The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-07-27

havior basis. They said this man could go around among the freemen. and get them to certify that they thought he ought to vote; then he carried that cer- tificate to the selected mel. anu they said he could vote, and if they said he could vote he did vote. What was the next step? It was to require every man who wanted to vote to send a cer- tlficate of good character to the leg islature. and the legislature passed an act that Jones. Smith and Brown might vote, and they were thereby ad- mitted, to the electorate. What was the next step they took, and that IS the final one? They held meetings of their select men. there are from three to seven of them, and applications were made to them for admission as a free man. which gave the right to vote and those select men determined who should vote and who should not vote. After a similar course. Vermont has come to the same result. Nobody has ever heard of this being a scheme which was never been declared uncon- stitutional or fraudulent. What are the provisions here? The provisions in the first place are not that any regis trar as said by Chancellor Kelly. can come along with a book in his hand
  The provision Is that every man must be registered in the first place by the Board of Registrars-not by an indi- vidual member of that board. He must be registered either in his own pre- cinct. or in his own county sltes If they refuse him the right of registra- ton, he can. by simply filing a peti- ton In the Circuit Court, take an ap- peal and have his right to vote tried by jury. That body of men that has been organized ever since this country existed. and long before, to pass upon the rights, the life. liberty. and prop erty of every citizen. It is given the same right, but with less expense, than you are given when your liberty Is at stake. that you are given when your life is at stake. that you are given when your property Is at stake. Is this opening the doors for fraud, or is 1t treating 1t and throwing around 1t the safeguards that are thrown around the dearest rights of<our race? If not satisfied. if the judge has fraudulently charged the jury as to what consti- tutes good character. or the duties ana obligations of citizenship. or as to what the qualifications really are, he can take an appeal to the Supreme Court of the State. and have the cor rectness of the charge determined.
 MT. Sanford (Montgomery)-Won't that cost him money?
 MT. Smith-Yes, sir; beyond any question. It costs him money to pre- serve his life. 1t costs him money to preserve his liberty, it costs him mon- ey to preserve his property but this Is no hardship if his franchise is as dear to him as 1t is claimed to be by those who are trying to carry this question to the United States Supreme Court, in order to keep the white people out of this country, out of their own. Men can pay for the determination of that right as they pay for all other justice in this world. So it seems to me that while 1t may be open to fraud, every thing is open to fraud. and this right is guarded as fully and completely as 1t is possible to guard and protect human right. A man may forge my note: a man may burglariZe my house; | man can commit any class Of fraud. | The human mind can devise a plan to | evade every safeguard that the human | mind can devise. and if we sit here and discard one remedy after another | until we find one that will close out all possibility of fraud we will sit here | forever and forever.
 | Now, in conclusion, l want to say | that I do not join in the belief that l the people in the Black Belt intend or expecvt to perpetrate these frauds, that they are suspected of. You and every one of you know they have been | seeking the occasion that has now aris- I en for striking the shackles from them that have heretofore bound them. You
 and all of you know that they were fin full charge of their elections. you know that they control the vote of their I Iat. AF hn nVVn n- try and that there Is not half the dan-
 ger of the negro vote controlling poli-
 tics in their particular section that there is of their controlling politics where he merely holds the balance of power. Why have these people sought | this occasion for relief? Did they hope
 or expect that by purifying~the ballot | and lawfully restricting the number | of negroes who can vote, that they could get a larger representation or can more completely control the negro | than at present? Certainly not. If | they wanted to operate through
 the negro so as to defraud the balance of the State. they had no occa- sion to call this Convention. and pass | ing constitutional provisions such as these Now, why do you believe that | they have taken this trouble; that they have cried for this relief for years
 that they are here aiding us in obtain
 ing some method by which the vicious and illterate negro will be eNcluded | if behind 1t all you believe 1t Is their purpose to do just what they could do. just what they have been doing
 without the convening of this Con- yention? I believe, and l think any | thinking man will believe, that the
 black belt is as earnest and serious as
 we are in the desire to rid themselves | of these frauds. l believe the measure which has been recommended to you
 by the Committee on Suffrage will ac- | complish that purpose. l believe they
 will live up to the purpose so accom-
 plished, and they will be thankful that | thev can rest assured that their chli-
 dren can abandon the paths of fraud
 and trickery, in political affairs. and | live as pure and undecided in that re-
 spect as any other part of the State. | Ii is for their children, the purity of
 their children, and the honesty and integrity of their race, that they come
 here, and think that we can trust any
 citizen of this State, whether he from
 the southern end of the State or from
 the hill counties, or any other counties
 and think that in this matter we can
 trust the gentlemen from the Black l Belt.
 MT .Spears-Mr. President and Gen.
 tlemen of the Convention: Our fathers
 had to deal with the negro as slave,
 we have to deal with him as cltlzer
 of the United States. By what power
 by what authority. was the negro
 made a citizen? By the National Gov
 t,, hot