The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1888-11-29
POLITICAL REFORM IN THE SOUTH.

$3.50
The suggestion of the Montgomery Dis
patch for a constitutional convention to pre-
scribe an educational qualification for voters
in Alabama seems to be invested with con-
siderable Importance down in that section of
country. The telegram published in the
journal yesterday showed that it was thought
of sufficient Importance to send in advance
"what the Dispatch will say tomorrow edi-
torially." What it did say or promised to say
was very silly. "But for the dread Of what
the Republican restoration may bring forth"
says the able editor, 1--WE could face the
future with a heart of hope. The curse,
however, mems Us in. Behind US lies the
easily record of ten years of horror. Before
us stretches the dilating vista of alarm"
Probably in Alabama this is thought fine
writing. 1.-THE dilating vista of ALARM" which
the able editor sees stretching before him, is
that everlasting bugaboo of Southern magma
ton NEGRO domination" The fact that this
is an utter unrsality and impossibility
makes no difference. To a man
suffering from 'jim-jams" unrealities
are the most terrible realities, and
the sufferer from political jim-jams
is no exception to the rule. Southern
whites ought to be ashamed to admit that the
only way they can maintain their superiority
and supremacy over the blacks is to deprive
them of the right of suffrage. This is equiva-
lent to saying that with an equal start and
equal advantages the blacks will outstrip the
whites in the race for supremacy. Is the eau
casian played QUIT The Southern negro domi-
nation shriekers seem to think so.
The Montgomery editors remedy for this
imaginary danger is an educational qualifca-
ton for voters. He says: every calamity
we have suffered in the past, every peril that
menaces US in the future. is directly referable
to the fact that the right Of suffrage then re-
sided, and now resides, with a vast body of
men unified by ignorance and degradation to
exercise it for the good of society" Read be-
tween the lines, this means that the ex-
clusion of the negroes from the right of
suffrage must be continued, aud in view
of the possibility that the United States
laws may be enforced, some new mode Of
exclusion must be devised. The proposal for
an educational qualification is not made in
the interest of political reform or better gov
eminent, but as a means of preventing the
negroes from voting. In other words, it is
life for the solid South.
The proposition for an educational qualif-
cation of the suffrage, if made in the right
spirit. would be entitled. not only in Ala
bama but in other States, to the serious and
candid consideration due to any proposition
looking to the publication of the ballot. The
experiment of universal suffrage is not yet
fully worked out, and if it should be found
expedient at some future time to limit or cur
tail the right of suffrage in the interest of
good government, an educational q~ualifca-
ton will be likely to meet with as much
favor from political reformers as any that
could be proposed. Three States have such
q constitutional qualification now, viz, Con-
n~ecticut. Massachusetts and Missouri. In
Connecticut q legal voter must be able ito read
any article of the Constitution or section Of
Statutes of the State In Massachusetts, he
must 'be able to read the Constitution in
A.. Ec~i,.h 1a,.,a.o 81 r.;&o L., c,cn, ~
In Missouri be must be liable to read and
write" The matter rests entirely with the
States
The adoption of an educational q~usiifca,
! ton in A labama might not prove to b., as ef-