The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-07-26

States, or any State, on account of race, color or previous condition of ser- vitude. The Fourteenth Amendment having declared before that time that the negro was a citizen and 9 citizen of the State wherein he resided, this provision shielded him as such from discrimination and attack. The Demo- cratic platform, by which we were pledged to abide, on the other hand, declares that no white man shall be deprived of the right to vote except on conviction of infamous crime. Were men ever placed in a more narrow or more tortuous channel through which to guide the ship of State than was your Committee on Suffrage and Elec- tions? Besides. the platform declared that we should refPm the suffrage within the limits of the Constitution of the United States. Then, without the privilege of discriminating against the negro. because of his race, by the pro- visions of an instrument, which we had taken solemn obligation, In the face of men and in the presence of God, to observe, and, on the other hand, pledge by the party with whose desti- nies and whose fortunes we had been united from our childhood until this hour. not to disfranchise any white man, was it strange that we should
 
 be employed in reforming the suffrage? Mir. President and Delegates, I have faced responsibilities from my child hood until now. 1 saw the storm clouds gathering when I was a boy in the political horizon of my country. stood in the battle-swept section of this Union. shared it's fortunes and per- formed my humble part. and when. with Bedford Forest, at Is years or age not larger than one of your messen- gers. I met the advancing column O. the enemy. formed in double line, when we were deployed at ten paces apart and were armed with pot metal guns. while the enemy were armed with Spencer rifles in the last battle Of the war on Alabama soil, when l saw seV- enteen men of my company, composed of thirty, left dead or mortally wound- ed upon the field in five minuses. l never felt more serious then than feei today. My flag. my country, my hopes were at stake. My country, my State and our people are at stake today. In my young manhood, I saw reconstruc- tion with all of its horrors. I saw the white men of my State placed under the domination and the heel of the black race. saw the time when white men had no rights respected by them. It was then, sir, in my town. in an- other State. the white league was formed of three men. I had the for tune to be one of the three. All swore then that the white men of Mississippi should rule that State, Or every white man within it would die. I felt serious then. but I did not feel any more seri- ous about the situation then than feel today. We have been called together by our constituents to reform the suf- frage in Alabama. Whether that be to maintain white supremacy or to secure honesty and fairness at the ballot box, we need not stop to inquire; but we were commissioned to reform the suf- frage in Alabama. That devolved upon us the task of doing that work right, of doing 1t in such way that u VIII stand the test that may be applied to if in the courts and in the Congress of the United States
 This is a time when the sober thought and the highest reason and the deepest patriotism should move us in our work. have no criticism to pass upon the majority of the Committee with whom I differ. They are struggling to reach the same end that I am struggling to reach. We only differ about the route we should travel. They have selected plan represented by the majority and my distinguished friend from Mad ison is right when he says we must judge of it as a whole. It is a com plete plan within itself. and every sec tion in it contributes to 1t as whole. differ with the majority as to the constitutionality of this plan; that Is, I mean to say that I believe the sub division giving the descendants of sol diers and sailors the right to register without any other qualification. is vlo- lative of the Fifteenth Article of the V1 whether that be true or not. Most of you are lawyers, and, therefore, your responsibility is that much greater to your people. That instrument says you must not discriminate against the ne- gro because of his color. race or pre- yious condition of servitude; that Is, you shall not make a difference" (be- cause that is what discrimination means), between his race and the other people of the country. You shall not do that either directly or indirectly. It Is not what we want; it Is not what we like, but, Mir. Chairman and Fellow Delegates, it is what can we do to re- form the suffrage in the face of that provision in the Constitution? What is the provision in the suffrage plan? The first provision, though last in order in the plan, is that to entitle citizen to register, he must be of good charac- ter and understand the duties and obli- cations of citizenship. That is the general proposition. That covers all men alike and upon it's face, it is per- feetly valid Then the next provision is that all soldiers of the war of 1912. the war with Mexico, the war with the Indians, the war with Spain. in the civil war, and the soldiers of the Con- federate army in the war between the States, shall be entitled to register whether they have the character and intelligence to understand the duties and responsibilities of citizenship or not, TEe next provision is the one that shows the purpose of, and, in my Judg- mentfi vitiates the whole. It Is the clause which gives to the descendants of those who served In the army of the United States in the war of the ReVo- luton, in the war of 1872 in the war with Mexico and the Indians, ana the civil war, and those who served in the Confederate army, or in the army of the State of Alabama, in the war between inc States, the right to register wheth- CT they have good characters and un- derstand .he duties and responsioln- ties of, citizenship or not. By the clause just mentioned you have formed a group or class who cannot register or vote unless they are of good character and understand the duties and respon- abilities of citizenship. By the other clauses YOU have made group or class in which you say they shall have the rieEI to register whether they meet that standard or not. Now those are the only three provisions in the tenn