The age-herald., 1899-06-10
NEGRO SUFFRAGE
 IN ALABAMA.
BY JOSEPH P. JOHNSTON.

| important matter-there shall be no negro domination anywhere throughout the state. This resolve is not caused by any hatred of the negro or any desire to degrade or 1 humiliate him. or deprive him of his just rights. It has it's origin in the calm judg- ment of our people that it is for the best | interests of all persons, black well as | white, that the government in it's entirety | should be in the hands of white men. We have had during the reconstruction period taste of negro domination, and we found that it was not good for any one. It meant the subordination of intelligence to ignorance, the closing of schools, general corruption, lawlessness and footed treasu- ries. On the other hand, the all white goy- ernment in Alabama which we have now may be compared favorably with govern ment anywhere in the United States. It is clean, honest, intelligent and progressive There Is order in the cities their various departments are we'll organized and manr aged and there is little waste or pecula- tion.
 Under the all white government the ne- groes are living happily and contentedly
 We have the same laws for whites and blacks. The negroes are protected, they have an abundance Of work and are fairly paid and justly treated. They understand the situation and acquiesee in it. Many of them have given up voting. But they are not agitated about the matter. They accept white rule as inevitable, and all is peaceful throughout Alabama.
 Now the laws of Alabama confer unlm- ited suffrage upon all men, and though we have had no trouble for long time on &C., count of thesuppression of the negro vote there were many white men who believed that. the law should be altered and the ne- gro deprived of his vote by means of pro- visions that would discriminate against hlm-such as that the voter must be able 10 read and write, or be able to interpret a portion of the state constitution, or answer questions in regard to the same which could be made easy or very difficult, according to the desire of those asking the questions, or that there should be a property oualid- cation.
 Accordingly at the last regular session or the legislature of Alabama there was an act passed calling a constitutional conven- ton Tor the purpose of revising the con- stitution of the state in regard to the suf- rage. When the act was passed it was well understood that it was not to be made party question, but every citizen was to be allowed fair expression of his iudg- ment as to the advisability- of holding a convention. After the legislature adjourn ed a democratic state convention was held to nominate delegates at large, and the con- vention took such action that it was claim ed that every democrat must vote for the Quite number of gentlemen who had bolt GQ the democratic fiplxat in ba al election were nominated as candidates. put little interest having been taken in the primaries, and it was apprehended thai thls element would have controlled the convention. l called a special session of the legislature for the purpose of consider Ing the question of repeating the act au- thoriztng the suffrage convention and the legislature sat in Montgomery for fourteen oays The session ended three weeks ago after stormy debates. No amendment to the constitution on the suffrage matter could be agreed upon, and after the act calling the suffrage convention had been repealed the special session adjourned IeaVlng matters as they were before the proposed alteration of the suffrage was ag- ltated. As matters stand at present. Ala bama still has unlimited manhood suf- trage and a negros vote is as good as a white mans vote so far as the law is con cerned. As long as the law is in such a 'NNeS tACAO 10 udllSeT or some agltatOr9 surrlng up the negroes to make trouble so that change is much to be desired,
 Taxing the entire state of Alabama we whites nave a majority of between thirty and forty thousand voters, comparing the whites and blacks So that in most parts or the state white domination is assured by the character of the population. The only section where this is not the case is in the Black Belt of Alabama, which in- ciudes the thirteen central counties of the state. It is the cotton-raising district and the field hands are all negroes, there be- ing in the belt about four negroes to one white man. Nevertheless all the offices are filled by white men.
 The white people of Alabama feel certain that 1t Is proper and right that this should be the case. They are assured that the negro is not yet fitted to rule. Negro tri- umph would mean that the government would be placed in the hands of the very worst element of the community.
 The white people of Alabama do not ex- pect the white people of the nsrth to un- derstand or sympathiZe with their position in regard to this matter and they simply suggest that they are the ones who live in the state where the events that are un- der examination have occurred, they have special opportunities for obtaining correct information and arriving at just conclu- sions. No matter how good our telescopes are, the man in the moon might be par doned if he contended that he knew more than we about Lunar affairs.
 What the future of the negro is to be do not know. We are educating him now. In nearly every township of the Black Belt we have school for the negro as well as one for the white children The older gen. eration of negroes among us is ignorant and Is mostly made up of field hands and other laborers. They are contented, but the educated negroes may be discontented certainly their tendency appears to be away from manual labor and in the direc- ton of teaching or preaching. Nevertheless the white people of the state are generally in favor of trying education, and the future will have to take care of itself.
 These schools for blacks are as good as the schools for white children. In the coun- try districts they do not run above the primary grade, but in the cities there are high schools for the colored children, and there is one normal school where colored teachers are taught and trained. It may be that this educating of the colored chii- 1oI1 Af hov- xv@r.I,r