The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-05-23

ed conviction in this section, that the point of their interference is not so much to elevate the black man as it Is to humiliate the white man, with whom they have long been in antagonism.
 But we may congratulate ourselves that the sectional feeling which has served to impair the harmony of cur c, mmon country, and to limit the power and retard the development of the greatest government on earth, Is fast yielding to reason.
 While we may and do diner from him politically, there is not an en- frightened and patriotic Southern man who fails to see that much of this re- suit is due to the honorable and states man-like policy of the present Chief Executive of these United States. who, by the consideration he has shown our section in many ways, not only in the Spanish American war, and by Le- fusing to lend his approval to any movement looking to the reduction of our representation in Congress and in the Electoral College, has shown hirp- self capable of being President of the whole country and not merely one sec- tion of it and has been enabled to pre- sent the spectacle of a reunited coun- try. and contributed much to place our
 
 with the nations of the world.
 The Attitude of the Southern Man
 Towards the Negro.
 The Southern man knows the negro, and the negro knows him. The only conflict which has. or is ever likely to arise, springs from the effort of ill., advised friends in the Northsto confer upon him, without previous training or "a v<a tAvr x,ln nH yAvsu possibility, for which he is wholly un- fitted. either by capacity or experience.
 When it comes. however, to dealing with the negro, in domestic service. or in business way, the Southerner is infinitely more indulgent to him than his Northern compatriot.
 There comes to us a well authenti- cated story from Kentucky, of an old darkey, who, after the war, influenced by the delusion that the only friends the negro had were in the North, wandered up into Illinois, hoping to find an easy fortune. But here he soon found, that while the people had much to say to him about the evils of slavery, and the destiny of his race, every one with whom he did business held him to a strict accountability. Trained, as. he was to the slow move
  field and cotton patch. he could not handle the complicated machinery, or keep pace with the quicker methods of farming in the West, and so he was soon east aa-!ft. sWhen he asked fer help he was told to go to work, and So he wandered. foot-sore and weary, back through Indiana and Ohio until he reached again the old Southern plantation in Kentucky. Finding the planter comfortably seated upon. his veranda, the old darkey approached, hat in hand, and asked for something to eat.
 why, you damn black rascal, what are you stopping here for? Go into the kitchen and tell the cook to give you something to eat"
 Before God. Master" the old darkey said, grinning from ear to ear "them's the sweetest words rse heard since left old Dixie."
 The old man was home at last. He was among people who understood him. and whom he understood.
 White Supremacy by Law.
 But if we would have white supre- macy, we must establish 1t by law not by force or fraud. If you teach your boy that it is right to buy vote, it is an easy step for him to learn to use money to bribe or corrupt officials or trustees of any class. If you teach your boy that it is right to steal votes. it Is an easy step for him to believe that 1t is right to steal whatever he may need or greatly desire. The re- suits of such an influence will enter every branch of society; 1t will reach your bank cashiers. and affect positions of trust in every department; it will Uafn n feet the administration of justice.
 I submit it to the intelligent judg- ment of this Convention that there is no higher duty resting upon us, as cit izens, and as delegates, than that which requires us to embody in the fundamental law such provisions as will enable us to protect the sanctty of the ballot in every portion of the State.
 The Justification for whatever manip- ulation of the ballot that has occurred in this State has been the menace of negro domination. After the war, by force of Federal bayonets, the negro was placed in control of every branch of our Government. Inspired and aid ed by interruptions white men, he wasted money, created debts, increased taxes @ntu t threatened to amount to confiscation of our property. While in power, and within few years, he increased our State debt from a nom inal figure to nearly thirty millions of dollars. The right of revolution is all ways left to every people. Being pros trated by the effects of war, and un- able to take up arms in their own de- fense. in some portions of this State, white men. greatly in the minority, it is said, resorted to strategem-used their greater intellect to overcome the greater numbers of their black oppon- ents. If so such a course might be warranted when considered as the right of revolution, and as an act of neces- sity for self-preservation. But a peo- pie cannot always live in a state of revolution. The time comes, when if they would be a free. happy and con- tented people. they must return to a Constitutional form of government, where law and order prevail, and where every citizen stands ready to stake his life and his honor to maintain 1t.
 What Remedy Shall Be Adopted.
 Upon the threshold of our delibera- tions, I will not undertake to indicate to you how you should solve this new and difficult question of constitutional
 Continued on Page Five.)