The Topeka state journal., 1908-02-11
PARTY UNITY.

PARTY UNITY.
Continued from Page One.)
patton was, of course, the first great
step in their elevation as a race, but II
involved at first great hardships and
suHering and disbursement. as all
great changes in existing conditions
must. Still the thirteenth amendment
mas accomplished its purpose.
The Fourteenth Amendment.
The fourteenth amendment secured
to the negro the equal protection of the
laws OF the state in which he lived.
This is the amendment which. second
to his emancipation, has become the
most important in his development. Liv-
ing In the same community in which
he had been chattel, the great dan
ger was that legislation would be en-
enjoying the same benefit from the
guarantees Of life, liberty and property
that were extended to his white fellow
citizens. It was Of the highest i'm
portance to him to be assured OF those
economic rights in the enjoyment and
pursuit of which lay the hope Of his
future progress.
The opportunity Of the southern negro
lay. first in education; second, In the
skill of his hands as laborer and in
third, In his capacity to save from his
earnings sufficient to enable him to
accumulate capital to buy land and es-
tablish economic Independence Thus
could he make himself useful to the
community in which he lived, and Sc
cure the respect which would certainly
come to one Showing himself indispen-
sable to the growth and prosperity Of
the south. Thus would flow all the in
cidents of power and influence to which
he ,aspired. When We regard the his
tory of the 40 years through which the
colored man of this country has been
obliged to struggle, the progress which
he has made, material and education
al, Is wonderful.
The third great war amendment-the
sixteenth-forbade any state to deprive
the negro Of his vote on account Of his
color or previous condition of servitude
The operation Of this amendment has
not been as successful as that of the
thirteenth and fourteenth. Nor is this
surprising. Consider the condition Of
things Immediately after the war. Here
was a maSterful people, who had been
used to q social condition in which the
negro occupied a servile status, brought
by law to face the prospect of sharing
political control with the poor, ignor-
ant and bewildered masses who, but
the day before, had been their property.
Declarations Of equality and popular
rights and universal suffrage offer but
a feathers weight against the tnev1ta-
BILE impulse of human nature. It was
impossible that with the elements I
have stated. there should not have
been developed fraud and violence and
illegality. It was impossible that that
which was written on the tables of the
fundamental law or in the statute book
should be Immediately carried Into ef-
fective execution. After a long strug-
gle, the history Of which I shall not
recall, the negro's vote in the southern
states was made to count for nothing.
Then the leaders of the south in many
states came to realize the dreadful
Decentralization of all society If law was
to be f1outed and fraud was to constt-
tute the basis of government. So they
cast about to make the law square with
the existing condition by property and
education qualification which should
exclude most of the negro vote.
The Colored Vote.
This very desire to avoid the violent
methods which were wont to over
come the colored vote in the south it
self indicates a turn for the better.
It is said, however, and with truth,
that these election laws are intended
to be enforced by means Of the dis
cretion vested in election officers, so
as to exclude the ineligible colored
man with rigor and to allow the in
eligible whites, w no ought also to be
excluded, to enjoy the franchise De-
pIorable as this is still the situation
is by no means hopeless one for the
southern negro and the political pow
er that he may in the future exercise.
In the first place, If he continues to
increase in intelligence by the accep-
tance Of his educational opportunities,
and II industria1ly he becomes a pow
er, and thus gradually increases the
number of his race who are eligible
to vote in accordance with law, he will
introduce into the electorate a body
of individuals well qualified to act
with common sense and judgment.
and who, by their very position in the
community will give weight to the
vote they cast. Their position and in
fluence as g. growing representation
of their race, qualified to exercise the
right of suffrage, will become strong
er and stronger. Such gradual ac-
QUESTION of political power will Sc
cure them real influence and an op-
portuntty to help their race to furth-
er progress The greatest friend the
southern negro is likely to have is the
broad-minded southern white man
who syrnpathizes with the colored
man and knows his value to the
south Nor Is it unreasonable to hope
that the men who have already sought
to come within the law and avoid vio-
lence will ultimately see the wisdom
and righteousness of the equal en-
forcement of the law of eligibility
against white and black. While I full
ly recognize the fact that the fifteenth
amendment has not accomplished all
that 1t was intended to accomplish,
and that for a time 1t seemed to be a
dead letter, am confident that in the