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EDITORIAL RAGE The Atlanta Georgian
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The South and the Negro: Solving
the Race Problem
(The following editorial, which is by John Tempi* Graven, in printed simultaneously in Hearst newspapers
'hroughout the country, and consequently is to-day bring read by millions of persons )
The evidences are many and gratifying that the people of the new South are
realizing and meeting in a very high degree the obligation and duty they owe to the
negro.
The negro problem is the South’s greatest problem. It has passed through the
era of passion, and is passing safely through the era of radical prejudices.
The idea which so long a time had currency in the South was that the negro had
no qualifications for living and competing with the dominant and superior race that
he complicated all of their problems of industry and society; and that the wise thing
to do was to help him to enter another country, where, after two hundred years of
contact with this people, he might work out his own destiny by their counsel and co
operation, but with absolute independence and in his own right.
That idea has entirely passed away. Every thinking man now believes that so
long as our republic endures, the white and black races will dwell side by side in'the
South.
It was therefore both logical and h umane that the more advanced and better
developed race must, as a matter of policy and prudence, help the negro and develop
him along the best lines, and co operate with him in every worthy measure, with
helpfulness and consideration. They must build up the negro to the higher concep
tions of his duty to himself and to them, and establish the understanding that SINCE
THEY MUST LIVE WITH HIM, THE WHITE RACE MUST HELP HIM to be
worthier of citizenship and association.
More and more the Northern people, whose philanthropy has been lavish and
well directed, are holding off their hands and their money in the developing of the
negro, and are coming to trust the South more and more completely in dealing with
problems looking to his welfare.
This feeling and spirit are entering the minds of both races, and it is safe to j
say that THE RELATIONS BETWEEN THE TWO RACES OF THE SOUTH
HAVE NEVER BEEN MORE FRIENDLY AND SAFER THAN NOW.
From April 25 to 29 of the present year in Atlanta, the Southern Sociological
Congress, made up of leading university presidents, with other noted publicists and
thinkers of the South, discussed with rare courage, great moderation and remarkable
ability the religious, educational, hygienic, economic and civic conditions of the
negro of the South and the white man’s relations to him.
The speeches at the congress were epoch making because of the accuracy and
abundance of the data, and because of the startling frankness of stating the de
ficiency disclosed in the program of the whites of the South in dealing with the
negro problem.
An especially striking feature of the congress was the fact that the negro dele
gates were invited as a body, for the first time in the history of any program of a
similar character, to seats on the floor in each of the seven conferences held simulta
neously in seven different white churches of the capital of the South.
On December 14, engineered and directed by W. Woods White, philanthropist
and progressive thinker, there was gathered in Atlanta the most notable and epochal
meeting of the negroes ever held in the South, if not in America. Between eight and
ten thousand representative negroes of Atlanta, thirty-two churches and pastors of
all denominations, meeting for a common joint religious purpose, assembled in the
great Atlanta Auditorium and were addressed by leading preachers of their own race,
by leading preachers of the white race of Atlanta, by Governor Slaton,, of Georgia;
by bankers, business men and editors.
The object of the meeting was to persuade the negroes, out of their own means,
to erect a Y. M. C. A. building in Atlanta, with the assurance that if they did this
thing the general public would co operate with them more liberally than they have
ever done before.
The great objective lesson was TO PERSUADE THE NEGRO TO HELP
HIMSELF in this matter, and the speeches were the best ever made in Atlanta in
many years. Negroes themselves contributed $4,000.
The most valuable result of the meeting was the education of the negro in THE
GREAT POLICY OF SELF HELP, AND OF CONFIDENCE in the good will of the
white race. The results have already been remarkable and inspiring.
The Southern Baptists’ convention at Louisville passed resolutions pledging
faith to the new organization of Southern sentiments to the help of that new race.
The white preachers of Atlanta frequently leave their own pulpits on Sunday
morning to go out and preach the saving grace of character, thrift and self help in the
negro churches.
The effect of this better spirit is widespread throughout the South. It has al
most revolutionized the feeling between the two races. It has inspired the negro to
greater expressions of sacrifice and industry than he has ever shown before, and he
is accumulating both property and public institutions in a gratifying way.
