The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-05-07
The LESSON OF INDIANOLA.
RESULTS or REOPENiNG TIE
RACE QUESTION ~ THE SOtTH.
Tho whites Not 10 re Moved From Their
Course, but the Negroes Made to
SuHer-Facts About the Closing OF
the Post Omce--POlticl AEitatOrs
Seize the OppOrt unity to Make Trouble

SuTer-Facts About the Closing OF
the Post Omce--P0lit1cal AEitatOr,
Seize the Opp0rtuni to Make Trouble
INDIANoLA, Miss, May 8,-[his il the
only town in the United States that enjoyed
the distinction Of conducting post Office
department of it's own
As soon rs the President Of tine Uniteo
States closed the Indianola post office. after
refusing to accept the resignation OF INC
negress Minnie Cox who for some time
had been the postmaster, the residents here
and in the country for miles around found
themselves face to face with a situation that
threatened to paralyze business
lndianola is a thriving town. 1t is the
county seat of Sunhower one Of the most
fertile counties of all this marvelIously fer
tile Delta region of Mississippi.
1t has fine new court house commensurate
in dignity with tho wealth and require
ments of the community. two prosperous
banks, an electric light plant. water works
oottonseed oil mill in very profitable
operation. besides one about to be built;
large ice-manufacturing plant, equally
prosperous. and a thriving hardware.
dry goods. grocery and drug trade. 1t is
the cent raj mart of very large and wealthy
agricultu ral district.
The population Of the town itself Is about
1000, but the post office did the business
Of at least 5000 people here and in the sur
rounding country II was the distributing
point of three smaller post offices back
among the plantations.
The business of the office was steadily
growing. The postmaster received for
herself and the assistant she might hire
about 81 400 a year. This compensation
was to have been increased, owing to the
steadily advancing business. to 81 500 this
coming July
SO, when the heavy hand OF the President
of the United States fell upon the COM
munity and suddenly extinguished its
post office, thus practically thrusting it
back into pioneer conditions, it was stag
gering blow SO far as the overwhelming
majority of those doing business with the
Office was concerned, the infection was
wanton and causeess
They had had no part in the meeting
held here last fall at which the postmaster
was requested to resign. Many of them
knew nothing about the meeting until it
was over and the resignation was turned
in
Not that they were not pleased when
they learned the fact and saw before them
the prospect of white person at the head
of the post Office They heartily rejoic ed
over that outlook.
On the question Of the appointment OF
negroes To Federal Offices in tho South,
there are no differences Of opinion among
the whites The moderate conservative
element deplores such appointments for
two reasons independent of the natural
prejudice on the subject. One OF these
reasons is the bad effect they have di-
rectly upon the negroes themselves.
The political and social status Of the
blacks in the South is irrevocably fixed for
the present and the next generation at
least. The negroes. when left alone. accept
this situation contentedly and with no dis
position to disturb it. Under it their re-
lations with the whites are back to the
friendly, considerable basis which is normal
with the Southern whites and the Southern
blacks.
But among the negroes, as among other
large groups of laborers, there are idle,
worthless fellows who are averse to toll
and who get their living and enhance
their personal Importance by agitation
and preaching the doctrine of discomfort
among the industrious
The object lesson OF a negro in a Federal
Office, particularly in a small community
where he is conspicuous, furnishes these
fellows with constant text. They work
upon the emotional nature Of the negroes
the overwhelming majority of whom
are naturally docile. good tempered. mere
grown-up children-and fill their heads with
fantastic ideas as far beyond their reach
as the stars The result Of this is tendency
toward disturbances from which the negro
1 4 4, ~
That is one reason. beyond the boundaries
of mere race prejudice in the abstract.
why people in the South who stand for
what is sanest and best in their respective
communities are strong in their opposition
TO Federal appointments among the negroes.
Another reason is that such appoint
ments not only serve as texts for negro
agitators. but serve also the same purpose
for white agitators
With the negro question in its social
and political bearings permanently settled
by Constitutional provisions and by race
instincts as resistless as the law of gravita-
ton, there really was no field left for a
certain group of political agitators in the
South who either from childish prejudice
or for their own personal ends bend their
efforts to the production of sectionalism
and to the postponement of the day when
the American people, as a whole. in the
discussion of questions of national impor-
tance, will divide in their opinions on the
basis of reasoning instead of on the basis
Of geography
The Acknowledgement of the negro and
the swiftly changing industrial conditions
OF the South were rapidly cutting the ground
from under the feet Of agitators of this
sort.
As matter of fact the negro question
had and has ceased to exist as legitimate
political factor in the Southern States. The
only hope left TO the agitators, whose stock
in trade it had been. was in such events from
time to time as would galvanize it into tenn
porary scmblance of vitality.
Appointments Of negroes to Federal Offices
in the Southern States were events Of pre-
cisely that character. They were covertly
welcomed with joy by the radical and
reactionary element. They supplied them
with ammunition. and beyond that they
served absolutely no purpose.
To the negroes themselves they were
disaster because they created at least an UNI
sympathetic, if not actively hostile, at
mosphere which by just so much impcded
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