The age-herald., 1901-07-17
THE sUFF aAeE CLAUSE.
Mir. Bowie Names Counties In Which
 Negroes Pay Poll Tax.

To the Editor of the Age-Herald.
 In Tuesdays issue of last week of your paper, you attacked that part of my arti- cle on the suffrage question referring to the poll tax as being insufficient of itself as remedy for existing conditions. Among other things, you say:
 Here are giittering generalities to beat the band. But these generalities with all their glitter are not satisfactory If a poll tax provision be not sufficient, let MT Bowie name wherein and where and when it would not be- He should descend from the Jeffersonian style to plain statement of detailed facts. Name the time spot and environment in which a poll tax provision would be insufficient, and then all will listen. Generalfties of any sort do not fit the case"
 To this might reply that the foregoing Is itself "glittering generality but will not rest my answer on this statement.
 In the county of Bullock the net amount of poll tax, as shown by official records, paid in by the whites for the fiscal year 1sss-1s00, was $719.3o; by the negroes. H,- 1Oo.73. In Dallas county, by the whites, $9O667; and by the negroes, $2048.6S. In Greene county, by the whites. s511.65; by the negroes, s1,133.76, In Hale county, by the whites, $6S3. .31; by the negroes, sS15. .96. In Lee county, by the whites, $1,O19.67; by the negroes, s1,000. In Macon county, by the whites, $4s2.25; by the negroes, $Sss.o4. In Marengo county, by the whites, ss6ssS; by the negroes, s2O61.s1. In Perry county, by the white, $S90.60; by the negroes, I,- 441.12 In Russell county, by the whites, $462. 30; by the negroes, $574.S5. In Sumter county, by the whites, s749.6O; by the ne- groes, $15O0.45. In Wilcox county, by the whites, $90323; by the negroes, $l, 461. .36. And In the Age-Reralds ravorite county of Lowndes, by the whites, $571.25; by the negroes, $1,31S.S0. The total amount Of poll tax in twelve counties by the whites was eight thousand seven hundred and sixty-nine and seventy-six-one hundred dollars, and by the negroes fifteen thou sand three hundred and sixteen and fifty six-one hundredth dollars.
 There are many more counties, in which, if the poll tax be restricted to forty-five years of age, as at present, and as re- ported by the committee, the number of negroes who will be entitled to vote will be largely in excess of the whites And in the counties above named, if the age limit remains at forty-five, the excess of negroes over whites will be several times greater than is indicated by the above figures but if the limit was entirely re- moved, the majority of the negroes in the motfld be about double that indicated by those figures.
 So that here are at least twelve counties in which the official records disclose the absolute insufficiency of a poll tax re- quirement as regards negro suffrage. Nor would the primary plan, however desir- able in itself, assist the question, because. If all the whites acted together, as they substantially do, in those counties. they would still be in hopeless minority.
 But these twelve counties, with ma jority of and therefore at the mercy of the negro vote, is by no means the only negro problem with which we have to contend. The truth is that. in a ma jority of these remaining fifty-four coun- ties, the negro is the balance of power. It is a safe statement that this balance of power held by xhe negroes in these counties causes as much demoralization as Is occasoined by his presence in the counties, where his vote constitutes an actual majority. We people of the white counties are needing relief from the ne- gro problem just as much as the black belt.
 If the fifteenth amendment prevents the total elimination of the negro vote, this makes 1t none the less our duty to reduce that vote as much as is possible within the limits of the Federal constitution, and we should do this in white as we'll as black counties.
 SYDNEY J. BOWIE.