Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-01-27
Reply to Mr.. murray,
the Editor of The Evening Star:

AZ tHe Euitor OF Inc Evening Star:
Permit ne through the columns of your
valuable paper to reply to certain part of
the commendablo communication from Dam
iel Murray, which appeared in your issue of
the 18th instant In the main, the observa-
tons contained in Mr.. Murray's letter were
free from extremes, taking the safe middle
ground through which must lie the negro's
road to success. But Mr.. Murray has fallen
into the popular error that the remedy
against the Illegal methods resorted to in
the south to nullify the ballot in the hands
of the negro is a reduction of it's repre-
sentation in Congress. This is not the
proper nor the effectual way to cure the
evil. The south nullifes the negro ballot as
means of his political subjugation. The
slave owner before emancipation secured
three-ffthS representation on account of
his slaves, not a recognition of their
rights, but to popuariZe and to make
powerful the institution Of slavery Should
the notification of the negros vote in the
south be acquiesced in and become en-
grated upon the statute books by an act
reducing its representation 1t would still
have carried It's point, with an expected
loss. The south would have grim joy in the
fact that its estimate of the negroes right to
an equal voice in the politics of the nation
had become q law. While it no doubt would
experience some sorrow in the loss of rep
resentation in Congress on account of its
have greater Joy in the complete success OF
its methods to entirely eliminate the negro
as a political factor. This being so, the
negro, who is now under the Constitution
and laws of the land a freeman, would be
re1egated to a political position worse than
that he occupied as a slave, for then his
master cast a thre e-fifths ballot in his
name, but in his latter position neither he
nor his former master could cast even
three-fifths vote for him. 1t would be a
case of cutting off the nose to spite the
face. Two wrongs do not make one right
The true remedy for the evil would be to
enforce the law as laid down, United
States Revised Statute 2010 and kindred
statutes In connection with the amend
n1ents to the Constitution give ample power
to protect every voter in his right to cast
one honest ballot and to have it legally
counted as cast. Not reduction of rep
resentation, but rather a reduction of il
legal methods Is needed in the south. Law
lessress should not be permitted to succeed
by resort to greater lawlessness. The
Afro-American League could help to bring
about the enforcement of existing law on
this subject by giving substantial support
to those in the south who are capable of
seeing that during a congressional or pres
idential election the issue of fact based
upon established law is fully made and
properly presented to the court of compe-
tent jurisdiction, where the matter of the
unconstitutionality of state laws which
deny the right of citizens of the United
States to vote on account of their color or
previous condition of servitude can be ju-
dicaliy determined once for all, for the re-
duction of representation is but tempo
rary eXpedient at best, but the legal remedy
suggested far from postponing the evil
day. would go to the gist of the case and
have 1t adjudicated upon its merits.
| January %, 1899. r. S. SMITH