The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1907-10-15

side, another race IS Struggling up
ward from darg and gloomy past,
and is reaching out glad, prayerful
hands to the future. No longer the
football of a hard destiny, that race
is busy as bees in June, amid the
sweet fields of clover bloom, slipping
honey from every opening buG of
promise
Such philosophy, such loftiness of
thought, such sympathy and fine SEN
timent could only come from large,
pure soul. Now contrast that state
ment with the article that appeared
in the Item under the caption Mig
gers classed as undesirable. Inc
first statement is, There are two
classes Of Negroes in Richmond, youf
honor,-one is coiored folks and the
other niggers. This man belongs to
the latter class" This statement, ac-
cording to the Item. was made by
Prosecutor Jessup. Now just look at
that statement for a moment. Dent
YOU see that it lacks culture; refine
ment, dignity, manli1ess, sympathy,
broadness.
A man may be technically educated
and make such a statement, but II
shows that he is devoid of broad
education of facts and things and
men Why not treat this case in
which a colOred man was involved as
all other cases are treated. II l.
should happen to be German the
prosecutor would not say there are
two classes of Germans in Richmond,
your honor; one is low dutch and one
is high dutch; but would try the case
on it's merits without any such I'M
complimentary statement relative TO
the nationality to which the Violator
of law happened to belong. The per-
son that was being prosecuted IS a
boy eighteen or nineteen years ola
and is rather hot headed, although at
heart not so bad He threw a rock
at a fellow and missing him broke a
window in the union station. For this
act he ought to have been punished.
And the punishment given was not
any too severe. But why the uncom-
plmentary reference to the entire
race? 1.-TWO classes of Negroes in
Richmond" says Jessup. True there
are two classes. We are sorry that
we do not have only one class, and
that good. We are doing our best to
have it so but it is vary discOuragins
to have the people OF influence refer
to us publicly in way calculated to
bring us as race into disreDute
Some of them are colored folks and
some of them are niggers.' In other
words Jessup says that some Negroes
are colored folks and some Negroes
are niggers. Now who are the cOlored
folks? The Item takes up the remark
made by the prosecuting attorney and
devOtes column in comment and be-
cause Mr.. Rowe, in an open letter,
cOrrects a statement in this article
relative to the number and the char
acter of emigrants from Lancaster,
Ky, and shows cOIclusively that
there are not 200 here from that
place, as was stated by the Item. and
that not one from tn eplace mention
ed has ever given the city any troub-
ie, the Item devOtes another editorial
comment that is more reflective aud
damaging than the first. l should like
to ask why? You can not possibly
appreciate how humiliating and dis
couraging such articles are to the
members of our race who are doing
all within their power to lift up even
the lowest of the low among us. Not
by any means would we shield those
guilty of law violation but when you
speak in detail about the many crimes
committed by the vicious and merely
say that there are some good Negroes
can't you see that it is misleading and
hurtful? When you speak in detail
of the crimes, why not also speak in
detail of he good that is being done
in this very community by the Ne
grOes? That, it seems to me, would
be fair. There are perhaps $500 Ne
groes in this city and there have
been about 45 convicted of violation
of the law this year. The rest Of
them are in the main, law abiding
and Industrious citizens There are
nearly 300 who belong to the church
of which | am pastor and $50 more
who attend, none of whom ever give
the city any trouble. They have
church property valued at twenty
thousand dollars, all ont of debt. The
Baptists and Wesleyans have good
membership and splendid property
and are doing an excellent work. A
large number of our people own
homes; why not say something of
this, if you are going to speak in de-
tail of the crimes committed? 1t
seems to me. however, that a better
thing to do would be to punish those
who violate law without any special
reference to the race. as is the case
with German and Irish violators.
The Item says that the 'niggers,' -
as JesSup terms them, cause the po-
lice more trouble than any other
class; that they provide the majority
of the assault and battery cases and
lead in petty thieving and deeds of
desperation. Here are the facts TAX
en- from the court docket: IntOXica-
ton, negroes 7. white 1T6: assault and
battery, Negroes s, white So; petit
larceny, Negroes 6, white "a. In all
1t is a good thing to know how to
select food that will so thoroughly