The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1905-06-15

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powerful manner possible by pelson
al example.
Mr. Ogden is the head of the Johl
Wanamaker store in New York, ant
he conducts there the only tirst-cl;ls
restaurant in the metropolis where /
big buck negro is allowed to ente
and seat himself at the same tabl
with white mans wife and daugh
ter. So far as know this is tn
only restaurant where such ID disgust
ing spectacle can be seen IN New
York. and, So far as | know, Mr. Og
den is the originator of the idea il
this town.
am inclined to think that oul
people of the South were little an
fair to President Roosevelt about hi
famous lunch with Booker L Wash
ington. 1t was purely an accident
of the Presidents busy life. Booker
happened to be there at the lunch
hour-the President wished to talk
with him and accordingly lunch was
served in an informal manner. MI
Roosevelt did not mean to preach
social equality with negroes-he
does not believe in it. In the heat
of politics we of the South didn't
tote fair with our dashing young
President.
But in Mr. Ogden's case we have
the real thing: an honest, earnest,
well-meaning Yankee fanatic who
does believe in it with all his soul.
He not only believes in it, he breaches
it. He not only breaches it, he
practices it. l have nothing to say
about what he may choose to do at
his own table in his own home. But
l have the right as citizen and a
patron of his store to object to his
attempt to force my family to eat at
the same table with negroes.
The State declared, before learning
my identity, that "the authors in
tlmacy with things Southern is not
the point, his knowledge of Mr. Og-
den s mode of association with per-
sons of color is the question at issue" "
The point is we'll taken. | have
voted in New York con tinuously
since 1889. My knowledge on this
issue is ample and rst-handed. MIR
Ogden's store is the only one where
l keep an open account from year to
year. have had this account there
about ten years. My wife (and
daughters now, also), are afflicted
with the "Wanamaker habit" Ia
disease for which Kelley never in
vented any cure). They 60 there
and stay all day-stand on their
feet, looking at his tempting wares,
as the tippler hangs around a sa,
loon, until they come home at night
in condition of collapse. I can't
blame them. They are made that
way. Mr. Ogden keeps fine store
a tempting store-one of the best in
America. In all my dealings with
him he has never showed me shod-
dy piece of goods have always
got my moneys worth. As a mer-
chant he is man of the highest
order of genius. But as teacher
on the race problem, he IS a man of
profound and pathetic ignorance,
where money and position make him,
a fanatic of dangerous and far
reaching power.
If Mr. Ogden ran restaurant for
whites and negloes apart from his
store it would be a matter of little
importance. IL would become a ne
gro joint in d few weeks. But Mr.
Ogden's dining room is not run to
make money. 1t is there for the
accommodation of his women shop
pers, that they may not leave as
long as their money lasts. Hence
the atrocity of his use of it for the
purpose of preaching social equality.
If You ask me why | continue to
patronize his store I say to you
frankly that 1 am married man.
l don't patronize his restaurant, nor
do my wife and daughters. | have
begged and pleaded with my wife
for years trying to rescue her from