New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-01-02

the natural ana inalenable right or every hu-
man being. Senator Hoar's generation applied
this doctrine to the Southern slave. He holds
himself ready TO apply it to the Chinaman or
the Malay. to any men OF any race or color who
may seek by the peaceful change of homes
the benefits OF American citizenship. Jeffer-
sons denunciation OF government without the
consent Of the governed" he has also recalled
to discredit the efforts of the United States to
hold and govern possessions outside the esls
of the Constitution.
The Massachusetts Senator's book is. there
fore. in its essence a justification OF the prin-
ciples he has espoused and the beliefs on whlch
he has acted. He has hinched from no conse-
quence of his opinions. He has often been torceu
by his beliefs TO act in opposition to his party
to break with the almost solid opinion OF his
political associates He thus describes his own
need and habit of independence:
I formed my opinions carefully in the begin
ming. I have adhered TO these opinions ana act
ed on them throughout. formed them IN many
cases when they were shared by few persons
only But they have made their way ana pre-
vail. They are the opinions upon which ne
majority of the American people have acted
and the reasons which have controlled that ac-
ton seem to me now. on looking backward 10
have been good reasons. ! have no regret, ana
no desire to blot out anything nave Salu Vi
done or 10 change any vote have given
1t has been my singular i'll fortune that nave
been compelled to differ from the fNepu
party and from good many OF my poil''C%t
associates upon many important matters IL
has been my singular good fortune that, so raf'
they have all come to my way OF thinking, as
have the majority of the American people, in
regard to every one with perhaps one exception
That IS the dealing Of the American people with
the people of the Philippine Islands oy one
fdent. though of that no man can be certain
that if the judgment of the American people
even in this generation, could be taken on tha'
nuestiop alone 7 should find myself in the ma
jorty.
Whether the writer's confidence thus so
frankly confessed. will be justified by history
no one can now say But to the generation or
to-day-and more so. doubtless, to the genera
ton Of to-morrow-ths confidence is likely to
appear q little overbuoyant. Senator Hoar ar
CUES vigorously that the reconstruction policy
IN so far as it enfranchised the negro-has not
been a failure. Yet he admits that in one es-
sential that policy was crippled from the very
beginning "A complete system OF education at
the national charge" for the enfranchised freed
men was he tells us. vital 10 the success" or
the reconstruction programme. Yet PROPOSE
ton TO inaugurate this system Of education was
at the very outset defeated in the Senate. so
much to Summers chagrin that he was over
come by his feelings and burst into tears" Con-
gress has ever since steadily refused to coun-
educate the negro. In another respect Mr.. Hoar
confesses the true reconstruction plan was
never accomplished" This was the securing
Of a fair vote and a fair ascertainment of the
result IN national elections of national power"
The feeble federal election laws put the stat
ute book We're half-heartedly enforced. until
they were swept away by Democratic admin
istration in 1893. But that only after tie
Lodge-Hoar bill to enlarge and strengthen the
federal power Of control and supervision had
failed in 1891 in a Republican Senate.
There is indeed no fact more patent in the
politics of to-day than that the policy OF negro
enfranchisement has been a failure. In the
States in which the originators OF that policy
meant to give the black man power. he has no
power. He votes-and will continue to vote
only in States IN which he is negligible polit-
ical factor Justice Harlan, of the Supreme
Court. said at dinner given in his honor not
long ago. that the heart OF the North had
grown cold TO the wrongs inflicted the negro
voter No one can well deny the truth of that
statement. Regret II though we may. the negro
does not enjoy that equality of political oppor-
tunity promised him by the trainers of the re-
construction policy. What guaranteed him
in the days OF reconstruction has been largely
taken from him. and apparently he has no pros
pect OF coming 10 his own again within our gem
Grafton.
What has caused this GOODNESS to the enfran-
chised negro? What is responsible for this re-
pudation Of the theories which lifted him to
citizenship? Instincts defy logic and go deeper
than reason. Is Il not possible that the ma
tional consciousness is beginning to view in an
altered light the dogma OF equality of political
opportunity within our borders for all colors and
ar races? Senator Hoar says in recounting the
American people have wrested the last vestige
Of power IN this hemisphere from an old and
proud nation, who once occupied the place that
England has since occupied and which il seems
likely that TO occupy hereafter" If we
TO occupy that place, if the Caucasian races
which have settled in the United States are to
take the next great step forward in civilized
progress, If we TO lead in the next far-reach-
ing process OF social evolution. might we not in
stinctively and rightly shrink from impairing
our efficiency a people through the ABSORB
tion politically and socially. of debased and in
ferior races? If the ideal of equality Of political
opportunity which we have now attained is to be
supplemented by the ideal OF equality of social
opportunity. what place in the working out OF
our problem have the negro. the Malay and the
Chinaman? Against instincts like these theories
OF equal race opportunity. by whomsoever for
In our dealings with the Chinese problem the
futility Of dogma when opposed to race or ma
tional consciousness is equally apparent Both
Jeffersons theories Of political equality and the
open competition theories of the Mil school of
political economy amply justify the unrestricted
admission to this country OF Chinese immi-
grants. Mr.. Hoar in the Senate. when the Chi
nese Exclusion act of 1882 was passed. con-
demned it the ground that 1t laid down the
proposition that you might justly deny to the
Chinese what you might not justly deny to the