The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-07-30

hero a slave, e naNk8c btaFo Ho uoupt, under the providence ef Ged, to prepare him for civilization and to school him for . higher position among men. cannot forget his faithfulness as a, slave and his loyalty to his masters family while he was away fighting the battles of his country to perpetuate him in slavery. I recognize him as man who ought to have justice accorded to him in the courts, and who ought to have a fair and impartial trial when his life, his liberty, or his property = at stake. I believe he ought to be made to com ply with his contract, and that those who contract with him should be made to do likewise. I believe that he should have justice before the law and that no law should be enacted that d,scrim- mates against him simply because he is a negro. I would not disfranchise any of them who can stand the tests laid down in this Article.
 But while I recognize the negro's legal and human rights as being equal to ours, have never suffered myself fo7 Q moment to believe that he is the moral, social or intellectual equal of the white man. He Is cur inferior in these respects and no amount of leg isiation and cultivation will ever make him otherwise. look upon him as thd WCd-hCs clcIuGht I'll Oui SO-ldI anu political structure and I believe 1t be- comes us as the stronger element to see that such restraints are thrown around hin. as will curb him and prevent him from hurting himself as well as for our own protection. would disfranchise the ignorant and vicious and incompe- tent among them for thei~ own good and for the public good, but l would hold out to him. as does this Article, the hope that he may by industry, good character, economy and appli- cation, obtain the honors of the cleo torate. I would not cut him off from hope for the future, for hope op<e dead in the human breast makes the man the brute. 1 would not set Up for him higher standard for excellence Yin or der to exercise the franchise than I would set up for the white man, nor would I lower 1t. would let it stand as the majority of the Committee have reported it and I would enact just laws 10: it3 enforcement. These, Mr Pres- ident, are some of the conclusions I have come to after thoughtful con sideration of the majority report It's main provisions have my approval and when ths time comes l shall register my vote that way. I do not wish to say any more. thank the Convention for their courtesy Mir. Ashcraft-Mr. President, and gentlemen of the Convention. it Is per- fectly apparent that we have degener- ated into mere tolerance of speech making. The keen interest is gone. At the opening of this debate really de- sired to submit some arguments to the Convention. Those arguments have all been made, very much more ably than I could have made them. and therefore canno. make you the speech that had intended. It, therefore, seems to me that about the most that I can do | is, In certain sense, to inaugurate a set of ratification speeches, such as we ought to have in the morning under the ten minute rule, which will proba- bly be adopted. and trust that I may have the same good luck in getting to my subject that a young friend of mine once had. He had been going to see his girl for some time and he was quite timid: he had something which | he longed very much to say to her. and | which ha had been unable to say. The old people had gotten considerably wor- | ried, almost as much worried as this | Convention is with speech making, in furnishing lamp and coal for the late hours at night. The mother and father had begun to complain at Mary for letting John stay so long, and had re- ally begun to be impatient. One night John was there. It was getting a llt- | tle<1ate but in some way they found themselves seated together on the divan and one tender hand had found it's way into the clasp of good strong hand
 and just at that inauspicious moment | a sharp voice from the head of the stairs called out, Mary, is that fellow there yet?' Mary without withdraw ing her hand from the firm, strong grasp. sweetly answered: NO, ma
 hos not there yet, but he's getting there" Naughter.) Now, want tc thank the gentlemen who have spoken and are here for staying to hear us speak this evening. We appreciate very much that a number of those who have spoken are here. Some of those I who have spoken are not here. but presume that they judged our speeches by their own, and determined there | was not much to be lost if they ab. scented themselves. Laughter)
 You have all heard the story of the old farmer who was walking along the road and suddenly met a great big bull
 doe. The dog came lunging at him
 growing and showing his teeth. The farmer had a. pltchfork in his hand and stabbed 1t into the dog. Just at that | and said, What did you kill my dos for?" He answered. He was coming at me with an evil intent why didn't you hit him with the other end of the fork?" Why didn't he come at me with the other end?" Now, the way the minority of the Committed come at these three temporary Quallfi. cation clauses, reminds me somewhat of that story. for they bring these three propositions to us the wrong end
 first, and the distinguished gentleman
 from Wilcox fell into the same trap, | We say when a man comes up to vote
 that the first question that is asked him Is, are you an old soldier? If he says no. then they will say, are you
 the son of d soldier? If he says no
 then are you man of character who understands the duties ol citizenship
 That is the way we put it, but
 they say the question will be- are yoU a man of good character and when the
 man says no, they will ask. well, dc you understand the duties of citizen. ship under a Republican form of gov. ernment? and when he answers no
 they will ask him then, are you ar old soldier? So they seek to make il appear that the plan Is designed to lei in soldiers and their sons who are ras. calls or scoundrels.
 Now, gentlemen, that argument pre- cedes from a wrong conception of what really constitutes the true electorate
 and the fact that we can only set apart such an electorate FproXlmately, and not man by man As 1 understand the | theory of our GOvernment, it Is that