The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-08-23
TAFT APPEALS To THE SOUTH ? I,cussesNegro Question atLexington.
 ----e-- OPENS THE STATE CAMPAIGN Speaks Some Time on Fifteenth
 Amendment. Calls Attention To what He Calls The south's Lack of Representation in
 The Councils of the
 Nation.
OPENS THE STATE CAMPAIGN

standpoint and in an appeal to Ken tuckians and other Southerners to come to the aid of the Republican Party in support of those principles which he believed they favored, Secretary Of Way, William H. Tart, today opened the Re- publican State campaign in this city. Calling attention to what he called the Souths lack of representation in the councils of the nation. he declared that this was true because one single is- sue has made 1t the perpetual tail of the Democratic Party so that however small the Northern head. 1t wags that tail The South has permitted the shadows of an issue that circumstances ought long ago to have removed from political controversy to bind it's solid ity to the Democratic Party no mat ter what principles or candidates that party has adopted"
 He called attention to the prosperity of Kentucly's developing industries and agricultural wealth, and expressed the belief that manyNKentnclxians who favored a protective tariff had biindly voted the Democratic ticket because of the feeling on the race issue.
 Then, taking up the race question: he said:
 \ am not pessimist with respect to the race question, am convinced that it is working itself out, and I am con- vinced that nothing has so much con- tributed to it's gradual solution as the thirteenth. fourteenth and fifteenth amendments.
 'T shall not stop to give you the sta tistics showing the great progress that has been made by the negro race In the south in literacy. in the enormous in- crease in the farm holdings by colored men. and the great proportion of the agriculture of the South that they car ry on We are apt to forget this real improvement in the diatrtbes that we occasioally hear from men who seem to have a lack of sympathy with tne progress of the colored race, and who lose themselves In denunciatton of the entire race on account of a compare lively small criminal ciass that formed the drasz Of the GaMhern pppula taon
 After mentioning the various means of disfranchiaing voters declaring that such laws were proper If applied Witn equal fairness to both white and black, he expressed the hope that as the col- ored citizens under the leadership or such men as Booker T. Washington, will become respected business mem bers of the communities in which they live and when they exercise independ- l enee of judgment. in respect to politi- cal issues, we may be sure that grad ually the right to vote will be accord- ed them and they will exercise a far more useful influence as intelligent ana solid members of the community TOT the benefit of their race than the is- norant members of their race would have exercised had they been allowed "a vote. In this way through devious ways which cannot be Justified or ap- proved, we may still reach result that will square with the requirement. of the Federal constitution and VIII give to the negro every political and economic right and will confer great benefit upon the coiored race.
 The negro Is necessary to the South as a Iaborer, skilled and unskilled. Were the negro to be withdrawn from the South, the difficulties agriculture ,wouId labor under can hardly be over stated. The negro is an American: He has no other country than thls ana can have no other country than tnls' and called upon to defend It, ne lays down his life with the same freedom that inc white man sacrifices his. It ia our duty to see to it that his path is made as easy as we can and that his progress Is as incessant as proper encouragament can make It. Ills pest friend, the one that can do most TOT him and the one In many respects wno sympathizes with him most-ls tne Southern white man. He understands his defects. He knows his virtues. And if the negro responds to the op- portunities for improvement as Booker Washington points them out, We can be sure that he will grow in the es- timation of his white fellow citizens of the South and that the great prop lem which has burdened the souIn with it's race issues, will be larselV solved" r,ant Mir Taft said: The fifteenth amendment does not require that every negro should vote. All that it re- ouires is that he should not be ex- cluded from voting because he Is a negro. If he lacks educational quail locations. that the state may lawfully i,,,,,osa as a rule of eligibility for its voters then he may be excluded. pro yided that every one else who lacks similar qualifications is equally exclud- ed" s.s
 The strict enforcement of the fif- teenth amendment does not involve an amalgamation of the races; has nothing to do with social association or equal- ity. It does not involve so-called neg 70 domination and to permit the ques- tion at this late day. forty years after the war. to control the votes of intel Iigent men in respect of issues that are IivIng and that affect their welfare Indicate on their part lack of sense of nroportion which cannot think will continue to manifest Itself among tha voters of the south If only under inc influence of President Roosevelt's administration some of the southern states. including Kentucky, could be led into the republican column in ae- oordance with the real sympathies Of the south 1t would be crowning glory of his administration. It will not nee- essarily work for the benefit of the re- nuhlican party in the end. because the closeness with which the southern states have united in support of dem ocratic candidates and the democratic party has introduced similar cohesion among the Northern states and we -miRht expect much more independence of voting at the north if the voters there were not confronted with the solidarity of the south."
 Oppose American Girl.
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