Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1905-06-13

the only one Where i keep an open ac-
count from year to year. have had
this account there about ten years. My
wife (end daughter now. also) are af-
ficted with the "Wanamaker habit
"a disease for which Keely never in.
vented any cure). They go there and
stay all day-stand on their feet, look
Ing at his tempting wares, as the tip
pier hangs around a saloon, until they
come home at night In condition oi
collapse. I can't blame them. They
are made that way. Mr.. Ogden keeps
a fine store-a tempting store-one OF
the best in America In all my deal
ings with him, he has never sold me
a shoddy piece Of goods have always
got my moneys worth. AS a merchant
he is a man Of the highest order OF
genius. But as teacher on the race
problem, he is man Of profound and
pathetic ignorance, where money and
position make him a fanatic Of dan
gerous and far-reaching power.
II Mr.. Ogden ran a restaurant fol
negroes and whites apart from his
store, 1t would be matter Of little
Importance. 1t would become a negro
Joint In a few weeks. No first class
restaurant in New York dares allow
negroes at its tables. But Mr.. Ogden's
dining room is not run to make money
1t Is there for the accommodation OF
his women shoppers, that they may not
leave as long as their money lasts
hence the atrocity of his use Of 1t fol
the purpose Of preaching social equal
| ity.
II you ask me why I continue to
patronize his store, say to you
frankly that I am a married man.
don't patronize his restaurant, mol
do my wife and daughter. have
begged and pleaded with my wife ir
vain for years, trying to rescue her
from the slavery of the "Wanamaker
habit" AS well talk to an opium
eater or an old topper! She has sworn
to me again and again that she will
reform. but the minute she strikes
New York, straight to Mr.. Ogden's
store she goes: I don't object to her
going there on his account-far from
II, She is a good Georgia girl. who
graduated on the race problem long
ago. confess my reasons are finan-
cial.
II am now consumed with a secret
hope that when Mr.. Ogden reads this
he will find 1t so "comtemptible," sc
absolutely absurd" as to make "a
denial or explanation purely ridicu-
lous," and that he will order the head
Of his book department to throw "The
Leopard's Spots" and "The Clansman'
out and make my name taboo In his
shop forever more. Then, oh Lord. will
I give thanks. for my wife will never
go there any more, and shall be
saved! At least, I'll save from $500 to
81, 900 annually!
II the editor Of the State wishes to
test the question of Mr.. Ogden's pitt
fui negro obsession, let him challenge
the president of the Southern" Edu-
cational conference to give up his re-
gro propaganda restaurant, or resign
his presidency! I'll guarantee that
negroes will continue to eat with white
ladies In his store. and that the con-
ference will find a new presiding offi-
Ger! I may be mistaken; 1t Is barely
possible that Mr.. Ogden's innovation
Of the past few years in associatine
with southern white people may have
broadened his mind-but will not be-
!ieve 1t until see 1t.
The State asks why I have delayed
my attack on the efforts Of group
Of good d-hearted, weak-minded Yankee
philanthropists to pauperize the edu-
cational system of the south in the In
terests Of negro equality.
Again I will be frank. This South
ern" Educational society is composed
OF many Of my warm personal friends
among them Mr.. Page. my publisher
They are In dead earnest and their
aim Is high, and In the main, good.
have hoped that they might shake on
the influence Of such men as Ogden
and the editors of the northern negro
organs like the Outlook. But 1t seems
vain hope. The truth Is, these negro
propagandists are the men who secure
the funds which make the Southern
Educational board a power to be reck-
oned with.
AS a southerner. who loves the south
and the north, and who believes that
the south has performed a mighty
service for this republic In preserving
our racial integrity in spite of the
efforts of such men as Mr.. Ogden to
corrupt it. view with suspicion the
Greeks who bear gifts. And I venture
mildly to suggest that Southern
Educational board with its headquar-
| .ers in a negro equality restaurant or
Broadway, New York, Is a legitimate
subject Of discussion.
The State has been deceived. at least
about Mr.. Ogden, whose real interests
have always been with the negro dur
ing his entire life. He is the president
of the board Of trustees Of the negro
school at Hampton. and on the board
at Tuskegee. If he were to deny over
his signature his negro loving obses-
sion, 1t would raise laugh among his
friends which could be heard to Phil
adelphia. This soft spot in his brain
is so we'll known here that 1t Is
Joke, and Is excused by his more ro-
bust associates as a mild form Of in
sanity.
1t is a good time for the State to
gracefully withdraw as an Ogdenite
champion. You are not bound to KEEP
1t up.
Many subtle forces are ct work ir
America to undermine the barriers
which separate our 100000 Africans
from the white race. There Is enough
negro blood here, II allowed to mix
with ours, to drown the national char
acter at last In a welter Of negroio
| mongrelism. Neither liberation. edu-
cation nor religion can make negro
white man, nor justify the pollution
Of our blood with his.
In my, humble Judgment the most
insidious, dangerous movement against
southern sentiment since the war IL