The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1900-10-08
Hard Pressed for Argument.

The New York Sun must be hard
pressed for argument, indeed, when it
gives place to such a statement as this:
The wave of brutality to neSroes that
has swept into the city of New York
should be stopped with high hand.
Peoples minds have been inflamed by the
disfranch!sement of negroes In the south,
or some other devillsh agency has been
at work
Under this process of reasoning the
whole outside world must be afflicted
with a species of initiative mania,
while the south alone stands upon
the hilltop of sanity. and is RESPONSE
bic for the evil examples set. The
Chinese boxers must have looked this
way for inspiration, and at once start
ed upon their career of disorder.
Ii is sad. indeed. il the concentrat-
ed disaffection which may be found in
the south is of such a powerful char
acter as to upset all the prudence OF
three centuries OF New Englandism.
Ever since the men who praiyed God
at the expense of Indian life began
their mission. there has been in fer
mentation the present civilization OF
New England. which. stopping over
into New York and into the western
reserve of Ohio, has "uplifted' the
masses so that 1t was not possible for
them even to understand conditions in
the south. Fortified by such environ
ments. with a superior civilization in
the blood as well as in tradition we
would have been justified in looking
for infallibility there. True. Boston
has burned converts in which lived
unoffending women; New York has
strung negroes up to lampposts, and
submitted them to the fury of the mob;
Akron has madly destroyed life and
crcmated her public buildings; Pana
and Virden have welcomed negroes
with the shotgun; Freeport has gone
into 4 frenzy over the murder of a
woman; Mansfield keeps the tar brush
ready for men who wear long coats
all these, and more, but We were in
clined TO look upon them as sporadic
exhibitions; the last efforts OF New
England culture to purge itself of the
human part which chung to the Pill
grim fathers when they started out
up0n the determination of the Indian
race.
But. no. The Sun. which is n newspa-
pcr learned in books as well as in
mystic lore. has discovered q weak
SPOT in pilgrim organization. Peoples
minds have been inilamed by the dis
Establishment of negroes in the south,
OR SOME OTHER DENILISH
AGENCY HAS BEEN AT WORK"
Surely, the spirit which was invoked
by the Goodin children, and which led
TO the calling OUT in Old Salem, has
not returned to torment us? 1t is
claimed by advocates of hereditary
faint that il makes itself manifest in
unexpected ways. Passing over many
generations. it reviYes TO astonish an
age which Is ignorant of its history.
Can the craze of Salem have found It's
lCtter-day emission from the Office of
The New York sun? 1t would be a
lamentable state of affairs. in which
the br0omstick would once more be re-
carded as a weapon OF mystery. and
the wrinlIled-faced old woman would
lie q fit subject for the moose or the
faggot.
We sincerely hope that with the close
of the present national campaign, The
sun viii be relieved of this severe yisi-
tation The resorts of politics are
not only strange. but often desperate.
The sun has undertaken a hard task
to keep the republican mind lnflamed,
So hard, indeed. that the appeal to
the witches of Salem was necessary.