The record-union., 1899-07-20
VOICE OF THE PRESS.
EXTRACTS FROM EDITORIAL
EXPRESSIONS.
State and Coast Opinions on SUBJ
jects OF Living News
Interest.

Stockton Independent: 1t has been
frequently pointed out that individuals
newspapers and communities have
seized upon Admiral Deweys reputa-
ton and popularity to drag themselves
into public notice. And now an at
tempt is being made to saddle pernic
1ous and unpopular doctrines. and un-
tenable political views on him with the
hope that they may be dragged into
the light of popular approval by the
weight of his name
Admiral Dewey was the supreme
American authority in the Philippines
from the day he entered Manila harbor
until the fall of Manila. And ever since
his authority oyer the waters in the
Philippines has been supreme. He could
have sailed away from the islands after
destroying the Spanish fleet and there
would never have been a Philippine
question. He could have advised
against holding the islands and not a
regiment of troops would have been
sent. The fact is that the conquest
of the Philippines and their retention
by America are more the work of
George Dewey than of anyone else and
that is what makes him so popular so
influential.
THE SOUTH RECOVERING ITS
SANITY.
Portland Oregonian: The proclama-
ton of the Afro-American council of
the negro churches of the United States
appointing the I'd inst as a day of fast
ing and prayer on account of the re-
cent outrages against negroes in the
south, among other things said
I'VE are impelled by a sense of duty
and the instincts of our moral nature to
appeal to the Afro-Americans of the
United States to put forth some en-
deavors by ceasing to be longer silent
and to appeal to some judiciary for
help and relief. If earth affords none
for our helpless and defenseless race,
we must appeal to the bar of infinite
power and justice, whose judge holds
the destinies of nations in his hands,
There is something pathetic in the
simple faith that prompted these negro
preachers to take an appeal from man
to the courts of heaven, and it is not
more open to criticism as an expression
of superStitious enthusiasm than was
the day of fasting and prayer appointed
by the churches for the recovery of the
slowly dying President Garfield. Never
theless, from the standpoint of judicial
fairness, this proclamation exceeded the
truth when it declared that the negro
race is SO helpless and defenseless in
the United States that it is driven to
ask that mercy and compassion from
God which has been denied it by man.
Gil Of in, of
the South is bad beyond exaggeration,
but it is not true that as whole the
negro is without powerful friends and
sympathiZers in every State of the
South. He must have such friends, for
otherwise he could not so rapidly have
improved his social and industrial con-
dition within the thirty years that have
elapsed since the negro ceased to be
the mere ward of the Federal Govern
ment as he was in the days Of the
freedmen's bureau following the close
of the great civil war; If the negro
were really completely without friends
or influence at the South, he would be
universally outraged and not locally
abused, as he is to-day. United States
District Judge Emory Speer of Macon,
Ca, in a recent public address, spoke
of the great mass of the negro popula-
ton in terms of respect and affection.
Judge Speer is a native Georgian, an
ex-Confederate soldier, and was a
Democratic Congressman for several
years prior to his appointment to the
Federal Judiciary There has been no
lack of courageous men among the
white clergymen, editors and lawyers of
the South who have not hesitated to de-
nounce Judge Lynch and all his works.
The Columbia S. CO State confirms
the view of the Richmond (Va)
Times" that the utter futility of
lynching as a cure for negro crime has
been demonstrated since the burning
at the stake of Sam Hose. The crime
for which Hose was burned continues
to be committed, even in that part of
Georgia where Hose was burned.
Things seem to get worse rather than
better. The Columbia Is. c. state"
confesses that the horrors of the Hose
lynching were wasted, that it's cruelties
failed of its purpose, that they damned
the whites who committed it while they
did not daunt the black criminals, and
that the white women of that section
are even less secure than they were
before"
A PATRIOTIC EXAMPLE.
Santa Cruz Sentinel: If the published
reports be true, General Leonard Wood
Governor and military commander of
the Province of Santiago, has set an
example of public duty. and self-denial
which is not only worthy of commen-
dation, but of Imitation. 1t seems that
General Wood has been offered the
superfntendency of the largest street