The leader., 1903-10-21
LEAVE IT TO THE SOUTH
col. W. j. BRYAN ON THE RACE
PROBLEM.
Suffrage Limitation Depends Upon Local
Conditions.
THE RIGHT TO VOTE NEITHER NAT
URAL NOR INALIENABLE.
The Superior Race Will Impose COndi.
tons on the Inferior as Matter
of SeIf.PreservatiOn.

Below is given in full the COM
of Col. w. j. Bryan
to the New York Evening Post:
To the Editor of the Evening
Post: Sir: The pressure of other
work has delayed an answer to
your inquiry. The questions
which you ask are predicated upon
the assertions of the appellant in
the case referred to, and it is
hardly necessary to discuss the
subject until the case is settled.
You say, Granting the authority
of these statements and failing
Intervention by t h e Supreme
Court, has Congress any duty in
the premises2" The first thing
to do Is 10 ascertain the truth OF
the statements, and the second is
to learn whether the court will in
tervene. 1t will then be time for
Congress to act, and in acting it
will have before it the facts as as
certained and the reasons as given
by the court.
The second question also begins
with an eff" and is based upon an
assumption.
The third question begins with
an ST." and the answering of it
would require prophecy, and as
Speaker Reed once said, 1T is
never safe to prophecy unless you
know"
The suffrage question is one of
the most important ones that can
come up for consideration, and if
by your inquiries you mean to
raise that question, I take pleasure
in submitting the following:
Conditions are imposed upon
suffrage everywhere. A &c is
always made a condition. 1t is
also required that the voter be
present at the polls, and this ex-
cuses anyone who may be neces-
sarily away from home, or who
may be unable on account of i'll
health to leave the house. This
provision has sometimes been
suspended in the case of soldiers,
but it is generally made one of the
prerequisites to suffrage. In
cities registration is often requir-
ed, and sometimes it is necessary
for the voter to be at a certain
place on day previous to the
election as well as at the polls on
election day.
Communities differ also on an
Fother phase of the suffrage ques-
ton. Most of the States limit
suffrage to men, while in other
States men and women vote on ex-
actly the same terms. Some of
the States give to women limited
suffrage, that is, a suffrage on GER
tain questions. Often the pay
ment Of a poll tax is made con-
dition to manhood suffrage, and a
criminal conviction is usually a
bar to suffrage. Many of the
States have at one time or another
had educational qualifications, and
some of them have had property
qualifications. In view of the ex-
perienec through which we have
passed in this country, it is diff
cult to lay down a rule upon this
subject that can be applied every
where. We ought to start with
the proposition that universal
suffrage is the thing to be desired,
and where Limitation is placed
upon it there must be a satisfac-
tory reason to justify it. That is
to say, the presumption is in favor
of suffrage and the burden Of
proof is upon those who would
limit it.
An educational qualification is
less Objectionable than a property
qualification, because knowledge
is more needed than the possess
ion of property for the proper
performance of ones civic duty
An educational qualification is
easier to surmount than property
qualification, and then, too, those
who prescribe an educational quail
ificaiton are not SO apt to be- in.
fluenced by purely selfish motives
as those who prescribe property
qualifications. Sometimes b {
property qualification is made tt
relieve the educational qualifica
ton rather than to aggraTate it
that is, one possessing a certain
amount of property can vote ever
without complying with the edu
cational provisions, and vice versa
/ As the race question in tht
South has given rise to the pres
ent controversy, it is sufficient fol
the present to consider it alone
and the argument made upon thu
race question as it now appears
could not be used against any
other phase of the suffrage ques
Ition unless the same principles
we're involved and the same con
ditions had to be met.
Whether or not given Stat,
should adopt a qualification aimed
lat the black race is a question
which must be decided upon TIL
facts in the case and no person
whose judgment is worth con
sidering would announce decis
ion without knowing the facts
The race question does not presen
itself to the people of the North q
/ it does to the people of the South
The colored population Of th'
North is small when compared t,
the white population, and there
.Efore white supremacy IS neve
naonaond Very fayv cn1nrnd naal