The Twin City star., 1916-05-20
SWALES DEFENDS
union SOLDIERS
Writes Able Article Against
Misleading Photo Play.
BELIEVES IN RACIAL PEACE.

Daily Journal at Jacksonville, H.,
Prints Forceful Denunciation of Film,
Which Its Correspondent Says Should
Be Suppressed Before the Poison
Pieturized Permeates Life of Nation.
Jacksonville, Ill.-There appeared in
q recent issue Of the. Jacksonville
Daily Journal what is regarded here
and elsewhere by those who read it
as the most forceful denunciation of
the photo play known as "The Birth of
a Nation" as well as the most timely
compliment to the work Of the Negro
as citizen, that has yet been present
ed. The writer, ]. NJ. Swales, is a
white man. The article in part reads
thus:
Perturbation of the events during the
reconstruction period from 1868 to 1872
is one gigantic, colossal lie, gilded and
sugar coated, which makes it easy for
the present generation to swallow. 1t
is a masterpiece Of misrepresentation
and q reflection on the Union soldier
who gave the best that was in him
and slipped off the four best years of
his life. It is also a reflection on the
character of the real sons Of southern
chivalry" and the southern character
in general.
Those who lived through that period
of the nations history know that the
Rev. Thomas Dixon, at one time an
eminent "sky pilot" quit the pulpit
and turned to the literary field be-
cause there was more. in it. for him.
than trying to bring sinners to the
mourners' bench. Like many other Of
his ilk he is out for the money.
He pictures the Kuklux Klan as
band of heroes composed Of the best
blood Of the south, when the truth Is
that the Klan was composed mostly Of
the riffraff and scum of the south, lot
Of cowardly ruffians who did all their
acts Of "heroism' in the night, and the
blacker the night the better to carry
on their work of assassination with
the dagger and bloody rope.
In the four years Of the red reign of
the Kuklux scores and hundreds of
innocent whites and blacks were done
to death by this gang Of murderous
cutthroats because they dared to stand
for the Union and the flag that has
never yet been furled in the face Of an
enemy.
The whole thing is the song Of the
siren Of secession and disuniOn, waited
back to us from a thousand battle
fields and should be suppressed before
the poison picturized permeats the life
Of the nation-more especially the gen.
erations that have come upon the stage
Of action since the close Of the reddest
period Of our national hfe-a war that
flied q million graves and caused riv-
ers Of tears to flow for loved ones who
laid down their lives, not for "the
birth Of a nation" but the salvation of
a nation born at Concord and Bunker
Hill and not in the brain Of the Rev.
Thomas Dixon.
The story is beautiful perversion Of
history and as a screen production has
no parallel in the moving picture in
dustry. Therein lies the seductive dan
ger. This is well known by the 'sky
pilot" who wrote the "Clansman" and
Mr.. Griffith, who put it on the screen
But they are in for what they can get
out Of gullible public.
The main features Of the film aim to
debase the Negro and stir up prejudice
against the colored race and keep up
never ending strife between the whites
and blacks of the entire country. In
those faroff days there were many
mean black men, and there were just
as many mean white men. In fact, the
white men were the meanest, because
they had better opportunities than the
bondsmen who had been under the do
minion Of slavery for centuries.
"The Birth Of a Nation" should be
suppressed for the harm that it is do
ing not only I'm perverting history, but
in infaming the passions Of those who
would like to forget the horrors Of that
awful period Of the sixties. especially
the unparalleled atrocities carried out
in Andersonville and other dens Of hOr-
ror in the south which seem to have
escaped the notice Of the Rev. Mr..
Dixon, who eulogizes the cutthrOat
gang of night riders and redhanded
assassins whose deeds blacken the
pages of the history Of the civil war
and are the means Of keeping alive the
strife engendered by and through the
very fundamentally he is trying to de-
fend.
We seem to have reached the point
where 1t would be quite the proper ca
per for the Union soldier to apologize
for the things he did when called to