The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1899-08-10

Deliberate FaIsehood About the
South-A Characteristic and Vindic-
tive DeIiverance From 1.-The Hubs. -
washington Post.)
The Boston AdCerttser of the lst
instant perpetrates an editorial on
The North and the South" in reply
to Gov. Candler's recent article CON
corning Northern Criticism of South
ern lynchings, the chief character
istics of which are the absence of
truth and presence of misrepresenta-
tion. IneNcusable ignorance, or i'm
placable malice, or 4 combination OF
those elements must be held respon-
sible for a deliverance that would
have been impossible for the Adrer-
tiser before its brain was .rattled''
by alarming incidents of the war of
1898, including imaginary broad
sides from non-eNistence fleets.
Charity compels us to give due
weight to the paralyzing events of
that dreadful summer in Boston, and
also remember that the AdcertiSer
was very old had borne the storms and
sorrows of outrageous fortune for
many a year, before the booming of
those Spanish guns impacted on its
tremulous tympanum. Perhaps it
was not strange that Atkinsonization
followed close upon the heels of that
time of horror. And it may be that
a skilled alienist, called to diagnose
our venerable contemporary melan-
choly case, would find that its treat
ment Ct the Southern people was a
perfectly natural, if not inevitable,
result of that pitiless panic of 1898.
and its sad sequal, the awful Atkin-
sonization of 1899.
Having done our best to excuse the
unfortunate Boston paper, we will
proceed to sample its output. The
Adrertiser quotes Gov. Gambler as
snying, in substance. that 1.-The fault
lies as largely with the North as with
the South, and he seems disposed to
place most of the burden of response
bility upon the North because Of
things that occurred about thirty
years ago, in the days when recon-
struction was political issue, and
the carpet bagger was political
further cites Gov. Gambler to the
effect that the carpet-baggers taught
the negroes not only that the South
ern white men were their worst ene-
mics, but that freedom meant idle
ness, that liberty meant license, and
that American citizenship meant pro-
lection against the results of crime:
also that Southern negroes have been
encouraged by the North to resist
the whites, even with force, and that
this line of policy has called into ex-
istence the very conditions and out
RACES that the people of the North
now criticise.
1t would be impossible to combat
successfully a single allegation in
that digest of the Georgia Governors s
remarks. Ineeed, the .4dcertiser does
not attempt that impossible task,
but neatly lodges it with the asser-
tion that "Gov. Candier's case must
indeed be poor when he is COM
PEELED to go back thirty years to
justify the policy that the South
pursues to-day. lie is skillfully pro-
ducing a piece of special pleading,
but he ignores the issues as they
exist"
Just what the Adrertiscr means by
1.-The policy that the South pursues
to-day we shall not try to guess,
hat ne honest and intelligent citizen
of any State could find ground
for reasonable doubt that in the
fearful mistake of enfranchisement t
and in the hours of reconstruction
which Gov. Gambler discussed. -
Thirty years do not make long
period in the history of nation.
The warping and twisting of negro
character during reconstruction have
been Strengthened out in the decades
that have passed since then. And,
besides, it is only twenty-five years
since the general government with
drew its soldiers from the South, and
permitted the brains, character.
property and social influence of that
section to assume their rightful
place. But we have not vet SAM
pied the most untruthful and mali
cious part of the -4arertiser's article.
Here it is:
The trouble is that the South re-
fuses to allow colored children to be
educated in decent and respectful
fashion. and also denies to the color
ed man such fair wages and decent
treatment as industry and energy
will win anywhere in the North. A
race treated so un Justly must develop
some ignorant and reckless members.
Yet the Southern people torture,
MAIN, burn, and lynch colored men
who are only what the South's system
has made them"
The charge as to education is in
direct conflict with the known facts
OF the situation. The white tax
payers of the South have excited the
wonder of honest critics by their
sacrifices in the work OF negro educa-
ton. The charge relating to wages
and treatment is equally untrue. IL
was in q Northern State that negroes
We're murdered for trying to earn
their daily bread by honest labor.
Nowhere in the North, not even in
Boston, are negroes afforded such
opportunities to get forward in the
world As they have in the Southern
States. In asserting that 1.-The South
ern people torture, MAIN, burn, and
lynch colored men. who are only
what the South's system has made
them" the 4dcertiser utters 4 shame
ful calumny. Very few such lynch
are under circumstances calculated
to excite the widest passions in tht
human heart. And il was not ..th'
Southern people or any class fairly
representative Of 1.-The Southern peO