New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-11-30
GEORGIA NEGROES NOT DISTINGUISHED
TIoNAL QUALIFICATION BY OVERWHELMING
MAJORITY IN THE LEGISLATIVE.


MAJORITY IN THE LEGISLATURE.
Atlanta. Ga. Nov. % (speciaD-Georgia yester-
day emphatically refused follow the example OF
Mississippi, Louisiana. South Carolina and the
scheme OF North Carolina In practically dis
franchising negro voters The bill which was
defeated more signally than any important meas
ever was before by the Legislature of the
State. different from the new laws Of any Of
the other Southern States for the regulation OF the
suffrage. 1t was more sweeping and proscriptive
II had the provision OF all the acts Of this class
that proposing voter should be required de-
mand TO read and interpret any clause OF the State
Constitution leaving the managers OF the precinct
at which he offered to the sole judges of the
quality OF his reading and the intelligence OF his
Interpretation. and from their decision appeal
could he taken. II had also the provision OF other
bills Of this class that any lneaI descendant Of a
man who could vote in 1857. the year previous TO
the beginning of the Reconstruction period in the
South. could vote regardless OF whether he could
read write.
AS pointed out by several leading Democrats
OF Georgia. this putting premium on the
education of the negro youth which was not
offered to white youth. The bill that defeated
yesterday did not contain alternative prop
erty qualification. though the negroes OF Georgia
pay taxes over 81 100000 worth Of property But
the most effective argument against this measure,
dead. that in other Southern State
the relations of the whites and the negroes so
smicable in no other State are the two NOV
ing along together with little friction. That
the passage OF a bill which put the negro dis
tinctly under the ban would revive race prejudice
and provoke race strife clear TO the more
conservative Democrats OF Georgia that they threw
the weight of their influence against II, and their
appeals had a powerful effect.
The most intelligent negro leaders in the South
also entered their protests against the proscriptve
measure. and did so in such good temper and
with such well conceived and admirably expressed
arguments that 10 them is due large share OF the
honor that 20 Georgia from the vote I'm
the popular house Of the Georgia Legislature.
Among the most conspicuous negro opponents OF
the DISTINGUISHING amendment Booker i.
Washington, Of Alabama, and Bishops II. NJ.
Church. These men have close relations with the
white men OF largest influence in Georgia and have
won their respect and confidence by cOunsellng
temperate action, industry and the cultivation OF
the goodwill Of their white friends the part Of
negroes.
In a dispatch to The Tribune some weeks ago 1t
was stated that there was little chance OF the
adoption of the dsfranchsing amendment, but no.
body expected then or since that II would receive
such crushing defeat administered TO il
to-day The argument in the House OF Repre-
sentatives brief but the real and killing argn-
ment had been made before in the conservative
press of the State and when the bill read.
Just before the vote. II known 10 be dead.
Still, the sledgehammer blow OF 1877 votes against
it TO only for IT, and the applause which greet
ed the announcement OF the result, both on the
floor Of the House and in its crowded galleries In
dictated how completely public sentiment in Georgia
is against such schemes 10 restrict the franchise
q three other Southern States have already re-
sorted to and another may adopt next year.