Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1904-05-11
THE OGDEN MOVEMENT.

proposed IOr Cne southern oJaVeS, no"
generally known as the Ogden Move
ment. We have done so for two reasons
frat, we wished to await developments
and, second, we had no desire to critioist
adversely an enterprise that might prove
beneficial. But enough has now beer
said by the promoters of this movement
and their friends in the North, to show
very plainly the thoughts and purposes
by which they are moved. We are in
clined to ask: Would Mr.. Ogden and hii
movement ever have been heard of Il
there were no negroes in the South'
Why has the South of late been con
sidered as "missionary ground" by the
Ogdenites? Can it be denied that o sys
tematic campaign has been planned by
them for universal aducation, with the
corollary, universal suffrageP 1t seems
that the plan outlined includes the edu,
cation of the negro along lines thai
must finally make him dissatisfied
with the subordinate position thai
he must continue to occupy IL
the South, if the purity Of the
white race is to be preserved, and thai
such education is the real object of the
movement. That this is true, witnes:
the following from the Springfield Re-
publican, speaking of the recent Ogden
invasion of the South and the conference
held at Birmingham:
"Mr. Ogden's party includes men and
women of such character, and many OF
such national fame that they should give
forward impulse to what is most essen
tial, free and decent dealing with the
negro. 1t ought not to be possible for
such party to consent to the notion o,
keeping the negro down, which is no"
the prevalent note of the South"
Such is the trend of comment by
Northern newspapers friendly to Mr.
Ogden and familiar with his purposes
1t is fair to presume that they arc equally
as we'll, if not better, acquainted with
the principles and impulses of the pro
moters than our Southern educational
leaders who may be duped by them. II
appears that some Of our educators have
been caught by the surface and evasive
answers of the leaders of the movement
At least few things on the race prob.
lem are settled in the South. There
can be no mixed schools, no social
equality and no intermarriage of the
races. But what would some of the
Ogdenites say about these mattersP We
believe Col. Thomas Wentworth Higgin-
son is regarded as one of the latest re-
cruits to the movement In a recent
article in the Atlantic Monthly he says
GAS the memories of the slave period
fade away the mere fetch of colorphobia
will cease to control our society, and
marriage may come to be founded not
on the color of the skin, but upon the
common courtesies of life, and upon
genuine sympathies of heart and mind"
The above and many other quotations
that might be made, show that the Ogden
Movement had its origin in care for the
negro, and but for him, we would not
have seen train load of millionaires
recently posing as educators for the en-
lightenment and elevation of the South.
We should not be caught by them in the
hope that a gift or an endowment for
some Of our institutions may follow,
while we forget there is something more
precious than dollars and cents.
Even in it's poverty, engendered by the
ravages of war, the South has remained
rich in it's manhood and high resolve, in
its self-respect and self-reliance, working
out it's own high destiny according to its
mate ideas. God grant it may continue
so to do.
We wish we could see in this move
ment no chance for a Trogan horse to be
turned loose in the South, but the more
we read and learn of the movement the
more it's sinister purposes become appa-
rent. Mr. Ogden and his party are be-
ginning where the Abolitionists left of.
We fear the so-called educators are cul-
tivating dangerous tendencies and
planting mines under the social struc-
ture of the South.
To say the least, it is rather presump-
tuous for the Ogdens, the Higginsons
and others of their way of thinking, who
in time past were imbued with the
ideas Of the Abolitionists, to assume the
role of teachers of the Southern people
as to what should be taught in our
schools and colleges. 1t would be just
as much in order for our Southern phi
lantrophists and educators to invade the
N orth as educational crusaders and tell
them what to teach. Thus it is seen how
arrogantly presumptuous are the origi-
nators of the movement.
For the sake of argument, we may con-
cede the motives of our would-be bene-
factors to be good, and yet being true 70
and their ideas as to the
rights, social and political, Of the negro
in the South, it can readily be seen that
great harm may be wrought by their
teaching. If there be diametrical oppo-
sition in thought, such opposition exists
between many of the leaders of thought
in the North and the South as to the
social and political status of the negro
So long as the former view the question
at distance, or from the window of a
Pullman car, they can afford to prate
about equality, universal education, the
door of hope, ETC., ad nausenm, as we
have recently heard. And this was
about all that was done. Although the
%. called movement is now some five
years old, we have heard of precious
little money being dropped by them in
the South. "Beware Of the Greeks-bear-
ing gifts"
1t may be said that no power under
heaven can put the negro in white
schools, or make him the equal of the
white man. This may be true, but
world of trouble can be caused by inoc-
culating the negro brain with false ideas
of his Importance as social and politi-
cal factor. And just here is where the
power of an idea comes in, and wrong
ideas are prolific of much mischief.
s=-e--S.-.s>-----se------
JUDGINa from the complete bottling
up of Port Arthur by the Japanese last
week, the Japanese navy as whole must
-