The enterprise., 1900-01-12

inhabitants over twenty-one years OF
age, who are citizens of the United
States, excepting for crime or participa-
ton in rebellion, the representation OF
such State shall be reduced In the pro-
portion that the disfranchised male in
habitants bear to the whole number OF
male Inhabitants over twenty-one years
of age. That provision of the Constitu-
tion is imperative. 1t is the policy OF
the Federal government to encourage
universal manhood suffrage, and it is
notorious fact that in number of States
large proportion of the voting popula-
tion is distranchised.
In some States not over ~ per cent OF
the male inhabitants over twenty one
years of age are allowed to participate
in elections. That result is brought
about in part by direct provisions of law
and in part by maladministration on the
part of election officers. The recon-
struction legislation that was designed
to place the ballot in the hands of the
colored man in order that he might be
able to make himself felt as factor in
the affairs of his locality, has been prac-
tically Dullified. White citizens of the
South no longer disguise the fact that
they Systematically evade the Federal
Constitution in fixing qualifications that
take the right of suffrage away from the
Negro.
THE GRANDFATHER CLAUSE.
In Mississippi, Louisiana, and South
Carolina, at the Congressional elections
in 1898, the vote in each district aver
aged about 5000. The average vote in
the State of Indiana at the same election
was above 40, 900 in each district. The
Supreme Court of the State of Mississip
pi, in a recent decision, boldly declared
that the legislature of the State had
swept :he field of expedients in its at
tempt to discover means to disfTanChise
the colored man without violating the
fifteenth amendment of the Federal
Constitution, and it upheld the legisla-
ton. In several of the States are edu-
cational laws, fixing so high standard
that it is almost impossible for a colored
mau to be registered In Louisiana they
have what is called the grandfather
clause 1t provides that the education
al law shall not apply to any one who
was q voter on the 1st of January, 1867,
nor TO any of his lineal descendants.
The effect OF this provision is to limit
the educational law to the cOlored race
exclusively, because they could not vote
on the date fixed, and every white man
could.
l have profound sympathy for the
whites of the South who are honestly
attempting to protect their Institutions
against the ravages of illiteracy and ig
nOrance. believe that fair educational
laws, honestly administered, would have
most salutary effect. If the cOlOred
man should be given to know that in or
der to become voter he must prepare
himself by a fair degree to knowledge,
and if we were assured that when he did
50 prepare himself the right to vote
would be freely accorded him there would
be a constant inducement for him to
strive for that important privilege, and
when he achieved it, it would be mark
oil distinction 1t would enhance his self
respect and make him better citizen.
AGAINST ALL COLoRED MEN
'The prejudice against color IN many
sections, however, is so general and in
tense that discrimination is not made be-
tween the worthy and the unworthy
The laws, either by express provision or
in the method of their administration,
discriminate against all colored men a
like. The colored man understands this
and, seeing no prospects of improving
his condition, he is lapsing into hopeless
ness. If the representation of those
States should be reduced, as it ought to
be, it would operate as countervailing
force and tend to establish proper po-
litlcal equilibrium. The Importance of a
large representation in Congress and in
the electoral college is appreciated by
the white people of the South, and they
would be prompted, on the one hand, to
establish fair laws for the protection of
their domestic institutions, and on the
hand, to honestly administer them, and
to accord the colored man the right to
participate in politics as soon as he was
fitted for the privilege in order to in
crease their representation. This would
put before the Negro a constant induce
ment to equip himself, and it would be a
powerful force toward the elevation of
the moral and intellectual tone of the
race.
AUSPICIOUS TIME FOR LEGISLATION.
The white people of the South have
felt justified in resorting to subterfuges
for the purposes of evading the Federal
laws, in order TO protect themselves
against the colored vote, until there pre-
walls in many localities a general condi-
ton of political decentralization The