The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1890-08-17

the negro vote down South as well as up
North Then, further, there is about rs
much in seeing that no white man votes
twice Tor more) both North and South as
there is in getting chance Tor the colored
citizen TO vote once. These Northern cities
are not Sanctuaries Of pure suffrage eX-
actly, and some of the country folks can
beat the cities like a country boy will the
city dude catching trout. All over the
country the suffrage is more or less-gener-
ally more than lesS-tampered With, ana
the cry goes up everywhere, or ought TO,
for free ballot and an honest count Still
the great difficulty is IN regard to the vote
Of the negro III the South.
So the Republicans, most of them, have
determined that they will have national
election law. They are determined that
each man, black or white. shall have not
only the right in law. but shall enjoy the
privilege in fact, to vote freely once and
have that vote honestly counted every
where and at every time that the rest
do. l think that is right. The Demo-
en- paper, and is all right mp
North any way, but that down South 1t
will not work. because then all the negroes
will vote the Republican ticket, and besides
that-which l think they consider the worst
of il, for they love colOred Democrat-the
negroes are a majority in many sections and
in some States, and will run and ruin both
races and the whole structure OF society.
They fall back upon higher law, just as
the AboltioniSts did. They say that self
preservation is a higher law than written
constitutions and statutes. There they
make their stand, and they have about all
the property, intelligence and guns which
are in that part of the country. They say
they ale white folks and that 1t is in them
to fight and die. but that the black man
shall not reign over them; that he is not
their equal; that, law or no law, they VIII
reign over him or he shall get out and that
he shall not get out. Tor they want his
work.
Now there is one question which the
Southern men ask which don't know how
to answer 1t is this: "What right have
you to compel us TO let man vote who does
not know how to? What right have you,
| constitutions or no constitutions. laws or no
laws, to subject our life and property and
the fate of the whole country to the vote OF
man who does not know enough to
read his ballot or to count it, much less
to tell the tariff from free trade? Just look
at Louisiana, with more than half her
people cOlOred and more than half her
| voters unable to read. And suppose they
could read in the spelling book! How much
would that help them in gathering facts and
| comprehending issues which involve good
| government ard perhaps individual and
| national lifeP"
| This staggers ME, and l should think it
would Mr.. Lodge and Mr. Reed and Mr..
! Spooner and Mr.. Hoar, aud l guess it does.
! Any way, this question staggers the Re-
| publican party, and it will kill the life out
| of any Federal election law unless it is
| answered or some way Is found to fix the
| man so that he knows enough to vote. We
| cannot enforce a law which provides that
| fools shall play with FIRE in powder maya
1 zines. We shall not make such law unles:
| we be fools ourselves. We've got to get
| the beams out Of our own eyes in order that
| we NAV see clearly.
But right here | catch up the Southern
| Democrats who object to the election Law
and bother them great deal. ask then
| if they know that more than half the white
voters in Louisiana cannot read and write,
and refer them to the registry lists OF thu
| State.
"Why do you object to a negro either
! voting because he is ignorant when you in
sist that the white ignoramus shall govern
| the country? You don't object to ignor
ance, but to the Republican party and t
| the negro, not because he is ignorant, blu
because he is black Republican"
They cannot answer this, but they ar,
! inst as stiff as ever and begin to load thei
| guns. That is their way, don't mind it
because l live so far north that they won
hit me; bot can't help plying the poo
negro, and should sincerely regret his Kill
ing but for the fact that the outrages MAJ
help along the elections up here where WI
can read the accounts in the news
| papers. He maketh the wrath OF maj
to praise Him." and the thirty Thousand
| black patriots who have been murdered
since the war in the effort to enjoy thei
liberty by voting the Republican ticke
have not died in vain. By their blood the.
| have saved many Northern and even ma
tional election, and if they are to fall il
future as in the past around the ballot
boxes Of the South or before they get L
them. let us hope for a continuance of tn
| same blessing But this is q tough philOSO
ply.
IL does not leave my conscience easy t
| silence the Southerner by proving tina
white voters are ignorant too. so far as
am concerned, all citizens are OF the SAM
color.
We have been in power for thirty years
save four of painful memory. Why Is one
| third of the Southern suffrage and one
fifth that of the whole country disqualified
by ignorance? Save only the demente'
and those of mature age at the clos
of the war, there should not be a mai
citizen in the United States unable t.
read intelligently, and ought not to hav
been for the last ten years. Gould not til
same power which conferred the suffrag
also provide for its qualification? Can III
power exist to make sovereign OF one WIN
knows not how to rule, unless along wit
the sovereignty is given the means to fiji tn
king to reign? The American citizen is
duty Of Government among free people
The right to govern belongs, from the yer
nature Of things, only TO those who ar
qualified to govern. If this be not true
why are idiots disfranchised? Why shout
| not brutes be citizens? OF what const
| Quence is 1t whether an ass walks upon wv
legs or four?
The Republican party has been pledged
lOl now these many years, to provide th