The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-08-16


 gives them the same socidi Ins.itut,oil. 4,ow. senrIenien. II u Is consuIatioaai for the white people to nave separ..Ie scnoois ana tor Lne coiored peopis to nave tner sCnoois, now cau any nlal cidiIn IL Is unconstltuIioudI Tor each race to organize IIseII into dlslricts Tor
 the better carrying out ut I.s :iIgn kul-
 pose.
 IL IS not necessary, 1t is not to the Interest oA Lne races, TOT them 10 ue
 pound by the same territorial nmIus. our proposition LOOKS to the idea or the ol lsanizatIon or eacn race TOT It's own nlgnest aoVanlage. Another argumens wiIl De urged nere. that the negro do $ not have mucn property ana that the
 white people nave considerapie prup- erty. that therefore the white scnools
 would be better than the negro scnoois, That may or may not follow, put cal your attention to the provision Of the majority report, that edcn county sha.I De allowed 10 levy tax upon its peo- pie. Some counties are poor and oLneI. counties are wealthy and able to con- tribute more. If 1t so happens that one district is .wealthler than another, that will not be discririination but u misfortune. If the majority report Is adopted. each county will be clothed with the same power, each will be gwen the same auVan-aSe. The mere fact that local sources of wealth or the industry of the people are giving them a greater amount or property to be taxed is not a discrimination against less favorably situated. If the minority report is unconstitutional on that ground. the majority report would be. Today the white people of this State have the negroes hung about their necks like chain, they reel that they cannot make an effort for the upbuilding of themselves without feel ing the weight of this chain. Iney pray the Convention for freedom. to have two institytions not only so far as school houses are concerned. but so far as school communities are con- cerred. They do not ask you to take from the negro. but they do want free dom for action for and on behalf of their own people. Now look at 1t from the negro standpoint. Will it be ben eficial to him? 1 am sure that we can do nothing that will please the negro better in this State than to enact some provision like this. As 1t is he occu- pies the position of a mendicant, a beggar. This plan would appeal to his sense of liberty-it would relieve that sense of oppression and injustice that he entertains because he has no sphere wherein to exercise himself on behalf of his own people as race. Give him a chance to have his own school or ganizations, to say that he will con- tribute in a legal and statutory way to the upbuilding of his own institu- tions. When you have done that he will feel that the white people are not against him. that he has some chance to cultivate race pride. to cultivate frat 70 where he can do something for him. self and his people. The result will be that patriotism will take the place of suspicion, envy and jealousy. and go further to remove from the negro that hate which makes him commit un- speakable crimes, than any other thing that this convention can do. The white people of Alabama plead with thls Con- vention. they call upon you to choose wisely 1 believe that you take no risk so far as the constitutionality .s concerned. What interest would the negro have in striking you down? AS the Supreme Court of the United States said it would not result in adding one hour to his school, 1t would not add one thing to his privileges. 1t would simply injure him and injure every body else to destroy the minority prop osition. You are not under obligation to enact the majority-not at all. The negro can make no such demand on you. You have done well by them. It is your own race that calls upon you to give them some additional opportu- nifty for each race to do something Tor itself. I thank God that the Anglo Saxon race does not have to triumph by pressing other races down. It has been its mission to lift up the fallen. to bring out of chaos the forms of so- ciety which makes for the happiness of mankind. We do not have to tram | pie the negro down. We do not want | to rise up in order that we injure him. | but in order that we may lift him up too. Let our own race go forward and | no other race on this earth will ever suffer by our advancement. But. gen. tlemen. those who oppose these ideas | say that the white and colored race are bound together like Siamese twins. by | the fourteenth and fifteenth amend ments. I say to you that the Supreme l Court of the United States. if we pre- sent fair and just proposition, will go | long way towards sustaining any | plan that is founded on justice and | equality. In the Slaughter House case they said: "The argument. we admit, is not always the most conclusive which is drawn from the consequences
  ticular construction of an instrument | But when. as in the case before us, these consequences are so serious. so far reaching and prevailing, so great | a departure from the structure and | spirit of our institutions; when the ef- | feet Is to letter and degrade the State | governments by subjecting them to the | control of Congress, in the exercise of powers heretofore universally conceded | to them by the most ordinary and fun damental character; when, in fact 1t | radically changes the whole theory of the relations of the State and Federal | governments to each other and of both | those governments to the people; the | argument has a force that is irresisti- ble in the absence of language which | expresses such purpose too clearly to admit of doubt" |
 The Supreme Court of the United | States found a way to give separate | schools. they will find way to give us separate school districts, they will | find a way to let each race have some thing to do in working out its own destiny. If they have not a separate des- tiny God would never have created | they two separate and distinct races, | if they had not separate destiny they should not be hindered by forms | of law from fulfilling that destiny. We | can find a way out. The minority | have studiously considered the case, | they have sought to eliminate all the | objections that have been found in | similar effort heretofore, and they pre- l