The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-03-14
SEEING THE PERIL.

-o-ss<s--- SEEING THE PERIL. Just after tho recent outrageous affair at Springfield, Ohio. The Boston Tran script had an editorial under the head- ing. Has race war begun?' which clos ed as follows:
 But bad as was that single affair. it l was but the preface to wholesale out- ragcs against the race. They. were evea more ferocious than similar affairs in New Orleans and New York. They were practical declaration of war against all people of negro blood within reach of this particular mob. and such moral contagion is swift to spread. There is no system Of quarantine that can check IL. The only cure is to fight it with its own weapons in the hands of authority. When civic corporation of 40,0O0, nKe the city of Springfield, wlli bring to adequate punishment those who have trampled on Its laws and defied it's au- thority. 1t will be entitled to word it's own defense, but until that authority Is asserted and vindicated and these out rages, not only upon a race but upon the good name of the American people, atoncd for. its head must lie in the dust in shame.
 On the next day The Chicago Tribune also had an article on the same subject. concluding:
 What are black men and women who have made their homes in Northern cities where colorphobia is rampant to do: They are treated as If they were Jointly responsible for the crimes committed 5y one of their number. If ninety-nine out of hundred are industrious and peace full but the hundredth man Is criminal the ninety-nlne must suffer because O. h aofrat ,cn6 tr Aae Fvfn the South to hcsNorth which they looK- ed on as the land of freedom and peacu Have conditions changed so greatly that the inoffensive. industrious black man must go South to get out fethe way ot mobs?
 These editorial utterances from two Of the most prominent Republican news papers of the country. one in the East ana one in the West. are merely specs- mems of what we have seen in many of the Northern newspapers, especially il commenting on the Springfield affair. Taken in connection with the actual race war in shefHeld. Mass, where the qucs- ton of indiscrimlnate school attendance brought on actual hostilities. in whicn homicide and arson were conspicuous, they may we'll arouse grave apprehen- slonss in the Northern States of the Union, and should cause the best citi- zens of that section to ask themselves where 1t is all to end?
 For 1t is in the North and West that the greatest danger exists. We of the South are sometimes reckless and law less in dealing with colored criminals. fact which we neither deny nor excuse, gro, know his needs and his capacities and will in the main do him exact jus tice. That justice Is real, not theoret;- cal We simply draw line across which the negro Is not allowed to pass, but that line relates to social and political affairs. In all the great agricultural and me- chanical industries the races labor side by side in peace and no attempt is made to interfere with the colored mans righ, to work for a living.
 Unfortunately for both races the whites of the North did not understand the nc- gro when he was far removed from them. Having little association with col ored people, knowing little Of their hab- it's, disposition or capabilities, our Nortn. ern brethren discussed the race question from strictly academic standpoint, and discussed it unfairly and ignorantly. Now that they have the negroes wlSh
 them in ever increasing numbers, the
 pendulum has swung to the other ex-
 treme and they are becoming as fero-
 cious as they once accused the Southern
 people of being. It is a grave problem
 they have before them, and one which
 VIII require patience. forbearance and
 statesmanship to settle. If they go at if
 seriously and properly they may avert the
 danger which they now see looming
 ehead of then, but they will have little
 time to devote to other sections.