Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-07-10
THE SOL|D|TY
OF THE SOUTH
A Significant Speech by Secre-
tary Taft
DOWN AT GREENSBORO, N. C.
Some Pertinent Allusions to the De-
mocracy.
DOWN AT GREENSBORO, N. C.
CANDID FRANCHISE STATEMENT
How the Southland Has Suffered by
Sticking to the Old Demo-
cratic Regime.

Secretary of War Taft last night deliver
ed before a representative gathering of
North Carolina republicans at Greensboro
a speech in praise and defense of President
Roosevelt the republican Congress and the
republican party. This Is the address that
was carried to Oyster Bay last week and
submitted to the President for approval by
Secretary Taft
After urging his hearers to unite in an
effort to strengthen and increase the partys
influence in their state Secretary Taft
launched into the issues involved in the
coming campaign and recounted the PresI-
dents moves against the railroads and .he
trusts. He spoke as follows:
Republicans of North Carolina:
When your committee did me the honor
to ask me to address the republican con-
ventton of North Carolina, they advised me
that the political situation was such that
II a proper effort were made at the coming
election, Ii would be possible TO carry the
state for the republican party, and that in
that effort they felt they were entitled to
the sympathy and assistance of republi
cans throughout the country. The appeal
had convincing weight with me, for l be-
lieve that nothing that could happen In the
politics OF this country would work greater
advantage to the country at large, and to
the south In particular than the breaking
up of what has been properly known as the
''solid south" l say this In no partisan
spirit, for am not one of those who think
that this result would necessarily increase
the probability of the continuance in power
of the republican party. The solidity of the
south, while 1t has assured to the demo-
cratic party certain number of congress-
men and a certain number of electoral
votes. has in a measure furnished its own
antidote by restraining many voters in the
north who might have left the republican
party but for what they regard as the In
80 1nIt 81
conditions.
The south has been kept solid by the spec
ter of negro domination. and by stirring up
racial preJudfces and arousing unfounded
alarm over an impossible return OF recon-
struction days. After long struggle, the
history of which / shall not repeat, the
negro's vote was made to count for nothing
In the southern states. Then the political
leaders of the dominant party came to
realize the dreadful decentralization of all
society that followed in government If
law was fiouted. and fraud was to consti-
tute It's basis. They cast about to make
the law square with the existing condition
by property and educational qualifications
which should exclude the negro. They
adopted amendments to state constitutions.
with the so-called grandfather clauses
intended to apply the new qualifications to
the negro. and not to apply them to the
whites. 1t Is impossible to frame law
esta blishing an educational qualification for
suffrage which will stand the test OF the
ultimately operate, no matter what the
qualification or present effect, to exclude
impartially the negroes and whites from the
ballot who lack educational requirement.
Government is established to secure the
greatest good for the greatest number.
Purpose of Popular Government.
A popular government attains this end.
because it is undoubtedly true that In the
long run the rights and happiness Of every
-
Iy to be secured and safely guarded by the
laws of the country and enforced by the
executive, II the voice of every person or
class is given an opportunity to be heard
IN the adoption of the laws or the selection
Of the executive. This view, however. is
predIcated on the premise that the person
or class of persons whose rights are to be
protected by their own vote have sufficient
Information and power of intellectual deci
sion to enable them to learn and decide
what their rights and real interest are. and
how they ought TO be protected. When
class OF persons Is so ignorant and so sub
ject to oppression and misleading that they
are merely political children. not having
the mental stature OF manhood, then their
voice In the government secures no benefit
to them. A policy, therefore In the south.
which excludes from the ballot impartially
both the black and white, when ignorant
and irresponsible, cannot be criticised.
Conceding that the laws now In force in
this state and other parts of the south were
intended. either by their terms or by their
mode of execution, 10 exclude the ignorant
colored voter from the franchises with
rigor. and to allow the ignorant white voter.
though equally untitled for the franchise, to
exercise Il. / do not think that this makes
a hopeless situation for the coored man or
the political power that ne may, In the
future exercise. II he continues to increase
in intelligence. under the public educa-
tional institutions he Is likely to do. and II
industrially he becomes power, as MS
to- hail inv
that ne will. the men of the race who are
eligible to vote In accordance with law Will
Increase. and their common sense ana )udg-
rnent and position in the community VIII
add weight TO the vote they cast. and will
secure more real influence for the benefit
OF their race than when the right of suf-
frage of the negroes was wholly unre-
stricted
The White People of the South.
The white people of the south are hom-
ogeneous people much more likely to cher
ish traditions and retain customs and opin-
ions OF the past than the people of the
north OF more mixed descent. Hence 1t
takes q long time to convince the white
people OF the south, intelligent clear
headed and energetic as they are. that the
cry OF negro domination. so often raised
by politicians among them, Is merely for
the purpose of soiidifying their vote on the
democratic side and has no real justifica-
ton In fact. AS long, as In the years I'M
mediately following the war. as their agri-
culture languished, their mines remained
unopened. their factories were few In num-
Der. and the prosperity OF the country
seemed confined to that part OF It lying
north of Mason and Dixon's line, it was
easy, by appeals to recollections of the
civil war and the unfortunate sequence
OF reconstruction, to all the ranks of the
democratic army and maintain the solid
ity OF the south. But now. during the last
decade an unprecedented period OF pros
perity has come for the fair southern
states.
Their great cotton crop has vastly in
creased the prices at which IL has
been sold have been high enough to fill
the pockets Of the farmer with well-earned
gold. The iron and the coal mines have
been opened and have brought forth a
wealth hardly dreamed of quarter of
a century ago.
Manufacturers have sprung up in every
state and the primacy of New England as
the headquarters for making cotton goods
has been threatened. In the prosperity
which has deservedly attended the enter
prise, industry and energy of the south.
the bitterness of old recoliections has
passed into oblivion, and with the patri-
otlc feeling inspired by the sentiments
evoked during the Spanish war; We have
become again a thoroughly united country.
Under these circumstances II is not to be
expected that the sensible. clear-headed
business men OF the south do not perceive
the tremendous disadvantage under which