The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-06-11

foun0eriee ana mh~ithe -. :. = ,,u tN of which vast amounts of taxes are peiH pss,, and vvhich would not be so vaiuapie VIII Witn- o,,t iahoy fo ouerate them; ana. wnen con hear in mind that some or them are preachers and lawyers ana ooceors' and licensed to pursue these caliings un- der inc same laws and regulations as are white citizens; that they are trieo Sor tbeIr offenses by the same laws as are white people; that our state nag 's au ditional representation in Consress; panu ~, new Constitution itself, the numper o11 members of the Legislature is prorateo in the different counties, accoroHs population. including the negroes; anu' when you bear Tn mind that our o,,t al. as we'll as. our State, Government recognizes the importance of the negIo population as citizens. without discrinI, nation, in dealing with our public schoo, system; that in short, they are fiedged citizens in all respects, sxcep' when you take these things into cons,o. eration 1t seems to me that you can ho. do otherwise than to act upon ,. n fairly and justly, as you VIII any oins ain,, coming within your omciai Jurlstious
 All OUT National party conventfohs, and all our State conventions, up to tnIs time. have been based on popuia.on' .l.- cIuding the negroes, of course; thus rec ognizing the principle that they are cI.i- gems and entitled to repressnta.,on III ,ytv ptv
  organization has made no difference m its plan of representation from the States of South Carolina and Mississippi, since the Acknowledgement of the negro voters in those States.
 of the matter, and I most respectfully urge your committee to give It caretui consideration.
 There is another idea in connection with this matter to which l wish 10 cail
  If the population basisl Is ignored, then the interests of large portion or our a a..rinultdraI districts Will De uisfrdh- chised so far as representation Tn ou. party councils. are concerned; l nopf YOU will fully compreheni this 'dea. ] mean to say that in sections (ano yoN know how large they are) where tnere are nearly alp negroes ana Iew Whi.e people. the business interests or those sections will practically have no ;n, vTaee ., ., representation in shaping the policy oi our party affairs; and you know tna' our party not only shapes the politics of our State, but being the oomlnfn. party, and controlling every departmen' interests and policies of the State. Ine cities and towns and some of the denssiy white populated rural districts VIII nave all the power in shaping any poncy oi the State, and the principle or taxa tion without representation" so obnox- ious to American citizens. will be forced upon a large portion of the State con taining much wealth and labor, put oniy few white people.
 | voted for our new Constitution main, because the spirit of 1t was to disfran- chise the negro. but had but nttie doubt. till recently, that our party brethren would treat us justly L.
 Justice is all that l am asking TOE m this matter, and Democrat ought not to have to beg in vain for justice at the hands of Democrats. If 1t Is possiple that we have killed the goose that mas been laying the golden eggs (party Vie- new Constitution, 'eU: II seems to me that the memory on ..s goose should still be treated kindly, es- pecially since the State still has the body of the goose to its use and behoof
 But how can we preserve the popuia ton basis and at the same time satisIy the demands of many of cer party friends and newspapers who can not be satisfied with anything but State prl- mary for the purpose of nominating can didates for State offices? Ana that 100 in the face of the fact that sorlc or oui strong party leaders do not think your committee has the power to order general State primary, pure ana slnip;S I think I can suggest plan that VII meet the situation. and trust you gen tlemen of the committee, will fully ana lyze the idea I will try to put before yoI It is the plan of calling a State Conven tion based on a primary election; tna is to say hold party primary m eacf beat in every county in the State. iettine none, of course, but white Democrats vote. vote direct for his choice for can didate for each one of the State offices to be filled. Let the result in eacn pea be ascertained and properly certified 10 Let the primaries or beat meetings ais' select, as heretofore. the usiial nuube of delegates from the different beats t prorate the delegates from their beats Il the County Convention just III propor ton as the vote was cast and cert:ned t' for each candidate for State onlce m th primary or beat meeting. For instance if a candidate for any State office get one-fourth of all the votes cast for can .didates for that office in the beat meet ing, then he is entitled to one-fourtn tn number of deie gates from that peat to tn County Convention, or any other propor tion of the number of delegates accord ing to the vote received in the bea meeting; and so on throughout the lis of all the candidates for the various State offices.
 And when these figures (Cthe returns from the different beats) )are all tabu lated in the County Convention, and tn result ascertained and declared for eacl candidate for State offices, let the dele gation (selected in the usual way froI the county to the State Convention b so prorated and instructed as to Siv' each candidate for State office his pro rata number of delegates Tn the Stat Convention from that county. and so ol throughout all the counties.
 The State Convention will then on.! have to tabulate the results from the diff ferent counties and say who are tn nominees.
 It is true that only a plurality, and no q majority, under this plan would h sufficient to make a nomination, but tn l is nearly always the result in primSr, elections. where there are several candi dates for the same office.
 Under the plan I have outlined ther can be no possible "EXchange of cour tesies' or horse swapping" or any othe kind of interference with the result a cast in the primaries throughout tn State.
 It will only be a question of addition of figures in county conventions and
 operating of the delegates to the Stat Convention accordingly and only ques tion of addition of figures and declaring the result in the State Convention.
 And these additions and proratings ca be done by any school boy who has ac quired anything like an understandin of fractional numbers I think there ca be no question at all about your havin the power gentlemen, to call such con vention, or a primary on which to baS such a convention, for l have neve heard the right or a beat meeting t instruct its delegates to the county ques tioned nor the right of County Conven ton to instruct it's delegates to the Stat Convention. And 1 think this is the onl way in which a primary can he held an at the same time preserve the eSSentla