The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1905-04-13
A RED HOT ANSWER
COL A. B. WiIIiaws Takes Bishop
Peter Severely 10 Task
SOME VERY BRILLIANT ARGUMENTS
The Editor Challenges the elsnoefous
New York Bishop 10 q Show Of
Hands ~ TO Moral Condition Of His
Diocese and the ssusr Generally.

Bishop Potter Of New York Is one at
the pet superstitions of this e4suntfF.
He is part of the general New York
superstition. Because New York Is
/ big. most Of us assume that any man
who becomes prominent there must be
very large and great man indeed.
| We persistently forget that as many
| fakrs, humbugs and lightweights rat
| tie and swell around in large places
! in New York as anywhere else in the
world. AS for Bishop Potter, he has
| said and done as manr silly things as
any other old gentleman we know of.
| 4 recent experience OF his indicates
| that his manners are as bad as his
| morals in some respects are defective,
his judgment IS bad and his arragence
| extrCfnc. Some time ago he undertook
i TO discuss the divorce question in
| New YORK newspaper. AS We recollect,
he fioundered around the subject a
good deal and failed absolutely to
make any definite suggestion or to in
| dicatt any coherent policy for his
! church or legislation. In the course
Of his somewhat flabby and charotic
remarks, however, he said that the alb
solute abolition of divorce would not
| lie. He added: I'VE have an example
Of what would result from such
measure in South Carolina, where the
laws do not recognize it. Prohibiting
divorce is merely putting concubinage
| at a premium" This does not i'm
press us as a high or a churchman-
like view. Certainly concubinage is
not at premium anywhere in South
Carolina.
The editor of the Columbia Is. c.
State wrote Bishop Potter very re-
spectful letter. pointing out to him
that he had done the homes and peo-
pie Of the State serious injustice, re-
ferring him to the bishop and clergy
Of his own church in that State for
evidence and asking him to make care
full inquiry into the facts and then
take such steps as equity and justice
may dictate"
In reply the editor received a most
insolent letter from Bishop Potter, in
directly denying that he had used the
language attributed to him and de-
scribing the editors letter and article
on the subject by Judge Benet, en-
closed with it as equally uiiwarranted
and impairment"
The editor Of the State replied with
another respectful letter, in & perfect
ly proper and deferential way, taking
off the bishops hide. He pointed out
that the offensive paragraph had been
published prominently, that Bishop
Potter did not seem fit to make any
denial or correction of an outrageous
and sham eful SANDER against the peo
pie CT whole State and that his de
NAL suggested in his own letter was
| A Co.
later Bishop Potter printed in the New
York Globe a brief statement on the
subject, in which he said he had no
apology to make to South Carolina
and extended his SANDER to the people
of the whole South. He is quoted as
saying:
He had simply remarked that in
view Of the prevalence Of miscegena-
ton in the South, the pose Of lofty
and superior virtue on the part Of its
people, anywhere had in it an element
equally comic and pathetic"
An accusation like this cannot be
sustained or disproved by statistics or
affidavits. 1t can be considered only
in the light of general and obvious
facts. Virtue is not things Of sections
CT of countries. The good are good
and the bad are bad everywhere and
wherever human nature is, the affec-
tons and passions OF 1nen and women
stray In forbidden paths. One thing.
however, is certain and plain. That
is that the moral tone Is indefinitely
cleaner and the social standards are
indefinitely higher in South Carolina
than in Bishop Potter's diocese. Ger
tainly a woman divorced from her
husband and married to another man
inside Of twenty-four hours would not
BE received IN respectable society any.
where in the South. Yet a woman who
did that very thing IS a leader of New
forks most exalted society. Nobody
knows the secret annals Of vice; but
every observer who. has met and
known the people of New York and
any Southern State knows that in the
South vastly less filth is talked and
written than in New York. The natu
raj and inevitable presumption is that
lives in the South are very much
cleaner. The women whose conduct
and conversation are so distinctly
loud and bad as to justify definite
criticism is tabooed in every Southern
State. Bishop Potter cannot say thai
that Is the case even in the highest
and theoretically most exclusive SO
ciety of his own community.
1t would be interesting to know
where Bishop Potter got his impress
sions of the morals of the people O
the South and how he would go abou
justifying himself for circulating sucl
cruel and injurious charge as tina
concubinage and miscegenation arr
general in this part of the country
The truth is that miscegenation in it!
legal sense is impossible anywhere il
the South because it is forbidden anc
severely punished by law. We d.
not hesitate to say that the charg,
that these vices are general or ever
widespread in the South Is false, ant
in making that assertion We will d.
better than Bishop Potter. We vii
offer good evidence to convict him O
falsehood if he is willing to dare th,
issue. We will put on the stand tn
Protestant Episcopal clergy of tn
whole South, from bishops to deacons
They live among the people and know
them and have ample opportunity fo
knowing their life. We may assum
that some Of them, at least, are me-
who are not afraid to tell the trutl
in any circumstances or at any cost
For New York. we will take the CON
/ hined evidence OF the clergy, tn