Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1909-07-10
Boycotting the Negro.

In Georgia, as elsewhere in the
South, the cheap and shallow dema-
gogue when all other ammunition is
exhausted, and he has no new pre-
text with which to implOre a follow
ing, falls back on abuse of the negro.
A measure has been introduced in the
legislature of that State intended to
execute the will and obey the de-
mands Of the mobs along the line OF
the Georgia railway and TO nullify
the action Of the board of arbitra-
ton 20 which the dispute between
the white fremen and the railway
company was referred. Virtually IL
requires all railway companies ope-
rating in Gerogia to employ white
firemen. Mr.. Hoke Smith. when he
retired recently from the governor
ship. at the request OF the large
majority Of his fellow citizens. used
a large part OF his farewell message
in attacking the negro.
Georgia, We believe. has a law To
punish severely anybody who at
tempts TO induce negro laborers To
leave the State. Yet white mobs are
geons 20 drive from the State the
best and most progressive of the ne
gro labor, the governor serenely
looks on while the work is done and
the legislature practically endorses
II and gives 10 the mandate OF the
mob the form and force OF law.
Farmers bemoan the lack OF labor
and managers OF saw-mills and other
industrial enterprises complain OF the
ineficiency and worthlessness OF ne
gro labor. Yet as soon as the negro
begins 10 develop some ambition and
by his industry and strength fits
himself TO earn fairly good wages
he is pounded on the head with a
club, perforated with buck-shot or
chased out OF the district with a
Moose over his head. Is Il possible
u Ind anywhere a clearer instance
OF folly and Inconsistency?
And right here at home In Vir-
ginia, in James City county. we have
foolishness just as bad and wild.
The people along a free delivery
route there are taking down their
boxes and refusing to receive their
mail because the carrier is a negro.
apparently a thoroughly respectable
and unusually intelligent man. he
won his place In a competitive ex-
animation over eleven other appli-
cants. nine of them white. In the
cities, our mail is brought 10 us and
delivered at our doors by respectable
polite and accommodating egro post
men. Our food is handed to us at
the table by negroes after having
been cooked by negroes: and the
real Nirginian enjoys nothing else
quite so much as a corn pone with
a thick brown crust bearing on its
upper side the prints of the fingers
or the negro woman, who kneeded
the dough, shaped the loaf and
baked it. Yet these James CITY
people, some of them. we are told.
settlers from the North andhWest.
cannot accept their mail because a
negro carrier has brought il from
the postoffice and put Il in the box.
probably two-thirds OF the natives
there nave been accustomed all their
lives TO having negro farm hands
go to the postofice, get their mail
and fetch it home to them.
We dislike to see respectable Vir-
ginia people act foolishly. Let our
James City constituents consider
their own position and realize how
illogical and futile il is. They sim
ply are cutting of their noses TO
spite their faces. They cannot bull
doze the United States government
The government will not be crippled
by their refusal to receive their
mail, and is not likely to change its
own rule of appointments or 10 dis
regard the results of open examina-
uons to enable them TO show their
dislike OF a negro. We have in this
country good many thousand rural
Tree delivery routes and the aboli.
uoA OF one in James CITY comfy
Va Will not cause any disturbing
Jar at Washington. If the reported
boycott Of the negro carrier succeeds
the net result will be that the route
Will be abolished and the people
whom the government trie6 TO
oblige will go back to the old way of
toiling over some six to twelve miles
of road. usually bad, once or twice a
week instead OF having their mail
leit at their doors daily. Could
anything be more preposterous2 We
thought Virginia was ia of all this
anu-negro agitation and feeling
when the excuse for II was removed
by the removal IF the negro from
rolitics. Let US hope that the spi,it
reported in James City is merely To-
cal, due TO some strictly local cause
and that the rest of the State viii
consider it only to laugh at it
Richmond, Va, News-Leader, July
2, 1909.