Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1904-05-14
An Open Letter to Dr.. B. F. Yard.

DEAR DIR While l admire "our
B shop" and love him sincerely l have
to write to congratulate. and to thank.
you for your timely answer to his recent
address at Birmingham. I coadsmnsd
the Bishops speech very much and had
thought of answering 1t myself and on
trovertiug tho statements he made. 1t
Ia true, az he stated. that va are scarce
Of labor in Miss, but not because We
propose to limit tho education Of the ne
gro to its proper bounds. but because OF
our ~unexcelled prosperity on account OF
the opening up Of u delta lands and
the building Of so many miles Of rail-
road and tho establishment Of numerous
saw mills in the state. l venture to say
there are more negroes in the state than
ever before. deny that there 10 any
unrest amsng the negroes. q Y in the
cities, where there Is an element OF dis
satisfaction on account Of the law en-
acted by the last legislature. requiring
owners Of the street cars to furnish sep
arate accommodation for the races. and
the law against vsgrancy. This 10 the
class that tho Bishop has come In con-
tact with. "Hinc lilac tachrymae.' !
challenge the Bishop to name his negro
who wishes to sell his property at = fair
valuation and | will find the buyer
Furthermore, II he will find one in Nox-
ubee county who will sell for double
what he paid for it ton years ago l will
find q buyer. No. the negro knows his
life, liberty and property are perfectly
safe under our present administration ;
he il content to live under the benefcent
rule Of white mon, and will continue to
be 90 il such honorsd white mon as Bish-
CD Galloway will let him alene and stop
trying 10 make him believe that he =
at himself to enter tho ''door Of hope
held open for him by Republicans Of the
Roosevelt stripe. The Bishop scouts
tho idea Of the Anglo Saxon fearing no
gro supremacy and negro rule. and cites
the fact that We haye q constitutional
barrier to this. but he forgets that sdu.
cation like he advocates will rsmovs this
in a great measure. and when this &C.
ours how will We in counties like Noxu.
bee fare, 8, 900 negro voters and 1. 200
white I Arc not the white Republicans
of Mississippi Anglo-Saxons and educa-
ted men. and did they not have to yield
tho chairmanship Of their last state o
vsntion to q negroi No, Dr., We will
mover have negro rule in tho south
again, for in spite Of tho fact that our
towns and cities were garrisonsd with
Federal soldiers In 1875. We wrenched
the government from their hands with
the slogan. DRY Tortugas or white n
prsmacy.'' and should the time ever
como whom the negroes, educated and
arrogant. shall try to wrest the govern
ment from the hands Of the whites, then
the slogan will be Deportation, Extsr-
minatiou or White Supremacy" The
Bishop said that deportation was i'm
possible and that the white people would
not consent to 1t il 1t were possible. -
This l., true and will be true as long as
the negro remains ~ he 10. We have a
white league in No1ubee county to
protect labor and to prevent labor agents
enticing away u lsborers. but should
a labor agent come to u county and
announce that he wanted to procure only
a few Of our educated negroes, preach
ers and teachers, We would give him
carte blanvhe and none would be found to
say him nay.
So. Dr., l thank you for your splsnd'
i'd defence of our state government and
treatment Of the negro. and ! pray God
to spare you many years. old Confede
rate as You are, to defend our state and
to SGT right our young mon. like the
Bishop. who have grown up since the
war. and from their associations have
become 4 little too liberal.
Your true friend and sincere admirer.
E. D. CAVETT.