Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1908-05-01
VIRGINIA IS STIRRED UP
Whites and Blacks Alike DeRouRss
Cosmopolitan Club Dinner.
WHAT GOVERNOR SWANSON SAYS
"such pIsaraocfuI Performances
Make More Difficult Solution of the
Negro Problcm"-Richmond Negro.
cs to Hold indignation Meeting.

RICHMOND. VA. Aurli 30.-A
storm of protest has been raised In
| Virginia and throughout the South Mt
the advocacy of social equality adj
vanccd by the Cosmopolitan Society.
Of Greater New York ut the New
York banquet. at which 20 white girls
and women sat ut feast with negroes
aud social cquility and misccgcnatiou
were openly preached by the orators
OF the occasion.
II is generally conceded that the
action OF the society can have only
the result of drawing more tightly in
the South the line separating the two
| races. The development and growth
OF the negro In the South will be re-
| tardcd. II Is believed. at least n quar-
ter of n century. People here In
every walk of life arc open in their
condemnation of the action of the
white women and men who lent them
selves TO tho idea of the final anal
samat!on of the black race with the
! Anglo-SaNon. Women who were ask
cd for an expression of opinion to-
night said merely that they thanked
God that Southern girls would have
found II impossible to have attended
the banquet, or. If they had gone un.
der misrepresentation. 10 have re-
manned. Men asked similar Questions
expressed sorrow that people who
could know so little OF the real con.
ditions could have seen nj TO have
raised their voices In hcrcsy that.
instead of helping the negro, could
but result In setback to his mcnta!
and moral development
Governor Swanson Indignant.
| Governor Swanson is indignant at
the reports of the banquet emanating
from New York. He said tonight:
| 1T Is difficult to believe that the
accounts published in the papers of
the dinner of the Cosmopolitan Soci.
city III New York are true. 1t II diff.
cult TO believe that the persons were
reputable as stated. and that they
could give expression to such views.
| This is n discrepancy which Il Is dini,
cult TO reconcile. IL is such disgrace
full performances ms these and express
sions of such views that make moro
| difficult the solution of the negro
problem and the persons who are
most injured by such actions in the
| North are tho negro people of the
South There is one thing that the
South Is determined upon and which
1t Will never tolerate or permit In the
! slightest degree, and that Is social
equality.
This matter is absolutely settled
and admits of no discussion The
sooner the negroes and their pretend.
ed friends realize and understand thfs
the better. The speeches and per
tormances as appearing through press
reports can bring nothing but disgust
to reputable people North and South
] who must entertain for such proceed
ings and performances supreme con,
tempt"
Negroes to Denounce It.
Already the reports of the dinner
arc circulated among the negro peo.
pie here, and already plans are on
foot among the most respectable col
ored citizens 10 call massmeetincs
the purpose of which. 1t is under
stood. is to discuss the affairs in New
York and to denouncc the renewed
agony which has been brought down
upon the race in consequence. These
meetings will lie addressed by the
clergymen of the colored churches
one of whom says that no reputable
negro would have been willing TO sub
nit his fellow-men to such disgrace
and contempt as must follow.
The affair recalls an occurrence
here a few months ago. when Bishor
Potter. of New York, invited the
Bishop of Africa TO dinner Thl;
caused stir all over the country and
renewed the discussion of the much
mooted question of social equality
The Bishop of Africa gave his fellow
men to understand that he by ne
means favored the intcrmingling oI
the whites and blacks, and those
statements did much toward infiucnc
Ing the negroes to stay in the prope'
places. remote from the whites.
Other negro clcrgymen took up thu
discussion and through press and pul
pit stated that the question Of socia
equality in the South had been settle.
once and for all and that any NOV,
on the part of either race would ever
tend to create strife and thus dampeI
the chances of the negro for civiliza
ton.
Say Il Cannot Be True.
BY many persons here the story %
the dinner as 1t appeared is denounc
ell as Dreposterous and even brandes
as false. as IT is claimed that nothinf
: could induce a reputable person
white or black, to believe that IL
these times, when the question o
equality is paramount, such per
formance would be tolerated even II
the slum districts of the wickedes
city in America
Richmond's conservatism has nave