Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1865-06-23
The Question.

lneHtly DclOFe tIlc pcople Is thc CAcSh-
sion of the right of suffrage to the ne
gro; and it is question which cannot
possibly be evaded, but must be met
boldly and fearlessly.
The State Convention at Des Moines
OH the fourteenth instant unanimously
declared that, with proper safeguards
to the purity of the ballot-box, the elect
i've franchise should be based upon 10y
atty to the Constitution and Union, re-
cognizing and affirming the rights of all
men before the law" 1t went further
than this. On a motion to amend it
voted by five hundred and fifty-four to
two hundred and thirty-six to strike
out the word "white" in the clause of
our State Constitution defining the
qualifications of electors. 1t is not to
be supposed that the minority on the
amendment were opposed to enfranchis-
ing negroes. Not at all. Had they
have been they never would have voted
for the resolution we have quoted above.
But rather it is to be supposed that they
considered the resolution sufficient as
reported to the Convention by the ma
jority, and were in favor of letting the
question, SO far as they as a political
body were concerned, rest there. The
Democrats" are entitled to all the
comfort they can derive from this vote.
We, however, are glad that the Con-
vention did record its vote indorsing an
amendment to the Constitution as pro-
posed. That vote will serve the Legis-
lature next winter as a sort Of express
sion of the viii of the people, and there
fore strengthen tlM weak and encourage
the strong. The friends of this meas
ure should bear prominently in their
minds i'm selecting candidates for legis-
lative honors that weak and vaccilating
politicians should be discarded, and
men in all cases and at all events be
chosen who have solid principle and
worth, and manhood enough to express
that principle without fear or favor
There will be attempts, in which cop
perheads will be quite free to join, to
put in quasi-Rcpublicans, or policy
men, whom the Democratic dcma-
gogues will hope, with reasonable pros
pect of success, to control. These should
be guarded against. No matter what a
man may be socially, as is said, or what
he may say on this or that local ques-
ton, be quite sure that he is right on the
great question before you give him your
support.
The "unterrified Democracy" are
uncoiling themselves and frisking their
Shiny tails quite ioyfully at the present.
ment of this new issue. They were
down completely, and, since the burst
ing of the 'Confederacy bubble, quite
broken-hearted. Now, in this recon-
struction movement of giving the ne
gro the ballot, as we gave him the bull
Let, they opine that they discover new
light for their sadly-abused hopes, and
they are up again shouting "nigger"
and government for the white man"
with renewed vigor. If they covet an
other whipping let them walk up to the
scratch and take it. The extension of
suffrage is but another step in the work
they have been go bitterly opposing
since the breaking out of rebellion, and
their new hopes we are quite sure will
follow the way of all their others.
This question, in our National as we'll
as State politics, must be met, and Iowa
proposes to be advance-guard. She oc-
cupies proud position in the very front
of the sisterhood, and it is we'll that she
should lead in the recognition of the
equality Of all men before the law.
We do not advocate indiscriminate
negro suffrage in the South. On this
point the New York Herald proposes
the following, which we are entirely
willing to accept:
1--WE would give the suffrage at once 70 four
classes Of Southern negroes. First, and en-
phatically, to every negro who has borne arms
every negro who owns real estate; third, to
every negro who can read and write; and
any religious denomination or church for five
years before the war. These points would COW
er every one that ought to vote, and they
would insure In every negro voter spirit Of
manhood, as well as discipline, some practical
shrewdness, intellectual Development, and
moral consciousness and culture. II Is well
worth the consideration of the President,
whether something like this should not be in
ciuded in the scheme of reconstruction"
On the justice, necessity and policy
of putting the ballot into the hands of
Southern blacks, we have heretofore ex-
pressed our mind freely. At this time
we request the careful attention of the
reader to the following extract from the
New York Tribune:
I'VE have made the Blacks ".frec." But
what is "freedom?" Let the honest voter,
who Is equally proud of his vote and of his
honesty, answer the question! Let the reader
of this article who is continually voting for or
against Constitutions and constitutional
amendments, for Presidents, Governors, Con-
gressinen, Judges, Mayors, Selectmen, super
yisors-let such voter answer this question:
Would he consider himself " free" ii the right
of voting were taken entirely away from him,
and bestowed exclusive upon men who were
two inches taller or =, sh,saer. little riehsr
who, If he were thus dsfrsnchised, would not
that he was made a slave. He who should be
thus treated would not make the least objec-
ton to revolution fer his own private bene-
1T and behoof. IL would be no consolation
that by act of the Assembly he was named "a
Freedman" He would call upon Heaven and
Earth, God and man, to redress his griev-
ances, and summon mass meeting OF has
friends in the Park or in Tamnany before he
Here again, as in SO many other instances,
We are brought up to the rack of our theories,
and must swallow or repuiiate them-the
happy middle course upon which we once
travelled so jauntingly, having mysteriously
"gone under" But in this special matter 1t
seems to us that something more than our
safety, our national honor, is concerned. If
abe poor dog is no more TO be hunted we must
stop giving him a bad name. The Rebel Man
Owners have lost much-houses lands, beasts
of burden, cash and credit; but if we wish to
bestow upon them a substantial consolation,
and give them an excellent chance of recover
Ing the old power which they have lost, nine
times intenshsa we hare only 70 ieaye Them
race" The Blacks will be down again in
twenty years and we Northern Whites viii be
down with them!'
FoRD's Theater has been sold to tie
Young Mems Christian Association, of
Washington, for 100000. The papers
say that Ford makes a clean profit OF
Cs0 nm mt Of ha SaIo