The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-07-25

trol the suffrage of its citizens. Del egates of the Convention, our plan may be imperfect but ask It's critics, those who have been 70 persistent in de- nouncing 1t as unwise and dangerous what better plan have you to offer? We cannot afford to leave the ballot in
 the hands of enough negroes to form
 . respectable faction. for if we do,
 whenever the whites divide. they hold
 the balance of power and we have failed to accomplish our mission. Have We grown so careless of the past that we can undergo that danger? Cannot we. brothers, kinsmen, interiors of the glorious past. united as we are by every tie of affection and interest, joint sharers of the blessings of free government transmitted by our fath- CTS. can we not forego our petty bick- erings and unite to accomplish this glorious mission? Let us be equal to this great occasion, this golden oppor- tunity in the life of our State and put into our Constitution an article on suf- frage that will guarantee to future generations the blessings of Anglo Saxon civilization and liberty In this State. We cannot afford to disfran- chise the ignorant or illiterate white. It was the iiliterate and uneducated white man that fought the battle of the Confederacy. They and their de- scendants were educated not In books but in the traditions and principles of free government. The race to whom
 they belong have been educated for centuries in the practice. participation and conservation of free institutions.
 King John were uneducated and Hit crate. and yet, in the language of an- other. they were the men who. from merely hereditary aptitude. acquired for generations in the administration of free institutions were enabled to lay their foundations deep and secure in England. The negro on the other hand has no traditions of liberty, no pride of ancestry, no environments which fit him to intelligentiy discharge the great duties of citizenship. for one can never consent to cast my vote
 to deprive a single man who wore the gray or his descendant. whether he be learned or illiterate. the right of suf- frage. MT. President, the Committee has been fortunate in having as its Chairman not only Q distinguished lawyer, learned in All the learning of the law, patient and painstaking, but a patriot who has lived in that section of the State where the evils of an un- restricted suffrage have been most se- verely felt and who has earnestly la-
 bored to present plan which will carry out every pledge and yet ac- complish the mission for which the people have delegated us to assemble in Convention. Mir. President. feel sure that this Convention will give the
 State such reform in outrage, such purity in the ballot as the people have depanded and that this Convention will prove equal to its great task will solve this problem with all the | wisdom possible to the fairest mind solve 1t permanently-without make shifts or subterfuges. so as to make
 permanent good government in Ala bama.
 Mr. oates-In the time limit fixed. shall endeavor to say nothing except that which may be considered to some
 profit and is absolutely pertinent to the question in hand.
 Now, sir. 1t has frequently been as- serted that the primary object in call ing this Constitutional Convention was to completely eliminate the negro from
 politics, or disfranchise the negro. This, gentlemen. is stating the ques- tion too narrowly. The primary and
 broader object was to seek to reclaim our beloved State from that evil into which 1t had fallen, of dishonest elec- ticns. How did we get there. and who Is responsible therefor7
 am by nature conservative. 1 am entitled to no credit for it, because was born that way. l am not radical in anything, pertaining to public af- fairs; never was, and as long as re- tain my memory and reasoning powers. never will be, and I never will, if I know 1t, be a party to an injustice to anyone-it matters not what may be called the exigency.
 Now, sir. we will take the negro. We find him in his native Africa, sav- age. He is not responsible for his be-
 ing In America and in & state of slav- cry. He is not responsible for his emancipation. He is not responsible for his enfranchisement. He had no agency in any of it, and there Is not a delegate on this floor who will rise in his place and say that he had, or that he did. Then, how was he en- franchised? You know by whom. By the policy of those who fought us in war and conquered us, the Federal ad- ministration. They saw proper, as 8 part of their policy, towards this con- quered people, and this large popula- tion who had been emancipated from slavery, by a war that had been urged upon us. As part of their policy they passed the Fourteenth and Fifteenth
 Articles of the amendment The ne- gro, therefore. is not responsible for it.
 It was the work of the white man. The negro, when informed that he had
 been emancipated, was grateful to those whom he understood had done that work, and, gentlemen, whether it was beneficial to him or the reverse, this was but the bubbling up of nature. Even the scorned earthworm that you trampie upon will turn and sting you. It Is only nature. Everything--the birds of the air, the animals and hu- man beings. desire to be free, although in the case of African slavery, 1t had benefited the negroes becasue 1t lifted them higher in the sunlight of civiliza- ton than anything before. It was a blessing to them. But 1t was only natural that they should aspire to free dom and welcome 1t. and when 1t came, to be grateful to those whom they understood brought 1t. In like spirit of gratitude, they were grateful to the people whom they understood had en- franchised them. They were much mislead and misinformed. and think with all their transformation that they did remarkably well.
 Now, when the distinguished dele gate, the Chairman of this Committee, was on yesterday addressing this Con- vention, pointing out the abuses of the elective franchise at the hands of these people, he seemed to charge 1t alto- gether to them. I differ with him in ~afA tn hat nS ri Nf r hiafnrU