The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-07-13

for adjournment and before we go to another article, l move we adjourn.
 MT. Jenkins-f ask the gentleman to withdraw that motion.
 Mir. Cobb--I will yield to the gentle to send up this petition, and to have it printed in the official report.
 ( Jjection was made.
 Mir. Jenkins-I move that the rules be suspended, and that this petition be painted in the proceedings. It is from a respectable colored citizen of the State.
 Upon a vote being taken the rules were suspended, and the petition Is as follows:
 Snow Hill. Ala. July 5. 1901. To the Hon. John B. Knox, President.
 and Honorable Gentlemen of the
 Constitutional Convention of the
 State of Alabama:
 Gentlemen-Presumin that you have laid the report of the Suffrage Commit tee on the table for a few days in or der that the citizenship of the State may have an opportunity to express an opinion on the subject. I beg you to lend an ear to the following. which is not intended so much as a discussion or opinion, as it is an humble petition:
 Of the many grave and intricate questions which you are called upon to solve, perhaps none will engage more of your attention than that of the suf- frage; certainly none Is fraught with more difficulty. and danger of miscar- rfage. This is not strange in the light of history, for every nation known to history has had to deal rigidly with the question of suffrage at some time hafnra &~ hA standard in political affairs. It Is therefore. that the true citizen of Ala bama finds himself in deep sympathy with the members of the Convention, many, perhaps all, of whom are sin cerely trying to find way out of the darkness created by unlimited suf- frage. and consequent appalling num- Der of ignorant voters at every cleo tion. and the election too often, of un- worthy. interruptions, and sometimes corrupt men to offices to which noth- ing but men, of the highest integrity and the purest patriotism should be elected.
 There is a public sentiment in the South today which decrees that the ignorant negro must be disfranchised, and however the young and intelligent negro may regret to see his ignorant father deprived of the right which came to him by virtue of the course of events, he must nevertheless recog- nize the necessity of some sort of re- form which will tend to the purifica- tion of our politics. But he may be pardoned if he contend that whatever touches one element of our popula ton ought to touch all under similar col- ditions. Not one of you will gainsay or even doubt the truth of the state ment that ignorance, immortality, and unworthiness should be taken out Of the South's politics. whether it be the result of negro suffrage, Pols suffrage. or even white suffrage. One cannot read the report of your Suffrage Com mittee without sharing with them the great burden which they had to carry, Every word of it shows arduous labor on the part of the Committee. Never theiess, 1t will not be strange if your honorable body do not accept the en. tire report as the panacea for all of Alabama's politic*l ills, and finally stamp 1t or any part of it with your oisapproval. Already some of the re- cognized leaders in our political affairs nave published to the world their dis approval Of the grandfather clause" which allows young white men to vote because their fathers fought in certain wars and excludes negroes.
 One can scarcely think that Alabama VIII: with a grandfather clause, follow the lead of other States which have not oettered themselves by the same IL Will not be strange if Intelligent men everywhere consider the grandfather clause unfair, unprogressive and a bar to the highest development of both races. If young white men throughout the State do not resent what would seem to place premium upon ignor- ance for them and a premium upon intelligence for negroes. I am mistaken in my estimation of their race pride. If the poor and unfortuinate class or white people do not resent the grand father clause. and consider it a virtual acknowledgment of their inability to compete with the recently emancipated slaves, l am very much mistaken in their manhood.
 Besides gentlemen, If I may be per. mitted to ask question, If the right to vote can come to any man by ln- heritance, can this right be confined alone to the battlefield? Must it be confined to the actual bearing of arms any more than to the other and higher duties. or as for that matter, the most menial task performed in time of war TOT the propagation of the samee AL
 
 thousands of his compatriots may never nave tought battle, or may not have borne arms in our civil war, what man or you would deprive the remotest of their descendants of the privilege of young? Three millions of my race dug trenches, fed your mules. guarded your homes, and cultivated your lands that you might have sub sistence while you struggled four long years with your brethren of the North; and though they did not actual ly bear arms. like many others who rendered valuable service to the Con- rederate cause, they did you a service without which you could not have Waged the war so successfully for such time: yet under the grandfather | clause you leave them out while thou l sands of others with no better quali- fications. who never fought nor SUD- | ported those who did fight, will be en- l franchised. But If we may leave the white man out of the account for a | moment, and take the grandfather l clause at its face value, I beg to ad- | vance the opinion that the Southern negroes who have advanced far enough | in the arts of civilization to think for l themselves. will learn to doubt your gratitude and to distrust your sense of | justice if by this clause you permit six | thousand negroes who enlisted in the | Confederate cause. and their descenl- ants, the privilege of suffrage while you exclude three million others who did not enlist. but who served you at your homes. and without whose service | tH Ha