New-York tribune., 1903-07-06
NEGRO PROBLEM DISCUSSED.
Regent Gardeners Educational Plan Re-
viewed by a. B. Humphrey
To the Editor of The Tribune.

To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: The Tribune is to be commended for pub
fishing Regent c.. A GARDENERS address on 'Educa-
ton as a Solution of the Negro Problem" AS
whole the article is valuable contribution to the
subject, and with a little revision might be profta-
bly, circulated in pamphlet form. Mr. Gardeners
plea for national aid to help uplift the negro is
Irresistible.
The article however should be corrected both for
accuracy and patriotic consistency. The occasional
tinge of States rights is not in keeping with the
trend either Of the article the nation he says;
States possess almost absolute power over the
political rights of the negro These are three-to
vote, to hold office and act jurors. Nor are they
rights even, but privileges. They are not
nalienable. The Creator never endowed any one OF
them" The Creator may not have done directly,
but His creatures created the Fifteenth Amendment.
of which the Supreme Court has said (92 u. S.,
page Pa: 1.-The Fifteenth Amendment has invested
the citizen OF the United States with new consti-
tutional right which is within the protecting power
of Congress. That right is exemption from dis
elimination in the exercise of the elective franchise
on account of race, COLOR etc. There would not be
any negro problem" if the South would acknowl-
edge the negros trinity of political rights, viz: ito
vote to hold office and act as jurors" upon any
reasonable basis Of education and character
Mr.. Gardeners treatment of the Fourteenth
Amendment is not fair. He says: ANY attempt to
substitute the voting population for the census
population as basis of apportioning representa-
tives would be absolutely unconstitutional and
void" Here he departs from the historians path
by only stating half the truth. No claims that
Congress has either the right the intention to
apportion Representatives except by census popula-
ton; but. when the apportionment has been made.
the Fourteenth Amendment says that Congress
'shall' reduce the number, etc. in the proportion
of the number of male voters whose rights have
been denied abridged" This does not mean on
account of the race and color question embodied
later in the Fifteenth Amendment, but denial for
any causes, such as fraud. violence. intimidation.
boycotting, discrimination, ignorance any one Of
a hundred causes. The apportionment is made for
the whole P0Pqaon the penalty is aPPi&sd % ed only n as
who are denied participation in representation:
races in Certain states, Mr. Gardiner says that
in the six States Of South Carolina. Georgia,
as whole. the negroes to-day exceed the whites.
was so Signifies than fve-ninths of per cent
that 1t seems like straining point to prove a
Backs. bBsS 98eo5 If Mr. Gardiner had Carried out
the figures to meet the probIem @ + ne would Il h9Ee ave
six States as LOt65S5 whites and 964,1OS blacks,
82f white and the 5s O8S black iiterates the
Whtes sf5 7os 1b1 blacks 4san excess Of white
voters of 4S8689. with an educational test only.
This Showing Of about e6SOOO ilHterate voters in
for educaton. Returning to the nightmare It Of
ts sta is there t an actual m amy sxce Of
black voters over white: In South Carolina the
ggFss sg15 aTe Wbte W'g 5 Blacks a56 Throwing
out both white and black ilhterates in these two
States would leave the figures for South Carolina.
whites 1850; blacks. g. 922; for Mississippi whites
i38 287: blacks. % 600. With these facts at hand
with the States holding the undisputed power to
make an educational qualification?
Disfra nct sing the negro in the South because
of Ignorance alone is the excuse and not the rea-
son. There is more objection TO the intellgent
negro whose progress upward seems to intensity
the racial antagonism of the Southern white. Mr..
MONEY the dignhed Senator from Mississippi.
answering question in the United States Senate
last March said: "Mr. President, II every coIored
been graduated from the finest III university ye s in
obIieations or duties of American citizenship
This would seem to put great damper upon Mr..
GsrdfnerIs educational scheme, so far as the negro
is concerned. but opens a large home missionary
TeId among the Southern whites. The real prob
lem then is how 10 educate the white man up TO
+he constitutional government; how TO save him
fthe white mani from oligarchic folly In demo-
cratic country. a D. 1O-hr IiTNf11-
New York July 1. 1903