The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1903-09-10

White 1en-They Aleae Have Placed
Him on the Exalted Pinnacle He
Now Occupies-That Is What Boards
of Trade Have Done iu Welcoming
Him With Open Arms and Filling
His Head With Fool Notions.
Correspondence News and Observer
To THE EDIToR:-YOur brave and
manly editorial on the dining of
Booker Washington and party at
Hamlet deserves the commentator
of all thoughtful citizens The eX-
cuse given by the hotel keeper is as
asinine as it is puerile 1t is adding
studied insult to premeditated iniu-
ry. The races are practically placed
on an equality when he asserts that
the color that predominates gets
the dining room. Last summer
was returning from Atlanta and our
train met at Hamlet the Southbound
train, carrying probably two hun
dred negroes to a negro convention
in Atlanta. Most of them rushed
for the dining room, but they were
sent around to a side room where
breakfast was prepared for them
There was much grumbling and sew
eral refused to eat elsewhere than in
the regular dining room. But today
the tables are changed, and why?
Because papers conducted by the
white men OF the South report every
act of the great Booker Washington,
and the chance for an advertisement
was too good to be lost
[ believe, and have long believed
that the sober second thought Of
our time and generation will atfiX on
Booker Washington the stigma of
being the greatest and most appall-
ing curse that ever befel the negro
or any other race.
The stupendous injury he is doing
today by implanting in the hearts OF
thousands OF his race the seeds OF an
ambition impossible of fruition, can
never be estimated. Behind and be-
yond his glittering generalities, and
meaningless platitudes on industrial
advancement, his fellow negroes see
the man himself. See him saying to
them, 'Hope on, hope ever; where |
have eaten you may eat; where |
have been feted you may be, and the
exalted position l now hold is yours
if you have but the courage to grasp
it." And he winked the other eye.
Mr.. Editor, | have no reputation
as political economist or sociolo-
gist, and having none have therefore
none to lose. SO | venture the fur
ther assertion that the most potent
factor in all this unfortunate race ag-
itation today is the Southern man
himself
You truly say "the man who does
anything to make the color line less
clear and distinct, consciously or un-
consciously, is an enemy to Southern
civilization" Well, that is Just
what the leading men of the South
have been doing for years in placing
Booker Washington on the exalted
pinnacle he now occupies; that is
what boards of trade have been
doing in welcoming him with open
arms; and that is what men singly
and collectively have been doing in
hailing and acclaiming him as Il new
Moses who would lead his people in Il
new land of milk and honey. There
is do doubt the land will be new, but
the milk will be red and the honey
like unto gall.
But if the present appreciation and
congratulatiOn OF the Southern man
continues. who will dare set his metes
and bounds?
The question of the ultimate dis
position of the negro race can now
be Justly called a problem, for it is
national in it's scope. For its solu-
ton there are now us many theories
as the HOW famed leaves af Vallam-
brosa. But to my mind after educa-
ton and all the other forces for good
now potent III the civilization OF
today have been tried in vain, two
methods, and only two, will be
found Of any avail, emasculation and
segregation. s
By the former procedure on the
guilty party We would, believe, ban
| ish forever from our records the
nameless crime. Its perpetrators
would go forth with mark more
| miserable than that Of Cain They
would be as Ingalls, characterized
the mugwumps, beings abhorred by
women and despised by NEIL They
would in truth be a column OF con
tumely by day, a pillar of reproach
by night. But this is but a minor
view of the subject. In its most com
prehensive sense, it means taking
from the degraded of both sexes the
power to procreate their kind. 1t
means that we have within ouI
power by lawful means, a method
that will abort the spawn of con
firmed criminals, and the degenerate
of both sexes. It's a subject worthy
our most earnest consideration 1t
would be hut logical sequence o
that law higher than all other laws
the law of self-preservation. That
the Southerner is a better friend O
the negro than the Northerner has
been told over and over again, and
it is true. But how much OF thi:
friendship is based on the negro a.
we know him today, and how mucl
does the memory OF the fidelity OF th=
old slave negro actuate us in oul
dealings with his descendants?
| Introspect, calmly and deliberate
ly, and can you find a single virtu'
OF the faithful old servitor trans
mitted to the negro OF today? Would
you trust him with your family ant
, property as of yOre?
DR.. Paul Barringer, of the facult.
OF the University of Virginia, in a re
, cent article claimed that the negro
/ retrograding into savagery. Ii thi
is true, and many believe it, wha
does the future hold. and what is e2
pected from us? For Roosevelt an
. his ilk We have no word of censurt
. they know no better Hatalks OF hi