-11-
Magan moved back to the subject of the book and its format by saying:
I had thought we ought, without taking sides or creating a
disturbance, tell in a moderate way the conditions in the South. .
If we could depict the present status somewhat, it would interest
our people to go south to work before it is too late. And yet I
felt, on the other hand, that we should be very careful in the doing
, we stir up a hornet's nest.
This type of careful approach was one that Ellen White had been advocating for
years.*
At this juncture in the interview, Ellen White emphatically responded by
making the statement under study:
This is the danger. This is why I have pleaded, and entreated,
entreated, and entreated for the work to be done in the South, because
I knew that this very race war would be introduced.?2l
In this context the "race war" statement is not enigmatic. Magan had just
expressed concern about the need to be careful in putting out such a book so as
not to "stir up a hornet's nest," or antagonism, over the race question. He
knew of the delicacy of the racial balances in the South; but Ellen White
responded by revealing a wider concern for accomplishing the work to be done in
the South. She knew that the ever-imminent racial tension was in danger of
springing up and hindering the work. She knew, and had stated on earlier occa-
sions, that racial tensions would ignite and, as she said here, there would be
"race war."
*See the series of ten articles (Southern Work, pp. 19-65) she had written
in the Review and Herald from April 2 of 1895 to February 4 of 1896, explaining
the needs of the Southern field and appealing for workers and funds. The
majority of these articles were published by Edson White in the original edition
of Southern Work.