So far as the South is concerned, the problem is in process of wholesome and
certain solution. The future of the negro has never seemed so promising and bright
As a laborer, citizen and a man, the negro, under this bright and beneficent policy
has advanced and is advancing day by day.
Tl*ere is no greater people in the history of nations than the people of the
South. And in view of the history of the Civil War, and of the reconstruction period
that followed, the Southern people have never been greater and wiser than in their
present splendid attitude toward their former slaves.
ALL QUIET ALONG THE POTOMAC!
Oopyrlftot, 1913, InternAtwuftl Newg SarTto*.
Real Intent of White Slave Law
T
M-IE Department of Justice
has been compelled to is
sue a denial of the state
ment so persistently repeated
that important changes have been
made in the administration of the
Mann white slave law. The press
has been led to believe that since
the close of the Diggs-Caminetti
trials orders have gone forth
from the Department of Justice
forbidding prosecutions under the
Mann act unless the element of
gain has entered into the offense.
The public has been sedulously
indoctrinated with the belief that
the Mann act is to be treated as
a white slave law pure and sim
ple; and that where there is no
question of profit made from vice
it is henceforth to be ignored.
Not a word of this is true. The
official denial says:
“No order to stop white slave
prosecutions in cases not involv
ing commercialism has been is
sued. and no new regulations as
to the enforcement of the act
have been made since the incum
bency of the new Attorney Gen
eral.”
And the statement proceeds.
“On the contrary, the Department
of Justice has adhered to the
practice adopted immediately aft
er the passage of the law and fol
lowed during the previous Ad
ministration.”
Fresh legislation would be
needed to exclude from the view
of the criminal law offenses now’
made crimes. And whether the
offense is committed for the sake
of gain or not it is covered by the
Mann act.
It is proverbially difficult to
overtake a misrepresentation. It
is all the more difficult when the
misrepresentation grows out of an
honest misunderstanding of the
facts. y§ome persons, to be sure,
have an interest in misrepresent
ing the act. A vast majority of
those who complain of the act
have seized upon two or three
facts, and for lack of the essen
tial fact, which they have never
known, have innocently blunder-
By REV. C. F. AKED, D.D.
ed. Without meaning to misrep
resent they go on asserting the
things that are not so. And the
misunderstanding spreads.
It is perfectTy true that the law
is called “The White Slave Traf-
REV. CHARLES F. AKED.
fic Act.” It is perfectly true that
originally it was intended to pen
alize transportation of girls from
one State to another for the sake
of money profit. It is perfectly
true that Mr. Mann, who intro
duced the measure, in his report
to Congress stated that this was
the object of the bill. On this
report the greatest stress is laid
by those who condemn the act.
But the thing they do not
know—only a few of them know:
the greater number are innocent
of intention to deceive—is that
the report was made by Mr. Mann
upon the bill as introduced by
him, and before changes wera
made in it by Congress. Amend
ments were introduced during the
passagp of the bill through the
House, amendments which broad
ened its scope and made it appli
cable to all offenses, w’hether
commercial or otherwise.
They became part of the act.
And Mr. Mann's statement about
the scope of the bill was made
before these were embodied in it.
The name which he had given to
the bill remained. This has cre
ated all the confusion.
Another^ critcism of the act
grows out of the curious delusion
that the meaning and purpose
and scope of a law’ can be gath
ered from the speeches made in
Congress hv those, w’ho vote for it
w’hen it is before them as a bill.
This is, of course, ludicrous. The
meaning of an act must be gath
ered from the act Itself. If there
is any doubt about its meaning
when it is before the lower courts,
there is only one authority under
the Constitution which can set
the doubts at rest—the Supreme
Court of the United States.
This has been made clear by a
long line of judges of the Su
preme Court, reaching back as far
as Chief Justice Taney in 1845.
His words are w’orth quoting:
“In expounding the law the
judgment of the court can not
in any degree be influenced by
the construction placed upon it
by individual members of Con
gress in the debate which took
place upon its passage, nor by the
motive* or reasons assigned by
them for supporting or opposing
amendments that were offered.
