The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-11-09

The warning which Mr.. Kern gave the
people in the Democratic symposium at
Franklin the other day involves a matter
more attention than can be given in an
ordinary paragraph. The Journal had not
thought Of the matter before it saw Mr..
Kern's speech, but now it tries to realize
the gravity of the peril which negro domi-
nation in the State of Indiana involves.
The Journal at the outset desires to ex-
press the general gratitude of its readers
to Mr.. Kern that he has sounded the alarm
Of the approaching domination of the state
government and it's voice i'm national af-
fairs by the 15,272 colored voters who live
within its borders. The white voters are
67g, OT4, yet Mr.. Kern almost persuades us
that they cannot stay the swift-coming and
resistless onslaught of 1922 colored voters.
Even while Mr.. Kern is warning the
white people the 15,272 have developed such
unheard Of aggressiveness that one colored
citizen can outvote f~orty-four white men,
and that a white mans government-to use
a well-worn Democratic phrase, the fabric
vi OuI IItG " l very
foundations. In this hour of a States dire
peril we must not stop to listen to the
cynic's remarks of the boosted superiority
of the white race or of that Anglo-Saxon
degeneracy as exemplifed in the inability
of forty-four white voters to cope with one
negro voter. The danger is imminent-at
least Mr.. Kern so impresses us-and seek
ing a remedy is the one duty of the hour.
Mr.. Kern's political friends in several
Southern States in which the ratio Of white
voters to black is smaller, ranging from
16 to 1 to 4 to /. have been struggling with
the problem of DISTINGUISHING the colored
voter and averting the danger of negro SUI
premacy and the subsection of the white
race with more or less success. In Virginia
a constitutional convention has been strug-
Cling with the issue since June, and is yet
struggling. The difficulty which blocks
Democratic progress is that any scheme
which will rob the negro of all that is
valuable in citizenship will disfranchise a
considerable number of white voters. Still.
so grave a peril as that which Mr.. Kern
pictures to white mems government de-
nan immediate remedy despite the diff
culties of those who are fighting negro
domination in Virginia. 1t will not do to
await the slow process of amending the
Constitution by the action Of the Legisla-
ture, since while four years are passing the
1872 negro voters may have their feet upon
the necks of Mr.. Kern and the other 679.O7s
white voters. There must be a constitu-
tional convention as soon as it can be con-
vened. But Mr.. Kern is warned that he
would be confronted with many difficulties
when such a convention should get down to
work, since any remedy except the grand
father proviso of Alabama and other
States may prove a two-edged sword, STAY
ing more white than colored voters. If the
educational qualification should be i'm.
posed, considering the small number Of col
ored voters and the large number Of whites,
1t is probable that four whites would be
disfranchised TO one negro, and those -four
whites would cut heavily into Mr.. Kern's
voters. He is warned that ex-senator Cor
mans experiment with illiteracy in Mary
land was not a marked success last Tues
uoS' oHh' IA MI NeAh anu MS party read
ers will declare that capacity to read shall
be a qualification for voting in Indiana the
Journal feels as If it could pledge the CO.
operation of enough Republicans to adopt
it. Such a champion OF the poor man as is
Mr.. Kern would not for a moment think of
adopting in Indiana the property qualifca-
ton which his party has imposed in two
Southern States. Nor would he approve OF
the plan adopted in other States of requir-
ing voters to present a receipt showing the
payment of taxes before they can exercise
the right OF suffrage. Mr.. Kern may pos
sess some other plan by which the peril
TO which 1904 white voters are exposed
] by the existence OF 1922 negro voters can