The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-01-28
Tae @esselwer.
RESTRICTIVE EDUCATIoNALr TEST

ing negro suffrage. They are Missis-
sdppi and South Carolina They a "
an educational test. Louisiana will
SOON follow as a state constitutional
convention has been called to that end.
The educational qualification will ex-
eIude. it is said, " per cent of the ne
gro vote. and 20 per cent Of the white
o There is an alternative qualif-
cation of property 1920 WORTH that it
Is believed will allow many finite who
ere illfterates to come in. The educa-
tRonal test should TIE applied fairly if
adopted. Let all suffer alike The
present law in Louisiana is very objec-
1fonable because of it's sweeping char
xcter. Tt is said to be a. fact that a
freshly arrived immigrant, as ignorant
as a bear of our institutions. can vote
i before he has become natur
allied e a very absurd and danger
GUS arrangement. That is letting down
the bars to voters with a vengeance.
Tt is not surprising that sensible, de-
cent citizens should weary Of bosses
and bad rule by ignorant foreigners
fresh from Europe and the negroes at
home with a yoke around their necks
and a rope affixed to be held by ward
politicians and ballot box suffers. An
exchange, the Atlanta Journal, says
that the New Orleans papers say that
unde tine present system elections
have been grossly fraudulent, in some
precincts more ballots having been
cast than there We're men, women and
children in the population. AS is in
variably the case these frauds, which
were intended originally to operate
against negroes, have since been prac-
diced by democrats against a C other
and rave at last caused a revulsiOn of
popular sentiment against ballot box
Stuffing."
That in all the southern states a
change as to electoral qualification is
greatly needed no one a question
who has an Intelligent view Of the &C
aual situation. 1t is a great privilege
and responsibility to vote, however lit
tie Importance is attached to it by the
unthinking and the corrupt. An edu-
cational test should be applied to all
new foreign immigrants and to all ma
tive voters hereafter. 1t will not 10 to
await the slow moving process of edu-
cation through the public schools.
That takes many years to prepare a
well equipped e~lector, and after all
they often turn out more youth who
-. - - 1ox. "~ +lo~
otherwise. The Washington Post re-
Gently said in considering the improve
ment Of negroes by being taught
trades, etc:
"Of course, we assume that it will
take much time and a great deal of
troublesome experience to amend this
situation. acknowledgement as it is
comes under the free school system,
but wisdom fingers. We suggests,
however, chat while system is grind
ing out five young gentlemen and ladies
TO swell the application lists for clerk
ships, teacherships, and places as type
writers, etc.
Ii is noticeable that the criticisms in
h north of the southern educational
test movement are not as extreme in
their condemnation as they would a
been two decades ago. 1t has become
more apparent with the years that I'M
limited neg suffrage was and is a
~5tupendOus blunder. Many able and
thoughtful men in the north are seeing
this. The Boston Herald, that more
extensively circulates than any other
New England paper, vas once a strong
believer in unrestricted suffrage for the
negroes. 1t has been learning with the
passing ear and admits squarely that
1.-The negro has always been a failure
an the matter of suffrage" The south
knew that thirty years ago quite as
well as it is known now. We copy
this from the Herald:
THE year 1897 has furnished new
evidence of the failure of colOred suf-
Srage in the southern states of the
union. 1t has had a long period of
trial. We are forced to say that at no
stage Of this trial has its success been
encouraging, and we are inclined to
Ehink that the experience Of the last
var has clinched he nail against it, I'M
der present methods. We find no sat
isfaction in saying this. The expert
ment of giving them the suffrage was
felt to be a doubtful one by many who
favored it, and it was peculiarly repug-
nant to the white race of the south.
The whites of the south, whom
Uhe late Governor Andrew denominated
tn natural leaders of that section
were at first ~disfranchised and natural
sy ~resentful; the whites of the north
who migrated to the southern states
showed a disposition to use the colored
men for their selfish purposes. rather
than to instruct them. COlOred Suf-
frage then had, therefore, an unfor-
xunate beginning, and conspicuous mis-
chief came from it, which is matter of
history"
1t approves of the constitutional
change made in Mississippi n South
Carolina as it affects the negro and
rays it 'puts the negro on a par with
the white man at the polls, thus re-