The Savannah morning news., 1901-05-29
Mr.. MORGAN'S PLAN
ONLY WHITE MEN TO HOLD OFFICE
IN ALABAMA.
AN APPEAL FOR THE NEGRO.
BOOKER WASHINGTON SPEAKS FOR
HIS RACE.

The Present Relations of the Two
Races Are REASONABLY satisfac-
t0ry-Why Disturb Them and De-
privc the Negro of All Incentive
for Right and Useful Livingstone
Features of the Suffrage Clause.
Vote Buyers and Pistol Toters to
lie Disfranchised.
Montgomery. Ala. May 2S.-Booker T.
Washington in behalf of his race to-day
presented to the constitutional oonvcn-
tion an appeal for conservative action.
The address reminds the convention that
the negroes came here against their will,
but have been benefited trained and
cnristianlzed They did their duty in the
civil War and in the Spanish war. They
have ceased for twenty years to be an
offensive element la politics. Leading
members of the race have persistently
urged the negro to learn to trust the
white man. For these men this is a cru
cial time. The negro pays some direct
taxes. He Alays much more indirectly
through his labor. He is in the main
producer of wealth and generally con-
tented and law-abiding. Already the en-
igration agent and exodus associations are
at work on the negros fears that his cit
izenship and schools will both be taken
away. The relations are now reasonably
satisfactory between the races. Any
thing that will unsettle the negro now,
when he is settling down to thrift and
common sense will injure both races.
The address pleads that all incentive for
right and useful living be not withdrawn
from the young negro. 1t concludes:
Amy law which will merely change the
name and form Of fraud or can be inter-
preted as meaning one thing when applied
10 another VIII not, In our opinion, inn
prove our present conditions, but may un-
settle the peace and thrift of our people
and decrease the wealth and prosperity
of our country"
To Disfranchise Vote Buyers.
The leading feature of the suffrage
clause of to-day by ex-Gov Jones is that
which denies the right to vote to any per-
son who shall hereafter be guilty and con-
victed of selling his own vote or buying
or bartering the vote of another, in any
legal election or in any primary. caucus
or convention he'd to nominate persons or
| public officers or to elect delegates to any
| primary, or convention, or who shall
make or aid In making any false count,
| certificates or returns as to the result OF
such election, primary, cancus, or converi-
| tton, or who shall thereafter carry con-
| cealed weapons and be convicted thereof
On the desks of all the members are
an address by Senator Morgan and copies
! of the suffrage clause which he has pre-
| pared for the consideration of the conven-
tion The address is designed to support
the clause. Senator Morgan's plan is
simple. Nobody but a white man shall
hold office.
court of three registrars is provided
for each county and these courts shall
have absolute power to determine the
qualifications of every vote except that an
appeal from its decision lies to the circuit
court.
The registrars are elected to start with
by the courts of the county commission
ers. but after the first term Of four years
are to be chosen by the people.
The real feature of the plan is in the
provision that only white men shall hold
office. The registrar plan is similar to the
one in Mississippi. except that the courts
of registrars have a much wider discre-
ton