The states-graphic. (Brownsville, Tenn.) 1???-1984, 1916-04-28
THE MEMPHIS AFFAIR

High Society" as represented by
the Idle rich, usually takes unto itself
privileges not accorded, as general
propositisa..ss.sss seaor gho are merely
human, and fhereforenot to be accept
ed as competent critics But for all
that high set iets owes duty 70
the common Sr garden variety Of hui
manity, and an essential part of that
duty is to set a good example and pre-
serve the ideals Of the people. In the
south--all over the United States in
fact, there is q social gap between
the black and white races, and there is
sound reason for the existence of the
gap. 1t was decreed long ago that So
cial equality is not possible as regards
the tw races in America, and no SEN
sible person has ever questioned the
wisdom of that decree, which operates
to the great benefit of both races.
When President Roosevelt dined with
the late Booker 7. Washington at the
White House, not only the south, but
the entire nation, felt that he had over
stepped the bounds, and we doubt not
that Washington himself, being plain
man and endowed to remarkable de-
gree with common sense, questioned
the wisdom of his white friend ard
only joined him at lunch in order to
avoid giving offense. Certainly he
could not have desired any such "hon-
or" as that conferred when he knew,
if he knew anything, that the incident
would result harmfully to himself and
to the cause which he so ably repre-
sented. Similarly, the Indianola af-
fair, in its.first and last analyses, was
the child of folly on the part of an able
American who had been honored by the
nation with its highest office, and the
negroes of Mississippi are feeling the
effect of that bit Of folly to this day.
According to the accepted theory,
it was to be expected that all such
transgressions aginst the American
racial law would come from New York
or one of the Eastern states, but no
sane person dreamed that a southern
woman, albeit she belongs to what is
termed "High Society," would commit
so gross an offense against the tradi-
tons of her country and against the
ideals of the people among whom she
resides. The Memphis papers, how
ever, and the dispatches from the
Bluff City, tell different story. This
woman, fed, clothed and maintained
in luxury by patronage which is pc
culiarly southern, has gone President
Roosevelt zone better" She may not
have luuched with a leader of the ne
gro race, nor have appointed negro
woman as postmistress in white COM
munity in the face Of earnest protests
from the patrons thereof, but she has
entertained the elite Of Memphis negro
society with a grand ball" in her own
home, and has found a sufficient num-
Der Of other High Society" DANES to
assist at the function.
1t cannot be that this woman and
her friends felt under obligations to
her servants, OF, that they desired par
ticularly to lose The respect of their
neghbors and deliberately chose to
perpetrate an insult of such a nature
that it could not be forgotten. On the
contrary, il is preferable to believe
that the eoterie Of ''High Society"
danes had found idleness productive
Of ennui, and that their systems were
clamoring fer a sensation.-for some
thing wholly out Of the ordinary, and
something that would produce a thrill
If so, we rather think that they found
just what they were looking for-and
the price, we assume viii be social os-
tracism for all Of them, unless Mem
phis has fallen into ahysmal depths of
late, and unless the spirit which
prompted the erection of monuments