The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1909-02-12

V
government will not azsail you. You
can have no conflict without being
yourselves the a8Sressors. You have
no oath registered In Heaven to des-
stroy the government. while l shall
have the most solemn one to preserve,
protect and defend It, .
Vision OF the Future.
Il am 10th to close. We are not
enemies, but friends. We must not be
enemies. Though passion may have
strained, it must not break our bonds
OF affection. The mystic chords OF
memory, stretching from every battle
field and patriot grave. to every living
heart and hearthstone all over this
broad land. will yet swell the chorus
Of the union. when again touched, AZ
surely they will be. by the better an
gels Of our nature
Now negro suffrage has been Sc
cured In measure by the constitution,
although there has been q shutting
effort in many Southern states to de-
prive the negro of this right by the
grandfather clause in various state
constitutions. Such clause is un-
worthy of people who love justice. 1t
might be perfectly right to exclude
all, black or white who are uneducat-
ed. if opportunities of education are
given. 1t might even be fair to say
that no man should vote who has no
property, II opportunity be given to
every one to acquire some property.
but there is no justice in making q
mans right to vote dependent upon
the condition of his grandfather. the
color of his skin or his previous con-
dition of servitude. These clauses in
state constitutions are wrong, and
they are none the less wrong because
the courts may have decided them to
be constitutional. The status of each
negro ought to depend upon his own
qualities as a man and not upon his
color or descent.
Reaetionary Sentiment.
am sorry to say that in late years
there has been good deal of reaction
airy sentiment even in the North in
this particular. There is far more
prejudice against the negro than there
was twenty years ago. When | serv-
ed in the senate In Indiana, Mr.. Town
send, colored man OF this city. had
been elected and was serving In the
house of representatives. We all
~ 10 ~sy1.S oh
he was entitled. Wherever we went,
whether it was to a legislative junket
or anythingwhere else, he went with
us and he was treated exactly like the
rest Of us. He deserved good treat
ment, for he was an upright, honor
able gentlemanly man. am sorry to
say I fear he would not be 80 well
treated today. I doubt whether he
could be elected from Wayne county.
A great deal of old prejudice has arts
en- again in our midst and It is all
wrong. But. it is not altogether the
fault of the white men that 1t has
again risen. There have been a good
many negroes who have not conduct
ed themselves as well as they should
have done and have thus encouraged
the prejudice against the whole race.
Some have not been Industrious. some
have been incorporate, and some have
not been SO modest and well behaved
as good people ought to be. no matter
to what race they belong. There are
black people, and white people too.
who sell their votes, but fear there
are more in proportion among the
negroes than among the whites. Now
we ought not to condem the race for
what the bad men In 1t do. but men
will do this and the best advice to thl
colored man is to avoid the evil which
encourages the prejudice. Then /
think that the colored people acted
very unwisely when they showed
their willingness to follow such lead
ers as JOS B. Foraker, an unscrupul-
GUS politician who cared little for
them but who wanted to use them for
his own purposes against such a tried
and true friend as Theodore Roose,
welt had always been to their race.
The Negro ouejtion.
Those of us who believe with Lin
coin that all men are created equal
and that this principle should have
practical application as soon as It is
itself reasonably practical, will oppose