The age-herald., 1901-10-04
GEN. SHELLEY AND OTHERS.

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 To the Editor of The Age-Herald.
 The recent attacks on General Shelley,
 by slurs. innuendo and abuse, seem to
 me most uncalled for.
 And this applies to the statement that a man who opposes the ''new constitu- ton" Is against honest government" The statement that therefore all men who were not negroes in fact or white | men with the principles and instincts of the negro should vote for the new con- stitution in order to perpetuate the gov ernm ent in the hands of the white man." and
 The reference of the virutuous Weather ly to the frauds practiced by Shelley and Johnston in the Black Belt. The next thing. I suppose, 1t will be crime to have been a southern soldier. l I presume the ratifiers will send MT. Weatherly's letter as a campaign docu- ment In the Black Belt. | have known General Shelley since my l boyhood: know his record as cool and | fearless soldier: and I know of time when single and alone with no white man near by he walked on the stand when the negro congressman, Jere Haralson, was speaking to three thousand or four thousand negroes and told Haralson to excuse himself and come with him quiet ly Jere did so, and the general and Jere drove off In a buggy.
 I know of another occasion when many good men were in dire peril that he show ed his noble heart. fearless courage and the spirit of martyr.
 These and other thing are known to the people of the Black Belt.
 There are some things in the new con- st. .ution better than in the old, some in the old better than in the new. do not like the matter of representation.
 One white man in nor-n Alabama should have the same vote and represen- tation as white man in the Black Belt and a south Alabama white man the same as a north Alabama man.
 Were this and other things all could still forbear, but the suffrage clause Is too much. we have been accustomed to a good deal of fraud that was legitimate since the war and a good deal that was not; for instance. in primary elections.
 The negro has not been much of factor in politics during the past twenty years, and none of late years.
 Tn 1892 was the last effort of the negro, and who was called to the front and what strenuous efforts had to be made | even here in Birmingham! Who made election law in that year, not only for Alabama but for the United States?
 How many more could have done better or so we'll and why were they not called on?
 There Is an old eastern adage that a man should not boast of -.-s fathers un- less he can compare himself to them. | It might be well not to attempt to tear down a good record and a good character unless you have something to match against it.
 The new plan changes the fraud from the ballot box to registration but still leaves the ballot box to be manipulated as of yore.
 Eventually the negroes will be register ed under the new constitution, if 1t be | adopted; for that Is the only way that the l Black Belt can permanently hold its rep resentation in Democratic conventions | and otherwise.
 necessary to consider the grandfather clause or property or educational qualfl- l cation. but the system of registration. 1 Suppose a man combining all these | qual. ..ications to the highest degree is re- fused registration? Before he can assert his rights by law the election wi. have | passed by.
 The purchasing clause shows on its 1 face the most base fraud attempt at | bribery his state has ever known. | What was 1t uone for? D.d not the originators of this clause l say 1t was the smartest thing they had l done?
 The majority of the people meet who favor the new constitution say it Is going to win, because it Is to be counted In anyhow.
 Now I think If you see and elieve a thing Is wrong that it is right to say so. For my part had rather go down in defeat with onest friends lnan "croolk the pregnant hinges of the knee that thrift may follow fawning."
 Do they think that the white men of the Black Belt were or are fooled? No! Hence the purchasing clause.
 The unexpected often happens This count in may not work so smooth
 If fair deal was to be had, why not have submitted the new constI.ution to a primary of the white Democratic voters in the state or have called state con vention of the Democracy of Alabama?
 The white counties will predominate in future legislatures and s,ate conventions and we may yet see the white men all over the state with the same vote and the same representation. Respectfully, J. DeB. HOOPER.