Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1904-09-15

There is talk of nominating Hon. Rich-
ard Olney for governor. which would
perhaps give the victory to the Demo-
Gratis. The news indicates that ex-
United States Senator George Turner,
the Democratic nominee. will be elect
ed governor of the far northwestern
state of Washington And thus it
runs all along the line. Democrats
have reason to be of good cheer.
Tell the Truth.
The first duty Of Journalist is to
publish the truth. Thou shalt not
bear false witness against thy neigh
Dor" is an essential part of the deea-
logue. Nevertheless the Evening Jour
nal of Lewiston, Me, contains this sen
tence:
Champ Clark. who is opposed to negro
education and to giving the colored race
any chance on the merit system, sees a
landslide for Parker He halls from
Missouri.
l haven't very much money or prop
erty. but l will give the editor of that
paper 500 in cash if he will produce
a single authenticated word of mine,
written or spoken, proving or tending
to prove that l am opposed to negro
education or to giving the negro any
chance on the merit system. He owes
it to himself and the cause of truth to
either produce the evidence and get
the 500 or to acknowledge in his pa
per, fully and freely, that through
malice and prejudice he deliberately
published a SANDER about me. He
also seems to think that it is sin for
man to hail from Missouri. Mis-
souri's sin, in his eyes, lies in the fact
that she is reliably Democratic, and
my sin is the same.
1t so happens that Missouri has the
largest per capita school fund of all
the states in the Union. The negro
children of the state share in the bene-
fits of this fund in exactly the same
as the white children. In
addition to the state school fund each
district votes upon itself such tax for
local school purposes as it desires, and
in this local school tax, voted by the
upon themselves, the colored
children share precisely as do the
white children, although the colored
people pay only an infinitesimal por-
ton of the taxes. In the legislature
voted to appropriate one-third OF the
general revenues of the state instead
of one-fourth annually to the public
schools, the one-fourth being the mini
mum amount which the constitution
provides for. The negro children as
we'll as the whites were the benefiei-
aries equally in this increased appro-
priation. / have never yet failed in the
school elections to vote for the highest
tax proposed, Notwithstanding the fact
that about one-fourth of the children
in the district are colored children. In
addition to this, every time have had
occasion to discuss the subject. either
with pen or tongue, publicly or private
", | have insisted that as the negroes
are here, and are here to stay. they
ought to be educated, at least sufficient
~ to discharge intelligently the duties
of citizenship, and this is the universal
sentiment so far as l know, among
the Democrats of Missouri. 1t ought
to be stated in this connection that in
addition to the public schools proper
the state maintains for the benefit of
the colored people exclusively Lincoln
institute, a high grade college. While
in the legislature | voted for larger APP
for the institute and for
the addition of a manual training
school and made speech on the floor
these things. These acts
ton Journal man could have known
them had he cared to know and state
the truth rather than to misrepresent
public men simply because they hap
pen to differ with him politically He
ought to know that the latter perform
ance is not the highest virtue in jour
nalism. While l have never set up as
a civil service reformer, / have never
been opposed to the merit system for
either whites or negroes. A sensible
merit system honestly conducted and
not juggled for party advantage would
be good thing.
One more fact should be stated here
and that is that in Missouri there is no
whatever to prevent colored
men from voting, and their votes are
counted with absolute fairness after
they are cast There is no property or
educational qualification on suffrage in
Missouri. While the large bulk of the
colored vote in my district is Repub-
licam, some of the negroes vote for me,
and | believe it is true that every
colored man in the district is my per-
sonal friend whether he votes for me
or not | am certain this is the case
in the county where / live. There is
not man in the county to whom they
would go for succor when in distress
more confidently than to me, and l
help them when I can and to the ex.
tent of my ability.
Retirement of Senator Hill.
What viii the Republicans do now,
poor things? Judging by the space