The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-06-18
ALABAMA,s PROBLEM.
An Educational Qualification Urged.

An Educational oual1hcatton urged.
 Knoxville (Tenn.) Sentinel.
 Alabama is very much puzzled over the sunrage clause for its Coustitu- ton. Similar questions have been solved in Miseissippi, South Carolina, Louisiana and North Carolina are there should not be 50 much trouble. If the Convention will make an educd-
 tional qualification for voters. which applies to all voters the State will not De criticised. The unfair feature in the
 actions of the four States which have
 already taken up this question lies In
 the fact that they have made a re- quirement as to negroes which they
 oo not make as to whites. Why should the white race be given the preference:
 if 1t Is the superior race. as is the fact : | Already having the advantage the
 white race should be more capable uf accepting the conditions than the ne- gro race. Every ignorant voter is menace to good government and we see no rea- son why the ignorant white voter should be given an advantage over the | ignorant negro voter. The educa- tional qualification ought to be a spur to the requirement of an education by | all classes. If 1t is such spur, 1t
 is a good thing and results in a more
 intelligent community. But why should this spur not be put upon the white man as we'll as upon the negro? With the suffrage as reward for education. education becomes greatly desired throughout the community. Then we shall have full schools and people
 progressing in every respect. If the spur Is put only on the negroes 1t may be that that race may make more pro gress, than the ignorant whites and the
 white men who have control of the Convention ought to consider it from
 this standpoint. In our mind the dan ger of negro domination is a serious one in the South, but serious only be- cause the great mass of that race is ignorant and incapable of exercising power without damage to the section.
 It is to the interest of the South that the negro be raised out of this condi- tion and every facility should be giv- en him to accomplish that result. When a negro like Booker T. Washing ton shows himself a man of intelli- gence, of good moral character and fine purpose, even the Southern people lose, to a great extent. the thought of color in considering him and they are as ready as those of other sections to treat him with courtesy and do him honor. If, by a system of education and in dustrial training, We could produce in every southern State 1000 such negroes as Booker T. Washington there would not be so much fear of giving the me- gro the ballot. Party lines in the South would greatly relax. The Soutern white people cannot afford to consider any scheme of education which pro- vides for a division of the school funds in proportion to the taxes paid by the two races. If we do that we give the negro up to a worse condition than slavery and to a sure retrograding ten- dency back to the barbaric conditions in Africa The South could not sup port the burden of such situation. It
 would be much better to expend the amounts now being expended or eveL larger amounts, in more intelligent kinds of education. principally along the lines which Washington has fol- lowed at Tuskegee. A suffrage qualtfi- cation will assist, We believe, in doing this. It will furnish the spur which the black man needs. He will be
 proud citizen when he can walk up and cast his ballot. But 1t would he unfair to deny him privileges and give
 them to every member of the white race. Keep in mind Jefferson's maxim of Democracy, Equal and exact jus
 tice to all men, special privileges to nOne."