The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1900-05-06


the right of citizens of the United States
! to vote shall not be denied or abridged
!, by the United States or by any State on
account of race. color or previous conds-
ton of servitude.''
Mr.. Cochran was seen the other day
! by representative of the Montgomery
! Advertiser and in reply to question.
said that he had not yet made up lis
mind as to what he would do He would
neither confirm nor deny the report
THE fact is he said. Il do not know.
/ have not yet fully made UP my mind
shall be governed very largely by con-
ditions as I find them wrcn | reach
Montgomery. / have talked with some OF
my friends on the subject. and ! shall
taxi with more Of them before I address
the Conference. I shall not know just.
what am going to say until I get upon
the ground and consider the subject at
closer range
We do not know what ne is going to
do but we say that if Mr.. Cochran does
make such a speech it will be the most
sensible deliverance that ever fel! from
his lips. Readers of The Times know
that we have been for a long time past
urging the repeal Of the Fifteenth
Amendment as the only straightforward
and thoroughly practical way of dealing
with the question of negro suffrage. All
fair-1nFnded Northern men are now frank
to confess that the enfranchisement of
the negro when he had just emerged
from slavery was the greatest political
know. moreover. that from whatever
standpoint viewed negro suffrage has been
worse than a failure. 1t is largely re-
spons:ble for ali the troubles that have
existed bet-7een the races in the South,
and has been a curse rather taan q
blessing to the black himself. The
Republicans thought to employ the negro
vote in the SSoC tn to their advantage, but
on the contrary it is the negro vote that
has made the. South solidly Democratic.
BY enfranchising the negro the Republic
can party destroyed every chance that
it had of capturing the Southern States,
or any of them, and that party will never
have any chance Of success in the South
50 long as there is the threat of negro
rule.
There is but one thing to do with
blunder and that is. as far as possible,
10 correct it. The people of the South
have determined that the negro shall not
continue to be a disturbing factor in their
politics, and they are going TO disfranchise
him whether or mot the Fifteenth Amend
ment be repealed. Mississippi. Louisiana,
South Carolina and North Carolina have
disfranchised the negro, and Virginia IS
taking steps to accomplish that end Inc
Fifteenth Amendment will soon be dead
letter. so far ais the Southern States are
concerned. and it were better for all IN
forests. better for the whites and the
blacks. and better for the law OF the
land that it be wiped out.
Some of our contemporaries were DIS
nosed to laugh when we expressed the
belief some time ago that the Northern
people would repeal the Fifteenth Amend
,nent if they had a chance. But if Bourke
Cochran will only start the movement
there may be some Stdi ti4iiSa NiSeio'diSS.
A change has come over the Northern
people. and even the Springfield tN1ass)
Republican is now discussing the negro
question in a rational way. In very
temperate article on this question the
other day it said that whether the man
of English blood lives in the Southern
States of America or in the British colo
MES of South Africa, his dread of black
supremacy in politics, and his repuG-
nance to political equality without refe-
renee to the color line, are manifest.
1t is so wherever the whites have to
reckon with any considerable number of
blacks. More and more the Northern
people are looking at the negro question
from the South's point of view.
--------------------
But for Senator Daniels opposition,
tame as it was, and the unfortunate aliu-
sion bv Mr.. Munford to his prediction four
years ago that the gold party would win,
and the great prosperity which had dawn
ed upon the country, the sentiment in Ia
.vor of a new platform would have been OF
astounding proportions. = FREDERICKSBURG
Free Lance.
Sc or