Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-10-14
THE NEGROES SIDE

THE NEGROES SIDE
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
comment. The authorities by their
rashness and assertiveness have in
vited 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
at the conclusion that Dickinson
was perhaps no longer a suitable
habitat for colored students merely
because a few "beauX vivants' from
the South were soon 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
len 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 an6
| fair-play, and exult in war anc
bloodshed: or train Attilas to plum
der and destroy? Would its esteem
ed president enter into partnership
launch a policy of frightfulness, ol
thinking that his was the choser
college, set out to destroy al
others?
Again, suppose Orientals, in evel
increasing numbers were to flock t
| Dickinson for their training, woulC
it mean that the authorities there
would condone and participate IL
the worship of Shinto. Confuciu
or Ruddha? And would the Koral
replace the Bible in the divinit!
hall?
No! Dickinson must remain typi
cally American at all costs. No
onlv in the matter of color. but o
ideals and practices she must ad
here unfalteringly to the tenets ant
exhortations of those high-minde'
men who have shaped the destinie
of our great country. The Southern
err must be put into the common
melting pot of liberalism, and boile,
until everything that smacks of pre-
, iudice or sentiment is forever driver
: from his hide-bound soul.
! Prejudice seems to rest upon tn
antiuuated idea of race superiority
} which manifests itself in the calibe
of ones mind and the color of one
, skin. But, thanks to science, W
have arrived at q new psychology
completely overthrowing the forme
| illusions, and proving beyond a doub
, that mo race of men can lay CLAIM
to O fixed and hereditary type O
: mental life such as we can nov
know with exactness to be unchange
able. We do not scientifically kno'
: what the true racial varieties O
: mental type really are" Let us. 70
example, take the Japanese. Fl
; teaches us to-day that 1t Is some
t what hard to find out by looking a
, the features of mans face. or q
l the color of his skin. or even at tn
reports of travellers who visit hi
D land, what 1t is OF which his rae
t Is really capable.
ii AS regards color, have only t
idirect you to one of President Lin