The law’ as passed is the will of
the majority of both Houses, and
the only mode in which that will
is spoken is in the act itself; and
we must gather their intention
from the language there used.”
Individuals who believe that the
law is a bad law and ought not
to have been passed are entirelv
within their right in agitating for
its repeal. Rut it is time they
cea®ed protesting that the act
does not mean what it say*
Ella Wheel er
Wilcox
—ON—
Operations—Try Everything
Else Before Resorting to the
Knife—Not More Than One
Operation in a Score Is Needed
By ELLA WHEELER WILCOX
Copyright, 1918,
I F you, sir, or madam, are think
ing about undergoing a surgical
operation in order to drive away
uncomfortable feelings or to cure
maladies which you are confident
you possess and which your sur
geon says can only be cured by the
knife, wait a bit. Try fasting for
a whole day, drinking only water;
then a diet of barley water for two
days; then hot milk and water for
a few more days. Then take a
course of osteopathy, vnd live out-
of-doors as much as possible and
eat nourishing, simple food.
After two months, perhaps, you
will abandon your idea of an oper
ation.
Baths, external and internal;
violet and X-rays, deep breathing
and regular outdoor exercise (with
the persistent belief that you will
avoid the knife) will do miracles
for you.
Here arq some true stories which
are worth perusal by all who con
template surgical operations:
A gentleman in England became
111 through worry over his wife,
who had undergone four hospital
operations. His case was diag
nosed as "pernicious anemia,”
whatever that may mean. Finally
a Burgeon was called and said
there must be am immediate oper
ation for duodal ulcer. This is a
dangerous malady, and the man
says:
“I was told that the only alter
native was to go on being ill until
I had no strength left, so I sub
mitted. The case having aroused
great interest, six doctors put in
appearance when the operation
was performed. It got so hot that
we were afterward told by the
nurses that one of them had to
spend her time mopping the face
of the operator. What am I to
say as to the result of this oper
ation? Finally, the doctors felt
quite certain that I should not sur
vive for more than forty-eight
hours. (The surgeon some months
afterward told my brother this.)
"We were, before all, given to
understand that he was going to
perform a ‘short circuit’ operation,
and afterward I had been told that
this had been done, but my wife
and friends were told that they had
found a duodenal (?) ulcer, and
that It was as large as half a
crown, but that It had healed Itself,
undoubtedly under the gastric ul
cer treatment of a few months
earlier, but that they had found
that my appendix was "peculiar"
so that it had been removed.
"Imagine me lying In bed and
feeling this pain at my side, and
continually telling the nurses and
my friends that I was sure I was
going to have appendicitis, and
think what an idiot the doctor was
not to allow them to tell me what
they knew!
"To cut a long story short, I did
get sufficiently well to go away,
but when I got home again I was
soon as 111 as ever. This time I
found myself under another doctor
and he naturally wanted to know
all about the first illness. Then a
cool letter came from the surgeon
saying when he operated he found
that there was a small wrinkle In
the peritoneum, which at that time
he attributed to a duodenal ulcer,
but He now thought that It had no
significance! 11 I was aghast, and
could only say what a lot of liars
they were.
"The whole thing, you can see,
was a plot. Firstly, I think that my
case so interested them that they
could not resist the temptation to
open me up and have a look to sat
isfy their curiosity, and then when
It was done they decided that I
could not survive it, so that all
they had to do was to satisfy the
anxiety and curiosity of my friends,
so they made up these lies and
persuaded my wife that It was best
for me not to know the truth
(which I am afraid I never shall),
hut I do know that I required no
snrgical treatment at all, and that
they lied when they made up the
uleer-the-slze-of-kalf-a-crown story.
"Why my appendix was taken
away for being ’peculiar’ I don’t
know. Anyway, I am rather glad
It was. because It would have been
an excuse for another operation if
It hadn't been, when I was 111 again.
"This time another consultant
visited me, who advised arsenic
injections and a diet of sour milk
only, and In ten weeks 1 was about,
and since -have been keeping fairly
well.
