The Savannah morning news., 1901-01-16
ANATIONAL PROBLEM
EX-Gov. McooRKLE's ADDRESS on
SUFFRAGE.
NEGRO NOT ONLY DRAWBACK.
CITIES HAVE GIVEN SUFFRAGE ITs
sEVEREST TRIAL.

This SectiOn-Thc South Has spent
Millions of Dollars to Make the
Negro Useful and Intelligent
Citizen and He HAS Responded
NobIy-The Danger of Commercial
ism In Politics.
New York. Jan. 15.-The Nineteenth
Century Club of this city gave a dinner
at Sherry's tonight. The principal
speech of the evening was by ex-Gov.
McCorkle of West Virginia.
Ex-Gov McCorkle said in part
'"rhe American city has given to uni
versal suffrage its severest trial The
conditions presented to the franchise by
the American city are unique in the
whole history of civil government. In the
| first place. those who exercise the fran
chise In most great cities are largely
foreign either by birth or immed ate line
age. They have had no experience what
ever in the art of government and in
most Instances they belonged to the gov
erned class. The American city is grow
ing wouderously in wealth, size and power,
and its streets. parks. schools, hospitals
and all public Institutions and their ad-
ministrat.on are not the results of
civic evolution. as is the case
In Europe. They are urgently
demanded at once, and on a COLOSSAL
scale. and must be administered with no
guiding precedent They are created prac-
| ticaly out of the ground. They cannot,
as I'm Europe, be added to here, or patch
| ed there, and the fault of this century
| corrected in the next. Their evolution
| from town to city cannot run along with
! the evolution of the people from bar
barism to civilization. and thus have
relations which gradually adjust them
| selves 10 abiding and final conditions.
| They spring into life fun pauoplied for
needs OF vastly growing and exacting
| population. Thus the city has a burden
Of educating the governing population,
whose idea of government is entirely low
| and, concurrently. the city must take care
of it's material growth and carry on all
Of the practical details OF government
| Notwithstanding these conditions, the
spirit of our free institutions has created
IN the American city a marvel of efficient
| local government, and has raised it, in
| practically one lifetime. to the hight OF
commercial glory and to unapproachabIe
| civil magniheence."
Referring to the constitutional conven-
tions in some of the Southern states I'M
! posing educational and property restric-
! tiors in the franchise the speaker sail:
| Since Alaric and AchilIa scourged Eu-
| rope. never has wrong so wrought upon
the civilization of the world as it did in
| the years Of negro rule in the South The
negro question has been made a political
cry and the mere hotsam and jetsam of
party. II is the most important question
political as well as economical-which
has ever confronted civilization at any
time or In any country. We of the South
ask that you simply put yourselves in the
position of your Southern brethren. Con-
slider the fundamental difference in your
political and social situation and that OF
the South.
your sole cause Of complaint as to pop
ular government is that you have a large
number of foreigners I'm your population.
They are OF the same blood. of the same
color largely OF the same language, and
filed with the same aspirations as your
selves. and are rapidly assimilating with
you in character and in life
with us there is an alien race, diff
ferent in color, in life, and with whom,
a primordial factor of his being, tho
Teuton has strenuously refused to assm-
late in blood. In social existence or in
government.
1T was Mr.. Lincolns intention to bring
the states back into the Union with the
white man in control. With marvellous
intuition into the innermost workings Of
the peoples being Mr.. Lincoln saw then,
that which has cost us "A third of cen
.urv of heart burnings and misunder-
standing ana loss to learn. that thu gov
ernmentaI probIem OF the North and
west 10 be solved nv a peonle of the same
race and color homogeneous in educa-
tIonaI and civi1 traditions was totally
ategorart In o,,er,, eIeroept from thas 10
he u,orl,od ont hv the south with ia
c,,,oasien ci,,,ltyation fntornnixad win
80 ,etati,,-,s dor,ina+ed in numbers bv
-, steea,a,,+ a., .ri,, .,a,,,,s a III tra-
49,. a,a .,,st ,,,,,,r,,,,,,, eror, cont,,ries
- 20 -, -
.T,a.o,a,,,, have aar,ost1,, ,rs.o,l thar
A. el,'th sto,,ia adont an ,nae~ible edn-
ont,o,,ai -. ,ray,art,y baeis adnoinistered
So,nt,. o.. hoth u,htte ana bIaclr be-
isn',1 ,hot 80, u,ouid work ont the ouag-
-, "a ~ So,,th i o,rad,,aIlv arrivino,
t .io' ~. a ~ ,aI,,ston tbat n can nv consul.
a,,.ta,Nai ~ ,aotbod nreserve The spirit 81
an,,s.'r,tton srd sove its ctviIization
10 desires and Intends TO give the negro
~ cnns1,tntionaI riebts and has only
hao,, t,ls heretofore deharred from doing so
he tha eear Of the destruction of that
o.h,ch s,ate holds most sacred. The
aanrs,,, or tre so,,1h a. heinr earnestly de-
,,at'.5 ~ e9noating the negro in order 10
w -t.ic,.y ss nossihle make hin, a good
ga ,nt,iItgent citizen In our impover-
,sbment we have given 100000. 900 to the
iNiA''%'tN