The age-herald., 1901-07-25
To the Editor of the Age-Herald:

your valuable space. I had intended to stop with my last article on the subject of the suffrage question, but since the AgeHerald has editorially done me and the convention the injustice to call me the convention's press agent and has done the committee the great injustice to speak of its report as the Bowie Coleman plan, I crave your indulgence for just one more time.
 Replying to your figures that % per cent of the white voters would be compelled to come under the good character clause, I submit you the following from the cen sus: Eighty-seven per cent of the white voters of Alabama can read and write. While there are no exact figures, it is safe to say that fully per cent more who cannot read and write can pay the re- quired property tax. Thus we have 90 per cent registered wholly independent and regardless of the soldier clause, the descendants clause and the good charac- ter clause. These figures can be ascer- tained from the tax books and the census returns. As to T per cent. it Is certain.
 
 whom are illiterate and non-taxpayers, a safe estimate is that fully one-half of these are old soldiers. Nobody, not even the Age-Heraid, has objected to allowing these old soldiers the privilege of voting the remainder of their days. Then we have only per cent left. Virtually every one | of these can register under the descend- | ants clause. Those who would have to resort to proof of good character would doubtless constitute a very small frac- | tion of per cent.
 | Does the Age-Herald mean to say that any son of a Confederate soldier of Ala bama would be ashamed to acknowledge the fact? And If his pride is so great as that-and false pride it certainly would be-would such a man be ashamed to say | that he had good character in his com munity? Where, then, is the power of the registrars? Where Is the possibility Of | fraud? It exists alone in the imagination | of those who said the horse was sixteen | feet high and now feel that they have to swear to 1t.
 | The descendants clause was inserted in the Louisiana plan, in the North Carolina plan and in the Alabama plan for the sole purpose of guaranteeing to every white man his right to vote in accordance with the party platforms of each of those l states It was put in there to take away any power and discretion in reference | thereto from the registrars. It removed power and therefore temptation from the path of the registrars, and that was the reason that the plan was accepted, after months of discussion, by the largest ma l jority ever cast on popular vote In the State of North Carolina. Be 1t remember ed that both Senators fought it in Louis iana, many Congressmen and many news papers, but it was approved because un- der it the white people saw where they | could vote. Both Senators, many Con gressmen and many newspapers fought 1t in North Carolina, but on fair and full discussion 1t was overwhelmingly sustain ed Such a result could not have been achieved under such circumstances if the plan had not had in 1t the germ of intrinc merit.
 The Age-Herald says that many will prefer to register under the good charac- | ter clause rather than to confess them selves illit erate, by registering under the grandfather clause. Whaudifference does it make finally, under what clause a man registers? All that is wanted is to give every white man the chance to register and he can take his choice about the clause under which he does so. It is per sonal to him alone. As to all the balance of the state, 1t is wholly immaterial.
 The Age-Herald seems to think that I am defending this matter because 1t is a Black Belt scheme and I represent one Black Belt county. In both It's conclu- sions the Age-Herald Is wrong. The scheme was devised by the greatest law yer of the South. Where ever it has been debated and understood 1t has met with | approval, notwithstanding the fact that great men, when 1t was first proposed, ob- jected to 1t. The committee which had this matter in charge is composed of more than two-thirds of representatives from white counties. Out of four men who op- posed it, three are from Black Belt coun- ties and the only other one, Captain White Is g. Black Belt Democrat from Mississippi. I do not live in Black Belt county, nor did I get Black Belt vote in my race for the nomination. I do know something, however, of the difficulties of those people. I lived the major part of my life in a Black Belt beat, in almost Black Belt county. I know what it Is to go up against a mass of ignoran, negro votes; know 1t from dear exper- fence. The men who still have 1t to do have my deepest sympathy in this great crisis. 1 have been opposed and am op- posed to any change in our basis of rep resentation. I regard it as unnecessary and the agitation of 1t as unwise. We are asking for representation in Congress based upon our black population, and ] fail to see why Dallas County Is not equal ly entitled to representation in the Legis- lature of this State on the same basis If sauce Is good for the goose 1t ought to be for the gander."
 But moreover. if the Age-T Herald suc- ceeds in arousing such prejudice against the Convention as to defeat the ratinca- tion of the Constitution, and which do not believe it can do, how much better off would we then be? Would not the black belt then have the same representation which it now has? Under the report of the committee on representation, which has been adopted by the Convention the white counties have gained five members