The Elk Mountain pilot., 1901-08-13
SENATOR MORGAN ON NEGRO
SUFFRAGE.

bama about the situation in the South,
and especially in Alabama, is so sol
emn and so essentially silly, that We
cannot help suspecting his sincerity.
1t reads as If for the time he felt COM
PEELED to talk to the gaSeres He has
plenty of sense and Il fair stock of
humor, and he does not ordinarily take
SO much time and trouble to say what
is obviously wide of the mark and
at best extremely thin.
He defines the purpose of the ap-
preaching constitutional convention to
be ito relieve the state of an incubus
of ignorance and vice, to eliminate an
element composed of men who have
neither character, intelligence, capaci-
ty, sense of responsibility, patriotism,
or loyalty to any obligation" In
doubtedly there is such an element in
Alabama, and in all the South. 1t is
composed of men, some of whom are
black and many of whom are white.
Both classes are the product of slav-
cry, which made honest work as dis
whites as for the slaves themselves. In
both classes vice is largely the conse-
quence of ignorance, which is in great
part due to the idleness bred in slav-
cry. Neither class is really fitted for
the exercise of the suffrage. Each
badly needs education in the duties of
citizenship and each would be far bet
ter off If its members were forced to
acquire the rudiments of that educa-
ton before they We're allowed to vote.
If the ballot We're made the prize of
some elementary schooling, both
classes would gradually comply with
the conditions, and there would be n
steady and permanent gain for the
state.
We are confident that Senator Nor
gan really understands these facts.
Yet he gravely assumes that the faults
and defects of the voters of Alabama
and the South are confined to the ne
groes, and that by robbing these of
their equal right TO the suffrage the
state will rid itself of the evils due to
these defects and faults. He pretends
10 be engaged in a noble and high
minded scheme to purify the politics
of his state, when he is really trying
only to get rid of negro suffrage while
setting up for the ignorant and vicious
whites n sort of sacred privilege based
exclusively on the color of their skin.
He ought to know by sad experience
that 1t is this class that has imposed
the burden it has so steadily borne to
deserved defeat. 1t is this class that
has made the Democracy of the senator
himself ruuIe and helpless and has
deprived him of the honor and influ-
ence as n leader to which his ability
and character entitle him. 1t is this
class in all the southern states, secure
and insolent in its class privilege, that
has kept the Democratic party section
al and narrow and imbecile. It's action
and influence have bred Populism, ar
rayed the party against all the true
interests of their section and of the
country, made it reactionary, obstruct-
i've, unpatriotic and utterly unsafe. 1t
Is the surrender of the party to this
class that has made it impossible for
a southern man, no matter what his
character and ability, to become Il real
power in national politics, and has
bound men like Mr.. Morgan to the ig-
noble leadership and ruinous ambition
of a man like Mr.. BRYAN
Does Senator Morgan like his
chains? Do they fit easily and is their
clanking agreeable? 1t would seem
so, since he is engaged in strengthen
ing the influence of the class that COM
pels him to wear them. If men of the
standing of the senator would only
see that it is not negro ignorance and
vice exclusively of which the South
must get rid, but that equal and fair
conditions imposed on the ignorant
and vicious of both races are the only
possible means of putting the affairs
of the South in safe hands, it would be
far better for their party, for their sec
ton, and for the whole nation. Until
there arise leaders wise and clear
headed enough to pursue this course
the South will inevitably remain, so
far as national politics are concerned,
in n condition of disadvantage and in
feriority.-New York Times.