"What was and still perhaps Is
the matter with me I don’t know,
but the second specialist said It
was pernicious anemia. I only wish
I had the money that I wasted
owing to the curiosity of those in
fernal surgeons, to say nothing of
•11 the pain I suffered.”
Prom the same country comes
this letter from a lady. She says:
"I was told when I was bother
ing with a critical period that I
would die unless I had a major
aperatton. At last I found a human
by Star Company.
doctor who attended me for some
time, and am thankful to say that,
as. regards that matter, 1 am per
fectly sound now—in fact, better
than for fifteen years back, all
without such a fearful operation,
which I feel certain would have
killed me In the weak condition 1
was In at the time. You see I got
better without the agony of an
operation.
“I think a great many doctors
and nurses have too little patience
and perseverance to try alleviating
the suffering first, and resort to
the knife immediately. 8o many of
the trained nurses I had did not
take much Interest In my case be
cause it was not an operation, and
told me they hoped I would soon
have done with them, as they llkeo
‘a grand case’—it was worth talk
ing about. I thought It was funny
they never seemed to think It was
grand to save any one from the
agony of such a fearful operation
as the one they wanted me to have.
A lady who was not so ill as I was
underwent It, and died three
months afterward."
Another says: "My sister has
just had an operation, and the sur
geon found a perfectly healthy
organ after he removed It. She
will probably he an Invalid for
i life.”
The rage of vivisection has made
Burgeons more rabid to operate
upon human beings. Doctors and
nurses all become more or less
under the Influence of this modern
medical mania, and excitement and
lore of experimentation take pos
session of their minds to the ex
clusion of human sympathy.
Because wonderful operations
are performed and lives saved and
health restored by the skilled use
of the knife land surgeons
crowned with wealth and fame)
the desire to operate has become
a menace to motherhood and to life
itself.
There are malignant growth*
which only the knife can cure (and
usually these operations even have
to he repeated, and quite fre
quently the patient dies within a
few' months after the second oner
But there are numerous growth*
which yield absolutely to the X
and violet ray treatment, and
simple blood remedies, and the
building up of the bodily strength
and vitality. (
The writer intimately knows a
lady who suffered from two Inter
nal growths for a period of years;
and they vanished after a time
through treatment of nourishing
food, baths, massage, and a course
in a school of physical culture
Ten years have passed since
they disappeared and the lady is
In perfect health.
A woman who found a small
growth of a similar nature was
advised to have It removed, and
went into a famous hospital for
that purpose. She and her hue
band were assured that It would
be a most simple matter. Yet tha
physicians performed a majer op
eratlon on this woman, without
consulting her husband, and sirs
died the third day afterward. The
physician now admits that similar
growths have been known to be
come absorbed and vanish with
out treatment.
Yet this woman was killed, by
an unneceseary operation, and the
husband is unable to obtain an'
reparation because the physicians
belong to a regular school and the
hospital Is a famous one In Penn
sylvania. The woman who was
killed was in the prime of life and
had never suffered any pain from
this slight growth, but w’ae a<1 '
vised to have it removed before It
made her any trouble.
With such cases as these occur
ring continually all about us. Is h
not time that women oalled good
common sense to their command,
when suffering from maladies pe
cullar to their sex; and before
they put themselves in the hands
of surgeons that they should de
cide to use all of Nature's simp s
methods first?
And then turn to the light and
its beneficent rays and to th“
sensible, sane treatment of the
spine through osteopathy; ana
with all these that they ghou l
learn the vast power which lies
In their own minds?
Scores of women turn to tha
hospital operation as a means of
diversion. They are disillusioned
with. life In some way; they ate
lacking an object, an aim, a pur
pose; and through worry and self
oentred habits of thought they
grow 111; soon the thought of an
operation presents itself aa an es
cape from monotony. Afterward
it Is their delight to talk of what
they have passed through
Hut frequently "afterward
cornea on •nother plane; for the
percentage of women Who die
within two years after an opera
tlon would astonish it« were ve
to know the statistics.
Not more fhan one operation In
a score is needed.
Be awe vrnir case Is the exoep
tlon before they add one more to
i he foolish women who rush upon
the surgeon a knlX*.