The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-11-11
THINKS IT IS MENTAL
STRABISMUS.
And That Dr.. BaSSett is
an Unsafe Guide for
Students.

allowed to think all he desires and to ex-
press what he thinks to his hearts con
tent. But the good people OF the State
have righteous impotence with the men
who think they think and who write them
selves in every line the imltators OF the
prlgglsh cranks who are so Blatant in
New York and Boston.
When a man in sincerity and truth works
toward any great end, he finds the readiest
response from the Southern people whose
most characteristic qualities are truthful
ness and deep-rooted sincerity. They are
intolerant of sham and fraud and pretense,
intolerant of lies whether they come from
the lips of the most ignorant negro or the
most learned college professor-but where
is the man who does not applaud this
high-minded intolerance of the false?
That is probably the principal reason
why the Southerners have not wandered
off into the woods after such colossal
and vacuouS egotist as Bronson ALI
colt; why they have not poured their gol-
den treasure into the chests OF the fakir
Dowie; why they do not rave over the
puerile verses OF many New England
poets" why they have not burned in
cense at the absurd shrine of Mother
Eddy; and why they have refused to bow
down to a shrewd negro, who if he were
a white man would not be at all eXtraordi-
nary, but as a black man is being exalted
to the position of a Yankee demi- god.
The man who differs with prevailing
Southern thought and sentiment and who
declares he was mot allowed to think at
home is usually a man who was allowed
TO think all he pleased, but who failed to
be elected to political office or promoted
to high position. But he had not right to
complain because the people did not
choose to exalt man to represent them
who did not hold their views.
If such thinking is narrow, then the
great States of Pennsylvania, Massachu
sets. Vermont. Maine and New Hamp-
shire, are narrow because while man
CT Democratic ideas may think" there all
his life, he can never hope to be honorea
with office by the people whose views he
does not represent.
In this respect the Democratic South
shows the same "liberality" as Republican
New England
But when college professor who in the
secrecy of his study becomes undu,y i'm
pressed with his vast expanse of brain,
proceeds 10 hand down to the people
opinions that are founded neither on
truthful promises nor logical conclusions;
the people If they choose to disagree with
bis conclusions, have that right, The
University of Chicago and several other
American colleges have recently in their
faculty furnished more specimens of as
sninity than a Missouri mule farm. That
the American people refused to agree.
with these notoriety, seeking educators"
or even to be disturbed by their noisy
twaddle is evidence OF their sound judg-
ment and good sense.
But there are some things that the
people cannot allow to go unresented, even
from a college professor. who Is tired OF
the sec.usIon of the class room ana seeks
to get into the lime-light of publicity. II
any man asserted that every man has his
price, you would hardly care to trust him
with your money. IT any man declared
that no woman is virtuous You would be
justified in driving him from the society
of youl sisters and daughters. II any man
declares that the negro is the equal OF the
white man. he has no right to expect any
thing better than Punishment to the re
groes. where he can test the truth of his
assertion. If any man SO dlsCredlts every
fact OF history, so mallgns every great
man OF HE section, so dlscreditS hls race
and bellies his breeding, perpetuates such
a colossal falsehood as the statement that
with the exception of Lee, the negro
Booker Washington is the greatest man
the South has produced in a hundred
hot no
verest condemnation. Every man who re-
veres his ancestors, every man who IS
proud of the conquering race from which
he springs, every man who knows the
truths of history. every man who meas
ures the great men of our own day, must
feel outraged at such an utterance.
The most ignorant negro farmland who
follows the pillow in the Black Bet would
not be credited if he declared such a
statement was his belief. 1t is impos-
sible for us to conceive that college pro-
lessor, familiar with the records of his
tory or the movement OF our own times
can be sincere in such an utterance. If he
is sincere. then he deserves the condemna-
ton OF all honest men.
TT he could be sincere i'll such a state
ment. he must have the facts OF history
so distorted in his own brain, that he has
lost all sense of historical proportion and
has a severe attack of intellectual stra-
bismuS.
In any case he must be an unsafe guide,
not only for Southern youths, but for stu
dents anywhere in the wide world who
hope to acquire historical knowledge or to
get a correct view Of the men who have
PLAYED a part in the worlds affairs.
Leaving out of the question the sacri-
lege of coupling the name OF Lee with
that of Booker Washington. can the man
who makes such statement as that the
the negro is the South's greatest man,
save one, in a hundred years expect TO re-
tain the respect of the people who are con
fident that he knew the enormlty OF the
falsehoods when he penned it?
A recent utterance OF college profes-
sor in North Carolina has caused real sor-
row. as we'll as shock TO those who know
The man au1 who could hardly believe him
capable of such an utterance. Ihey can
not now believe him capab,e OF such
views. 1t is impossible to believe that he
realized the mischief and the danger of
- f a