The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-02-13

ical; a radical who believes that the Re- publican party, having assumed this great responsibility, has a correspondinR duty: and that its evasion of that duty or neglect to perform 1t manfully, win result. as 1t should result, in It's destruc- ton.
 The Republican party ought to realize that this question of negro suffrage is one of the most important issues now be- fore the people of this country It ought to consider and discuss it. because it created the controversy; and 1t ought to | be ready to decide whether it will now l demand the enforcement of these laws. which 1t passed. or will recede from that ldemand. s-,as,.'5..-- .--i ~y s. : It Is neither statesmanship nor com mon honesty to do neither. g. 1 It Is a wrong to the negro, to make false promises to him and excite false hopes in him. se It is a wrong to the Southern white peo- pie because 1t tempts and encourages them to practice dishonesty to accom- plish a result which the Republican party connives at, but has not the manhood to | approve. fss It is wrong to, all the people of this land, for it brings the written law of | our country into contempt and makes each citizen the judge of how much of | 1t he will respect and how much he will feel himself at liberty to defy.
 The constitutional amendments do not pretend to control the individuals entrust- | ed by the State with registration and the receiving and recording of votes. They | only forbid certain legislation by the | State. They operate upon the States and | not directly upon idividual offenders 1 We cannot ignore the fact that prior to these amendments the control of suff- | rage in every State, by every State, was absolute and undisturbed. The amend- ment did not undertake to define who should vote. It only declared that States should not pass laws discriminating against the citizens by reason of race
 color or previous condition. Under this amendment Congress has from time to time attempted to do much more than this. The Supreme Court has nullified | these attempts in each instance, pointing out the very restricted increase of power in Congress to deal with the subject, conferred by the amendment relied upon, Republican statesmen and lawyers have learned this lesson fairly well by this time. Why not then have the Republi- can party frankly admit, concerning such laws, as it has already done concerning the penal laws and laws for Federal su- pervisors and marshals that further at- | tempts to legislate upon the control of suffrage by the States are both unwise and impracticable.
 The irritation against the negro in the South springs from a deep-seated feci- ing among the whites that the Republican Party is trying to coerce Southern whites | into greater recognition of the black man than he has. ever received or ever will receive where Republicanism is strongest. If we boldly announce our | abandonment of this attempted coercion, that irritation is removed, the feelings of the Southern whites will no longer be aroused by 1t, and he will once more feel toward the negro the Kindness which long association and dependence upon his labor naturally create.
 Having done this manifestly sensible thing we will have virtually remitted Che
 control of suffrage to the States. The | ratio of Congressional and electoral strength should be determined by actual
 and not by fictitious electorate The
 Fourteenth Amendment declares who are
 citizens of the United States. If you | grant to those citizens residing within
 your borders the right to vote, your rep ! Fesentation shall be measured by that
 scale. If for causes satisfactory to your
 self you reduce the numbers of your elec-
 tors. your representation shall abate pro
 tanto. -p -.
 No sophistry or selhshness can evade
 the justice of this demand. The Repub-
 lican Party has the power to enforce 1t
 and it Is right. Being right, the party
 ought to demand 1t, and demand 1t quick
 ly. Its effect upon the negro will be to
 put the party before him in an honest
 attitude and that Is better than filling
 him with false hopes and false expecta-
 tlons. In the South it will remove the
 intense irritation which the Southci n
 whites now feel against the party and
 against the blacks; 1t will strongly inddLe
 them to regain their strength in Fed
 eral representation; by enacting just and
 humane laws, extending the suffrage as
 far as can possibly be done with safety to themselves; and make them act upon
 the common-sense plane of self interest
 and be less subject to the sentimental
 race prejudice which have run away with } them of late. t-
 If. in the conclusion have drawn. do not see in the future equal liberty and
 equal opportunity for every citizen of the United States, 1t Is because an all-
 wise God has implanted in the breasts of His creatures, for some purpose of His own beyond our comprehension, antde- onIsms which no human wisdom can
 reconcile; a spirit of mastery in some , and service in others, which no eartlf:y
 lesson can change and that He guides us to the future upon a plan inscrutaDie to finite wisdorm. .,,.i-.. Negroes Participate at Springfield. Springfield, H., Feb. .12.-Lincclns s
 birthday was observed today by exercises at Lincoln's tomb in. Oak Ridge Gene
 tery, where several hundred persons as-
 sembled. The exercises were held under
 the auspices of Stephenson Post, G. A. R..
 and Stephenson's Woman Relief Corps Addresses were made by Mrs Lorrain J.
 Pilkin of Chicago, President of the De-
 partment of Illinois Woman's Rellei
 Corps; Col. John S. Felter of Springfield and others. Floral offerings were placed
 on the tomb A large number of negroes were present
 Banquet in Chicago.
 Chicago, Feb. 12.-Lincoln's birthday
 was observed in Chicago tonight by the Marquette Club with banquet and pub, , lie meeting at the Auditorium. Secretary of the Treasury Shaw was the principa 7 speaker Of the evening. He talked or
 Democratic Quadrennial Search for ar Issue" Other speakers were Represen
 tative Robert Cousins of Iowa, who re piled to the toast Abraham Lincoln.'
 and Congressman Henry Sherman Bouell