The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1909-02-17
REPLIES TO DiUgHTERs.
DIR. EDWIN ALDERMAN THINKS
RESOLUTIONS OF CENSURE
UNJUST.
Defcods Miss Boysen Award.-Dcnles
That the Essayist Argued
Tat Lee Was y Traitor.-Dr.
smiths Position.

oent Edwin "A. Alderman, OF the Uni
versity OF Virginia. and Prof. Charles
Alfoi,so Smith. OF the University of
North Carolina. have replied to the
resolutions OF censure and criticism
passod upon them by Richmond Chap
Ter Daughters Of the Confederacy.
for voting to award to Miss Christine
Boyten. Of Minnesota, a student at
cotumbia College. New York. a prize
Tor her essay on Lee. The Daughters
Of the Confsderacy held that the essay
was full of ISLANDERS and did not prop
er'y represent the great Southern
leader.
DR.. Alderman feels that the Daugh-
ters acted hastily and were unfair to
him and his colleagues In their GEN.
sure. His letter is addressed to Mrs.
Norman ". Randolph. president of
Richmond Chapter. He tells her tha.
sbsence In New York on important
business and grave matter on his
return have prevented q prompter
statement In reply to the resolutions
Of censure adopted by the chapter.
and says Il would have been an act
OF courtesy which he would have appre-
ciatsd II ne had been consulted before
the revolutions were adopted and CIV
en- to the press. He goes ON 20 say:
"Tne papers In competition for the
prise essay. which competition was
established by the Daughters OF th~
confsderacy at Teachers College. CO.
lumbia University. and by It's terms
n confined TO the students Of that In
stitution. were presented 10 me last
spring. I was III at the time and pre-
pairing to go abroad. but gave the pa
pers as careful attention as had
strength TO give. and after so doing
voted 10 award the prize to paper
entitled Robert 4. Lee---A Present
Estimate." understood that the
Judges were to consider literary mer-
II. structural ability. general thought
fulness as well as historical honesty
and fairness. Inasmuch as the prize
was for an essay and not eulogy
and had been established at the most
cosmopolitan American university.
where II might be competed for by
young men and women OF all sections
and nations. supposed that one
would be expected to allow for wide
differences IN historical point of view.
Indeed. had pride In what believed
90 be the faith of the Daughters Of
the confederacy that sincere study
Of the routh's part In the war be-
tween the States by fair-minded hu-
man beings could only result In rid
ding them Of prejudices and miscon-
ccptions. no matter what had been
their environment or upbringing.
IL did not consider II our duty to
exclude any paper which had been
submitted to US as eligible by the
Daughters OF the confederacy be-
cause II did not square with our own
historical point OF view. and ]
imagined my own to be essentially
that OF the Daughters provided the
paper was not malignant or vituper-
ative or meaniy narrow or manifestly
unjust In motive. Neither did
think that by our vote as judges In
such contest we were to be put In
the attitude OF personally indorsins
every word or opinion of the writer.
Miss Boysen's paper impressed me
as pre-eminently the best of those
submitted. and that. OF course. is still
my opinion. noted here and there
sentences which were unwarranted
generalization or which en-
bodied what thought un-
sound opinion. and IL uniformity with
my own thought had been the sole
test I should have biue-penci,ed them
quickly. but did not expect scientific
accuracy or a perfect historical point
OF View from youthful collegian
s@s.~fN " s'htetOs saw ho tNiuthCt vi
unworthiness of mind OF purpose. but
rather an Illustration of how young
person. nourished on a certain brand
of textbook. bred In another atmos.
phere OF feeling and thinking, ex-
presses herself In transition TO q lar
Ser and juster point OF view. and
thought the ultimate purpose OF the
prize after all was to bring abou,
such transitions In such persons In
the nobiest possible way-that Is tc
say. through self enlightenment.
''If I had thought for one momen,
that this young woman meant to SET
up and defend the thesis that Robert
Il. Lee was a traitor would have