The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-04-15
THE NEGRO PROBLEM.
There Are Dangerous Voters Whose
Skins Are Not Black.


To the Editor of the Indianapolis Journal:
Such an opinion upon the negro problem
by such a man as Editor Watterson, of
Louisville, delivered to such an audience
as he addressed few days ago at Chicago,
cannot be satisfactorily disposed of by al
leging that Mr.. Watterson is versatile
man and sometimes he may be expected to
be unwise. 1t is something that his speech
was but an amplihcation of Secretary
Roots pregnant sentence, THE enfran-
chisement of the negro was a mistake"
and this receives additional significance
from the supposition that the secretary
speaks an opinion of the President. which
the President is not anxious to conceal, and
this is the more important because 1t is
probable that he represents the opinion of
four-fifths If not nine-tenths Of the white
voters of America, and very large per
cent. of the colored voters as well. 1t is
no more disparagement to the statesman
ship of a third of a century ago that it
made a mistake in enfranchising the negro
than ii is of the craftsmanship Of two hun
dred years ago, which founded this gov
eminent on the theory of manhood suf
frage and gave to every man equal author
ity to participate in it, regardless Of his
fitness, giving to the ignorant. the thrift
less and the vicious as much power as to
the educated, the thrifty and the moral.
The rationale Of the mistake was the same
In each case. The statesmen of two hun
dred years ago were attempting to found a
republican government on a theory of man.
hood equality without any precedent in all
history as a guide. AS a rule the men of
their period in the colonies were industri-
Gus, frugal and moral, if not all educated
Those who were coming were generally of
the same type, and they could not foresee
the hordes Of illiterate and thriftless and
vicious men who were to come later on to
practically govern our cities, at least. and
to become a menace to the whole country
We now the mistake, when it is too
late to remedy it without heroic move
ment, bordering on a revolution, even IL
We can do ii at all.
1t is, however, too early by a hundred
years to assume that the acknowledgment
of the negro may not have some mitigating
features. 1t is quite certain even now that
but for the mistake of the founders, two
hundred years ago, which admitted to suf-
frage the ignorant and the thriftless and
the vicious, little harm could come of negro
acknowledgements Very few Of the states
men in power third of a century ago had
and the utter thriftlessness of the late
slaves. The most they knew about colored
people was what little they had seen of
the few who were scattered sparsely
through the Northern States, most of whom
were industrious and more or less educated,
and they were wholly without precedent in
all history as to the effect of putting the
ballot into the hands of masses of ignorant
and thriftless people. And the danger to
the body polite from the political influence
of the millions who can neither read nor
write and who never pay any tax had not
become so manifest as IL has become with
in the last quarter of century. Now
these practically control all the large cities.
threatening them with the most dangerous
dogmas of socialism.
And now the burning question is not so
much what We would like to do as what
we can do. Three-fourths of the white
voters of America would undoubtedly like
to restore the status quo and disfranchize
the whole race, but We cannot do that, nor
even the objectionable element, except
through a national movement. Can we in
augurate such a movement?
At every step We must remember that
the question of social equality is no part
of the proper question in hand. There
never will be be terms of social
equality between the white and the colored
races, and neither race desires It. but there
may be and must be political and industrial
and commercial equality, there is now
between us and the Hebrew people, There
is no social equality between us and never
can be, but every Jew is the equal of every
other man in politics and business. We buy
OF and sell 10 each other without so much
as knowing. and certainly without caring.
against candidate wholly Indifferent TO
race or religion. All are equally eligible to
any office, and yet. in social life, the races
are and always will be distinct So ii must
ever be as to the white and colored races
and any attempt TO complicate the real is
sue with the race issue is hypocritical and
mischievous.
Wholly outside Of the negro problem we
are brought face to face with the mistake
of the fathers OF the Republic more than
two hundred years ago, a mistake that has
been seriously felt for more than a hundred
years but whose real danger was never
so apparent as within the last twenty years.
and which becomes more obvious every
year II Is secret that the municipal
elections of all cities are under the control
of the ignorant and the vicious classes not
one of whom pays a cent OF taxes from
year to year. yet the tribe votes enormous
taxes upon the men who read and think
and work and save. The schemes OF Car
ter Harrison. who was elected mayor OF