The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1903-09-03
NEGROES GIVEN PREFERENCE.

The action of the managers of the
railroad hotel at Hamlet in seating
Booker Washington and his party
OF negroes in the main dining room
for breakfast while white persons
were accommodated in the small
writing room, has raised a storm of
Indignation and protest from one
end of the State to the other Hheth-
er consciously or unconsciously
Messrs. JamisOn & Gresham made a
bad break and one they will not hear
the last of very soon.
When the same party of negroes
passed this way going to Nashville
they got dinner at Norlina. At that
time they were accommodated out
side the main dining room and no
complaint was heard from. either
side. They were fed Just as we'll as
the white people were, their money
buying Just as much. But there was
no suggestion OF social equality. Re-
turning they got breakfast at Ham
let. The train being late and few
white persons being reported the ne
groes were given the right of way in
the dining room while the whites
took their meals in the small side
| room or went without. This United
States Senator Bacon, of Georgia
and a party of friends with him, be-
| sides others did-refused to take sec
| Ond choice.
At Norlina Washington's party
got dinner, the main dining room
being given up to their use as was
done at Hamlet. But this fact seems
to have been overlooked in the cen
sure and condemnation of the Ham,
let episode, Or else it is not known
that the same people (Jamison &
Gresham are proprietors OF both
eating hOuses) committed the same
offense twice in the same day. The
Raleigh News and Observer com
menting on the Hamlet affair says
| 1t is not little matter in any way
to break down the barriers between
the races. 1t is the duty of every
| good citizen to protest and fight
against breaking it down in any re-
| spect. Instead of letting the barrier
down every effort should be made to
raise it higher. 1t is the only safety
of the South, and the man who does
| anything to make the color line less
clear and distinct is, consciously or
unconsciously, an enemy to South
ern civilization.
The negroes who travel are entitled
to good accommodations in sepa-
rate ears. At eating houses ample
provision should be made in places
separate and apart for serving meals
to negroes. They should not be de-
MED the comforts of travel, but there
should be no mixing. Laws compel
| separate cars on the railroads and
| separate waiting rooms at depOts
This incident at Hamlet shows that
there is need of a law requiring sepa-
| rate places where negroes may OBJ
tain their meals.
The Southern people are actuated
i'll demanding this perfect separation
OF the races by no unfliendliness to
the negroes. They wish them to
have every right to which they are
entitled and to be afforded every
comfort for which they pay. But, as
| essential to the preservation of civil
ization and as the best thing for
both races, they demand complete
separation.
| The incident at Hamlet is the first
one in the history of the State If it
is permitted to pass unnoticed and
| unrebuked, where will the dangerous
innovation cease? The time to stop
it is now. The people on all the rail
roads have talked of nothing else
this week. Travelling men especially
feel outraged by the action and give
expression to their Indignation in
terms as warm and as vehement as
the weather is hot and oppressive.
North Carolina will treat the ne
groes right, but it will not tolerate
any imitation OF Roosevelt s attempt
to wipe out the color line.
The only safety of the whites, or
negroes either, for that matter, in
the South, is the absolute separa-
| ton OF the races in matters of this
| sort