government that must soon fall
into their hands, for no government can well exist founded upon graft,
greed, and dishonesty. It seems that the younger group are more
demoralized than the younger group were two generations ago. Thus the
danger both to church and state. Unless the church can catch a firmer
grip upon the younger group than it has, the outlook is indeed gloomy.

"We are so far away from the situation of trouble in Germany, that it is
difficult to know what it is or should be. But one thing must be
observed--that any wholesale persecution of a whole group of people must
react upon the persecutors. There could no cause arise which would
justify a governmental power to make a wholesale sweep of any great
group of people that were weak and had no alternative. That government
which settles its affairs by force and abuse shows more weakness than
the weak people which it abuses.

"We need not think that we are through with the job when we kill the
weaker man. No cause is sufficient for the destruction of seven hundred
thousand people, and no persecutor is safe from the effects of his own
persecution."

Interviewer's Comment

The house at 1720 Izard is the last house in what would otherwise be
termed a "white" block. There appears to be no friction over the matter.

Note that if you were calling Dr. Gaines by his professional title and
his first name at the same time, you would say Dr. Doctor Bluford
Gaines. He has attained proficiency in three professions--teaching,
medicine, and the ministry.

Dr. Gaines is poised in his bearing and has cultured tastes and
surroundings--neat cottage, and simple but attractive furnishings.

He selects his ideas and words carefully, but dictates fluently. He
knows what he wants to say, and what he omits is as significant as what
he states.

He is the leader type--big of body, alert of mind, and dominant. It is
said that he with two other men dominated Negro affairs in Arkansas for
a considerable period of time in the past. He does not give the
impression of weakness now.

Despite his education, contacts, and comparative affluence, however, his
interview resembles the type in a number of respects--the type as I have
found it.

#648
Interviewer: Miss Irene Robertson
Person interviewed: Mary Gaines
Brinkley, Arkansas
Age: Born 1872

"I was born in Courtland, Alabama. Mother was twelve years old at the
first of the surrender.