The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-11-25
corn unFArn Czrrrcrs1rs.

Discussion m the 8outns are the neau- lines over Ions editorials in The New York Post and The New York Times, respectively, both the editorials being founded on recent occurrence connected with Trinity College. at Durham, N. c. The real origin of the trouble was in an article contributed by Professor Spencer Bassett of that College, to The South Atlantic Quarterly. His article was de- voted to the race question, and with that we have nothing to do. as that is mat ter that is being more or less discussed in all sections of the Union. Professor Bas- sett's principal offense was in his asser- ton that Booker Washington Is the greatest man, with the exception of Robert E. Lee. that the South has pso- duced in a century.
 With the Professors admiration for Booker we have no concern. but we are surprised that any man with, sense enough to occupy high position in college should have made such an absurd and wholly untrue statement. It Is such gross insult to the many great men born in the South during the past hun- dred years that. if 1t had apeared in newspaper interview we should have at once pronounced 1t . fake, but the fact that it was published in a magazine under his own name removes all doubt.
 We did not set out. however, to discuss the Professors statement, but to conn ment somewhat on the result. The im- mediate effect was a request from the faculty for his resignation, which was rendered and accepted. The request was the result of a pretty general threat on the part of Southern patrons of the school that they would withdraw their sons un- less the offending professor was retired. We presume he win now pose as a martyr and become the pet of Northern negrophiiists. The only fault the latter can find with him Is that he failed to place Booker ahead of Lee. This will somewhat dampen the enthusiasm of his defenders.
 The New York Times admits that probably it would have been wiser in Professor Bassett had he omitted to put his estimate of Dr. Washington in so em- phatic form, and especially had he avoided a comparison which is. in it's nature, impossible accurately to verify and is offensive to many who might e in sympathy with Professor Bassetts general ideas." and then adds:
 But the form which has been taken by s ns of the s sSsm protests and threats they have forced the trustees of the college in which Profess sor Bassett taught English to accept his ! resignation. That Is illogical, narrow, petty, and must do more harm to the | reputation of the South, more damage to it's claim to superiority than any profess sor could do by the extremest unfavora- charged to Professor Bassett is that he was incorporate in his inferences as to the intelligence and character of his sec | ton. The people who are venting their spite on him prove that their own folly and uninteligence are not matter of inference, but of fact.
 Yes, it would have been wiser If he had put his opinion in a truthful form. With his estimate of Booker washington's work we have nothing to do. and his opinion of 1t may go for what it is worth, but he had no shadow of ground for his comparison and no excuse for a statement which is so notoriously untrue. And The Times. from which we had a right to ex- pect some degree of fairness when speak. ing of Southern affairs is little less of fensive than Bassett was, for 1t virtually sustains him in his misstatement.
 The New York Post, always ready tc prod the Southern people is forced tc say that ''any such comparative estimate of living man as he made of MT. Wash. ington, is out of place. though we yield to no one in admiration of Mir. Wash. ington's work. But if it is right to cal no man happy until he is dead. so 1t is safer to leave to future generations the fixing of the exact place to which any public man, however useful, is properly entitled" This is a practical admisso. that Bassett was wrong, but when Tht Post has done this it follows it up witt
 bitter criticisms on the Southern peopl, generally. and talks fuently and nonsen
 sically about "the right of free speech, and adds:
 But the South has suffered previously and still suffers, because of its sheer in tolerance. To speak for freedom fl slavery days was to court the rail, or tht
 tar bucket, or the lash of the regulator
 To speak for human rights now, or fol equality before the laws for men witt
 black skins. is to court a similar fate if many sections. or at least loss of one.
 position, and social ostracism. In 1t:
 blindness, the South as a whole say. there shall be no minority and no differ nf ofN he in saying so 1t turns it's back upon his tory, and ignores the underlying causel
 upon which have depended the rise an(
 the fall of more than one. nation. An idl, hope and an ignoble aim are thus se
 before it. Free speech can no more b, throttied in this country than can trutl
 be permanently trodden under foot. Fo
 every Sledd and Bassett sacrificed to in
 tolerance and prejudice. there will ris,
 a half dozen SouthernerS born and breC
 to take up the fight.
 That is the veriest tommyrot. and tn,
 insinuations and inferences of The Pos
 are both unfair and untrue. All over tn
 South are to be found men who are botl
 talking and working for the bettermen
 of the colored race. educationally. indus
 trially and financially. Washington an
 his work have no better advocates an
 supporters anywhere in the Union thai
 they have here in Alabama. and al
 through the South colored men who ar