The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-09-15
A Two-faDGED SWORD.

es there is n disposition on the part of
certain Republican speakers and writer's
to lay special stress on the recent legis-
lation enacted in the South re,atng to
negro suffrage and to the results in that
respect of recent elections in the South
The charge that the people of the Phil
ippine archipelago are being governed
without their consent is being met by
| charging the opposition to the national
administration with responsibility for the
exclusion of the negro from all part in
the management of the affairs of the
states in which he lives
In the hands OF Republicans this at
tempt to bring discredit Oh the Democrats
through the exclusion of the negroes OF
! the South from the ballot box will be
found to be something of sword without
a handle-likely to work as much injury
to its user as to him upon whom it is
sought to be used. No Democrat will seek
| to justify the action of the people of
states like North Carolina, South Caro-
| lima, Louisiana and Mississippi save on
In those states the negro has been sub
! stantially excluded from the suffrage
| Yet the exclusion, urgently demanded as
! it has been, is not as absolute as it might
have been without any plain violation
of the civil rights amendments of the fed
eral constitution.
In North Carolina for instance, the re-
striction is upon illiterate negroes. All
negroes and white men alike, otherwise
| qualified, can continue to vote if liable to
read and write any section of the con-
stitution in the English language" Until
1908 those who were voters anywhere in
| the United States previous to Jan. /, 1867,
and those who are linealIy descended from
such voters, may vote. without having
! the educational test applied to them. Aft
er the former date the restriction as to
reading and writing viii apply alike to
| all who ask to vote. Stated in the sim
plest form, those excluded from the fran
chise under the North Carolina amend
ment are fliterate negroes and illlterate
whites who have been naturalized since
| Whatever the injustice of such a regu-
| lation may be on it's face with reference
| to the negro, or whatever discrimination
In favor Of the illiterate white it presents
| to view, it is undeniable that in its ulti-
mate effect it will be beneficial to the IL
literate negro and white alike, since it
offers the incentive to both to acquire
the necessary knowledge. Such a regu-
| lation IS certainly an improvement on
| the methods which have been in existence
In certain Southern states. 1t does not
differ in principle, in the restrictions
which it places on the exercise of the
franchise, from the provisions of law now
existing in Northern states like Massa-
| chusetts and Connecticut. If the restric-
lions in the one case should operate to
lessen the congressional representation Of
the state they should so operate in the
other.
There is no campaign thunder to be
manufactured for the Republican nation
al ticket through the suffrage laws of
the South. AS we say, the weapon is
dangerous one to use. The public senti-
ment of the country has long acquiesced
in all reasonable effort on the part of
the Southern whites to protect themselves
against the illiterate negro as a voter.
If the Republicans, having control in con-
gress and in the executive for the past
four years, have not thought proper to
make any movement toward reducing the
Southern representa- ton in congress as
the result of such legislation, 1t is fair
to assume that the present plea of the
Republican speakers and writer's is a false
one, and intended merely to divert atten-
ton from what the great proportion of
the voters of the country look upon as
serious public grievance-the forcible con-
troll of the government of the Philippines
and the exclusion Of all the natives of
the islands from any part in that govern
ment, without regard to either their In
| telligence or literary knowledge.