The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-11-05
STRAIGHT TALK FROM a SOUTHERN
MAN.


communication from W. A. Gambler which
makes some points that the Southern peo-
pie would do well TO think about in con-
nection with the subject of social equal
ity'' that is just now worrying them a good
deal The Journal does not know any
thing about Mr.. Gambler beyond the inter-
nal evidence his letter affords that he is a
Southern man OF progressive views and
possessed of more horse sense" than nom
sense. He may possibly be a relative of
Governor Gambler, Of Georgia, though he
is evidently not Republican. He makes
the recent Booker Washington incident the
text of some remarks regarding the race
question which do not seem to have oc-
CURED to those who think it is only skin
deep. He admits that personally he thinks
that in inviting Mr.. Booker Washington to
dine with him President Roosevelt "blun-
dered badly" but he ridicules the idea
that any number of such acts by any num-
Der OF persons could bring about social
equality. But he remarks there is real
danger, if Southern whites do not rouse
themselves, that the negroes will achieve
another kind of equality, or rather of
superiority over the whites, namely. edu-
cational He says the negroes have bet
ter educational advantages in the South
than the whites have and that the latter
are relatively losing ground rather than
gaining. To quote his words:
The colleges for negroes are far better
equipped than the colleges for whites and
idly increases every day. Booker Wash
1ngton can get more money for his school
by an hours speech in Boston or New
York than any president of a white college
in the South can get by years campaign
among our OWN people. Now let this sort
of thing go on for another twenty-five
years, and the most undesirable conditions
Will inevitably arise in the South, bringing
TO pass results injurious to both races.
While | begrudge the negro moth
ing, L cannot believe 1t would be best Tor
him best for anybody else that he
should continue to have better educational
| advantages than the whites. But this Will
be the case if our own people do not deal
more literally with the colleges of the
whites. The North will do in the future. as
in the past, most of what it does for higher
education in the South on behalf OF the
negroes. Southern white people must de-
pend upon themselves to maintain and
equip the colleges of the whites in this
| section. And we are abundantly able to do
! it. Our 'horse shows" and the like prove
| the plethora of our purses.
Coming to facts, he mentions two col
Ieges in Georgia for the education of
whites which are now appealing for sup
port. Mr. John d. Rockefeller has offered
to give $4,000 to Mercer University if the
friends of the institution will raise $4,000
more, and a Southern man has offered S15
600 to Emory College or the same condi-
| tions The writer says these two institu-
| tiOns ought to be as dear to the hearts
| of all Georgians as Booker Washington S
school is to Bostonians and New Workers,
and that they should initiate the example
of Northern people by putting their hands
in their pockets and contributing to the
support of their own institutions. He
concludes:
| 1 propose that any Georgian who is too
| stingy to give TO either Of them quit abuS-
| ing the President about dining Booker
| Washington. Men who really care to MAIN
| tain proper relations between the races
in the South will do something more sub
! stantial TO promote that object than to
| blow hot blasts of Indignation about social
| equality. That sort of windiness is cheap:
/ II is also very Improbable. Let US help
| our colleges for whites-or hush.
A Northern man would hardly venture
| to put the matter in as personal a way as
this. The argument is clear that educa-
| tional progress involves to a certain extent
social advancement and elevation, and that
| if the Southern whites wish to maintain
their traditional superiority they must
adopt more liberal and progressive policy
in support of education. The whites can
not keep the negroes down by hot blasts
| of indignation" if they allow them to
maintain permanent superiority in educa-
tional advantages. Mr.. Gamblers letter
| goes to the heart of the subject