Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1908-02-08

| ing the race question, when. as IL to
punctuate our discourse. two men a.
cross the way-a black man and a
white man-entered upon an alterca-
ton which came TO blows. The DO
lice were conveniently, I might saw
characteristically. absent A ring
was formed, and. in true MARQUIS OF
Oueensbury style, the race war upon
small but tangible scale was then
and there fought out Taking this
| 10 illustrate the Interrupted CONVEX
sauon one among our group asked.
/ apparently confident of the reply.
which are We for, the Niger or the
| lrishman?' Ii was an eminent
statesman OF the South VINO answer
! ed, Wei, before I decide that I
should ike to know which has the
right Of Il"
My own attitude toward the "a
! cial question has always grounded it,
self ip the same principle. I want
/ nothing for myself or for my chill
dren, which J am not ready TO give
/ 10 my colored neighbor and his chill
dren ! live in "a region peOpled by
many blacks, good. orderly, hard
working folk. They know me and
they know that, when 1 declare this.
I mean it,
i am IN my own. home. served by
black people and very well served
/ having had no occasion TO change a
Z serving man or woman i'm many
years. We go away. and sometimes
are absent for months. returning 10
find The place as we left 10. If they
were actual members OF the family.
they could not be more solicilous for
our welfare"
When we read those words. we
felt like getting up. waving our hat
and cheer. IL means much for us
and our cause, when a man OF the
type of Mr.. Watterson puts himself
in the breach and consents TO saw
word in favor OF a race of people
who seem 60 be maligned. misrepre-
scented and abused 10y every candi-
date for @ political Office iu the
Southland and boy every demarorue.
who is anxious 70 claim public att
tention. 1t emphasizes the fact that
God is truly raising up friends for
MS and where we lose one who has
been outspoken fin our favor. we gain /
who has been thinking in +
silence.
Not since our iguominious doser- I
ton and maybe uniutentional injury /
boy the distinguished occupant OF the
White House. have the Negroes had
anything GO occur that win tend more
10 restore them and their cause To y
public favor
Sic is quoted further.
"I passed not a few of nay boy
hood DAYS Uron plantation iu Ten
nessee- In point OF fact. upon two
plantations in Tenuessee-wh here sla-I
very existed iu IT'S complete but also
under IT'S milicr aspects and coudi-
uons. From The earliest dawniucs
OF intelligence. which J can rcmem-|
Der, the system seemed 90 me mon
strous. III slavery is not wrong
said Lincoln. nothing is wrong Sol
] thought. and $50 ] think. Thous
ands OF men fought and fen ON the
Confederate side of che War of Sec
ti0ns, who believed the same thine.
ass did Washington and jefferson and /
che gentlemen of Virginia who made
the FIRST American Revolution"
The above is an open confession.
more remarkable iu1ccI because itI
came from the lips OF q Kcntuckian.
Tie is quoted as saying:
when tho Second American Rev
olution came % pass Hberatiur. as
uy stroke of The sword. nearly four
million slaves from bondage. my sem
timcnt OF freedom was in excess of
my sense of te magnitude and the
mpieNUos of the event I accept \
ed Che situation. The three last A.
mendmeuts to The Constitution ] de-
c.areI Go De the actual and FINAL
Treaty OF peace between the North \
and the South. TO was my opinion }
based on feeling and not ON know
ledge or iudgmcnt-that invested /
with fun citizenship the newly-lib- /
Grated slave would be able TO work
out his own destiny. During the
Ten years OF Reconstruction that fol-
lowed, ] devoted my energies toward I.
The qualification OF the black man of
the South as essential 90 the pacihca-
ton of the white men of the North
and south
There are plenty of black people
living in KENTUCKY who remember
well the contest We mad with the ele-
ments OF disorder masquerading as
The ku KluX Khan long after the dis
)andment 90 that dread organization
ia the States South of us. the strug- 4
gle for the admission of Negro testi-
nony 20 our Courts OF Lawn point
lf fact. the stubborn fight for the ex-
Durgation of the old black laws from
The Statute books OF the Common I
Tealth-narrowing itself down even
10 the right OF the Negro 10 ride upon
The street-cars. Happily, Kentucky
the many evils and dangers
which would surely have ensued. If
he eXtremism of those dark days
had prevailed
Because 10 did not, we have had
no race war or serious racial con ;
iict in Kentucky The Feudists of F;
he Mountains. the Night Riders of
he Tobacco Belt are all whites. not I
blacks. Reasonable white people and {
reasonable black people find il easy
% get along much as if there existed :
10 color line. Each is inspired by a