The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-08-17
0m G[h@ [L6G@pa0py W@p0d]9
GOOD READING FOR TRUTH LOVERS.


TO the Editor: I mutilate a magazine
10 send you clippings / offer to the
readers of the News and Observer really
interesting reading. | take the following
from a leading Northern literary journal
Ihe article is not long, but pregnant with
matter. 1t is from the vigorous and brill
liant brain OF Rev.. Tom Dixon, now of
national fame by reason of his extraor-
binary talents as a lecturer-with no
living American to equal him-and his
recent novel, now SO much read, so Sc
Serely Spurned and damned on the one
hand and so greatly lauded and devoured
on the ether hand. The class who damn
even without faint praise are the ne
grophilists, the worshippers of Miss
Stowe, believing her to be quite as worthy
of adulation and incense offering as old
John Brown, with his hands reeking with
his slain and murdered victims in "bleed-
Ing Kansas These sycophants love her
because of her SANDER of the South. and
regard her foul book OF lies as an in
SEPARATION direct from God. Dixon has
put spider in their dumpling, and
the result is bitterness and hatred be-
cause he tells the truth which they spurn
as viper. am told that in Boston his
book is forbidden fruit, and is not al
lowed to enter any public library. Phe
following is capital. 1t is high time that
even Yankeedoodledom had got out of its
swaddling bonds of blindness and error,
and found the true light by reading.
Dixon's book is read in other sections
Of the North-much read in some sec
tons, as appears from the reports to be
found in the August number Of the New
York Bookman. The circulation has
reached about 49, 900. 1t will go still
higher. In the South it is eagerly read
and with intense relish. The sale in
New Orleans and other cities is large,
and in smaller places "The Leopard's
Spots is sought by many. 1t may reach
its 100000 copies yet.
THEODORE BRYANT KINGSBURY.
Wilmington, N c., Aug. II, 1902
AN AUTHORS ANSWER TO HIS
CRITICS.
THE New York Times Saturday Review
of Books)
Allow me a word of mild protest
against the point of view of some recent
criticisms CT my novel, 1.-The Leopard's
Spots" My critics declare in substance
ltdJ the DOOh Is al appear 10 pTeJuulce,
that 1 have used local phenomena to
symbolic National issues and disturbed
the peace of today by raking up the
wrongs and shadows of the past. / deny
each of these assertions. Ny critics sim
ply read into the book their own feelings
and National bias.
have not sought to arouse race hatred
or prejudice For the negro 1 have the
fri t1,n 1actl
pity. What l have attempted to show is
that this nation is now beginning to face
an apparently insoluble problem Frederic
Harrison declares it to be the darkest
shadow over the future of the American
Republic.
1t is childish nonsense to talk about
the peace of today when every one,
who knows anything about the race ques-
ton. knows that the attitude of the
white and black races in the South was
never so dangerous in our history as
now. There is no peace on this ques-
ton. Nothing is ever settled until it is
~settled right
I have tried to give in this book the
authentic vital record of this question
from the point of view of the Southern |
white man. l have felt the heart beat |
of eighteen millions of Southern people |
end have given voice to their faith. Can |
any question be solved until you hear
both sides?
/ claim the book is an authentic hui
man document. and know T is the most |
important moral deed of my life. There |
is not bitter or malignant sentence in /
IL. 1t may shock the prejudces of those |
who have idealized or worshipped the |
negro as canOnized in Uncle Tom" Is |
it not time they heard the whole truth? |
They have heard only one side for forty |
years.
do not call North Carolina America"
but / did call her the typical common
wealth of American freemen. Prof. |
Fiske declares in 'Old Virginia and Her
Neighbors'' that North Carolina was the |
cradle OF American Democracy. 1t is the |
one State of the Union today unnfuenced
by foreign populations or the corruption
OF single large city-hence the scenes
of my book are broadly typical of the
whole South, from the James to the Rio
Grande, and therefore of the dominant
American. ~a
The only question for critic to deter
mine when discussing my moral right to
publish such book is this: Is the record
OF life given important and authentic?
If eighteen millions of Southern people,
who ut present rule, believe what my
book expresses, is it not we'll to know
it? | assert that they do believe it, and
that the number of Southern white people
today who disagree with 1.-THE Leopards
Spots could all be housed on half
acre lot / challenge any man to deny
this If it is true. is it not of tremen-
dous Importance that the whole nation
shall know it?
I have given voice to the deepest soul
convictions of these eighteen millions of
our people on the gravest problem of the
twentieth century They are so situated
geographically that they control enough
votes to elect the.President with the aid
of but two Northern States Is it not
time to make an honest effort to under
stand them? 1 have tried to introduce
you to them.
THOMAS DIXON, JR.
Dixondale, Va, July %, 1902.