Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1902-09-04
TOO HARSH" SAYS SMITH
IN SPEAKING OF SLEDD

To the Editor of The Journal:
1 alluded to the treatment Of Professor
Sledd on account of the article he wrote
for The Atlantic Monthly apparently re-
hecting upon the section in which he
lives.
That the things stated by him are true
in fact, no one who is at all honest viii
deny.
There is. and has always been, an in
tense hatred between certain classes in
the south and the north and the negroes,
and nothing but the slave owners care
protected his slaves from cruelty. While
nothing but the fear of punishment pre-
vented the negro from all kinds OF lnso-
lence and injury to the poor ouckra,
whom he hated as intensely. OF course
Professor Sledd never meant to charge
upon any considerable part Of the good
people OF his section the charges he
brings forward. He knows no one who
would rather kill a negro than forty
dollar mule. q don't thank he ever said
that) He was justly indignant at the
scenes attending the horrible punishment
of Sam Hose, whose crime was one OF
the most diabolical, but who was put to
death in a more savage manner. The
good men and women of the state were
as much grieved as Professor Sledd. The
frenzied mob might be pardoned, but
what of a railway that races train and
Of the newspaper reporters, who with
their kodaks, make capital of the horrible
events. The hOodlums who sought for
relics would have appeared If a white
man had been burned by negro mob as
surely, but IL certainly was not wise to
parade this awful affair as illustrating
southern and Georgia sentiment.
Prof. Sledd is young man and young
writer The negroes will never forgive him
for calling them IAN inferior race, and
If he had an eye to their favor, as he did
not. he would never have said that. Call
a negro a thief, a murderer and an anar-
chist, and he may forgive you, but tell
him he belongs TO an inferior race and
your doom is sealed. The professor is as
true a southerner as any OF US. He be-
longs to the best people of Virginia His
father and grandfather were slave own
ers as long as slavery was. He thought
some southerner ought to show that some
southern people opposed everything Ike
cruelty and injustice and he spoke out in
discreetly, unwisely, carelessly and in the
wrong place, but his punishment has been
out of all proportion to his offense. To
confiscate a mans estate and exile him
for a careless word, is rather too heavy
a penalty.
I reckon some OF the young gentlemen
who posed as defenders of the old south
may charge me with disloyalty. So be IT.!
When they have suffered as much and
done as much as I have for the south,
they can speak.
have no sympathy with the spirit that
fans the fires of hate between the white
man and the negro. The negro is not a
brute; he is a human being. He Is here
and here to stay; If he IS a criminal. pun
ish him; If he is good man, reward him,
but good or bad, he is not here to rule me,
and he never shall.
don't intend TO wrong him and don't
intend he shall wrong me, and don't in
tend to give him the power II can help
II. am no negro hater, as I am no ne
gro worshipper. I do not intend to let a
negro from another race and with another
history separate me from a Yankee who
is my kinsman according to the flesh, and
make me. springing from the same womb,
war with him, and keep at war. while the
dark brother who loves one of US as well
as the other. stands of waiting for the
spoils. This seems TO me the maddest
thing In history. If ever peoples ought
TO be friendly they are the northern and
the southern. Anglo Saxons. and yet they
are at war still and for what? For a
mere sentiment concerning a race Of peo-
pie, who have never had any sympathy
for anybody in their power. Mr.. Sledd
chose a wrong theme for the Atlantic
Monthly. He wrote an unwise article. but
a very large part of the people stand by
him IN his contention that THE negro is
an inferior and the negro ought to be
treated justly and is often treated in
humanely-"
no more endorse Prof. Sledd's way Of
writing than l do Mr.. Tom Dixon, who
has told only what is true, but told what
we should as Americans and Christians be
glad to forget. once said TO Bishop Hay
good: "Atticus. you know what south
ernor am, but I am sure no man can
be right who tries to stir the fires of a
hate toward the north. II is neither wise
nor Christian" NO" he said in his
ardent way, ut is diabolical." Let US
have peace; we have all said hard things.
let us forget and forgive. When Prof
Sledd saw what had resulted from his ar
ticle like any gentleman such as he IS he
at once resigned his ONCE. and gave up
his home.
The newspaper writer's have driven him
from the state; but not one of them Is
truer to the south in all his feelings, in
my opinion than Andrew Sledd.
GEO. G. SMITH.
Macon, Ga.