The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-01-22

Fourteenth Amendment be enforced, an
enforcement which the Republican party
is undoubtedly able TO carry out all the
Southern States would, soon or late, be
tempted rresistibly TO demolish all eH-
listing barriers against an indlscrimlnate
exercise Of the suffrage, and that the
inevitable result of thus throwing down
the bars would be in many of the
Southern States the subsection of their
political economic and social interests
to the control of ignorant, sordid ana
worthless negroes on the one hand ana
Of illiterate, prejudiced and mossgrown.
if not degenerate, whites upon the 9TH n.
The elements of the Southern popula-
ton which alone can be counted upon 70
bear the torch of civilization, the edu-
Gated, rcsourceful, thrifty negro on the
one hand. and the educated, upright,
resourcefIl white on the other, would be
politically depressed and paralyzed to
dangerous. if not fatal, extent
As Mr.. MURPHY warns US the practical
effect of admitting all negroes to the
franchise would be that the political
workers in charga Of registration offices
and ballot boxes would be incliaed 10
favor the docile rather than the indie
pendent blacks, the uneducated rather
than the educated, the useful and the
purchasable rather than the i1corrup-
tible As for the white illiterates, who
constitute such a formidable back-pulI-
ing factor in the Southern population, the
compulsory abolition of an educational
qualification for the franchise would at
once nullify the anxious efforts made by
so many Southern States to awaken in
terest in popular education, and to 1T
men for the suffrage by holding it up as
a prize. Mr. MURPHY, himself South
erner, regards the political power which
in times past has been exercised by white
iliterates as of oppressive and tragic
significance.
Few Northern people appreciate the
extent of white illiteracy in many of
the S uthern States Mr. MURPHY re-
calls that, according to the census Of
1900, there were in Alabama eight coun-
ties wherein 20 per cent. and upward Of
lilG Nliltt uAtb VI 'pNiAIE abc N1AC INV
crate: in Georgia there were twelve
such countess in Virginia, fifteen; in
Louisiana, twenty-three; in Tennessee,
twenty seven; in Kentucky, thirty eight;
in North Carolina, forty-three For one
white man, moreover, Who is technically
illterate, there is always another Who
can meet the technical test, but who,
for all practical purposes, Is illiterate
also, because owing to his habitual
isolation and the peculiar social condi-
tons OF his rural life, he is seldom call d
upon to read or " rite. We add that, in
Mr.. MURPHY's opinion, the saddest and
most harmful element OF illteracy IS not
the illiteracy itself, but the personal
and social temper, the state OF mind, the
suspicious, plejudices and plepossessions
viii h become the habit and tradition
of every illiterate class. In word to
minimize white illiteracy is a matter
OF as vital importance in many Southern
States as is the Withholding Of the fran
chise from those negroes Who are not
educated, industrious and thrifty.
The Southern States have no longer
any cause to apprehend an enforcement
OF the Fourteenth Amendment. The
announcement Of President ROOSEVELT
attitude will put an extinguisher on the
Crmpacker and Platt resolutions.