The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1907-07-25

IN the ordinary sense or the term
would oppose the repeal or modi-
fication of either the 18th or .I5th
amendment on the ground that to
consent to any such change in the
constitution would be to confess the
unsoundness of the republican
theory of the proper relation Of the
races and the final failure of repub-
lican policy in the south. There is
also a very influential class Of re-
publicans who cling to the 18th and
and I5th amendments as provisions
to keep the door of hope open to
negro citizens everywhere within
the limits of the United States.
Republicans of this class are, as a
rule, content to accept the status
quo for the present. They doubt
whether any violent inference on
the part of the federal government
would tend to advance the negro
politically or otherwise; but they
are unwilling to say to him that he
shall never have a legal right to
take part in the government under
which he lives. The democrats at
the north are disposed to take that
view. For whatever reason, they
stand pat on the constitution as it
is. This fact was developed by the
debate which led Senator Patter-
son, of Colorado, to say in the
United States senate, in effect,
that there was no more disposition
in the democratic party at the north
than there was in the republican
party to disfranchise the negro race.
Senator Patterson went further.
He, a northern democrat, declared
that any attempt to deprive the ne
groes of the right to vote would, il
supported by the democratic party,
leave that party without a single
Representative in the United States
senate.
What all these pointers indicate
is plain enough. What the south
wants is to be left alone in the so.
luton of the race question. Prac.
tically, there is at present no in.
reference so far as the regulation
of suffrage is cocerned. What is
to be gained by inviting an attack
from quarter that is to all in.
tents and purposes quiescent il
not avowedly acquiescent9 North
ern statesmen and public leaders
acknowledge the truth of the max
i'm that all government is a compro-
mise with destiny. They under.
stand the unwisdom of trying Il
force conditions. What they in
tend to- do, if they are not goaded
to action. is to do nothing further
in regard to the political enfran-
chisement of the negro race. II
they will take no positive step for.
ward, they are equally determined
to take none backward. And the
public at the north is with them. Il
it were on the other side, if it hac
a fixed conviction that the negroes
ought to be disfranchised, it would
take the lead in demanding the re.
peal of the 14th and 18th amend.
ments. 1t is conceivable that the
change may be brought about ir
the course of time; it is inconceiv.
able that it could be fastened by
agitation in the south at the present
juncture. There is such thing as
the eloquence of silence, there is
such thing as mastery inactivity.
But that is lesson that noisy,
nervous, reckless cyclists are slow
to learn. Presumably the southern
people generally are alive to their
true interests. Upon the whole,
they have managed to secure the
supremacy Of the white race with.
in their boundaries. But, with rare
exceptions, they are indisposed to
ask the several states of this great
republic to pass again upon the
question of negro suffrage. Whyl
Is there any reason why public
opinion in Mississippi should be OPP.
posed to public opinion in Louisiana
or Georgia, upon that question
We are all in one boat, and oul
only safety consists in pulling to-
gether. What will be thought oil
the popularity in the south of q
proposition to amend the constitu.
ton, or to repeal an existing amend.
ment, when not a half dozer
southern democrats in either house
of congress can be found to support
it?