Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1905-10-24
1ILLMAN AND THE cLANsHAn.
Senator Says plxon's Book ls Timely
and Proper. ...lta 81

y
L have read the book and tonight !
saw the play, and see nothing In 1t
that a southern man could justly crit
icize. Some OF the actors are weak,
but when facts are considered every
southern man and woman, and for
that matter every northern man and
woman should see through what the
people Of the south have passed. ~ ~
+ was an active participant insthe
Ned Tenant riots In Edgefeld In 1874.
1 was an active participant In all Of
he contests that were made In my
county to maintain the supremacy OF
the Anglo. Saxon race, and took part IN
the riots between the white and colored
races in Hamburg and Elienton In
1915. I therefore speak with the au-
thority Of experience, and ! am sur
priced to find that there are those
among us who are ready to cridcise
Dixon for writing "The Clansrnap." II
It was good thing, as many millions
of Americans have been taught to be-
lieve and so taught their children, that
Uncle Toms Cabin" was truthful
history, then It Is certainly right for
a southern man to depict In graphic;
style the horrors Of reconstruction.
Something has, been. said. aboutJthe
Ku Klux having had no hand In re-
deeming South Carolina. The Ku. Klux
made the Red Shirts possible, and It
required both. to create those condi-
tions which caused the overthrow OK
the carpet-baS governor-just as 1t
required the conversation and wisdom
of Hampton together with the dash
and daring Of Mart Gary to lead the
Red Shirts in '76. Neither could have
won without the other. No. well In
formed person will sneer at the ku
Klux or condemn them. Possibly they
are not entitled to all the credit which
Dixon gives them, but they kept alive
the spirit of resistance and the deter
mination to preserve our civilization.
Many Of the rising generation are
ignorant Of what their fathers had to
endure. and especially in the north ig-
norant of what tyranny and degrada-
tion- was perpetrated in the south In
the name of liberty. -
+ have been led to ponder within the
last week or two whether or not this
younger generation, which Is fast be-
coming imbued with Yankee CONNER
cialism, would meet q similar crisis II
II was forced upon them as we older
men met II. It may be said that such
a thing Is not possible, but to the care
fu! student Of history the amalgama-
ton of the races ultimately is the
greatest danger confronting the south
ern people. South Carolina has 1885,
600 more negroes in Il than whites;
Mississippi has 100000 more negroes
In 1t than whites; North Carolina, Geor-
gia, Florida, Alabama, mississippi. and
Louisiana have $4,000 more negroes In
the aggregate than they have whites.
At present these states are absolutely
controlled by the white people, but the
fourteenth and fifteenth amendments
to the United States constitution,
which are still In force give the negro
free and equal rights with the white
man, and II Is declared that no man
shall be Disseminated against on ac-
count Of rare, color, or previous condi-
ton Of s. ltude. With these issues
now confronting US, who then Is safe
to say that the solution Of the race
question is arriving? There Is nothing
more certain than that political su-
premacy II given to the negro would
mean social equality. This means
amalgamation and the southern, or
northern people who are condemning
the Clansman and kissing II are like
the ostrich who hides his head In sand
ard thinks his body is protected.
How long will 1t take In South Car
olina for negroes to establish suprem-
acy, cannot say. Maybe It will take
100 years, though there are more ne
gro children going 10 school tnan
white children. for there are more ne
groes. But a hundred years Is a very
small span in the life Of a people and
a nation, and ~as long as the XIV
Amendment stands the south viii have
to battle for civilization.
My township In Edgefield county had
four negro voters to one white, and
there were two large companies OF ne
gro militia IN 1t. Their conduct and
insolence-so far exceeded the behavior
Of the militia in the "Clansman" that
there Is no comparison between the
two. I venture the assertion that no
grown man who was an actor In the
scenes Of the Reconstruction period
viii ever have aught to say in criti-
cism Of Dixon's play. To imagine that
because at the present time there Is
no seeming opposition between the two
races that this problem is not hanging
like milestone about our neck, and
VIII yet demand solution Is pure idiocy
1t is a crime against our children.