The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1904-09-16

third Of a century's false doctrines and
teachings. These disorders are the
not the disease, just as the
flushed cheek and quickened pulse only
point to the inward fever that is con-
Stunning the patient. The roots of the
disease lie amid the passions and errors
of the Reconstruction period when full
citizenship was suddenly thrust upon a
race of slaves totally unprepared for such
great moral and political responsibility.
We are only gathering the second harvest
from the seed then sown. The first
harvest was in that sad day when the
South to maintain its civilization had to
ignore and defy the constitution of the
United States. We are still struggling
with the nearby effects of our Civil War
and the heavy burden put upon both
races is beyond their strength, for new
consequences are continually cropping
up in national life.
l read with interest very thoughtful
article by Mr.. Thomas of Ohio, pub
hshed in The North American Review,
in which he advocates the repeal of GER
tain PORTIONS of the Reql .rS.A.isa,
amendments to the constitution. do
not know, but it is possible tba1 we may
have yet to go back to this question
where Lincoln left it and McKpley; took
it up, and as nearly as possible right
every wrong. The constitutional re-
strictions of suffragss in the State must
he in harmony with the spirit and letter
of the constitution of the United States;
so long as they are not it gives the er-
tire machinery sinister twitch. Then
we can safely rest upon the only endur-
ing foundation by making the true test
of citizenship moral and intellectual
worth, applying every restriction fairly
and honestly without regard to race or
color. The race question would disap-
pear from politics and when 1t disappears
there it will elsewhere and not before.
The standard of citizenship would be so
high that instead of the ballot box beng
regarded as danger, it would become
The true safeguard of property and liber-
ty. For 30 years, forced by these condi-
tions in the south TO vote as unit, thele
has been no room for the discussion and
settlement of honest differences of opin-
ion. The ballot box at general election
has merely been machine registering
the color of the voter. not his political
opinions.
When you take into consideration the
mighty forces at work and the inevitable
trend of events 1 cannot see how any
thinker who believes in God and recog-
nizes that uplifting, evolutionary force
ever at work pushing nations from one
epoch into another, can have confidence
in the makeshifts which surround us or
believe that they can long endure. /
know not what the immediate future
may have in store, but 1 believe in our
country and know that the democratic
ideas upon which it is founded are surely
working us toward that condition, where
liberty and justice will be the birth-right
of each unit composing what we call
government. know that the race, la
Dor nor any other of the great issues of
the day can ever be sltLled except III
harmony with the catholic spirit Of the
age, and that in time every false doc
trine and ilmsy pretext which impedes
this onward march will be crushed out
of existence. Conditions are likely TO
grow much worse before they get better
on the principle that out of chaos comes
order. If some power could bar out the
politicians Of the north who traffic with
the negro vote in national conventions
aud those of the South who "holler Mig
ger" every time there is an honest diff
ference of opinion, and then call into a
great convention the wisest and safest
men of the nation without regard TO race
or party these great issues might be con-
sidered upon thsE:haei ps and way be
found out OF the wilderfess which would
save much sorrow aud suffering.
know too much, however, of public
life to expect anything to be done unti
conditions become unbearabe; thsn the
good sense and awakened conscience OF
the American people will find solution
for this and other problems affecting
national life, which now seem well nigh
hopeless. Yours sincerely,
JOHN LowNDEs MCLAURIN.
Bennettsville, Sent. 4, 1904
JnNESUYJ NruTc ",