The free lance. (Fredericksburg, Va.) 1885-1926, 1906-02-13
AS MENACE TO
THE SOUTH
Mrs. GieIOw, of Alabama, Cities
White IIliteraCy.
MAKES APPEAL 70 RICH MEN

The New York Times says.
"ln one oi the boxes ia Carnegie Hall
during the big meeting hast week ut
which Mark Twain. Joseph II. Chuate.
Robert &. Ogden aud others pleaded IN
behalf of Booker Z. Washington, who Is
here from Tu-kegte Institute To raise
81 500 600 for theeducatlun Ol Southern
negroes. there sat AN Alabama woman
whose Indignation steadily rose as the
meeting proceeded. Not that Mrs.
Martha :. GplOW. OF Greeusburough.
Ala president-p.ncral oi the southern
Industrial Educational Association. dis
likes the negro She said yesterday at
the Park Hotel that her NANNY IN
Alabama was as dear tu her a. her own,
real mother
lit is simply this, she said with We
hemeuce. while millions OF dollars are
beinr sent from the North for the educa
tion of the negro ia the South, the ignur-
ant whites are remaining ia their ignor-
auce and helplessuess. and the white peO-
ple of the South are beginning To realize
that the percentage OF ignorance ana
iliteracy is greater with their own race
than with that Oi the negro Ihl- II "a
terrible problem 90 white SouthernerS
Mrs GieloW is here 20 arrange ior a
mass-meeting as big a. that held Tor
Booker Washington and his cause. and
10 Law the claims OF her ASSOCIATION te-
fore New Workers who are willing 10
Sp.nd their wealth IN beneiiting human
ifv. She hopes 20 culIst the aid oi
Robert C. Ogden, +. HopkiusOn smith
and other prominent men and to present
before New i)rkers, ia behalf oi the poor
whites of the south, facts she has gath
cred personally in the southern states.
Thirty years ago, she said, the INIT
crate negro voters ia the south Outnum-
hered tine il.itcrate white voters by a
vast majority, but today the iiliterate
whites outnumher the lliterate blacks
bv 2T7.OuO. What will be- the result II
the gain of the black man over
the white continues az that rate ior
the next 30 years? Those who know oi
the conditions existing. especialyamoug
the mountain people of the south, are
appalled, al the prospect
Mrs. Gielow has been arguing to
Southern audiences that 1t j. time Tor
Southerners to stop building monuments
10 their heroes and To spend their money
for industrial schools for their poor and
ignorant white brethren, that they may
not be outstripped by the black man.
She has already written to Gen. &. IRVINE
Walker. of South Carolina, who Is at the
head of the movement to build "a mOnu-
Il. -. ttf rho r
and in this letter she begs that the 500
600 already collected for that purpose bt
put into "a fund iOr the education oi the
whites
"What good will monuments be to
our ancestors she asks General Walker
i'm this communication, ii the Southland
il to become a land Of educated blacks
and uneducated whites? While the best
of our people are decreasing in number
these people 1.-THE lliterate whites are III
creasing in number There is no ract
suicide here, and this increasing percent
age Of illterate native-bOrn whites III the
South is a serious menace TO the weliart
and future of our Southland.
Mrs. Gielow has addressed audiences
in Richmond. Nashville, Knoxville ano
Washington. She is a speaker OF ability
and eloquence. During the week sh'
will hold a series Of conferences with III
nuential SOntherners in this city ant
with wealthy Northern philanthroplst'
who are particularly interested in educa
ton.
The candidates for postmaster OF Lees
burg are the present incumbent, y. I
Nichols: VIM Brown, Of Lincoln. and Il
Bruce Ogden