The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1908-11-20
INTOLERANCE

All n seems TO Us, - ludl OF lnUOler-
ance
Why should individuals be intoler-
ant OF The views and opinions of oth-
ers and especially in a republic like
ours. where the right o. free speech
t- ~.u--a. 80 be on OF our greatest
o-d choicest blessings.
. Intolerance is a mischief-breeder.
| There is no good side TO it. II is evil
and only evil Il has left one Of the
most ugly scars on the face OF his
tory. D. l. responsible for the rack.
. thumbscrew. and an hundred other in
strumenrs of torture. It was at the
I bottom Of the forces that brought on
our civil war.
We almost shudder to think OF the
excuses TO which We have seen it
carried.
/ In a late issue Of his paper. Mr..
+ Thomas f. Watson. late a candidate
for the presidency, has a chapter on
intolerance. and tells OF the length it
/ Is carried.
Among other things he tells OF the
+ following.
The things l have hal 70 bear.
proud man finds difficult TO endure.
/ To see old friends turn their backs
when YOU enter a hOte. lobby 10
avoid meeting you: to lift your hat to
ladies' and girls OF the streets to
have your courtesy received with
mockery and jeers; to offer your
hand 10 old friends on the cars and
have il refused: 70 have wagon loads
of drunken negroes sent to your
house a night 10 yell and boot their
insolenr raunts. in the hearing of
your wife and children: 10 attempt
10 address your fellow citizens on the
principles of Jefersonian democracy.
as YOU understand them. and to be
how.e1 down. and owe your life TO
the intervention of brave friends and
symparhizing policemen: 10 be so
menaced in your own house that a
picker OF armed men seemed 10 be
absolutely necessary TO protect i'll
from murderous attacks. These are
the things which | have had TO en-
dure."
Whatever may be his ii.ocyncra- /
cies Mr.. Watson is recognized as be !
ing one of tie most Intellectual men
the south has produced during the
century. and as a writer. orator and |
historian be viii live when the most
OF US are forgotten. and the wonder
viii be why such a man was not Civ /
en- courteous treatment by his neigh |
bors.
Mr.. Watson can say as Mr.. Car
mack said:
The south is a land that has known /
sorrows: it is a land that has broken |
the ashen crust and mOisrened it with /
its tears: d land Scared and riyen |
by the plowshare Of war and billow
Ell with the graves OF her dead; hu
q land of legend. a land of song, a
land of hallOwed and heroic memoir
les.
To that land every drop of my /
blood. every fiber of my being, every /
pulsatiOn of my heart is consecrated /
forever.
4 was born of her womb; I was nur-
ured at her breast. and when my last
hour shall come, 1 pray God that I
may be pillOwed upon her bosom and
rocked IN sleep within her tender AMI |
encircling arms
Why should a man who loves the |
south so ardently. and has done so
much TO enrich and embellish her
literature be tainted with insults by
his neighbors simply because they do !
not agree with him on questions of
governmental polity?
Ii is dead wrong. II cannot be JUS
titled from any point Of view.
On last Sunday the Louisville COur-
ier-Journal celebrated its fortieth
birthday. and its brilliant editor re
viewed its career since that period
and tells of the gaumtlets it has had /
TO run at different epochs in its his
tory.
Mr.. WattersOn says:
Almost continuously the Courier
Journal has been compelled by its
convictions of right and duty 10
choose between alternatives TO fight
with its arm in a sliug-as in 1872. in
1880. in 1900 and 19o4-or else as in
1896. TO separate itself from its life
long party associates and TO make a
brave. bur futile. sacrifice for nothing;
lis one indispUyahle mistake. for
which !, was made TO pay, and justly
10 pay. very dearly indeed.
~It had stood by a sound currency
and the nations credit from first to
last Neither was i'm reality menacad
in 1895. The paper might as we'll
have saved its money and us credit
I'm. .EaF,-.. -I,- ,-.,--, MI, g. I,I b,