The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1901-09-13
A WHITE MANS GOVERN
MENT.

ton OF IL IN the kepubllcan platform ana
to show that the belief or judgment of
the people Of the State was and still is
that only whHe men ought to have the
right of suffrage We might have
traced the e, idence of the existence of
this belief or judgment further back,
and we might have shown that the
right Of suffrage was conferred on only
white men by the earlier Constitutions
of tie State; but it was not necessary
to do so in dealing with the subject
we were then considering. We allude
TO the Older Constitutions now merely
to emphasize the fact that this belief
that only Whitc men should have the
right of suffrage, has been con-
tinuous and unvarying through every
change in the organic law of the State.
Various Irovisiots of the State Con-
stitutinn have underg, ne modification :
from time to time and the whole in
strumeut has been several times re
modelled, aud in many important par
ticular- altered, but the one which con
ferred the right Of suffrage upon whHe
men tnly, has never been changed so
as to admit negroes to voc. Why
is this 50? Clearly because there
never has been a time in the history
Of tie state when the majority of
the white people of the State be-
lieved that the negro hou / d
vote. The fifteenth amend III II
to the Federal Constitution which
prevents discrimir alton agains t
him, was no, adopted 10y the choice
of the people of The country, aud it
was distinctly rejected by the Legisla-
turc of Maryland. 1t was forced
through at a time when the southern
states had not III ceeded in throwing
off The Wrttched carpet. bag rule which
follow, q the Civil War, and when
those carpet bag governments grossly
miSrepres, nted AID dcliber tely stfled
the wrll-known views of the great ma
jority Of the Southern people. The
tiltceuth amendment was adoI ted, it
is claimed, in 1870, and the proclama-
ton announcing is ratification was
issued on March 5Oth, 1870, when there
were thiry-seven States in the Union.
Under the Constitution OF the United
States requiring the assent of three
tou1ths of the States to ratify an
amendment, it took twenty-eight
States to adopt that amendment.
/ Twenty-nine asset ted, but New York,
1 one Of the twenty-nine, Withdrew her
assent on the fifth of January, 1870,
or more than two months before the
! proclamation of March 3Oth, announc-
ing the adoption Of the amendment
was issued. That left twenty eight
States asserting, ard the following
eleven Southern States were included
in those twenty-eight, viz: North
/ Carolina, Louisiana, South Car
DINA, Arkansas, Florida, Virginia,
Alabama. Missouri, Mississippi, Geor-
gia and Texas. Deduct these eleven
and but seventeen remain, and these
instead of being two-thirds of all the
States were less than a half
No one is simple enough to suppose
that any one of those eleven Southern
States would have ratified that amend,
ment if the voice Of her people had
been head or needed. Carpet bag
Legislatures which misgoverned and
impoverished those States forced the
amendment through and the senti-
ment of those States today, like ii
was in 1870, hostile to negro suffrage,
just as the sentiment of the people OF
Maryland is hostile to negro suffrage
The fifteenth amendment is the child
of fraud and coercion. 1t was not
freely adopted. II fol ICED condition
that is repugnant to the people and
subversive of their traditions and var,
ious devices are being re,orted to in
the Southern States to evade its bale.
full Influence. Then why should not
the white men Of Maryland openly
and frankly declare that they are in
accord with their own Declaration OF
Rights-that this is white mans
government which white men only
must control? If the new ballot law
DISTINGUISHES negroes then it does just
I what the white people of the State be.
lieve it ought to do and the fifteenth
amendment will never dissuade them
from that belief.
The negro race is neither morally
nor intel ectually equal to the white
race. The history of the two race,
shows this Individual instance,
there are in which some negroes have
risen above the moral and intellectual
level Of their race, but these are com.
parativcly rare No legislation ear
make the races equal. There is q
greater proportion Of criminals belong
ing to q negro race than to the white
race. The crimes and disorderIy COR
duet committed by the negro cause fal
the largest part of the expenses Incl
dent To the punishment If offenders
Brutal assault, ON white women hav,
caused riots and lYuchiugs both Nortl
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