The Columbus dispatch., 1907-08-01

to a close, the dust and smoke which
have been raised over mere side is
sues OF personalities to becloud the
public vision, have cleared away, and
the true fssue-the negro problem IN
politics, the repeal of the fifteenth
amendment TO the constitution of the
United States, represented by the can
didacy of James K. Vardaman, looms
up as the one of paramount, Owe
sshadowing Importance to the white.
people of Mississippi.
The interested utterances of the
Northern, as well as the Southern,
press: the denunciations of negro
leaders of the North who are clam
oring for greater social and political
recognition, and the expressions from
negro editors and leaders here in Mis-
sissippf, all testify to the wide inter
est felt in the Mississippi senatorial
campaign and its deep significance to
the whole country.
The fifteenth amendment, which
guarantees to the negro the same
right to vote and hold public office
in the United States as the white
man, was in the nature of a political
crime. perpetrated upon Mississippi
when she was PROSTATE and helpless.
1t has never met the honest sanction
of her white citizens and never will.
1t was accepted under protest, in the
shadow of Federal bayonets; the
alternative being re-admission to the
Union under these hard conditions,
or remaining indefinitely a military
province governed by Federal des-
pots and negro hirlings, backed by
the might of the United States army.
Vardaman's candidacy places for
the first time before the white voters
of Mississippi the opportunity to say
by their ballots what their honest
sentiments are on this question,
whether they viii ratify or repudiate
negro amendments.
Opinions may differ as to how
much can be accomplished by Varda-
man if elected; but there can be no
question that in the position he has
taken he represents the best senti-
ment and traditions of white Missis-
sippians of the past, and the honest
sentiments and aspirations of every
true white Mississippian of today.
Why then should not our people
vote their honest sentiments and con-
victions on this question? Mississip-
pts vote on the senatorship will be
interpreted by the world as the YER
dict of her white citizens on this ne
gro amendment, forced upon her and
other Southern States which they
hace never sanctioned, and the spirit
of which they cannot live up to and
preserve their civilization.
The election of James K Varda-
man on this issue would emphasize
as nothing else at this time the ire
concilab1e, unaIterable opposition of
Mississippi and the South to a final
acquiescence in the negro amend
ments, and would be a fresh notice
to the negro at home and elsewhere
that Mississippians never intended to
furI the flag of white supremacy
1t is idle to say that there is no
race problem. There has never been
a day in a hundred years when there
was not serious race problem in the
United States. 1t has assumed as
many phases as there are decades in
the history of the government, but
it has always been the same problem.
There was race problem when
the Fortieth congress in 1870 fraud
ulentIy declared the fifteenth amend
ment to be legally ratified by three
fourths of the States There was a
race problem in all it's monsrrous de-
formity when the South was strug-
Cling with the horrors of the black
decade. There was race problem
when the trainers of the constitution
fixed a limit to the slave trade There
was a race problem seventy-five years
ago when men were mobbed in North
ern towns for making abolition
speeches. There was a race problem
in 1920, when the Missouri compro-
mise" measure was enacted There
was a race problem in 1850, when the
same was repealed. There was race
problem in 1857, when the Supreme
Court of the United States decided
that persons of the African race were
not, and could not be acknowledged
as a part of the people" or citizens
under the constitution of the United
/ States.'' There was a race problem
when Seward declared that there
was an ssirrepressible conflict" There
was a race problem when Mr.. Lincoln