The Washington herald., 1907-04-01
IS TO Wicked Rrounsville

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Let US now consider the sad case Of
ownsviIle-Brownsyille. Tex, by the
Rio Grande
I1me was when Brownsville blushed un-
seen. Tucked away down in a corner Of
the Lone Star State. many miles from a
railroad. with the warm Gulf in front of
It and the land of our Cousin Diaz lust
across the remarkable river. which fire.
quentiy can be better navigated by an
OK cart than by any sort Of boat. the
town was serene, careless. and happy.
Lawless it certainly was not, judged By
the standards of the Southwest. occa-
sionally. at some bale or fiesta. largely
attended by the dark-hued ones from
across the river. there occurred those
clashes which are inevitable when at
tempts are made to mix the oil Of the
white race with the water Of races which
are brown, or red, or yellow, or black.
Occasionally, too. blood was shed among
persons whose social status was higher
than that Of the revelers from across the
river and from the out-country. But for
the matter of that. blood has been shed
in New York, and even in Boston 10 say
nothing of a few other places, among men
who had wealth and position and what is
called culture. Brownsville was breezy
and unconventional, but it was no worse.
and perhaps a trihe better than countless
other towns of similar size in the lureful
Southwest-and maybe, a few in the
North and East.
Then a man sitting at a desk in Wash
ington sent down 10 Fort Brown. the
military post at Brownsville. three com
panies of a regiment of soldiers composed.
except as TO officers, Of negroes. The man
at the desk knew. or should have known.
that he was inviting trouble. At any rate,
his invitation was promptly accepted.
Friction resulted. and the elimination was
the ''affray' of last August. The country
knows what followed
Now comes the esteemed Boston Tran
script, whose propinquity to the scene, as
well as its grasp of the race question in
the South and its broad and impartial
attitude with reference to ali things
Southern, to inform us that Brownsville
is about the worst place in the universe.
" The bad man is very much in evil
dence," says the Transcript. which later
tells US that the whole region is a dark
and bloody ground. where neither United
States soldiers. nor tenderfeet. nor even
peaceful natives are safe from "a mon
grel population, given to violence and
drunkenness. It is not odd, therefore.
that the Transcript thinks ''the abandon
ment of the military reservation .
will occasion no grief in the army, which,
has long regarded the whole Rio Grande
valley in that State as a region of pecul-
iarly vexatious exile"
These revelations-based, as we have
said, on that intimate acquaintance with
Southern and Southwestern conditions so
characteristic of the Transcript-give us
decided pause. We doubt not that they
viii disturb the people Of Brownsville,
and of Texas as a whole. even more than
us. An officer of the Twenty-fifth In
fantry, who testified about the moral de-
pravity and general cussedness of the peo-
pie OF the town, met with "A tn quoque
from citizens of unquestioned stand ng
and probity. thoroughly familiar with his
mode OF life in Brownsville. which was
SO potent as to create the impression
that the son of Mars might have been
mistaken. But, Of course. all that is in
no way analogous TO the case Of the
Transcript It knows
Still, we must confess that we are some
what troubled We would not presume
10 suggest that anything said by our
Boston contemporary needs confirmation.
yet we yearn for some official information
in the premises. The reports of the several
army officers who have conducted investi-
cations al Brownsville. 10 say nothing Of
Assistant to the Attorney General Purdy,
DO not tel us all that we would know
Everything considered we rather ap-
prove the suggestion that the Military
Affairs Committee of the Senate go TO
the Texas town and not only diseqSsa
how fesacitizE1s managed TO Kill on
their sEsss