The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1909-03-04

the 18th Amendment has. not been
generally observed IN the past, I'll
ought to be observed, and b fenden-
cy of Southern legislation to-day is
toward b enactment of electoral
qualifications which shall square with
that amendment. OF course, the mere
adoption of q constitutional law is
only one step in the right direction.
It must be fairly and justly enforced
as well. In time both will come.
Hence it is clear to all that the domi-
nation of an ignorant, irresponsible
element can be prevented by constit1-
tional laws which shall exclude from
voting both negroes and whites not
having education or other qualifica-#
tons thought to be necessary for a
proper electorate. The danger of the
therefore passed. With this change,
the interest which many of the South
ern white citizens take in the welfare
of the negroes has increased. The co
iored men must base their hope on
results of heir own industry, self-re-
straint, thrift and business success,
as well as upon the aid and comfort
and sympathy which they may receive
from their white neighbors of the
South. There was a time when the
Northerners who sy~mpathized with
the negro in his necessary struggle
for better conditions sought to give to
him the suffrage as a protection, and
to enforce its exercise against the
| prevailing sentiment of the South.
The movement proved to be a failure.
| What remains is the 18th Amendment
to the Constitution and the right to
have statutes of States specifying
| qualifications for electors subjected
to the test of compliance with that
amendment. This is a great protec-
ton to the negro. 1T never will De
/ repealed, and it never ought to be re-
pealed. If it had not been passed, it
might be difficult now to adopt it; but
with it in our fundamental law, the
policy of Southern legislation must
and will tend to obey it, and SO long
as the statutes of the States meet the
test OF this amendment and are not
otherwise in conflict with the consti-
tuition and laws of the United States,
it is not the disposition or within the
province of the Federal Government
to interfere with the regulation by
Southern States of their domestic af-
fairs. There is in the South a stron-
ger feeling than ever mons the intel
hgent, w%ell-to-do and influential ele-
ment in favor of the industrial educa,
ton of the negro and the encourage
ment of the race to make themselves
useful members of the community
The progress which the negro has
made in the last fifty years from sla.
very, when it's statistics are reviewed
is marvellous, and it furnishes every
reason to hope that in the next TWEEN.
ty-five years a still greater improve
ment in his condition as a productive
member of society, on the farm, and
in the shop and in other occupations
may come. The negroes are now Am,
l hrIn9nS Their ancestors Pqmp hare
years g against their will, and this
is their only country n their only
flag. They nave shown themselves
anxious to live for it and to die foI
it. Encountering the race feeling
against them, subjected at times to
cruel injustice growing out of it, they
may we'll have our profound sympa.
thy and aid in the struggle they are
making We are charged with the
sacred duty of making their path as
smooth and easy as we a Any re
cognition of their distinguished men
and appointment to Office from among
their number, is properly taken as an
encouragement, and an appreciation
Of their progress and this just policy
shall be pursued.
But it nay we'll admit of no doubt
whether, in the case of any race, an
appointment of one of their number
~ - - LIN IL !" III
which the race feeling is so wide
spread and acute as to interfere with
the ease n facility with which the
local government business can be
done by the appointee, is of sufiic-
lent benefit by way of encouragement
to the race to outweigh the recurrence
and increase of race feeling which
such an appointment is likely to en-
gender. Therefore, the Executive, in
recognizing the negro race by appoint
ments must exercise a careful discre-
ton not thereby to do it more harm
than good. On the other hand we must
be careful not to encourage the mere
| pretense of race feeling manufactured
in the interest of individual political
ambition.
Personally 1 lay not the slightest
race prejudice or feeling, and recogni
tion of its existence only awakens in
my heart a deeper sympathy for those
who have to bear it Or suffer from it.,
n l question the wisdom of a po-
Icy which is likely to increase it.
Meantime, if nothing is done to pre-
vent, a better feeling between the ne
groes n the whites in the South will
continue to grow, and more and more
of the white people will come to re-
ahze that the future of the South is
20 be much benefited by the industrial
and intellectual progress of the negro
b exercise of political franchises
oy those of his race who are fntelli-
| gent and well-to-do will be acquiesc I'd
in, and the right to vote will be with
held only from he ignorant and ire
sponsible of both races.