Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-09-15
OF THE SOUTH
Desire to Permanently Elimi-
nate Negro Vote.
TALK OF MANY PLANS
SUBJECT FOR DISCUSSION IN THE
NEXT CONGRESS.
Some Persons Favor Migration Of
Colored People to the
Philippines.
TALK OF MANY PLANS

The next Congress is likely to be enliv.
ened with a discussion of the negro ques.
ton. 1t will be brought forward by dem.
ocrats. and is likely to be more academic
| than practical in Its development and re-
| suits. 1t may become bitter before the
close of the session.
Among democrats generally there is a feel
ing that something should be DONE without
further delay, to maintain white ascend
ency In the southern states for the future.
With the education of the colored people
and the aggressiveness Of many of the col
ored leaders, who are learning political
shrewdness, they fear the time when the
active operation of the franchise Of tho
negro may change conditions in the south.
While many Of the conservative southern
ers condemn lynching. even they express
uncertainty as to the conditions that may
exist If the colored vote is to be am active
element in the election Of state officials in
the future. They do not feel that the COLI
ored vote can be controlled Indefinitely by
the methods that have been used for that
purpose in the past. There are southerners
who do not hesitate to talk of the possl-
bllties of race wars in the south of kind
that have never before been known.
1t is In order to arrive at some method
by which the colored vote may be eliIni-
mated or minimized to such extent that
there Will be likelihood of the ascen-
dency of the colored people In any southern
state that this discussion will be introduced
in Congress.
Exodus to the Philippines.
The friends of Senator Morgan know
that he entertained the hope that after tho
Philippines had come under the American
flag conditions there might be made SO at
| tractive to the colored people of the south
that they would seek homes IN those is-
lands. He has always been ready to vote
for any measure that would open up the
opportunities of the Philippines to the coll
ored people of the south. He has expressed
the belief that several million colored per-
sons would find congenial homes in tho
philippines, where they could exercise pOlit-
ical power.
| But the idea of an exodus to the Philp-
pines has never taken hold of the colored
people with any degree of power uo to the
present time. The forty acres that they
could secure from the public domain %
which to raise crops with which they aySa
familiar in the south have not tempted
them in any important numbers. They have
shown fondness for the United States
that could not be overcome by any attrac-
ton that the Philippines has far them.
or sns rhGs to tie fhppne.
The Liberian Movement.
The proposition to go to the Philippines
seems very much on the same footing as
that which formerly occupied the thoughts
of southern men in relation to the settle
ment of Liberia. 1t was very early found
that the settlement Of a family in Liberia
was a matter of immense expense Tho
family had not only to be transported and
provided with land. but there was a neces-
sity to maintain it at least until crops could
be secured to produce an income The po-
litical freedom in Liberia has never been
influential enough to cause the colored peo-
pie to leave their old homes in the south.
There will be many measures in Con-
gress looking to settlement of the negro
question from the standpoint of southern
men. Among them will be propositions for
the repeal of the fifteenth amendment to
the Constitution. under which they received
their political powers. Among practical
men there is little thought that this propo-
sition will serve any purpose other than to
bring the subject up for consideration.
There will be propositions for the govern
| ment to assist colored people to the island
possessions Of the United States I'm which,
of course, they will not be important fac
tors in the political control Of the country.
But the plan that would be most accept
able to the south. and for which there Will
be many suggestions of ways and means.
will be some permanent means for their
disfranchisement or practical disfranchse-
ment by means that will be approved by
the whole country. The cOlored people arc
needed on southern plantations. If their
labor could be supplied by any other class
of labor that class is not known.
Among the suggestions that have been
made by northerners to partially meet these
ends has been the segregation of negroes
in certain states, the control of which could
be given up to them, but that suggestion
has never received much support.
However impractical the effort to elimi-
nate the negro vote an important ele-
ment in the political control of the United
States for all time to come may appear
to many persons lnere is no doubt that
throughout the south there is a very strong
determination looking to that end This
sentiment will be fully reflected in Congress
AYpon ma in
a strong feeling that the time has come to
settle the colored question in some way
that will be approved by all sections and
which will assure to the white people of
the south an unQuestioned control of their
affairs.