The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1897-12-04
LOUisIASA's CONVENTION.


The press Of Louisiana is eXprdss
itself very freely on the subject OF ht
Constitutional &, vention to be htld
in that state in February, The db,
ject of the convention Is to relieve
the state from existing political evils
by the same means as thdso
by which the present peaceful
and satisfactory solutlon of the
questlonw as accomplished in Mis-
sissippi. The following extrads
from the New Or'eaus States are Il
teresting indices TO the coRd!tiobs
that make the holding OF such COP
vention necessary, aud the Ieuiimebt
in other states, north and south, ia re-
gard to Il:
The Northern people, we are glad TO
note, are taking q lively Interest III
the outcome Of our constitutional
convention which ia to be bel.'
February and aeaTiy ." = ne1
a. f''N7 conditions iu the South
:. such as to require the elimination
of the ignorant vote from State aDd
local elections. and it Is better to do
it by an amendment TO the constit4-
ton than to resort TO fraud and vio-
lence, The people of Louisiana view
the matter in. the same light. They
are tired ofosuppEessing the negro
vote by ballot-box Etuding aud intlmt-
dating and are determined that sudh
practices shah cease They see i'll tue
experience of other Southern Statds
that white supremacy and white
government can be safely msintained
by restricting the franchise in way
that will wipe out the voting power
of the negro IN Louisiana, and this
can be done by. imposing q property
and educational Qualification to the
Australian system Of voting.
That The negrois unfit TO rule Is
proved by the whole history OF bis
race for six thousand years In all
those centuries the negro in his IA
tive iungles and left to himself has
never evolved a single feature ofcivii-
ization The only progress he has
made in the arts and methods aud
ideas of enlightenment he has made
under the institution of slavery aud
tho force of the discipline of the white
man, ard wherever he has been re-
leased from slavery and left to him.
self, as in st, Domingo for instance,
all the accumulated works of civ iliza-
ton, all the progress, all art and re-
ligion created by the white have de-
cayed aud perished, and tho negro
has again degenerated into savage
aud into cannibalism. Ii then such
has been his fate left TO the forces OF bis
own characteristics, is it surprising, is
it incredible to say, that, thrown into
the arms of unscrupulous carpet-bsg-
gers and scalawags, whose only ln-
terest ia the negro was to use him as
tool to plunder the civilization OF
the South aud whose only teachings
of him were in the corruption, the
disreputable trickerles and the pro-
fgacy of politicians; it is strange that,
predisposed by nature to saVagery
The negro, under slch conditions,
rapidly accepted these evil lessons and
instead of rising from the level of the
disciplined slave be sunk TO the very
Lowest social, moral and political
plane, and hence, is it incredible to
declare that, after lhirty years OF flee
dom, he is less fit to exercise the fran
chase than he was when be first came
an emancipated slave from the cotton
and csue fields of the masters, whose
example ana discipline had develop
ed him into something OF au enlight-
ened aud Christian being!