The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1905-04-13
Tfeve8tor Challenges the SIanderous
New York Bishop to a Show OF
Hands as to Moral Condition of His
Diocese and the South Generally.

In New York as anywhere else in the
world. AS for Bishop Potter, he has
said and done as many silly things as
any other old gentleman We know Of.
A 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
extreme. Some time ago he'undertook
to discuss the divorce question in s.
New York newspaper. AS we recollect.
he floundered around the subject a.
good deal and failed absolutely to
make any definite suggestion or to in
dicate any coherent policy for his
church or legislation. In the course
OF his somewhat fiabby and charotic
remarks, however, he said that the alb
solute abolition Of divorce would not
do. He added: I'VE have an example
OF what would result from such s
measure in South Carolina, where the
laws do not recognize it. Prohibiting
divorce is merely putting concubinage
Z at a premium" This does not i'm
press US as high or a churchman-
ike 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
,olent "a Bishop Potter, in
eetly denyi6 he had used the
guage attrib~se6 to him and de-
bing the editors letter and article
the subject by Judge Benet, en-.
I'd with it as equally unwarranteG
tmpertinent."
b editor of the State replied with
ler respectful letter. in a perfect
" t~SFee and deferential way, taking
| on 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 shameful slander against the peo.
pie Of q whole State and that his de.
nial suggested in his own letter was
as evasive as discourteous. A few days
later Bishop Potter printed in the New
York Globe brief statement on the
Iubject, in which he said he had no
poloEy to make to South Carolina
nd extended his slander to the people
the whole South. He is quoted as
hying:
"He had simply remarked that IL
ew of the prevalence o. miscegena'
pn in the South, the pose Of lofty
d superior virtue on the part Of its
opie, anywhere had in it an element
ually comic and pathetic"
An accusation like this cannot be
stained or disproved by statistics OF
davits. 1t can be considered only
the light of general and obvious
ts. Virtue is not a things Of sections
of countries. The good are good
the bad are bad everywhere ano
rever human nature is, the affec
S and passions Of men and womer
in forbidden paths. One thing,
yer, Is certain and plain. That
is u >ht 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 woman who
did that very thing is leader Of New
Yprk's most exalted society. Nobody
knows the secrat 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 that
fthat 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 OF
the South and now he would go about
iustfying himself for circulating such
a cruel and injurious charge as that
concubinage and miscegsnation are
general in this part of the country.
The truth. is that miscegenation in its
legal sense Is impossible anywhere in
the South because it Is forbidden and
severely punished by law. We do
not hesitate to say that the charge
that these vices are general or even
widespread in the South is false, and
in making that assertion We will do
better than Bishop Potter. We will
offer good evidence to convict him Of |
falsehood if he is willing to dare the
issue. We will put on the stand the
Protestant Episcopal clergy of the
whole South, from bishops to deacons. |
They live among the people and know
them and have ample opportunity for |
knowing their life. We may assume |
that some of them, at least, are men /
who are not afraid to tell the truth |
in any circumstances or at any cost. |
For New York. we will taye the COM |
bined evidence of the clergy, the |
courts and the newspapers. Like the
editor of the State, We invite Bishop |
Potter to take the evidence, or join
us in taking it. If it sustains his ac-
cusations, We will confess with shame,
hut frankly, that he is right. II they
contradict him, will he be willing to |
confess that he has circulated an out
rageous and Infamous scandal anf
slander? We do not care whether n
attributes it to ignorance, reckleSSneS