The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1900-05-08
THE RACE PROBLEM OF THE SOUTH
A Conference is to be Held This Week r
Montgomery, Ala, For Their Study.
IT BEGINS TODAY AND LASTS TILL THURSDAY

known party leader who said that
North Carolina had improved on the
Louisiana plan, and that as present
advised he thought Alabama would
do we'll to adopt the amendment as
submitted in North Carolina, SO
amended as to put in the act a decla-
ration that the whole should stand or
the whole should fall.
In some respects there is great SINH
larity in political conditions in North
Carolina and in Alabama. North Ala
bama contains comparatively few ne
groes while they are massed in South
Alabama much more densely than in
North Carolina. 1t was in North
Alabama where the Populists gave
the negro vote was suppressed then
as it has been Systematically sup
pressed since 1876. The people here
say they have no intention of submit
ting to negro dictatiOn in politics.
and they applaud the action of the
white folks in Wilmington and in
Richmond county. The time was here
that the white people had to resort
to harsh measures to prevent the po-
litical supremacy of the negro and
his allies. but now the negro acquies
ces as a rule in what we know is the
settled conviction and determination
of nine tenths of the white people of
the State. But the most thoughtful
people here are sincerely anxious to
put the ignorant negro in position
where he cannot vote at all. and put
an end TO the necessity Of adopting
any means outside of the law for sup
pressing his vote. 1t is regarded here
as a less evil than negro rule and bad
government. but it is here as else
where in the South a slumberine
volcano. liable to 3ubmeroe the State
whenever there is serious dissention
among the white voters. The ministers
ers in religious and educational work.
as we'll as the statesmen and politi-
elan. are earnestly in favor of elimi-
mating the mass Of ignorant negroes
through constitutional methods. and
Alabama will follow North Carolina
in the movement that must embrace
every Southern State.
\ very important conference is to be
held here next week under the aus
pces of the Southern society for pro-
motion of the study of race conditions
and problems in the South" | called
today to see Rev. Edgar Gardner Muir
phey, rector of st. Johns Church Of
this city. who is the inspiration of the
conference. In a recent address deliv-
cred in Philadelphia telling of the
objects of the Southern Society. DR..
Murphy said:
There has recently been organized at
Montgomery, Alabama, a Southern So
ciety for the promotion of the sudv of
race conditions and problems at the
South. The Society has invited the mem
bershlp CT Southern men, not only from
the State of Alabama, but from the
South at large and from every quarter
we have received not mere formal ac-
ceptances of election, but appreciative
expressions of deep personal interest and
of hearty sanction. The success of the
Society has exceeded our most sangune
expectations. From every State and To-
cality of the South, we have had letters
from leading educators, clergymen, attor-
(men of every interest and occupation)
giving us approval and endorsement. The
society expects to express the minds of
its members through the encouragement
of personal public correspondence
through publication and especially through
public conferences The first of these
conferences is to be held in the new au
ditorium in the city of Montgomery. on
the Sth, 9Th and 10th Of the approaching
May. The Hon. Hilary A. Herbert, the
Secretary of the Navy, who served with
such distinction under President Cleve-
land. will preside and make the opening
address. Locally. there are several
reasons why this city is particular
ly fitted to be the place for it. Mont
gomery is the seat of the first capital of
the Confederacy, and it is therefore a
place full of historic interest to visitors
from every quarter. Secondly, although
the city is only twenty nine hours from
New York it is situated upon the border
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