The Aberdeen weekly. [volume] (Aberdeen, Miss.) 1878-1933, 1908-12-18
The Common Ground

+ Mr.. taft plea Tor breakup of +
the solid South, delivered before
the North Carolina Society of New
York, Monday night, must be pred
icated upon sounder grounds than
arguments adduced before this sec T
tion will he hypnotized into politi- (
cal channels at variance with its
interests Mr.. Taft urges that no
equality between the races shall be +
enforced by law or brought about 4.
by political measures. The South +
has never feared nor contem plated +
anything Of the kind; for the
strong Anglo Saxon instinct in the
blood of all Southerners has pre-
cluded such a craven idea. The
corpuscles of the white mans blood
are immune from contamination
with the blood of an inferior race
The grading of the white mans
progeny is ever upward, never
downward. Mr.. Taft has lost
/ sight Of this fundamental princi-
pie of sociology which has adyan-
ced the Anglo Saxon to the foremost
rank of races i'm the world Be
sides, he ingores the fact that the
South countenances no issue of
race equality. and the negro is
/ 10th To accept that such condi-
/ tion can not bt enforced by polti
/ cal measures. The race instinct is
/ innate-an intuitive assurance Of
superiority, which God has planted
80 strongly in the human makeup
as to make violation lit well nigh
| impossible. Mr. Taft has lost
sight of these finer sensibilities of
| the Southern people; has ignored /
the Fundamentally and, therefore,
/ his argument falls to the ground
The gist of Mr.. Tafts logic advo-
Gates race equality. There can be
no race equality without social
equality If the races are equal,
they are socially equal, and all of
this whipping the devil around the
stump is as nauseating as it is con-
temptible. Mr.. Taft contends for
a political equality of the races, a
policy to avert which, the best
craftsmanship of the South has
been brought into play since the
days of reconstruction. Political
equality of the races means black
supremacy in the South, and Mr..
Taft knows it. The bouquets he is
now casting to this section are +
redolent with equivOcal fragrance,
which, at any thine, may develop I
into noxious vapors. His utter
ances proceed from an intense
! Northern comprehension of the
Southern situation, and are entire
ly out of harmony with the senti- I
ments of the people of this section.
He talks about the elimination of |
the race question as if it were easy
of accomplishment, and, in the
next breath, bans the only means |
by which it may be done by refer
ing to the repeal of the fifteenth |
amendment in the following words: |
ITO repeal the fifteenth amend
ment is utterly impracticable.
Take it all in all, Mr.. Taft's speech |
presents the greatest bundle of in
consistencies yet flung to the South.
His common ground, upon which |
Americans of all races and sections
can align themselves, irrespective
of section or race, but according to /
individual political views, exists
more in his desire than in any prob |
ability. If a common ground
ever obtains, it will not be of Mr.. |
ITaft's making nor in line with the |
present Northern idea of what so
cial conditions should be in the
! South. The cardinal feature of the /
only common ground the South !
would ever accept is white suprem- /
acy-that Is, the sons of the fathers
shall forever rule the country of
their ancestors.