The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1904-09-18
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER is, 1901.
A Complaint From Boston.

I
The Boston transcript is high class
newspaper, a paper of unusual literary
merit. n paper Of ability and we read
II with pleasure and profit except Its:
articles on the race question. In dls-.
cusslnE that topic the Boston Transcript
shows an ever present prejudice, and.
too frequently, with all respect, 1t shows
unpardonable ignorance Of conditions In.
the South. IN
In a recent issue it discusses the Jim
q Grow laws Of Maryland and Virginia, Its
remarks being suggested by the expert
cnce of colorcd phianthropst. Be
cause he did not abandon his seat III
the Washington Express and go back or
forward into a Jim Grow car" it's says,
4 che was arrested at one Of the Maryland
stations by a deputy sheriff. put Into
jail with the lowest offenders and kept
.here without food, water or bed for
sixty hours" There IS a note of COM
plant in this statement, but We ask orr
contemporary If the man should not have
been arrested when he dcfied the law and
refused to obey the officers of the law?
If he was badly treated in prison. that IS
another question. But he cannot COM
N plain and his friends cannot complain,
that he was arrested when he refused to
comply with the, law
Our contemporary fhcn proceeds to say
that the discrimination against colorcd
travellers in Maryland and Virginia makes
very complicated situation; that there
are no restrictions for colored people that
do not apply to the whites ms well when
train leaves Washington, but once over
the border the trouble begins In point
@6of fact there arc no restrictions in the
Virginia law for colorcd people that do
not apply to the whites rs we'll The col
ored people are not allowed to ride In
the car with the whites nor are the
whites allowed to ride in the car with
the colored people. The cars for the
whites may be crowded and the cars
for the colorcd people may have an abun-
dance of room, but the whites are not
permitted to intrudc. The law Is not
meant to be a discrimination against
either race 1t simply provides for sep
uration.
The Transcript notes that white people
can take their colored servants in the
same car with themselves and that Off
GERS OF the Law can..do the same with
their colored prisoners and concludes from
this that 1T does not seem TO be per-
sonal objection to propinauity or con-
tact that is at the bottom of these laws,
So much as It is desire TO make color
ed people know their places
1t is true that white people IN the South
are opposed 10 mixing up with negroes.
but the law was enacted in no such
spirit as that suggested by our Boston
contemporary. / was enacted as a meas
ure OF public safety. The enactment OF
the law In Virginia grew out Of an incl
dent on a railway train between Rich
mond and Petersburg. II was Christmas
whites and blacks. There were many ne
gro men on board, most of them in
half-drunkcn condition, dirty, boisterous,
rude. offensive and aggressive. II Is more
than probable, too, that the greater ma
jority Of them We're armed. One OF th3
most offensive IN the lot took a seal by a
respectable white woman and She protest.
cd But in the spite Of her protest he
kept his seat. a white man occupying
the seat behind arose and exchanged
seats with the woman. The incident
caused considerable excitement. The ne
a fpt tpIt
q Ing but the discretion Of the white men
on board prevented II general melee IL
there had been clash, 1t Is more than
probable that men, women and children
would have been killed or injured
An editorial writer on The Richmond
Times was present and subsequently made
the incident the subject of an editorial
article in his paper. The General Assem-
bly, was In session at The lime. A bill
had already been introduced providing
for separate cars and the incident related
il The Times with the editorial comment
had the effect 10 call this bin up for dis.
cusson and 10 secure lis passage.
We relate, this by way of imprpssins
upon our Northern friends tile fact which
they do not seem 10 understand that In
the South where We have TO deal with
the negro as a race and not merely as
an individual. wheie, We have TO deal
with masses OF negroes and not merely
with a few isolated cases, il has been
found absolutely necessary in Inc inter-
est Of peace and order, apart from other
well known considerations, to make The
separation OF the races az complete az