The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1914-02-20

W Imam II. LyleS ever naQ ana De-
, cause he was my friend and William
H. Lyles was his friend | though
much Of Mr.. Lyles, and ala sorry
that he has written me this letter;
ynl orry to know that he is a trus.
tee Of this school; am sor!y Y to know
that ne would sanction the sending
out Of such a picture-and if William
C. Childs knew it, can hear him now
lying on the sofa IN the back Of the
bank of Columbia, telling Lyles, For
Gods sake, stop.
Your agricultural hall law suit was
fought and brought to iniure South
Carolina. Many of us remember that
the secretary Of this Haskell conven-
ton was looked upon by the people
of our State as the man responsible,
but none ever expected to see the day
when white men would stand and
sanction sucn picture as this to be
scattered over this country. | had
never thought it. 1t makes me sad.
am sorry that you wrote me this
letter. 1 have said some things on
the stump about this thing, but this
summer l am going to say more. If
this letter had not been written me
would not have known some things
that 1 know now. They bring me no
pleasure. They bring me sadness.
But my duty to the white people Of
this State calls upon me to stand like
man and expose these things and l
must do it, no matter whom it hurts.
see by the Evening Record that
the name of R. NJ. Pratt is signed to
your letter-your public letter-but l
thank God it is not signed to my let
ter, because I always had a high op-
inion of Mr.. Pratt. He is up in Hen
dersonville, but l believe now that if
you will send him one Of these cata-
logues, and ask him if he sanctioned
the sending out of this white and ne
gro picture, that his answer will be,
'No" I know nothing o. your Bap-
tist Home Mission society, but l do
know that the great Baptist denom1-
nation of South Carolina has never
sanctioned any such thing as this. I
have often seen in the press the ref
erence, Charles A Smith, former
president of the State Baptist assbcia-
tion," and 1 would like for him to
stand up in his chair in the State SEN
ate chamber, and say to tae senate of
South Carolina whether or not he
sanctions the sending out of this in
famous picture. I know that he does
not, and 1 know that the great BaD-
tist denomination-that denomination
which is second to none in it's devo-
ton to God and in its work for the
elevation and uplift of mankind-nev-
er have given sanction to any such
picture.
Now, gentlemen, you have sert your
reply. Your negro-loVing white pres
ident mas admitted everything that l
charged at your college except the
white women's pictures hanging in
the negroes rooms. Therefore, you
confess that everything 1 said is true.
You have printed this letter, I pre-
sumo, giving it publicity, as you did
in the Haskell convention, to have
some little political effect. You had
no political effect there, and you will
have none here, because the white
people of South Carolina did not en-
dorse you then, when you attempted
to go into collusion with the negroes,
and they are not going to endorse you
now. When 1 take this mixed-breed
picture on the stump and hold 1t up
this summer and show it to my white
people, they are going to do just as
they did then-they are going to put
you people who go into collusion with
the negroes, just where you belong in
the political history of this State.
l would not have written you this
letter if you had not written me yours.
l mean every word that is in it. have
written plainly. Let the consequences
be what they may, am fighting for
the white girls of my State, and for
the white people of my State, and l
am willing to go on the stump, on the
rostrum, or anywhere else, aRd defend
my position.
You refer to the neighbors OF the
college out there as your witnesses. /