The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-12-06
THE NEW LAW WILL BE
 HONESTLY ENFORCED.

daily organ of the @ohnston-Shelley sore head, office-seeking combine. This is very kind of The Banner. It is supplying the combine with something they have so far failed to get among Alabama dailies.
 In an article commenting upon some of The New York Suns remarks upon Alabama affairs, The Banner says:
 Governor Johnston, General Shelley, Colonel Denson. MT. Stallings and their followers among the white Democrats of the State, who voted against ratification would gladly have supported some ra- tional measure for the purpose of tnsur- ing white supremacy. The Black Belt politicians who counted the fraudulent majorities had other ends in vlew. They will not resign their hold on Stale poli- tics under the operation of the new Con- stitution. Under that instrument the Board of Registration will determine who can vote-who has sufficient intelligence | to understand and appreciate republican government-and enough negroes will doubtless be registered to serve the fu- | ture purposes of the machine. The Black | Belt negroes are so many dummies in the hands of this machine. It has used them | in the past to accomplish its ends and it will continue to do so in the future. In this paragraph The Banner displays I lamentable ignorance of all the facts in the situation 1t attempts to talk about so dogmatically. If ignorance is not the trouble, then it must be getting its inspi- ration from the combine.
 All we'll informed people in Alabama know that the leaders of the anti-ratifi- cation movement in this State could not have been satisfied with any measure for getting rid of the negro vote which they themselves did not originate and dominate. Nothing conceivable would have been accepted as rational by them, if they were not in control of the Convention that adopted it and the ma chinery that worked 1t out. They are all men who have recently failed in their political ambitions, and their sole pur-, pose is to get on top again somehow or other. They seized upon standardization as drowning men at a straw.
 As matter of fact a large number of the wisest and best men in the State, in abundant labor and unselfish patriotism, worked out the suffrage section of the new Constitution, and there is little doubt that it is infinitely superior to any plan that the Johnston-Shelley combine could have conceived, or would have proposed. if they had dominated the Convention. In the light of their records in this State they have ho base for patent on su- perior braihs or patriotism. All their talk of defet live or unfair plan of suffrage is the ne crest vaporing.
 The Barge of The Banner that the Black @Belt leaders have other ends in view,3 in connection with the new Con- stit, fion is equally absurd. The move | mkfit for suffrage restriction came from tsfe Black Belt. which wanted relief from the iniquitous methods of suppressing the i negro vote-the very methods Johnston and Shelley introduced and disseminated years ago. If the Black Belt had wanted to preserve it's advantage in the negro vote, why should it have sought relief from the Johnston-Shelley methods? The charge that the Black Belt has a cat in the meal-tub is prepOsterous. It has been perfectly sincere in it's course, and events will prove it.
 The Banners further charge that the Board of Registration will see to it that enough negroes are registered under the new order of things to serve the Black Belts future purposes is an unwarranted islander upon Governor Jelks, Auditor sowell and Com missioner Poole. the three State officers who constitute that Board. The charac- ter of these men ought to be a sufficient warrant against such islander. The Ad- vertiser believes that they intend to do their level best to see that the provisions of the new Constitution are carried out in letter and spirit They have the ap- pointment of the County Registrars who are to make up the permanent registra- | tion list. The Advertiser does not doubt that the State Board will appoint County | Registrars who will carry out the pur- | poses of the Democratic Party and the
 intent of the new Constitution. The mass
 of white men will be registered, and no
 negroes will be registered in any county
 who are not clearly entitled to it-a very
 small percentage.
 Furthermore, so far as The Advertiser
 knows the purposes of the Black Belt.
 it is sure that the overwhelming senti-
 ment of its people is in favor of honestly,
 fairly, firmly carrying out the provisions of the new Constitution in spirit and letter. There may be a few county lead. CTS here and there so thoroughly sat- the old days by Johnston and Shelley that they prefer to keep them up, but such leaders are few and far between.
 None such will get on their County
 Boards unless Governor Jelks and asso- cIates are grossly deceived and imposed
 upon.
 Another point for the better informa-
 ton of The Banner. The Advertiser
 knows that the bulk of the best opinion
 purposes to see the new Constitution 8
 provisions faithfully lived up to. The
 Advertiser certainly. as an exponent and
 a part of that opinion, pledges itself to
 the utmost vigilance and frmness in
 hunting out and exposing any attempt
 anywhere at illegal registration or dis
 honesty at the ballot box. There is no
 excuse for any of the old methods under
 the new Constitution, and this paper will
 do all in it's power to assist public opinion