The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-09-06

be moral character. education, freedom | from convicted crime. property. previous public service in the case of all who | have been subject to it. and payment of all taxes. Of course it will be seen that this acts equally on all races, as it ought. By the time, however, that the lower races will have attained to these quail fcations there ought to be that segre- gation effected which has already been advocated. Then in the districts where they are concentrated. the negroes or other lower races can be given as large a measure of autonomy as their progress warrants consistently with their fealty to the general government of the whites. If there are valid reasons for restricting | suffrage where two widely divergent races live together. then there is more cause | for limiting the tenure of responsible of- | fee to those only who are eminently qualified for it, and whose occupancy of l 1t Is satisfactory to the vast majority | of those with whom the oftice-holders | must most frequently come into contact l With reference to taxation also, it must | be remembered men ought to pay taxes
 not at all as quid pro quo. but as an | evidence of their allegiance The poll
 tax is the most logical of all taxes The | law protects a citizen because he Is | citizen, not because he pays taxes. There fore the payment of taxes is r1ghtful demand. whether the payee enjoy full | suffrage privileges or not. Taxation without representation may be tyranny, but taxation without a vote is not For example the common sense of our laws | require minors and women owning prop | erty to pay taxes, although they do not vote. Hence the negroes ought to bear | their share of taxes even if public policy
 forbids their exercise of the ballot. But l oF oil aho inde- fensihle schemes that proposed by Mis- | sissippi demagogue for restricting the
 education or any other benefits given to its citizens to the proportion of taxation
 borne by the recipients is the worst yet
 devised Such a course will hurt the
 South more than any one thing in all
 our history.
 Military service also is duty inde-
 pendent of the ballot. There are evils
 which all the inhabitants of the land will
 suffer in common from an invasion by an enemy, and which renders 1t proper for the State to call on all its people for
 service. whether they vote or not. This
 truth is not nearly as well recognized as 1t ought to be. But there are good | reasons why a lower race in the territory
 governed by higher ought to he used as
 sparingly as possible in military service
 For example. certain European nations |
 military forces for maintaining their con
 trol over others of the natives. Thi'
 is a mistake. Such native soldiery are
 apt to commit all kinds of excesses. anc | to involve their white commanders IT responsibility for their conduct
 The three great needs of the negro ar'
 pure religion. manual labor, and stric discipline.
 That the religion of the negroes is fear l nfy f,, hn a1n ] of real spiritual power is sadly true. Tn { church has become almost the only socia organization of the people, and 1t Is mad
 the vehicle of all the gregarous instinct
 of the race They attend their religion
 services better than the whites, but thei
 motive is not worship in the true sense , l but the desire to congregate together, [ experience certain emotional sensations | to give vent to their repressed feelings . and to enjoy the stimulus of the excite : ment of congregated numbers Thei 0 1 preachers are composed mainly of me