Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-10-14
THE NEGROES, SIDE
To the Editor of the Telegraph:


To the Editor of the Telegraph:
1t seems TO me that the article
in Friday evenings Telegraph, bear
ing upon the color line" at Dickin-
son, should not pass by without
ecomment. The authorities by their
rashness and assertiveness have in
Wted upon themselves the most bru-
tai criticism, besides proving that
they are incapable of the great
trust this community has placed in
them.
My purpose, in rushing to print,
is to re-assure the many thousands
of colored boys and girls, now strug-
Cling in our public schools, at al
most inconceivable sacrifices, that
the world is not all like reactionary
Dickinson, that in some parts of
the universe ones character and
ability count much more than the
color of his skin or the shape of his
head. Indeed the position of this
college becomes more and more per-,
ilous as the world approaches it's
goal of universal brotherhood and
good will towards all.
President Morgan might do us all
great favor by revealing the ply
steal processes by which he arrived
| dL Tic COuCluSlOIl lIdl
was perhaps no longer a suitable
habitat for colored students merely
because a few "beaux vivants' from
| the South were coon to take up
residence there. And If this is logi-
cal, would it be preposterous to ex-
pect Dickinson to go through the
| Kaleidoscope changes suggested by
the following hypothetical cases?
If the great war were to stop sud
denly, and Germans were to stream
| by the hundreds into this institu-
ton, would she become German in
| her proclivities? Would the will
llen zur Macht" of Nietzsche replace
democracy of Jefferson? Would
Dickinson set out to develop the su-
perman or lead the precarious ex-
| istence of pan-Germanists? Would
she discard her ideas of peace and
fair-play, and exult in war and
bloodshed; or train Attilas to plum
der and destroy? Would its esteem
ed president enter into partnership
with the German "Gott," and
launch a policy of frightfulness, or
| thinking that his was the chosen
college, set out to destroy all
others?
| Again, suppose Orientals, in ever
increasing numbers were to flock to
Dickinson for their training. would
it mean that the authorities there
would condone and participate in
| the worship of Shinto. Confucius
or Buddha? And would the Koran
replace the Bible in the divinity
| hall? ~
No! Dickinson must remain typi-
| cally American at all costs. Not
only in the matter of color, but of
| ideals and practices she must ad-
here unfalteringly to the tenets and
exhortations of those high-minded
men who have shaped the destinies
of our great country. The Southern
er must be put into the common
i melting pot of liberalism, and boiled
i until everything that smacks of pre-
i iudice or sentiment is forever driven
/ from his hide-bound SOUL
Prejudice seems to rest upon the
antiquated idea of race superiority,
which manifests itself in the caliber
i of ones mind and the color of ones
i skin. But, thanks to science, we
have arrived at a new psychology,
completely overthrowing the former
illusions, and proving beyond a doubt
that mo race of men can lay claim
to q fixed and hereditary type of
mental life such as we can now
know with exactness to be unchange-
able. We do not scientifically know
what the true racial varieties of
mental type really are" Let us, for
example, take the japanese. He
teaches us to-day that 1t Is some-
what hard to find out by looking at
the features of mans face. or at
the color of his skin. or even at the
reports of travellers who visit his
\ land, what 1t is of which his race
is really capable.
AS regards color. L have only to
\direct you to one of President Lin