The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-07-26

% thsa nronerfy that they had bought in | inc market. and which belonged to them. and that they of right. could not take from them by the stroke of pen as they did. What else. MT. President? This was a military blow at the labor system of the south. Later on they said to this mass of ignorant slaves, untutored and uEcultured, you may 1 walk side by side with your master of yesterday and cast your vote and kill his will. Unfit for the responsibilities | oi Government they were turned loose upon the people of the South and marched side by side with the chivalric sons of our country, up to the ark of | the covenant. the ballot box in our I land, and voted like the high-spirited, | free born Americans of our land. like the men who fought the battles of this country, the men who bought it with their blood, and who with their arms bravely and undauntedly secured American independence.
 | I take the position, MT. President, against the gentlemen of the minority | of the Committee, that the negro never had the right to vote. I take I the positfon that the exercise of the suffrage was an inherent right with the white man and privilege with the negro, granted by the white man. | There is a distinction. We have 1t in our power to give him tho privilege | to the white man, 1t is his birthright | in this country. The gentlemen of the | minority make the mistake in reason | ing from the standpoint of equality. | It is true under the law of this State | the negro must be equal with you in the exercise of the ballot, but we know as a matter of fact that he is not equal to us. God Almighty did not make him so. and the work of the artists of the minority report cannot improve on His
 handiwork. tApplause.) Why. MT. President, the striking from him of
 the title slave, and placing in his hand the ballot was the most diabolical piece of tyranny ever visited upon a proud l though broken people. I believe, sir, | that the tour of the President of the | United States through the South has opened the eyes of the Northern coun- try on this proposition, and that they see today that they made mistake when they gave the negro the right to vote. MT. Lincoln said upon one occasion, "I do not favor now and never have favored giving the negro the franchise. MT. President, 1t Is a fact that the majority of the Northern | States. outside of the New England States. voted against giving the negro | the right to vote. Francis Preston Blair. in the United States Senate in 1871. said: 'sMissouri gave Sl.O0o ma | jorfty against 1t. Kansas 15,0o0. Ohio | 50, ,b00, Michigan 34.000. New York. Con necticut and New Jersey, and all the | Northern States went against 1t ex- cepting the New England States He goes on further to say. MT. President. | thar the Representatives in the Leg 1 islature and Senators and the Con- 1 gressmen violated the will of the peo- ple and carried through the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. We see how 1t was brought about, was 1t their desire to elevate the negro? Not at all. As I said before, the striking off the shackles from his feet was blow at the labor system of the South, and l giving him the right to vote was
 blow at the proud spirit Of the men
 who had by the very force of their he- | roism killed more of the men in their army than we had men in all the ar mics of the Confederacy. Humiliated, | stricken down, the men who wore the | gray were the bravest that ever drew a battle blade. The bravest that ever crossed the field of carnage, Of shed
 blood in the cause of right, and when time Is over, when history shall be finally made up. believe the htsto- rian will record the fact that the Con federate soldier was the bravest that ever lived in the annals of time, and yet, Mir. President, the gentlemen who favor the minority report tell us that 1t will humiliate descendant of illus trious men to walk up to the ballot box and say am a son of a Confed- crate soldier. Humiliate him? If it humiliates him he is not worthy to
 vote. He is not worthy to have any
 voice in any government, on any ques- tion. The proudest title of the Romans was to smite himself upon the breast
 and say, I am Roman soldier. The
 proudest title that the young men of this day can wear is to walk out ard
 say l am the son of a Confederate sol
 dier. Humiliate him, poor tlmid fel- low, who has got to walk up to the bal-
 lot box and say l am Confederate
 soldiers son. But they advance the ar
 gument that you want to give Jim an
 advantage over the negro in the race.
 No, that is not 1t, gentlemen. The
 proposition that l am lighting is the
 one by which they undertake t6 lut
 him upon the same level. and for him to march up side by side in the same
 column with the white man. If you
 want to make a foot race, let us make | it with the descendants of our own
 tribS.
 MT. President, the only instance in
 history where a race which you might
 say was physically prohibited from
 amalgamating or asslmilating with
 another race, was given equal rights
 and privileges by the law with that
 other race Tn the same community. You
 can't trace history pack to single re-
 corded instance where two such oppo-
 site races were ever brought together
 under the same laws affecting both
 alike. There is nowhere a single re-
 corded instance where Africans and
 Caucasian races impossible of mutual
 absorption or amalgamation were ae-
 corded tine same political legal and so-
 cial rights under the same govern
 ment.
 r. The gentlemen Trge here that we say
 where two races are thrown together
 the stronger will dominate. That is
 true. It is true, and the white man is
 going to dominate here..
 MT. President, we have told the peo-
 Die of Alabama for years that we want
 ed to disfranchise the negro. He has
 been about the ballot box like sheep in
 the market for sale and traffic to the
 highest bidder. The white people who
 love the ballot, who love the sancitity
 of their fireside, who love the govern
 ment of their homes and of their
 States. want to exercise that great
 weapon in the defense of things tha.
 are right and sacred. We want to take
 it out of the hands of men whom you
 can purchase for twenty-five cents and l a ,lrirI of uhiskv We want the whit $