The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-08-10

| OC O<A0A
And If We call on the Father, who with
out respect of persons judgeth according
to every mans work. Peter IN
Recently the country has been given
two exhibitions of caste or race pref
udice that have been little short of
disgusting. In one instance high Of
fetal of the United States govern
ment, in an effort to grasp for himself
all the riches left by a wealthy father,
makes the accusation that negro blood
flows in the veins of hs stepmother.
In the other instance, a young woman
of beauty, refinement and culture had
attained high honors in great uni
versity by her scholarship. yet she
was suddenly ostracised by those who
had associated with her for years be-
cause it was rumored that, notwith-
standing her attachments, she was
really a negress.
There are those who tnstfncttvely
shrink from the idea of a mixture of
the blood of races, and perhaps right
ly so; for the feeling is inherent. Nor
is it confined to Anglo-Saxons alone.
for many an old-time negro looks
with disfavor on race intermarriage.
The sentiment goes back for ages and
has existed to a greater or less ex-
tent among all races.
1t does not follow, however. that
individuals ought to be ostracised be-
cause somewhere in generations gone
by there was a crossing Of races. IN
dividual merit should count instead of
caste. This certainly does not mean
that the Anglo-Saxon must recognize
the negro-as a race-as social and
intellectual equal for the fact remains
that the negro is not the equal of the
Anglo-Sa socially and intellect
ually.
Nor does 1t follow that the mixture
of races always results in deterioration.
1t has not been definitely established
that either Cecilia Johnson or the
of Vespasian Warner is
tainted with negro blood, but even If
they are, ought not their individual
characters to determine their places
in the world, rather than any accident
of birth?
1t is an exceedingly complicated
subject-this question of the inter-
mingling of races,-but when races
do intermingle. justice would seem to
dictate the rule laid down by the
Creator, who made both white and
black, who without respect of per-
sons judgeth according to every mans
work"
While the two races are unequal as a
whole it cannot be denied that some
individuals among the blacks are
superior in every way to degenerate
whites. and the day may come when
the white race Will not assert its su-
periority as it does now. Forty or
fifty generations ago. the progenitors
Of the Anglo-Saxon roamed the north |
Of Europe, savage and barbarous, |
vastly inferior to the Greek and the |
Roman. Now the old Greek and |
Roman would themselves be semi |
while the Anglo-Saxon |
rules the globe with his intellect. On |
the other hand it is not unlikely that |
the great-grandfathers of some Of our
educated negroes were savages in the |
vilds of Africa. When one considers
he remarkable advance of the color
I'd race in few generations, even
though oppressed by slavery, what
may not be the attachments of the
ace thirty generations hence?
But to get back to individuals:
When John Warner, the rich Illinois
banker. courted the Ohio girl whom
his son now accuses OF being part
legress, he was charmed by her grace
md beauty. She had no racial char
lcteristics to make repugnant a mar
'iage with an Anglo-Saxon. For
hirty years she has borne herself
,reditably in society as the wife of
John Warner. Even though there
nay be an infinitesimal quantity of
legro blood in her veins, does she not
Itand just as high now, intellectually
md morally. as she did before this
harge was made by Vespasian
Warner? Are her children-the 9TH
r children of John Warner-inferior
o Vespasian Warner?
For four years Cecilia Johnson
anked high among her classmates in
,hicago University. She was rec {
gnized factor in college organiza-
Ions and only after her connection
nth a negro family was discovered,
7as she ostracized. Whether this :
onnection be by blood or by adop- J
lon, do not the attainments and the
ducation of Cecilia Johnson entitle
er to the same recognition now as
hey did year ago? I
It's the character that counts-not I
he caste.
l.
WHOSE BONES?