Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1904-01-16


Correspondents of the News Leader
are instructed never TO use Western
y oion wire, while present conditions
exist, when they can avoid it. TIL "
must use tn Postal always, and when
conditions permit, must even trust the
mails rather than the Western Union"
We had intended TO discuss this cues
ton at some length, but the admirable
reply of the Petersburg, Va, INDEX AP-
PEAL, the leading Democratic Journal
of the south side is so timely, rejecting
as 1T does the sober thought of the bet
ter white element of Virginia that we
reproduce it here.
1t said in its issue of the 18th inst:
THE Richmond News-Leader cou1-
sells the people of Richmond to boycott
the Western Union Telegraph company
for employing Negroes to carry mes
sages. This advice is given, we assume,
not IN the interest of the strikers, but
ON account of the race and color of the
present messengers. The company. as
we understand it, tried to get white
boys, but did not succeed, and had to
| take Negroes. Had the effort to Sc.
cure white boys on the terms offered by
the company succeeded, probably the
News Leader would not have raised it's
voice in protest"
And again:
"Now why this discrimination Is
1t wise. inst, consistent or humane?
Are not the Negroes as well qualified to
carry telegraph messages as they are to
carry the mails, TO deliver merchandise,
, to act as BARRIERS and buffers and port
ers and in other positions in which they
are brought into close and trusty rela-
| lions with the whites? In dealing with
| this race question let us be tair and
consistent. We are neither when we
reproach the Negro for beng idle, lazy
and shiftless and at the same time close
against him the avenue to any proper
employment by which he may earn an
honest livelihood
Who could have dealt more logically
with the issue presented?
1t said further:
''There is no element of social euuali-
| ty involved in this matter. The office
of telegraph messenger is as mental in
It's nature as any of the positions we
have mentioned, in which the Negroes
serve the whites without offense. AS
matter of fact, the whites are growing
| far more squeamish over Negro associa-
| ton than they were generation or so
ago. The Congress of the Southern
Confederacy passed an act to enlist Ne
groes in the Confederate army, and
many of them were enlisted. The
whites were not only willing to serve
as officers With them, but in some cases
4 n6 hat ttn CO ID H.
signed 70 replenish the depleted ranks
of white regiments. This is not said in
advocacy of social equality, for we re-
gard that as wholly impracticable, but to
show that the men who & We their lives
for the Southern cause had no hatred
or prejudice against the Negro race"
The person who wrote that editorial
must have been a slave-owner, or asso-
ciated with one, He could not have
better stated the feelings of the white
men who played with Negro children
and who were nursed by black man.
my. The grooming lullabies that coax
ed them to sleep and the loving caress
that walked them at the dawn of day
have caused this element of southerners
W AVoh Will ShdiiSabAo ihtclCSt, uOb
only upon the 'old issue" Negroes, but
their offspring as well.
The INDEX APPEAL concluded as fol-
lows:
eve hold that the Negro in the South
is entitled not only to a fair field, but
TO some favor in his struggle for an
honest living, AID we believe it to be
sound public policy TO give him all
reasonable encouragement 60 a course
of industry, honesty and sobriety. He
must live by these means or by worse.
lie is here, and ne will live"
This is indeed the gospel of hope for
the Negro and the promise of prosper
ity for the white man as we'll
The incubus of lazy, good for-noth-
ing, degraded element would of itself
blast every hope of progress in the
southland, paralyze its industries and
blight its prosperity. The industrious
citizen. be he white or black, should be
encouraged. He cannot add one dollar TO
his individual account without to a cor
responding extent ircreasing his worth
to the community in which he lives.
Up to the hour of going to press, no
reply had been made by the NEWS
LEADER TO the searching queries of the
INDEX APPEAL. Let US hope that it is
ashamed of itself.