The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-08-27
TOO MUCH MADE OF WANAMAKER AFFAIR Opinion Held in North Will Not
 be Affected A REPORTER WAS SLIGHTED Empire States Gain In Population and What the Metropolis Con
 sumes in the Way
 of Food.
BY sEWELL HAeeARD.

New York, August 26.-(special)- )-To the world at large the Wanamaker- Washing ton dining room incident is a mere bubble, but for the south it is most unfortunate; unfortunate because 1t has caused more acrimonious discussion of question, the discussion of which in bitterness can do nothing but injury to all concerned. The south is the natural home of the negro, and the southern man is and will continue to be the black mans best friend. Then is 1t not amentable that discussion should be raised that will widen the breach be- tween them? Whether Washington did right in dining with MT. Wanamaler or whether MT. Wanamaker did right in ask ing the negro to dine with him, it is not necessary to discuss now.
 But in view of the souths past experi- ence in trying to convert the north to it's view on the negro question 1t seems that it would have long since seen the futility of keeping up the effort If it is not an attempt to convince the north then why carry on the discussion? Certainly no southern mans view can be changed Why magnify an incident that would have been forgotten in a week only for the southern newspapers? It will not make the negro more tractable, it will not i'm prove the temper of the whites, it will lo stop MT. Wanamaker and others who hold his opinions from inviting the leaders of the negro race from dining with them, and 1t will not drive Booker Washington from the south.
 Northern View of the Negro.
 William P. F. Ferguson in letter to the Sun prior to the WanamakerW ington incident said:
 ''I am of northern percentage and ed- ucation, reared in an intensely anti slavery home, but only escaped naming a southern state as my birthplace through the accident of the civil war that drove my parents from their adopted state. For some years by travel and prolonged resi- dence have had opportunity to study the south and its special problems, and I am convinced that the best friend the ne- gro ever had was the southern white man, before and immediately after the war. Even yet, after all the mistakes and blunders, and with all the crueties cre- ated and perpetuated by msunderstand- ings and malice, the best friend of that hapless race is still the southern white man.
 Few people of northern birth and train ing ever wholly get over the sense of physical repulsion for the black man. see the contrast in my own family. My
 
 one of those women who would have given hearts blood to free the slaves, has never got over a distinct dislike for the presence of a negro in any capacity. My chill dren, born in sundry places and likewise educated here and there, never able to re- member when they saw colored face first used to coaxing goodies from many coal black cook never feel the black face more repulsive than the white though entertaining shocking ideas as to the proper place of the negro In society. The south has an affection for the black man that the north with all it's demands for justice to him never can feel.
 ''If at the close of the war the nation had left the south, black and white. to work out and settle the relation of the two races, the question of suffrage includ- ed, simply standing by as umpire in the adjustment of interests. not only would there have been and have continued to this day more cordial and helpful rela- ton between the two races, but violence would have been almost unknown; the negro would have been better educat- ed-not in the useless Greek and music that I have seen the northern teachers de- votedly teaching him, but in the really useful knowledge that would make him a valued member of society and would en- able him to earn money and attain posi- tion-and more negroes would have the ballot than now have 1t in the southern states"