Today -100: September 7, 1911: Of blackguardism and hysteria

SC Governor Coleman Blease writes a letter to the NYT, which had rather mildly suggested that he might have better uses for his time than waging a war on the memory of Gen. Sherman. Blease accuses the NYT editor of “blackguardism... much of which is false and comes from a heart which is corrupt and from a head which is willing to lie or abuse in order to carry a point or win a temporary victory”. As evidence of his own high character he cites his election by “nearly 57,000 white voters”. He says that his defense of the Confederate army is not motivated by hatred for “the Yankee or the nigger.” He adds, “The Confederates were right; they fought for the highest of principles”.

The LAT quotes a circular put out by the Anti-Suffrage Association for next month’s Prop. 8 on women’s suffrage: “Women who assume the responsibilities of suffrage must either add it to present duties or lay down those duties to take up this one. The frequent low state of health among American women is a fact as undeniable as it is deplorable. When women generally vote and hold office, nervous prostration, desire for publicity and ‘love of the limelight’ will combine to produce a form of hysteria already increasing in the United States.”