Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1901-02-07
SOUTHERN CONDITIONS.
Serious Political Problem That Com
fronts the People in That
Section.

from those states in the south which
recently have passed constitutional
amendments restricting suffrage.
These amendments have not been gem
eral in their application, but have been
so drawn as to disfranchise the black
while permitting the white man with
no more education, to east his bal
lot. This system of discrimination it
is customary to condemn. At first sight
and without going deeply into the
question one is inclined to believe that
great injustice is being done upon the
theory that no restrictions should be
placed upon the, right of franchise
which do not apply to all of the voting
age. But conditions in the south are
such that many conservative citizens
have advocated the adoption of the
amendments. A serious problem has
been confronting the white people of
the south for a number of years. and it
is of such a nature that it should at
tract the attention of the thinking
citizen everywhere. The whites of the
south are entitled to the sympathy of
their brethren, of the. north in their
attempt to solve it. 1t may be that the
disfranchisement of the unintelligent
and uneducated black is not the true
solution. But there are many who
believe that it comes nearer to it
than any which has yet been suggested.
The problem in the south is one of
race, not of politics The average white
man in that section of the country is
not so much for the democratic party
as he is against negro domination,
and what it is to be controlled by the
negro in the south can hardly be ap-
preciated in the north, where the black
man has intelligence and education and
frequently refinement. 1t is true that
for the disfranchisement the democrat
ic party in the south is directly re-
sponsible, because its managers hoped
to gain partisan advantage thereby.
They knew that the whites had always
voted the democratic ticket. and be-
lieved they would always continue tc
do so. They thought that with the
vote of the black eliminated they would
receive what would be equivalent to
perpetual lease of power. But it was
only the political managers who took
this partisan view of the situation.
The action of the legislatures had the
Endorsement of thousands of voters not
actively identified with politics because
they believed they saw in it relief from
the conditions which prevail and which
those in the north, who have not
studied the question can hardly ap-
preciate. Their view of the matter is
entitled TO consideration in weighing
this subject. They indorse the move
ment because they believe a vital prin-
cipal in government is at stake. and be-
cause they believe that in domination
by the element which has been disfran-
chised would mean to them the loss of
business and much less personal com
fort, and that it would have an unpleas-
ant effect upon their home life.
While. perhaps, the experiment is of
too recent birth to predict the bearing
il will have upon the future in the po-
litical history of the south, it is by no
means certain that it will not have an
effect directly contrary to that which
its originators had planned. Those
men who supported the disfranchising
amendments because of their honest
fear of negro domination. have allied
themselves with the democratic party
because only in that alliance could they
see an assurance that the white vote
would predominate. With that fear
eliminated they are apt to look at 9TH
er questions. They will consider the
great national principles which divide
the two great political parties, and the
business man and the laboring man of
the south. like their brethren in the
north, will discover that their inter-
ests lie in supporting those theories of
government advocated, advanced and
practiced by the republican party.
1t would seem as if there were food
for reflection in this thought 1t is not
impossible that the action which the
democratic legislatures of the south
have taken in the hope to strengthen
their own grip upon these states NAV
result ultimately in the dsintegration
of the so-called democratic solid south.
Albany Journal.
GWilliam Jennings Bryan's newspa-
per, The Commoner will, it is said. ac-
cept no advertisements of articles man
ufactured by trusts. This policy. if
rigidly carried out, will exclude from
y