The age-herald., 1899-02-21
THE NATION
 AND A CLUB
LuoIEN JULIEN WALKER.

can goodwill in the history of the Repub- 1 lie Is fixed for April 9th, in Chicago. The l Hamilton club of that city will on that l date give a Blue and Grey banquet, the
 significance of which is as broad as the | bounds of the nation. The name agreed l upon for the feast tells the story Of it's purport It Is to bring together in Ira
 ternal spirit representative Americans, ex 1 federals and ex-confederates alike. There 1 being now no 'sections," in the old sig
 nffieance of that troublous term 1t cannot l be said that both sections" will be rep resented; but that the nation, In the per sons Of some of it's representative citizens, 1 will be the guests of the Hamilton club l in the metropolitan center of the broader 1 and truer Americanlsm
 Amongs the principal guests and orators l will be Senator Lodge, Governor Roosevelt, l General Lew Wallace and General Joseph 1 Wheeler The full list has not been quite l completed; but the general plans for the 1 banquet have been agreed upon; and the l event will prove to be of supreme national 1 importance.
 l The day selected will be the thirty | fourth anniversary of Appomattox; and so | the Blue and the Grey will come togther 1 in friendliest intercourse on date forever 1 memorable to both and to the world. Gen. l eral Wheeler, some time confederate gen. l eral. now a general in the United States l service. will sit at the same table with the | union veteran, General Lew Wallace. The | scene. the occes sion and all the purposes | thereof will prove to be w1thou. pfeceoene 1 in ths history of any land.
 l@tr. for the country in more than one oIrection' l and this crowning triumph of patriotism, us real American spirit, will win for 1t the gratitude of the country. It was tnis ciuo that first suggested to all orchestras and musical bands in the south that they play national air. and that all such organizations In the north play Dixie on public ocoa-
 sions. The suggestion has received the strongest popular approval, and now, day
 by day, 'The Star Spangled Banner thrills the ,roud southern spirit and "Dixie' rings
 through the great north as an anthem or
 the national conscience. This truth IS nobly illustrative of the noble charaeteris- tics of true Americans. At Chicago on Appomattox Day applause shall silence for the moment the ringing notes of "Dixe," and plaudits shall reduce to thrilling whis- per the proud boast of "The Star Spangled Banner
 The Hamilton club is doing noble na- tional work. It is republican organization, but it is not partisan. It is broadly of the nation; it is not of the narrow spirit that so often leads to mere palitical pickering and blackguarding. One of the objects of its present labors is to bring about a purer ballot, to minimize corrupt practices in elections. And that object the great club of the west comes closer home to us here in Alabama and the south than to the peo- pie of other states. We know something about it herei we have suffered-are suf- fering now. But there is light ahead. There must be a limitation of the popular fran chise. The ignorant element must be elim- mated. That element is the primary cause of corrupt practices in elections In Ala bama and other southern states it has led to such practices, because intelligence must needs guard itself against ignorance. It was with us not only question of mere defense; but a principle of existence.
 Within six months there will be In ses- sion a constitutional convention of Ala bam,ans, and it will be for that convention  which has been done In Mississippi, Louis- iana, and South Carolina. Black ignorance should no more be allowed to corrupt elec- tfons in Alabama than white ignorance should degrade the elections in Illinois or New York.
 There cannot be any reasonable doubt that the intelligent opinion of the north Is in favor of regulating the franchise. The riper judgment of the entire country tends very perceptibly in that direction. Ignor- ance attaches no value to the ballot. There are a hundred thousand voters in Ala bama who do not know the difference be- tween a constitution and a chest of draw CTS. Shame upon 8 system which suffers such a condition to exist.
 The latest publication on corrupt prac- tfces issued by the Hamilton club is entitled "A Brief Review of the Legisla- tion Against Corrupt Practices at Elec- tions-" It is written by MT. Roger Sher- man, a strong young member of the Chi cago bar and leading Hamilton club man. Brief as his paper may be. it is worthy of very high praise He shows at the outset that in England the house of commons began as far back as 1895 to legislate against corrupt practices. He holds the present law of England governing that matter to be the model for all of the states of this country. That is wise opinion. English elections are the purest held in the world. and the fact Is due to its corrupt practices jaws, together with a limitation of the franchise.
 MT. Hope Reed Cody. one of the best men of the west. and the president of the Ham, iiton club, is taking the deepest interest In these matters Of national import. MT. Cody is leader of advanced thought in political science. He has very able as- sistant in MT. Robert McMurdy. a member of the Chicago bar. MT. MeMurdy is conscientious and painstaking laborer in the cause of the higher life of the re- public.
 Leading members of the Hamilton club have formed company to promote better trade and social relations between Chicago and the southern states, Mexico and Gen. tral and South America. The object of the