1e is Mislead-
ing and Unfair.

Negroes. but we nave not yet seen q
resolution passed by those meetings
which condemns the equally atrocious
acts of the Negroes! Both races are
guilty of crimes, and the crimes of both
should be condemned by all such meet
ings. The murders at Wilmington, N
c., were caused by a cowardly mulatto
"A black and white scoundrel-who
escaped the punishment he should have
received, but his dirty and degraded
work caused the murder of number
of innocent black people. 1t is admit
ted that the editorial printed in the
Wilmington IN. C.} Record, written by
A. L. Manly, and published in that pa
per on the 18th of last August, was the
cause of the recent murders of the
Negroes at that place. Here is the
whole editorial:
"A Mrs. FELTON, from Georgia, makes
a speech before the Agricultural Soei-
>ety at Tybee, Ga. in which she advo-
oates lynshing MS an extreme measure.
This woman makes strong plea Tor
womanhood, and If the alleged crimes
of race were half SO frequent as it off,
times reported, zher plea would be
worthy of consideration. @n.
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 as
against another. (fa missionary spirit
is essential for theHplifting of the poor
white girls, why iait? The morals OF
the poor White people are on q par
with their colore1 neighbors Of like
conditions, and if tny one doubts the
statement let hinf visit among them.
The whole lump nd DDS to be leavened
by those who profess SO much religion
and showing theit that the preserva-
tiOn is an essential &Or the life of any
people.
Mrs. FELTON, bedins well, for she ad-
mits that educatio4 will better protect
girls on the farm from the assaulter.
This ~ admit, ak1 il should not be
IN. snssass sas . 1ss 81 psb,ss s sls 'allsa
often with reports Of rapes of white
women, and the subsequent lynohing
"a VIC 0AASk0A E0pAAtbs 4uC SOANAS .
pour fourth volleys Of aspersions
against all Negroes because Of the few
who may beguilty. If the papers and
speakers of the other race would con-
demn the commission of crime because
it is a crime and not try to make it ap-
pear that the Negroes were the only
criminals, they would find their strong
est allies in the intelligent Negroes
themselves, and together the whites
and blacks would root the evil out of
both races.
We suggest that the whites guard
their women more closly, as Mrs. Eel
ton says, thus giving no opportunity
for the human fiend, 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 protecting
their women, especially on farms.
They are careless of their conduct to-
ward them, and our experience among
poor white people in the country teach
not any more particular in the matter
of Clandestine meetings with colorsd
men than are the white men with col
ored women. Meetings of this kind
go on for some time, until the wo-
mans infatuation or the mans bold
ness bring attention to them and the
man is lynched for rape. Every Neg
ro lynched is called a big burly, black
BRUTE" when in fact many of those
who have thus been delt with had
white men for their fathers, ana were
not only not ''black" and "burly," bat
were sufficiently attractive for white
girls to fall in love with them, as is
we'll known to all.
Mrs. FELTON, must begin at the foun-
tainhead, if she wishes to purify the
stream.
Teach your men purity. Let virtuTe
be something more than an excuse
for them to intimidate and torture
a helpless people. Tell your men that
it is no worse for black man to be in
innate with a white woman than for q
wsite man to be intimate with color
ed woman. n s,~,.I.
You set yourselves down as lot of
carping hypocrites: 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
omen will remain pure while you are
debauching ours. You Row the seed
the harvest will come in due time
The degraded and vicious scoundrel
who wrote that editorial should have
died at the end of 2 rope. no matter
whether he was white or black, but the
brute who wrote it is now posing as q
martyr, notwithstanding his own low
and degraded mind is responsible for
the murder of some eight or ten inno-
cent Negroes!
Nothing can be gained by denounc-
ing the vicious and degraded men Of
another race, and attempting to shield
the chief criminal because hs is of the
same race of the people holding the
public meetings. The Wilmington
editor is the chief criminal in the murd-
ers at that place, for he was the author
of the editorial which caused the des.
| truction Of his printing Office and plant
and the consequent murder of some
eight or ten innocent negroes. Yet
that cowardly scoundrel and falsifier
escaped punishment and not one word
is said against his base action in any
resolutions adopted, not withstanding
the fact that any man, white or black,
who printed such statements Is to
white or black women should be com.