The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1890-07-31

Mississippi Is about to hold q
constitutional convention, and We
cannot DO better than to allow
the New York Erentny Post Mug.
wump) to tell why the convention is to
be held, and what Mississippians hope
to accomplish by It.
As State and local officers arc chosen IN tho
odd years. the Force hill, which applies only
to tho elections IN even years at which Con.
ercssmen are chosen. could not help the negroes
10 recover their rights 10 II share Iii the govern.
lneht OF the State and counties. The white
minority have no fear lest they can continue 10
carry elections by the same methods as In the
past, but they want 10 find some other way.
for some years there has been a growing feel.
log that au earnest effort ought TO DO made TO
devise a legal and Just system for getting rid OF
the i~snorant negro vote. Thoughtful men have
recognized that tho present policy OF bulldoz.
Ing aud cheating cannot be permanent, and
ought not 10 b. perm nnent, since II Ia bound 10
denoralIEe the whites us well Us tho blacks.
The Constitutions! Convention which meets
next month Is the ontgrowth OF this feeling.
Various plans for limiting the suffrage have
been proposed and arr now under discussion.
What Is desired is one which will cut OIL most OF
the negroes from the suffrage, and At the same
timc will not d~ist'anch!sc any considerable
number OF whites and this Is II dliiicult result
10 secure. An educational qualification, for
example, would rule out probably threc.iOurlhs
Of the blacks. bur IL won d nlso take the ballot
from onc.lenth OF the whites, l. Gliding many
ex.Confe1erate soldiers, aud the soldier vote"
Is as much A source Of dread In the South as In
the North. \ property qualification would
work In much the same way. The idea OF n POLL
tax Was popular Until Ii was ,ointed out that
the Vl:slnin democrats had tried this device tor
getting rid OF the nctto vote. only to find that
Malone got shh Republican, up North TO con.
groes,. while l.any OF the whites could not or
would not pay theft own. Q
The truth Is that the problem IL a most per.
picking one. aud the situation calls for the sym
pathy OF outsiders. 1t IL Obvious that the lie.
groes cannot be nll.wcd the power IN govern.
ncnt 10 which their numerical prcponderance
would cutlt!c them, but It Is hard to sec a meth.
Cd OF restricting heir votes which will not be
Objectionable TO some cement among the
whites. The only hopeful feature Of the situa.
liol Is the evident anxiety Of the best men In
the State to lind Il solution which will be fair to
all concerned.
Since the overthrow Of the "Carpet.
Bag Government the Democrats 81
Mississippi have managed 10 getrid OF the
negro vote, intelligent and ignorant,
and Of the white vote which was not
Democratic, all in the teeth Of a heavy
majority against them. They have done
it by q system which was not legal and
not just to the electors Of Mississippi or
those OF the other States. They have
done it through shot guns and frauds on
the ballot box. This they do not deny.
They say it was and is necessary to the
preservation OF the superior race"
which phrase, in the iullness Of It's in
depreciation, means the supremacy OF the
Democrats Of the white race.
The perplexing problem, with which
the Pos. deals so alphabetically, is to
devise means to make sure OF robbing
the majority Of its right to rule and at
the same time do it SO Sticky that the
North shall not be aroused by the pro-
ceeding. The perplexing problem is to
find a better way than has yet been
found to establish minority rule in one
OF the States Of this Union-the very
thing the Federal election bill seeks to
prohibit.
1t will be noticed tia. the Post Gays,
with regard TO what it is pleased to term
the Force Bill" that it could not help
the negroes to recover their rights to q
share in the government OF the State
and counties" Would it not be fair,
then, since they help to swell the repre-
sentation Of Mississippi in the House Of
Representatives and in the Electoral
College, to secure to them their right to
a share in the National Government,
which made them free and gave them
the ballot?
And II the National Government be
p owerless to enforce that right in their
behalf, in behalf Of every honest voter
in every State, in behalf Of q Republi-
can'form OF government, what remains
but to strike the negro from the basis Of
representation?