The Washington herald., 1910-08-26
IlI.tempered Appeal for the Negro.

This newspaper has received from the
Council Of Upper Classmen Of Howard
University an invitation to join move
ment TO secure fair treatment for the
negro The invitation is signed by J.
&c. Waters. president Of the council. and
in II he cites numerous instances of news
paper headlines that call attention 20 the
crimes Of negroes.
In this circular letter, which is being
sent 10 the newspapers OF the country,
The Washington Herald is held up as
conspicuous example of uufairness TO the
negro President Waters quotes a head
line. Police Nab Negro" and says
that the editor Of this paper "chuckles
gleefully' over "a very polite lynching."
and later, referring to a lynchiag at
Greenfield, Miss, he says: This was
lynching a la Washington Herald, whose
editor must have rubbed his hands and
beamed with satisfaction"
Perhaps it does not matter TO Presi-
dent Waters that every material state
ment in his circular letter regarding
The Washington Herald is false. but in
telligent members Of his race must real
lie that he viii gain nothing and the
negro gain nothing by misstatement ex-
aggeration. or bad temper.
Another Washington paper the letter
speaks Of as "a dirty sheet. low. and
catering 70 the rabble." There is none
such here Il assails a Baltimore news
paper, and. appealing against race preju-
dice, refers to the editor of a New York
newspaper as a Jew.
President Waters says:
The newspapers Of this country have
many crimes 10 answer for. They fea-
ture our criminals In bold headlines, our
substantial men. when noticed are reIe-
gated 10 the agate-type division. Their
methods. whether they obtain through
set purpose or through carelessness, con
stantly appeal 10 the putrid passion OF
race hatred They help create untold
sorrow. They are weakened and apoli-
giving (sic) when the hour is bloody"
And more in the same tenor.
He asks that his letter be given pub
llclty and his appeal be needed. In turn,
he may well be urged for the sake Of
his cause, TO surrender its management
to a well-tempered man who can write
English. who can spell correctly, and
who. above all. viii speak the truth.
The Washington Herald has always
spoken for justice to the negro. When
ever it has expressed itself on the sub
ject OF lynching, it has stood steadily
and persistently for law enforcement, and
has declared that those who take the
law into their own hands are themselves
guilty Of crime. OF the progress and
growing thrift OF the negro in America
it has written in commentator often.
II has always had praise for those lead
ers Of the negro race who preach
the only gospel that can save the negro
the gospel of salvation by work and fit
ness It is unfortunately true that crimes
Of negroes are sometimes given undue
prominence, but it Is a fact, also that
reputable journals are ever ready TO give
generous recognition to the negro who
has done some worthy-not unworthy
thing.
It is not by displays Of i'll temper and
exaggeration that President Waters. Of
Howard Council, can help his cause.
II it is true. as Bulwer wrote, that the
pen Is mightier than the sword" in the
hands OF those entirely great" it is also
true that II becomes a mischievous and
harmful weapon welded by such intem-
perate hands as those Of the spokesman
for the Upper Classmen.
4 course in department and good Eng
lish under Prof. Kelly Miller, with daily
emulation OF the example OF that worthy
representative Of the race, might possibly
At President Waters to carry on the
work in which he is engaged.