The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-10-12
A rrmnLr CANTON,

kf ~ 4&rHsSA CAVNkVr Discussing Booker washington's pen- chant for dining with the white people. and in . general way the question of keeping the races separate. The Kan sas city Journal says:
 1 The UniteA States seems to be about the only land where the negro has rights which the white man Is bound to sssPes In h,s couaty ssps s s sss s IT. Washington would recognise that social segregation is a neceseity; if he would respect the feelings Of the people In this particular. and if he would exer- eise . little more discretion than he heretofore has done in accepting invita- tions that place him as the table part ner at banquets with white women, he would be ah even more valuable leader of his people than he now fs.
 We confess to some feeling of sur- prise at finding such sentiments in that paper. for 1t has by no means been noted for tolerance towards the race sentiment SO firmly fixed in the South, nor has 1t always shown itself fair when referring to that sentiment.
 Be that as it may. the suggestions it makes to Booker Washington are timely and true. whether his actions in this regard have proceeded from his own pride and desire to place him. self on level with the whites. or huenced by those whom he thought better qualified to judge. or what may have been the cause of his accepting the various invitations to sit at table with the whites the fact remains that doing so has been hurtfu to his in- nuence in this section. If his school was located in the North--New Eng land. especially.--his apparent anxiety. or at least his willingness. to accept social invitations from white people might not discredit him. or work any | Injury to the cause in which he is en- gagged. It. would then be taken for granted that he was doing only what the white people wanted him to do. and that they would sustain him in 1t.
 Unfortunately for the cause in which he Is engaged and for the good he may | do, his school fs located among the people who have no patience with any effort from white or black to obliterate the line which separates the races. We | presume he intends to remain in the South. and that should make him more careful in his conduct. The good that | he can do will depend largely on his own individual conduct, as he ought to l see. If by that conduct he creates the l impression that he wishes to break I down the social barriers between the races 1t will inevitably create the inn- pression that he is teaching the same doctrine to all his people. and he cer- tainly doesn't need to be assured that his usefulness as an instructor of his
 race will be largely impaired. if not destroyed. by such impression.
 The white people of Alabama have shown great kindness for Booker Wash 1 ington. They have given him credit for good work and good Intentions in his chosen field. and have encouraged considered his laudabie efforts to better the condition of his race and at the
 same time to lead them in the only road that will assure to them the friendship
 of the white people of this State. This
 he must see and ought to appreciate. and he ought also to see that if the
 whites have reason to suspect thst he Is leading towards race equality he will I make a mistake that he will find 1t hard
 to reetify. As friend to himself and
 his work The Advertiser repeats and
 emphasizes the caution expressed by its Republican contemporary.