The age-herald., 1898-02-20
Proposed Constitutional GOnV0ntIOn

It is apparent to every intelligent observ- CT that, sooner or later, the quesetion of unrestricted negro suffrage will present Itself in such a form that it can no longer be postponed or laid aside. That arming the illiterate. newly freed. negro with the ballot on equal terms with white men was improvident, unwise and wicked, thirty years of experience abundantly prove It would be unnecessary to recount the mis- chiefs which have followed in the train of that act of the republican party, which con- scious that 1t possessed the suffrages of a minority of white votes only, took this step as a desperate resort to fasten itself upon the country, since there are none who have a right to speak on the subject who will openly defend it, albeit there are many who, under false pretenses, are willing to accept it's fruits. That the heavily con- gested black counties of the state should be relieved of this incubus is proposition too obvious to require discussion.
 The White Counties
 I propose in this article to consider the question with reference to so-called white counties alone, since, if 1t is debatable at all, the discussion will have to be confined to these. In tho first place, there is great misapprehension, some real and some
  in these counties. It has been the fashion of the opposition to democracy, under whatsoever name it has been called, to treat 1t as if there were none but white votes in the white counties, and that the negro in these counties was not an item for consideration at all How untrue this Is may be illustrated by this--Talladega- county. Speaking in round numbers we have 2,600 negroe votes and 3,1OO whites. Now it Is a matter of arithmetic merely to demonstrate that If the solid negro vote be added to 251 whites they can elect whom- soever they please, though the 2o1 whites be opposed by 2,949 of their own race. or more than thirteen to one As matter of fact the negro vote here is particularly divided, but the great mass, especially the ignorant ones, vote soldly against us re- gardless of any influence or argument. Rea- sonable progress has been made in the divi- sion of the educated negroes, but the H. 1iterate ones are like a stonewall against us. In our last campaign 1t was conceded by the party organ of the opposition 10 our ticket that they could poll only about 1 900 votes out of 3.l00 whites. As matter of fact the returns made to me as chair man of our committee showed that less than 800 white men voted the opposition ticket, yet Goodwyn had over hundred majority in the county, and his party speaks of 1t as carrying a white county, carefully emitting to state that more than 
 him!
 Take for another Illustration the county of Clay. In the last election about one- half of the county offices were carried by the democrats and the other half by the populists, but no candidate on either side received as much as 100 majority. There are over o00 negro votes. nearly all of whom voted with the populists. Not sin. gle man on that ticket but owes his elec- ton to the balance of power held by the negroes. Yet this is another white coun- ty which they claim.
 Let us also consider the seventh congress sional district. Towards official majority was about 400. There are several thousand negro votes and it is matter of practical certainty that Howard received enough more negro votes than Bullock to change the result. In saying this I am not un- mindful of the fact that a republican also ran in that district, but 1t is well known that Howard received large negro vote in several counties, notwithstanding that Curtis was in the race.
 If every county of the state that returned an official majority for Goodwin and his county tickets in the last election were sub jected to a critical examination, it is safe to say that not in five of them did he carry a real majority of the white votes This fact needs to be made plain, for there are many counties chafng under anti-demo- cratic rule. who really do not seem to re- alize that it is negro rule. not white rule which they are experiencing.
 Profess Blindness
 Now there are some men who profess to a blindness, which is not real on this sub- ject. Declaiming against alleged frauds in the black belt, and protesting their ad- hesion to the doctrine of white supremacy, should it be really imperilled, they are con- scious beneflciaries of negro rule, who merely hope to disguise the fact by mis- leading statements about carrying white counties. But the deception cannot all ways be practiced. We are opposed to the rule of a minority of white men in any county of the state as odous to every prin- ciple of free government, and of the whole essence of democracy, which is not in the least mitigated by the fact that that mi norty is supplemented by sufficient num- Der of blacks to turn the scales.
 Consider from the standpoint of the white counties alone, the condition is sim ply this. that the negro in many of them, is the arbitrator and his vote changes the re- suit. Such result is intoerable Negro arbitration in principle, Is not distln- guishable from negro rule. It Is but an- other form of the same issue. It is no answer to this proposition to say that both parties solicit the vote and therefore that the popuisis are justified in getting it if they can, and which they can. For the ef- fort to divide that vote, when the whites arc divided. even if we get one-fourths or one fifth. Is & necessity so long as It exists. The shame of the whole business is that he is called In at all. and those who are the main bere:iciaries of 1t, if they are really sincere in their support of the principle of white supremacy. ought to join hands with us in the elimination of that vote from any consideration whatever. That there are many mon who vote with the organized democracy who are not in sympathy with its platform Is due to the fact that they cannot and will not initiate with any party which rests Its sole dependence for sue cess upon the negro vote. Rid tho state of that question. and out of these and those who are already against us will spring the material for party which will be respecta- ble both .n numbers and Tn character.
 The conviction has slowly, but surely crept into the hearts and minds of ma- 5ority of the democracy ot this state that the only remedy Is by holding constitu- tional convention. The only question is whether they have the courage to avow that convention. believe and trust they have. I believe the next convention will speak plainly and frankly on this question
 Time to Speak Out
 There are many who undertake to meet