The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-06-27

more cotton and more corn out of a | contented labor than out of a labor 1 that has been demoraized by anxiety and fear. Our cotton must be moved. When the negro leaves. the work for the white man doubles. Some of those who are ciana0rias to take the place of the negro at the ballot box, may have to take his place in tho cct- ton patch.
 (D Why put Alabama at tho mercy of the Supreme Court of the United States, a court overwhelmingly Repub- lican~in membership and just now without adequate representation from
 the South? Why put 1t within the power of the North to strike down cur representation not only in Congress, but in the Electoral College, making more difficult than ever the election of a Democratic President. If our suffrage restrictions are peculiar to the South alone, then we shall hold our repre-
 sentation only by virtue of the indif- ference or the charity if the Republi-
 can party. Such course is incon- sistent with the self-respect of proud and exalted statehood. The people Of Alabama do not want her to be placed in so humiliating a position. They wish her to maintain her dignities and powers under her constitutional rights, irrespective of the indifference or the indulgence of anybody.
 (5l The course proposed is unus ,es- sary. The grandfather clause is not demanded nor needed by the m ass B of our white people. A square level sLf- frage test, applying alike to all races and classes, would hit twenty negroes to enc white man .and would ensure
 white supremacy iu every county of the State. If the twentieth white man is hit, h. can soon learn to qualify; and if ne will not qualify, surely he
 should not vote, and, by his vote, aid in determining the questions which chiefly affect the great literate popula- tion of Alabama.
 (6) It seems to some of us, therefore, that in running after the men who can't read, the committee is forgetting that there are a few of the people of th.s State who can! The vast interests
 of property and justice in Alabama are for the m 1st part in the hands of those
 intelligent masses of our voters who
 can read and write. Why should the poverty or ignorance of some "descen- dant of 0 soldier" be specially commits
 stoned to vote away the rights and the
 taxes of these educated masses? Why
 this solicitude in favor of a provision
 which admits the irresponsible to res-
 possibility and the unlettered to
 stewardship? For my part I am sick
 and tired of proposals which are call
 culated to kill my vote in relation to
 the appropria tions and policies of the
 State, with the ballot of the penniless
 illiterate who would vote a patent
 medicine advertisement as quickly as
 ballot. if the right man fixed it." It
 seems to me that the great masses of
 our people, who can read and MIite
 have interests at stake which are
 worthy of a little solicitude
 |, (O The descendant of a soldier
 scheme" is an effort to create a dis
 tinct voting class" and it represents
 class legislation in it's most odious
 form. 1t attempts to introduce a
 qualification for the suffrage, and this
 qualification Is to be based not upon
 the present merits of the electors them selves but upon the past merits of
 somebody else. Here Is the funda-
 mental principle of those aristocracies
 of arbitrary power which have cursed
 every civilization known to history. If
 the soldier of the past could care
 enough for Alabama to make the sacri-
 fees of long and bitter war, their des.. cendants in the present can afford the
 sacrifices of peace. If the old soldier
 
 sweat and horror of battle, surely his
 descendant can take an hour or two.
 now and then, to learn to read and
 write.
 (8) The descendant of a soldier
 scheme" Is an invitation to the very
 frauds we are trying to escape. Who
 is to determine whether the descen-
 dant Is a descendant or a degenerate?
 How is lineage to be traced? Are we
 to crown the deserter? Are we to ex-
 clude the children of negroes who
 fought on the Southern side? Are we
 to enfranchise the descendant of the
 white man who deserted the stars and
 bars before the guns of the enemy. and are We to disfranchise the descendants of the negroes who fought and died in the ranks with the men who wore the gray? Their names are not on muster rolls, but I know of more than one. The provision is impracticable.
 f9) The descendant of a soldier scheme" or any other modification of the grandfather clause, is not only an invitation to fraud. but an education in subterfuge. It's influence on the minds of our people will compromise their | respect for the organic law of the State, | and will lower the standard of civic { probiey It is not straightforward di- 1 rect, IL Is, con- fessedly, an evasion. Evasion in an | act of legislature Is bad enough, but | evGsion-conspicuous and palpable-- when enshrined within the very consti- tuition of the State, will affront the | moral dignity of the people and taint the whole character of our political development.
 (10) IA clear straightforward course would ensure friendship and confidence in the popular attitude of the world to- ward us. That attitude subtlY, but determines the directions of and the movement of in- vestments. A repute for injustice, with agitation, unrest, suspicion, turmoil these persuade no capital; they bring neither producers nor purchasers. Ala bama is feeling her way to wealth and power. The moral sense. business sense, political sense, common sense, all kinds of sense are back of q fair, square policy on this subject.
 CID Would 1t be wise, here nt home, to adopt a provision that would en- sure the dhstrust or the Indifference of our thinking, conscientious, and pro- gressive classes; and would 1t Je so very unwise to adopt a provision that would ensure the moral enthusiasm of the best and strongest clements oe our