Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-04-28
THE SOUTHERN NEGRO
No Relief From His Political
Disabilities.
DENIED BY THE COURT
COLD COMFORT IN CONGRESS FOB
THE PRESENT.
Next Winter, on Eve Of Presidential
Election, Not Likely to See the
Question Brought Up.
DENIED BY THE COURT

| The prospect of relief for the southern
negro from the political disabilities i'm
posed upon him by the dominant race OF
/ that section is not bright. Yesterdays de-
| cision Of the United States Supreme Court.
| in the Alabama case. threw the supplicant
| back upon Congress for redress of his
wrongs. The outlook is that he will find
cold comfort there. for the present.
The suggestion made to the disfranchised
southern negro. when boiled down. is that
about all that can be done in his case 10
| for Congress to cut down the representation
! Of the states which disfranchise him. The
| state legislatures have right to prescribe
conditions for voting. which. in effect, dis
| fl fianchise the black man. The Supreme
Court has no right to force the election
officers to put the debarred voters names
upon the registration lists; the court can
not take charge of the elections. Whatever
relief is afforded must come from the po-
litical branch Of the government.
And at this juncture the political branch
| of the government is most assuredly stack
| ed against the negro. The political branch
means the republican party in power, and
| that party is not inclined to load itself
| with any more burdens at this stage OF
| the proceedings
Next Congress Will Not Take Up
Question.
| Viewed in the cold light Of what is likely
| to happen. there is more prospect Of
the next Congress taking up for action the
southern disfranchisement and apportion-
ment questions than there is that Mark
| Hanna will transfer his political allegiance
| to William Jennings Bryan.
| The disfranchisement and apportionmenf
| questions were fought out in the last Con-
gress, the decision then reached to last un-
| til after the next presidential election.
| What will then follow is not now to be said.
The time for tackling the ugly problems was
| when Judge Crumpacker of Indiana and
| Representative Moody of Massachusetts,
and Representative Olmstead of Pennsyl-
vania and few others called 1t up before
| several caucuses of republicans of the
| House.
| There was one when a ma jority was in
| favor of recommending bill to reduce the
| representation in Congress of the states
| that diSfranchfSe voters (and that migl1 in
| clude Massachusetts as well as MississippD,
but the efforts Of two men prevented that
| majority from registering its will. Those
two men We're Representative Cannon OF
Illinois and Speaker Henderson. By the
| time the next caucus met the majority had
| shifted. Another caucus, and the duck was
dead Reduction of representation was
| Shelved.
| 1t only is fair to say that this action
| could not have been maintained without
| the sanction of Theodore Roosevelt. 1t met
| his tacit approval-in fact his avowed ap-
| prevail The President agreed with the
| political advisers of Mr.. Cannons and Mr..
| Henderson's mind. Judge Crumpacker and
his confreres could get no help from the
White House and gave up the fight.
On Eve of Presidential Election.
The republican managers will not, 1t 10
| said. permit the question to come up to vex
| the party In the next Congress. That Con-
GreSS will begin it's work upon the eve of a
| presidential election. and the acts of the
| first session will be scrutinized by the vot-
| ers 1t is admitted by all that this presden-
tial campaign is not to be walk-over like
| the last 1t will be contested, and the
| winner will have at least been aware that
| he was in fight
The republican managers do not pro-
| pose, it is Said to handicap the party in
! the north and east with an outbreak of the
| race question The mere suggestion of re-
| ducng southern representation. or of TAX
| ing federal cognizance In any way of the
| southern elections questions would in the
opinion of the managers, bring a protest
| from the southern democrats which would
| ALLEVIATE thousands of democratic votes,
clnched by Mckinley, from the republi-
cans.
So. with Uncle Joe' Cannon in the chair.
| the Crumpackers and the Olmsteads in the
| House may expect every time they bob up
head to have the gavel SHE'D at them.
They will hold their peace and bide their
time until after the ides of November. 1904.
Yesterdays decision of the United States
Supreme Court merely cut off another pro-
posed channel of relief for the diSfran-
| chised negro, by depriving him of the right
| to get that relief through a suit In equity
and limited that he should seek his redress
in another quarter.
Scope Of the Decision.
| One of the members of the court gave to
the press statement of the scope of the
decision, as follows:
1.-The suit was bill in equity by a negro
| in his own behalf and number of others.
| 1t alleged that by the constitution of the
| state of Alabama a preliminary regstra-
| tiOn was provided for and that those who
got on this preliminary list became per-
| manently entitled to vote and would not
be subject to property or other disqualffi-
cations affecting permanent registration;
| that although entitled to be registered
| the preliminary list the complainant had
| been refused register, and that the effect Of
| registration was virtually to disqualify the
| colored people in the state of Alabama, and
that this was to be effected. by keeping
! them off the preliminary list, while all of
| the white voters had been put upon that
| list.
I'm brief the case decided that whatever
might be an individual right in an action
at bar to redress political wrongs, there
was no power in a court of equity to re-
| dress political wrongs of this kind; that the
| legitimate outcome of the power would -
| that the court of equity would take charge
| of the state government and administer 1t,
which is an unheard-of proposition. If the
| remedy at law not adequate, the re-
| lief must be sought at the hands of the po-
litical department. The decision does not
pass upon the validity of the constitution
of Alabama, but simply, holding it uncon-
stitutional, the court of equity was without
power"