New-York tribune., 1903-03-07
lvEgDMEETs XIV AND XV.

A feeling is undoubtedly growing among con-
rarva+ivef neopIe of the North that the nations
devotion to the principle Of equal rights is De-
ing challenged by the new and advanced po-
sition taken by certain elements in the South
toward the negro. Many men who have Deen
inclined to take in good part negro disfrancnlse-
ment. and comfort themselves with Booker
Washington's advice to his race to escneW poll
tics and devote themselves to industry and the
ACQUISITION of property, have been startled by
the evidence of disposition to push the negro
down, not because he was ignorant or threat
ened bad government, but just because he was
a negro. Probably the fire-eaters who are abus-
ing the President for appointing a worthy negro
to Office when ten years ago they would nave
acouiesced in the appointment Of disreputaDIe
one do injustice to their section, for we know
there are thousands of Southern white men who
are trying to help the negro up the scale OF
civilization Nevertheless, it is the noisy and
Jealous element that persists IN CHASING the
most worthy negro with the most worthless
which seems to be more and more in control,
and it is frequently said that the United States
Government must soon take some action TO
protect negro rights. One Of the faVorite pro-
posals in that line is for the reduction of rep
reSentation according to the provisions Oh the
Fourteenth Amendment
B. Bullock of Georgia, in letter to The Trib-
une published yesterday, says that the Four
teenth Amendment was superseded by the Fif-
teenth Amendment. This is certainly true in
80 far as the former left 1t in the power OF the
States to discriminate between the races, sub
ject to the penalty Of reduced representation
The Fifteenth Amendment absolutely forbids
disfranchisement ION account of race, color or
ureyious condition Of serVitude." Nevertheless,
we think the Fourteenth Amendment is not en-
tfrely superseded. Under it, if in any State the
right to vote sis denied to any of the male in
'habitants of such State, BEN; twenty-one years
"of age and citizens of the United States" the
basis of representation may be proportonately
reduced. Now, the right Of citizens OF the United
States to vote may be denied on other grounds
than that of race Massachusetts has an edu-
catiOnaI qualification. NeW-York might have
property qualification. Several Of the Southern
States have both, with those and other re-
strictions on the suffrage so cleverly devised as
to disfranchise the great body of the blacks
without any avowed discrimination on account
Of race.
OF course, everybody knows that every plan
OF this sort is a subterfuge. Therefore, it is
said any acceptance Of the fact of disfranchise-
ment and equalization Of conditions by appeal
to the Fourteenth Amendment is q cowardly
abandonment Of the negro and an acquiescence
in the repeal Of the Fifteenth Amendment. But
| is that quite true? The interpreter of the Fiji
teenth Amendment is the Supreme Court. If
negro disfranchisement violates the constitu-
ton the court must declare it in a case raising
the question, and IL it 80 declared there is not
the slightest doubt that the whole power of the
United States would be used to support its de-
cision But If it upholds these dsfranchising coli
stitutions and decides that they do not technical
IL deny suffrage on account Of race, even il they
do practically operate to exclude negroes and in
clude white men, there is absolutely nothing for
the political power to do under the Fifteenth
Amendment We can talk as much as we viii
about Its being violated; private judgment, no
matter how plausible, has no authority In the