The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-07-26


 been annulled by the unanimous voice of the white people of Alabama? Now that has been done by revolutionary methods; by force and by fraud, and. as always happens when those meth- ods are resorted to, other evils have been created. Fraud having become
 necessary 1t has debauched the con- sciences of our people. It threatens the degeneracy of our descendants, and we feel that we cannot perpetuate our decree of annuiment by those meth ods. That is not because of any an- tagonism to the national government. That is not because the Southern peo- ple or the people of Alabama are not l in accord with the other Constitutional amendments which followed upon the
 war, and which were intended to ad. just our relations with the national government. There Is no dissent amongst our people as to the Four teenth Amendment, which declared that the negro should be citizen. AL though by force and fraud, by reyolu- | tionary methods, the negro has been disfranchised for twenty-six years in
 the State of Alabama. and although the negro who was given the right to vote: theoretically, for the purpose or maintaining the civil rights ac- corded to him under the Fourteenth Amendment: although side
 by side these two amendments stand in the Constitution, the one has been discarded by the people. and the other has been maintained in it's integrity. The white people of Alabama have showed their allegiance and their loy- atty to their Government Dy accorolns in substance to the negro all or his civil rights. There may be some few scattered communities here and there in the State where that is not true, but I say 1t without the fear of suc- cessful contradiction. that the peopie of Alabama are irrevocably in favor or according to the negro his civil r;ghts. Tn evidence of our loyalty. we have
 sent our sons to fight the battles of
 the nation. to the West Indies, an out to the Philippines, and the National Government has honored )ur people ty making generals of those who gre al- ready distinguished amongst us. one of whom sits here in this Convention. We are in accord with the National Government except upon the one single proposition. We are not in accord up- on that proposition, and we can never be in accord upon that propo sitioa, if i. shall be maintained that it is our
 duty under the Fifteenth Amendsaent to accord the full and unrestricted right of suffrage to the negro race: that be- cause he is negro he must vote,
 whether he is qualified or n pt; we can
 never assent to that propo sition.
 Now, what are We here Cor! ! think, delegates of this Convention. that we are here for a higher and a broader purpose than has been stated by the gentlemen who have preceded ne in the opposition. One of them has said that we are here to purify the ballot Another has said that we are here tt eliminate the vicious and ignorant ne' gro from the right of suffrage. Both of those propositions are true. put wt are here for a still higher purp ose. Wt are here to put upon perm lneB
 basis the elements which will hold oui civilization together. and we are hert for still higher purpose, rH.nsiy tt
 restore the State of Alabama to it: absolutely normal relation to he Ma tional Government by providing plaI of suffrage which will give to the legrt an equitable right of suffrage, snt give him also the hope of in creasint in proportion and in numbers tl:at rigli of suffrage. fair and equitable p.an
 upon which, and by which, he may al
 the years go by. If he has that in hi1r
 which will capacitate him for seif-gov.
 ernment. stand at last upon the samG
 footing as the white man, SD far az
 the right to vote is concerned; kut in
 solar a5 he shows that he is in ,apaci.
 tated, we want it fixed in our .aw, in
 ou: social structure, that he slall be
 disqualified from voting. Now. that is a great hope to hold out to the people
 of the State of Alabama, that all thest fears and anxieties of the past, grow
 ing out of the disturbance of the rela- tions between us and the National Government, shall be dissipated; that
 at last, as the final step in that lcng drama of our tragic history, beginning with the importation into this country of the negro race-as the final scene in that terrific drama. We can say to the
 world We have a: last been restored completely and fully as an integral part of the most majestic government that ever lived upon the face of the earth.
 (Applausc.) Now, Tn accomplishing
 these objects, We have got to look at
 the facts as they are. We are not idealists; we arc not theorists; we are trained in the art of self government.
 We know that there is no such thing as fitting an ideal theory to an actual condition of society-a condition, by the
 way, which has been brought about by controversy and bloodshed. We have gc: to dea! with the situation prac-
 tically. Now, what does the majority of the Committee propose to do, and it Is concur1ed in by the other four members except in one respect? Here Is an actual condition of things. The bulE of the negro race not voting at all, and never having freely exercised the right of suffrage since he became citizen of the United States. The white element oi tho population, all voters,
 manhood suffrage established in all its fullnest and integrity, and we must adopt plan which must be sent back
 to those electors and be ratified by them. Otherwise our efforts fall fruit less to the ground. Won't the people of the civilized earth, the civilized peo- pie of tho W world won't they recognize that as a practical difficulty? Cannot anybody with intelligence and sensibil- ity, viewing this situation viewing our hope, and our great ambition to be restored fully to our relations with the Nationa! Government, viewing the dif- ficulty o. getting a Constitution rati- fled Sy the people. which ia simply
 theoretical in it's provisions-wont any person of sensibility and spirit, wheth- CT he belong to the Republican Party of this Government, or whether he De a member of the Supreme Court, or the President of the United States. ba able to see that there must be some compromise? So that, what the Com
 mittee has done is this: It has at
 tempted to provide simple formula or 8 temporary character whereby the white votera O. the State shall still enjoy substantially the privileges. vot-