The Enterprise. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 192?-1930, 1927-06-24

tune.
Company Always Wins
Now and then an individual wins
fortune, which many insist is even
"a plant by the company for ad-
vertising. The best proof that the
majority lose Is the fact the COM
pany has been running for about so
years, and is able to pay out the
huge sum, already named for the
concession. Winners get S5 times
the value OF their stake at rou-
lette.
In the last article, told also Of
an interview / had with a famous
Irish writer, whose recent autobio-
graphy created a tremendous stir in
certain quarters In English society.
with considerable repercussion in
France and America.
London Mail Editor
Mr.. Harris. now ~, was editor OF
the London Evening News at the
height OF the Victorian era with its
great personages. He counted among
his intimate acquaintances such men
as King Edward VII, Sir Henry IT.
wing, Cardinal Newman, Cecil Rho
des, Ruskin, Browning, Maupassant,
Oscar Wilde. Lord Randolph
Churchill. or the last he tells an
incident that / would like to repeat
here, but had better not. The book
deals in the frankest possible man.
ner with the virtues and short COM
ings, sexual and otherwise. OF these
great men.
The book. two volumes. is abso-
lutely forbidden in America. but ]
wish II were possible for many Ne
groes to read Il, after what has been
claimed about the sexual conduct
of Negroes, by writer's as late as
Jerome Dowd. The book. in short,
shows that white people of the
highest rank, women as well as
men, are neither better nor worse
than Negroes of the lowest type. Per-
haps worse, because they have had
better opportunities.
Pearson's Monthly
When Mr.. Frank Harris edited
Parsons Monthly in America, he
used to sepak out frankly on the
race question. He further had as
his circulation manager, a Negro,
the present editor of the Amsterdam
News, William M. Kelley.
He used also to speak out on the
Irish question: fact, which he
says largely accounts for the present
English attitude on his book. In his
autobiography he describes a Lord
Mayors banquet with its alleged
gluttonous practices, and tells how
the Lord Mayor, Sir Robert Fowler,
ate so much and made the atmos-
phere so odorous that a lady sitting
beside Sir Robert was forced to take
refuge in the open air. This chapter
is masterpiece in getting back at
"the enemy"-an art that Is more
effective than tons of protest.
The Race Problem
Mr.. Harris was i'll, but very kind
ly received me in his splendid villa
on the hill. After talking for more
than an hour on Shakespeare--on
which he is an authority. as we'll as
elsewhere, I asked him what he
thought Of our American race prob
lem.
Speaking OF those. who in Amer
lea oppose others because of their
compilations. he said:
ut Is difficult to believe that hui
man beings can be so savage. Such
people keep up a tradition of stu
pidity that might again cost Amer
lea very dearly. As for me, just as
want flowers around me, so Il
want the different species of man.
kind"
Single Trip Through South
He told me of the single trip he
had ever made to the South. and
how he shortened Il in disgust at
the cruelty inflicted on the Negroes
as well to the unfolding of lynching
by some of the leading people. The
average Southern attitude toward
the Negro. he described, is pure
hypocrisy, and said that those who
shouted most about their alleged
superiority, in his experience. were
those who believed II least. why"
he said, eff they were lynching
white men for attacking colored
women there wouldn't be any rope
to go around"
Presently he asked: why don't
you write a book exposing these
things?"
Writing a Book
| replied that a book dealing with
the race question as II actually was,
stood the slightest possible chance
of seeing the light OF day unless the
author published 1t. and attended to
all the other details himself.
said that even the few white
friends OF the Negro. while they
wanted the truth. wanted as little ~
II as possible. said also. that what
the publishers wanted were stories
OF the salacious and vicious side of
Negro life-a side that has been SO
thoroughly explored in the last three
centuries. that any writer, even
though partially acquainted with
the literature on the subject would
turn for sheer relief to the side II
he had anything approaching an
original turn OF mind. But this side,
I said, the white public did not
want to hear, being contrary to be-
liefs.
''Bnt what Is the matter with
your own publishing firms? Surely
they are not afraid to put out books