The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-11-29
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER se, 1908.
SOMETHING ABOUT INToLnR-
 ANGIE

When some of our esteemed Northern contemporaries get excited over the Bas- sett episode and rail about the Southern people opposing free speech they seem to be blind to the inconsistency of their position. They virtually claim that men like Bassett should freely express their opinions, but that the rest of us shouldn't criticise them, because that would be ''suppressing free speech That is the logical meaning of much of the editorial comment we have read, and 1t is not sur prising that our people resent 1t. Pro fessor Bassett had his say and those who fail to agree with him propose to take the same liberty. The free speech busi- ness works both ways, and those who use 1t must also listen to 1t.
 The Chattanooga Times, an exceedingly conservative newspaper, referring to the comments of The New York Post and The Times, says they have gone be- yond the limit of legitimate criticism of the South when they declare that the people of that section are '1ntolerant" and refuse the right of free thought and free speech to their ablest men," be- cause they do not fall in with and in- dorse what Professor. Bassett has said. The people of the South are willing for Professor Bassett to think as he pleases and to say what he pleases, but like the people of the North, they claim the right to discriminate as to who shall teach their youth and what they shall teach. Professor Bassett had no right. occupying the position he did and knowing South ern sentiment as thoroughly as he does, to make such a public declaration, and neither he nor his apologists have any right to complain that as a result his usefulness as a popular teacher has been Impaired"
 We go a little further than The Times and assert that whether Professor Bas- sett knew the sentiment of the South or not he had no right to make a statement which was so manlfestly unjust, ungener- ous and untrue. And one natural result of his statement is that the negro papers of the country, so far as we have been able to see them, are delighted with his words and are holding him up as a martyr to truth, while they join a few Northern white extremists in condemna- ton of the Southern people for their 'in- tolerance" The Professor has not merely impaired his usefulness as a teacher but has destroyed it, and has made 1t plain that he is not fit person to teach the youths of any section of the country. He can hardly feel proud of the reputation he has made, and if papers like The Post and Times will do a little rehecting they will see that all the i'm tolerance is not confined to the South. 
 The somewhat elongated editor of The Roanoke Leader is worried because he cant get ready-to-wear coats and vests which will meet each other, whereupon The Opelika Post remarks:
 It occurs to our mind down here some two or three feet below the shoulder. of the aforesaid lengthy Stevenson thaE if the vests are elongated we shall be- as deep in the mud as he Is now in the mire. We pass the settlement of this moment ous problem up to The Montgomery Advertiser.
 What are you driving at? Whats Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba?" We are not fashion makers or tailors. Let The Leader editor take wife and The Post editor buy longer garments.