Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-07-06
OPPOSITION ATTACKED
CONTINUED from Eleventh Page.)

Continued from Eleventh Page.)
him as SUCH 1t would sound sincere COM
Ing from US. Fe
To Reduce Southern Representation.
1.-The republican platform. to sum 1t all
up. obeys the precept to 1l'stand pat in
every respect except one,f and that IL
respect in which wen enough might very
| well have been left alone That Is the
plank in which this language is used: We
favor such congressional action as shall
determine whether by special discrimina-
ton the elective franchise in any state has
been unconstitutionally limited followed
by the promise made, in that event, to re-
| duce southern representation in the House
| of Representatives and in the electoral col
lege The pledge is to reduce representa-
| 'unconstitutionally limited The only
unconstitutional limitation would be the
violation of the fifteenth amendment, be-
of servitude. 'Unconstitutionally limited"
| The adverb 'unconstitutionally' Is useless
| and fools nobody especially when one re-
members that the author of the phrase, or
| at least the voice that read it, was the
| author of the old force BILL
whether or not the suffrage 'unconsti-
| tutionally limited Is a matter for the courts
| to determine, a report of republican COM
| mittee on elections in the last Congress so
| confesses it. If a man be unconstitutional
| ly' denied the suffrage, then, after a de-
| termination TO tnat erect, ne can VOtes
that is his remedy. and the right remedy.
| Having voted of course, there could be
| no reduction of representation on this
| count. But all this deceives nobody,
| party, in SO far as that plank Is concerned,
however specious the phraseology in which
| 1t Is clothed, is to reduce southern repre-
| sentation, without reducing that of Mas
| sachusetts and Connecticut or other states
| wherever in the south the negroes are dis
| franchised, not as such, but because OF
ignorance, by an educational qualification,
| or because of any other right reason, In any
| other constitutional way. DiSfranchlSement
| of a negro in Mississippi for ignorance is
| a horrible thing; Acknowledgement OF
| white man for ignorance in MASSACHUSETTS,
or Connecticut is part of New England
| higher education
| Let not the business interest Of the
country deceive itself; let those controlling
| it prepare, If Roosevelt is elected on this
| platform, for another period of uncertainty
| unrest, business disturbance and race war
in the southern states. instead OF that
| peace and prosperity which both races now
| enjoy and which has been rendered pos
sible only by home rule and by white su-
| premacy. Let not the south deceive ITSELF
| either. If the republican party were SIN
cere in It's proposition to reduce southern
| representation on the ground OF distran,
| chisement or pretended Unconstitutional
| limitation itself, 1t would accompany that
| proposition with another, to wit: The propo-
| sition to repeal the fifteenth amendment
Their duplicity Is shown in this: Ihey
| wish to maintain the fifteenth amendment
| which forbids the negro, for racial reasons
| from being DISTINGUISHED, and yet on the
| pretense that he is for racial reasons as
| franchised they would have the negro NOT
counted as basis OF representasion Az tle
| southern states, where he chieny RESIDES.
| 1t is not the white man, as wnlte man
| who Is injured by recurrence to the tenu,
ency of force bill days.he can. ana VIII
| always maintain himself-it is business
commerce, manufacturing, agriculture anu
| the negro himself. Commercially ana IN,
| dustrially the white men of the south VIII
| not be much more injured by TINS sort OF
| citation than northern people will be. The
| mercantile class would be the hrst " sui -
| but as they owe debts to the north ana puy
| from the north, and as nearly eve ' thnS
| they sell is Manufactured In the nortn' 'heS
| would not be alone in their sunerlng.
| "This is but the entering Weoge 70
| new period of southern reconstruction
| II ia the beginning over of the old scheme
| revived for political advantage, to retain
| as a republican asset the solld negro vote
| In Indiana, Illinois, New Jersey ana tke
| conditioned states-this time WI.hou,
| nrica lin money paddy disturbing all
! over the southland peace and order' oy
| demoralizing reviving industries, unset
| Ting business and labor, disintegratlng
society and as remote enect, Al sacse tri
! canfzing its civilization. That ts the uIti.
mate significance Of 1t all, H.. inaeeo, ~
be not merely a voice In the wilderness
| CRYING out empty promises to the negro
| voters in the south. l wish could only
Relieve If was that. l would believe it but
for the opinionated and superstrenuous
character of the man In the Whlte
| House ~
| How small in comparison would be the
immediate and ultimate significance OF
| mere partisan victory either way COM
| pared with the necessary and natural re-
| suits Of this revived agitation.
| I'm keeping with all this consider the
negro Santo Bambino scene In the repuo-
lican ma ional convention; the wild adora-
.l.nr IN n VI
| Georgia coon? Why was it thus arranged
and by whom? Why were the two little
| white girls placed on the same platform
with the little negro boy to march around
with him carrying flags? Who pretends
that 1t was accidental? What was the
pretended lesson to be taught? What Is
the subtle, symbolic meaning of 1t all?
| Is it a meaning which any white republ1-
| can dares to put in words? Or is it a
| meaning to be guessed at and to be left
to negro orators, speaking to negro au-
| diences, to put in words such as are
| adapted to negro race, traits, tendencies
! and longings?
Democratic Promises.
| But enough about the other party.
Some things about ourselves-one thing
| the country can rely upon; the democracy
will nominate for President man train
ed in the ways of the Constitution. who
| will not usurp legislative or judicial func-
| tons; who will not reckiessly violate In
| ternational usages; even with the weak
est nation, no matter how tempting the
| profit to be reaped by it; who will not
| keep people guessing about what he is
going to do or say next; 1t Will nominate
him upon a platform ignoring dead is
| sues and dealing with every present live
| interest in tones certain and unmiStak-
able; favoring economy of administra-
| tion enforcement of honesty in the pub
lie service, a wise and businesslike re-
vision and reduction of tariff by the
| friends of the masses and by the COM
monweal, and not by tariff benef1ciaries
and their representatives alone a reduce
ton which shall aim at equality of bur-
dens and equality of opportunities, and
whose ultimate object shall be to raise a
revenue by taxation to support the fed
eral government in virility but in sim
plicity--an object to be reached in a
businesslike, conservative and common
sense way, with due regard to existing
conditions and by steps constituting in
themselves an object lesson for their own
justification and for the justification of
further reform
1T will not falter when 1t comes to de-
claring for reduction of tariff taxation on
trust produced articles to the point where