The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-07-30

tu081 WUo afo l0terogbod tn xo0Q 1Vs- ernmept should control t, In Norfn Carolina and South cak0iius, where VI have adopted these methods, we have increased in cotton manufacturtpg in. dustriee more than any other twf states in the South. and today mort cotton Is used in the manufacture ol goods in North caroiina and soutr Carolina than there is cotton made IT
 those two Statss. Now. can you thsnb of such a thing as an intelligent mar
 with money to invest, viewing it from a business standpoint, who would re- fuse to Invest In Alabama because the Intelligent people, the yirtuous people and those Interested in Its prosperity rule in Aiabamaf Can you conceive oi such a thing as that having . tenden- cy to drive these men out? and yet
 that is the argument offered by this
 gentleman.
 want to say for myself that may
 be to some extent partial to the tdes
 of extending this benefit to the old scendants. for, Mr. President, 90 far
 ss ! know. am the youngest Confed-
 crate soldier in the State of Alabama
 enlisted in the Confederate army
 when was it years of age, and
 spent my fifteenth birthday as q
 prisoner of war iH,Gamp Douglass. H.
 iinois, being just . few months over
 fifteen years Of age when the wal closed. I had to undergo the hard ships that were entaiied upon the lner there. and ! know something about what those men have had to suner and they gre entitled to recognition Az an old friend of mine used to esy, in regard to our suffering. We slept until aftar breakfast, skipped dinner. and went to, bed before supper, and he said on the march. before we got there. that he had known 1t to De trns that the Confederate soldiers ate dried applies for breakfast, drank water Tor These men had to undergo many hard ships and I know how they suffered, and therefore may bs to some extent partial to those old soldiers,
 Now. Mr. President. some gentlemen learned and distinguished on the other side, has said 1t was drawing the line
 too narrowly, to say that We met here for the purpose of acting upon the
 question of suffrage alone. We are
 here to purify the ballot. he said.
 do not understand that there Is any
 way to purify the ballot, except to
 eliminate from the right of suffrage
 those who are incompetent to exercise
 that right, and 1t seems to me the
 plan offered by the majority is the only feasible means of eliminating them. Then 1t is not stating it too broadly, when say 1t is for the purpose of cor rscting tine evils existing in the suf- frage here. We know how many oi these evils have grown In Alabama.
 I went with Senator Morgan Into North Alabama when he made that campaign Tn which he told us of ths condition of the black belt in the State of Alabama, in which he told us of Reddy Thomas, the negro judge that presided over the City Court of Selma. Now, as matter of fact. we were told then of the carpet bagger who was elected Commissioners and of the contracts that were made with men in ether States to build bridges and public works In, Alababma at a cost of four times what t would have cost to build them at home. They the peoples money and It amounted to this, that the people who lived in the black belt which Is the as another has beautifully said that Mature was in her happiest mood when that part Of the world was made, when her valleys were depressed and her mountains raised saffron crowned and ysrmiilion embroidered" The white men had to leave or control It. and # the white man left 1t, no other white man could be induced to come to 1t. because the negro was so numer- ous that no white man you'd desire to live among them. Some say you can not afford to adopt the majority re- port because 1t eliminates too nearly all of the negroes. It Is better than the negro has now. if you look from the negro's standpoint, does not the negro have more rights under 1t, than he is exercising today. the way things are? As Mr. Cochran said here In as a matter of fact been nuIlified and will he not have more rights under the article suggested by the majority report than he actually has noW2 When you learned how to eliminate the negro. and the reasons were set forth for 1t, the trouble was that they dld not stop by eliminating the negro, and fraud has heen practiced even in the Democratic primaries by white people. When we had division between the white people eight or ten years ago, 1t was not So much because of any difference existing on govern mental policy between the white men in Alabama. as because of the fact that a great number of white men be- lieved that by the methods employed. their voices had not been heard in the State of Alabama. When that is prae- tieed among the white people and 1t comes to the point that whoever has the machinery receives the nomination and we teach 1t to our boys what will the result be7 If q boy asks you Is this right. which he sees practlced here, what are you going to tell him? He didn't live at the time of slavery, and of the carpet-bag rule, but he comes today and wants to know if that Is right. which has been practleed in politics here. and you tell him 1t Is right to do 1t to get an office paying from $400 to S9,b00 q year. you teach him that 1t is right to steal to sweara lie and If you put that boy
 Tn business in a commercial way, and he sees an opportunity to get ylo0 pr $500 by improper methods, he will Jay l was taught that to get an office paying & few hundred dollars a year could afford to swear to lie. and leFe is $500 that can get by doing 1t, and I see no difference between this md other matters, Thus you blunt the moral sensibilities and make a lot of thieves and villains in your land, That s the condition that confFonts the peo- ,ie, and that is the condition VIC are met here to remedy, A mans moral nature Is not made up like house. It s not fixed so that he can have Q paFlor 10 keep his clean linen in and kitchen .o keep his soiled linen ini but when you sAturate him with corruption, 1t goes through his entire nature. It does not stop In any one part, but goes