Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1904-07-09

Apply 60 MIN with all of its differences
the wellknown English maxim. Evil
be TO him who evil thinks
But after all, the Negro is but tn g
looking-glass in which the Whites may
see themselves reflected.
That the Negro has improved in NOR
atty admits of no question. for any i'm.
provement whatever removes hun from
that degradation of slavery from which
the legions of the North rescued him.
Mr.. PAGE then delves in filth and
searches the sewers of calumny in order
co ruin us before the thoughtful white
elements OF the New World.
He then gloried in the utterances of
Mr.. WILLIAM HANNIBAL THOMAS of
Massachusetts and said
mo inconsiderable part of it's value
is owing to the fact that the author a
free, coloIed man, has had both the
power to observe closely and the courage
TO record boldly the results of his obser-
vations. In the chapter on Moral
Lapses' the author Us: All who
know the Negro recognize, however,
that the chief and overpowering
element in his make up is an imperious
sexual impulse which, aroused at the
slightest incentive, sweeps aside all re-
Stralnts IN the pursuit of physical graft
fication. We may say now that this
element of Negro character constitutes
the main Indictment to degeneracy of
the race and is the chief hindrance to its
social uplifting.
The Negroes ethical code sternly re.
probates dancing, theater attendance.
and all social games of chance 1t does
not. however. forbid lying, rum. drink.
ing, or stealing. Furthermore, a man
may trail his loathsome form into the
sanctity of private homes, seduce
wife. sister, or daughter with impanity,
and be the father of score of illegiti-
mate children by as many mothers, and
yet be disciple of holiness and honor
ed with public confidence"
Mr.. PAGE remarked:
His chapter on this subject will be.
TO those unfamiliar with it, terrible
exposure of the depravity Of the Ne
groes in their social life, but it is only
what those who have studied the sub.
ieot know.
The curse of this frightful immortality
rs over the church and the school, and
gives no evidence of abatement.
Mr.. PAGE cited the unsupported testi
mony of IA colored man who lives in
MASSACHUSETTS, ignoring the state.
ments OF such distinguished race leaders
as Prof. BOOKER T. WASHINGTON and
Prof. w. II. CoUNCILL of Alabama and
Prof. r. r. WRIGHT of Georgia d
Prof. ". e. B. DUBOIS, who have made
a special study Ct the subject.
He quoted the following nauseatfng
statement which it is impossible TO
prove by any information in the hands
of any one in the known world:
"The simple truth" admits the
writer already quoted, is that there
is going on side by side in the Negro
people minimum progress with a
maximum regress."
= IL is. therefore" he saws on pare
1873, " almost impossible TO find a Der.
son of either sex over fifteen years of
age who has not had carnal in tercourse
And again, on page 1S4, he declares:
Marital ImmOralities, however, are nor
confined TO the poor, the ignorant. and
he degraded among the freed people.
but are equally common among those
who presume TO be educated and re-
| fined"
Mr., PAGE added his unsupported tes-
timony, based upon hear-say testimony.
too flimsy TO bring about the conviction
of a yellow dog in the night. time. He
said:
unfortunately for the race. this de.
pressing view is borne out by the in
crease of crime among them; by the
increase of superstition, with it's black
trail OF unnamable immortality and vice.
bv the homicides and murders, and bv
the outbreak and growth of the brutal
crime which has chiefly brought abuut
the frightful crime of lynching which
stains the good name of the South and
has spread northward with the spread
OF the Negro ravisher.
1t Is fact which no one will DENY
that the crime of rape was substantially
unknown during the period of slavery,
and was hardly known during the first
years Of freedom: it is the fatal product
of new conditions Twenty-Five years
ago women in the South went unattend-
ed, with no more fear of attack than
they have in New England To-day no
woman in the South goes alone upon
the highway out of sight of White men.
except on necessity, and no man leaves
his women alone in his house if he can
help it, Over 500 White women and
children have been assaulted in the
South by Negroes within that time"
Mr.. PAGE, we live here and you err
grievously when you say that no whit
woman can go out upon the high ways
out of sight of white men. Your own
assertion proves the falsity of your
statement. There are nearly ten mil.
lion Negroes in the Southland to-day
and during a period of twenty five
years, only five hundred white women
and children have been assaulted by
any of them. This would bring the
case down to less than one-thousandtt
of one per cent. What race can show
better record
But Mr.. PAGE tells about the Ne
groes' immortality; what about til,
White mans vices? Has he forgotten
the lecherous conduct OF the Whites il
their march TO PEKIN CHINA in order I,