The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1904-06-02
The South's "lntoIerance.'
Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Richmond Times Dispatch.
Prof. William f. Dodd, of Randolph
Macon College, tells the South Allan
tic Quarterly that in the South, and
particularly in the older sections OF
it, public opinion is SO thoroughly
fixed that many suggestions which
come every day into the mind OF the
historian may not within safety even
so much as be discussed.
"To suggest" he goes on, that
the revolt from the Union in 1860
was not justified, was not led by the
most lofty-minded statesmen, is to
invite not only criticism, but an EN-
forced resignation. According to
Southern public opinion, the whole
race question is finall V settled, never
to be opened again, and in matters
further removed from the field of pol
itics, such as literature and art, it is
extremely dangerous to give voice to
adverse criticism OF the SOuth's at
tainments in the past or of her pres
ent status. Tospeak boldly
means in many instances, to destroy
ones power of usefulness.
"TO make conditions worse, our
grand Confederate camps fear that
what they call false history may be
struggled in from the North, and
have history committees, with repre-
sentatiycS in every Congressional dis
trict. whose business is to keep watch
and put out of the schools any and
all books which do not come up to
their standard of local patriotism.
| have seen the very best
books we have in American history
ruled out of the South by these COM
mittees and as a rule the
very poorest books to be found any
where are the favored ones of our in
dexexpurgatorious. The Confederate
veteran works almost as great havoc
in the field of history, though he un
questiOnably does some good, us
does the Union veteran in the neigh
borhood of the United States Treas
pry.
This extract from Prof DOdd's ar
ticle is reproduced in the Independent
as q fair presentation of conditions
in the South But it is not fair.
Southern men are careful about the
histories used in public schools and
do not propose that these histories
shall be written from q Northern
point of view. They are perfectly
willing that their children shall be
taught the facts of history, but they
are unwilling to have them taught
that when the Southern States
seeded they acted without their
constitutional rights and were re-
bellious, and that the men who took
up arms in defense of Southern rights
were rebels and traitors. Therefore,
they have discarded Northern his
tories from the schools and have
adopted histories written by South
ern writer's. 1t may be that some of
the Southern histories lean too far
the other way and are partisan, but
the choice is between the histories of
Northern authors and the histories
of Southern authors, and of course
histories written from IL Southern
point OF view are employed. This
paper and other papers in Virginia
have urged that partisan Southern
histories are only less Objectionable
than partisan Northern histories
We have urged that the children be
taught history and not fiction, and
we have never been condemned for
taking that stand. 1t is not fair,
therefore, for Prof. DOdd to make it
appear that the Southern people are
unwilling to have their children
taught the facts of history in rela-
ton to the Civil War
What he says on the negro ques-
ton is also misleading. There is one
phase of this question that Southern
people will not discuss, and that is
the question of social equality be-
tween the races. 1t is not debatable
question and there is no sense in de-
batingit. Southern whites have long
since determined that the line OF
separation must be sharply drawn,
and it is quite true that Southern
sentiment will not tolerate any de-
parture from the rule and that the
Southern people will not tolerate
any man who is in favor of obliber-
ating the line. Southerners will not
permit the doctrine OF social equality
to be taught, any more than they
would permit men to teach treason
and Instruction
Southern whites have also deter
mined that the negro shall not rule
over them and they are intolerant
of any man who is in favor of putting
the negro into prominent political
position.
But other phases of the negro
question may be discussed and are
discussed ad libitum. This is abun-
dainty proven by the files of the
1fnleS-Dispatch. We have published
in our news columns all sorts of ar
tlcles from correspondents, both
white and black, on the education OF
the negro, on negro crime. on lynch
ing, and there have been views in ex-
tense pro and con. In the editorial
department we have discussed the
question time and again, even to
wearisomeness, perhaps, and we have
often been on the unpopular side.
But while our views have not been
popular, there has been no endeavor
to muzzle the paper and no general
condemnation of its course so far as
we know. The editors of the South
deal continually with the public, and
we think that all will bear testimony
that they have as much freedom oil
speech as they desire.
Women find quick reliefin Dr. Thacher's
Liver and Blood Syrup.