The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-11-10
PROFESSOR BAsSETT'S EXPLANA.
TON NEEDS CLUTCHES.

slandered. That explanation should be in
three words: Il have sinned ''-"Peccavi.'
| Such confession Prof. Bassett does not
make. On the contrary, with a want of
candor, and the specious statements OF
the special pleader, he seeks to justify
the half dozen most offensive specific
statements in his article by plea of con-
fession and avoidance.
| The most Objectionable thing about the
article was the article itself Warp and
woof hair and hide, it was a vicious ar
raignment of the Southern attitude upon
the neUo. There isn't a sentence in it
that breathes any spirit except an alien
one or a line that is not offensive to every
man who respects Southern civilization
The declaration in a dozen places that
in 1868, in 1875 and since the negro issue
was selected twas seized upon Sin
order to assure party supremacy shows
the political animus of the professor which
no explanation can explain. The statement
that 1.-The sensitive disposition on the part
of the Southerners to take fire at the hint
of a negro outrage would indicate that
he looks upon such outrages with as much
complacency as he looks upon the punish
ment of the perpetrators. If not, what
does it mean?
The truth is that Prof. Bassett moves
and lives in an atmosphere that is as far
removed from the things which nine
tenths of the North Carolinians hold dear
as if he resided on another continent.
The spirit of measuring everything by the
standard of the dollar, of looking up to
the trusts as benefcent institutions, of re-
point of Hannaism, and regarding hostility
to and contempt of the things that are
dear to the North Carolinians as the only
evidence of breadth and liberality, has long
dominated DR.. Bassett and some of his
associates. Step by step he and other.
have gone away from every Southern ideal
Southern conviction until he and they
think they are right only when their
opinions conflict with Southern thought.
1t was, therefore, not long ways for
Mr.. Bassett to go to reach the conclusion
that the negro is the equal of the white
man, that Booker Washington is the
greatest man except one, born in the South
in hundred years. and to declare that the
only way to solve the race question waa
to repudiate the idea of negro inferiority,
and to make this assertion:
THE ONLY SOLUTION RESERVED
FOR US is THE ADOPTION OF THESE
CHILDREN OF AFRICA INTO OUR
AMERICAN LIFE. IN SPITE OF OUR
RACE FEELING, OF WHICH THE
WRITER HAS HIS SHARE THEY
WILL WIN EQUALITY AT SOME
TIME. We cannot remove them, we can
not kill them, We cannot prevent them
from advancing in civilization. They are
now very weak; some day they will be
stronger. They are now ignorant and
passion wrought; some day they will be
wiser and more self-restrained. DO NOT
KNOW JUST WHAT FORM THE CON
FLICT WILL TAKE. 1T MAY BE
L
IT MAY BE MORE THAN THAT.
AM PERSUADED THAT 1T is IN
MANY RESPECTS THE OLD CONFLICT
BETWEEN ROMAN PLEBS AND
ROMAN PATRICIANS OVER AGAIN
IT OUGHT TO BE SHORTER THAN
THAT STRUGGLE AND THE ISSUE
THAN THE ISSUE OF THE ROMAN CON
INT
RICHER AND BETTER THAN ROMAN
LIFE"
The Patricians and the Plebians inter-
married after years of conflict. If his
comparison of the conflict between the
races with the old conflict between the
Patricians and the Plebians does not in
dicate his belief in miscegenation. what
does it mean? Why was the comparison
introduced?
His explanation does not make the fol-
lowing declaration less incendiary:
I'VE ARE NOW JUST ENTERING
THE STAGE OF CONFLICT; and this IS
because the negro is now beginning to be
strong enough to make opposition. THE
CONFLICT WILL BE FIERCER IN THE
FUTURE THAN IN THE PRESENT.
LYNCHINGS AND 'OUTRAGES' WILL,
PERHAPS, BECOME MORE FREQUENT
THAN THEY NOW ARE. AS LONG AS
ONE RACE CONTENDS FOR THE Alb
sOLUTE INFERIORITY OF THE 9TH
Err THE STRUGGLE WILL GO ON WITH
INCREASING INTENSITY. But if some
day the spirit of Cancellation shall come
into the hearts of the superior race the
struggle will become less strenuous. THE
DUTY OF BRAVE AND WISE MEN IS
TO SEEK TO INFUSE THE SPIRIT Or
CANCELLATION INTO THESE WHITE
LEADERS OF WHITE MEN"
The friends of Prof Bassett will regret
that he has said anything at all unless
lie was ready to make the only explana-
ton that would have given him claim
to their forgiveness for an article con-
temptuous of all that Southern people
hold dear.
Captain McCraw, of the Wilson Light
Infantry, has set about industricusly to
collect war relics for q war museum in
the armory 1t is 2 splendid idea. War