Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1913-02-14
ADDRESS OF
Hon. Ulysses G. Whitney
~ Noodh,,rv co,,n<v
Upon House File No. 8 by Mil
ler. In House of 35th G.
A. of Iowa, Saturday -
February 8, 1913.

MT. speaker. MY nrSt cONsluerd
tion Of this measure was superficial
and needless to say, l reached su'
perflcial conclusions. have now Civ.
en- 1t the best thought l possess, and
feel that / am not now on superficial
ground The statement has been
made to me, upon the floor of this
House, and assume the same state
ment has been made to others, that
every member of this House will be
forced to go upon record on this ques'
tion In that statement turks a threat
that dire consequences will come to
him who dares to face the storm now
supposedly sweeping over Iowa, de.
manding that this bill be passed; and
for what purpose? Was this bill in
troduced out of feeling of kindness
and solicitude for the Negro's protec-
tion? You know 1t was introduced
for no such purpose and out OF no
such feeling. He who can believe
that this bill was passed out from the
desk of it's author with any thought
or desire for the protection of the
Negro, has warm and fervent faith
that calls me back to the Epistle of
Paul: "The substance of things hop
ed for; the evidence of things not
SEEN" If it was not introduced out
Of any desire to protect the Negro
and it was not-then it must have
been introduced in order that the
white manhood and the white woman
hood Of Iowa be protected. AS far
as the imputation that this bill is de-
sired or necessary to protect the white
manhood Of Iowa from marrying Ne
groes, I will not dignity it by an an
swer; and if the author of this bin
boldly proclaims on the floor Of this
House that this bill is demanded by
the white womanhood of Iowa for
their protection, in order that they
may be prevented from marrying Ne
groes, then l want to say to him that
that same Iowa womanhood will send
back to this chamber hiss of bitter,
burning, biting, indignant denial!
Is it necessary for us to prevent
by law the white womanhood Of Iowa
from marrying Negro men?' Is it nee.
essary for US to prevent by law the
white manhood of Iowa from marry.
ing Negro women? Perish the
thought! ~ s Z
We are told that we now have no
law preventing the marriage of the
white womanhood and white manhood
OF Iowa with Negroes. deny It! We
already have q law, relentless and
terrible In Its penalty; a law not writ
ten into statute books by the hand OF
man, but cut, carved and craven into
the heart and soul Of men and women,
be they black or white, by the hand
of God Almighty. Why God made
one man black and another man
white do not know. Possibly in the
finality OF all time it may be revealed
to us; but these races are dissimilar;
God made them so. All the laws OF
Christendom cannot remove the in
surmountable barrier, the impossible
gulf between these races. Out of these
racial differences has come social
law that is as much a part of Iowa
manhood and womanhood, black or
white, as the red blood coursing
through their veins, or the bones and
tissues that give them form. 1t is a
law relentless as lightning 1t is a
self-executing law. =, 1t is a law that
no court in Christehdom can over
throw and no legislative assembly
can repeal. From a judgment of guilt
Of violation OF this law there Is no
appeal. It is a law that not more than
one man and one woman, white or
black, out of ten thousand, desires or
dares to violate. When this law is
violated, the judgment, swift and un-
erring as Gods wrath, is pronounced,
not by court Of law, but by a court
Of ninety millions of people; and
tnere is but one fearful penalty-cold,
cruel, relentless ostracism, by both
races, during the balance Of the lives
Of the offenders. .... ...-.,.
refer to the inborn social law that
says to white man and to white
woman, Marry not q Negro" and
there thunders into the ear of the
Negro, man or woman, the same in
junction. Every healthy-minded, self
respecting man and woman, white and
back, is in full accord with that law.
The flower of both races proclaim the
righteousness Of that law, and both
races act upon and obey it so univer-
sally that there is, I verify believe,
not more than one white person in ten
thousand here in Iowa that marries a
Negro There Is not q criminal stat
ute on the book of Iowa law that is
so little violated as this social law.
We do now and then find here and
there a few violations OF this social
law. But how few! Many of you will
find it difficult to recall a case with
in your own personal knowledge. What
occasion then is there for this law ?
How tardy Iowa has been in propos'
ing it. For seventy years this Assem-
bly, has been convening. It has met
when the sky was crimson red from
the flash of the guns and the earth