Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1909-03-10
Our Dependencies.

ONI OepenQenc1eS.
The government of our dependen
I, cies in Porto Rico and the Philip.
pines are progressing as favorabl.
: as could be desired. The prosperit.
Of Porto Rico continues unabated
( The business conditions in the Phil
,lEippines are not all that we could
. wish them to be, but with the pas
\ Usage of the new tariff bill permitting
free trade between the United State.
and the Archipelago, with such limi
tations in sugar and tobacco as shal
prevent injury to the domestic in
terests on those products, We can
. count on an Improvement in bushes:
conditions in the Philippines and the
y development Of mutually profitable
trade between this country and the
i Islands.
Position Towards the South.
| I look forward with hope to in
creasing the already good feeling be-
tween the South and the other Sec
tions Of the country. My chief pur-
pose is not to effect a change in the
electoral vote Of the Southern States.
That is a secondary consideration.
What / look forward to is an in
crease in the tolerance Of political
views of all kinds and their advo-
cacy throughout the South, and the
existence Of a respectable political
opposition in every State; even more
than this, to an increased feeling on
the part of ell the people in the
South that this Government is their
Government, and that its officers in
their States are their officers.
The South and the Negro.
The consideration of this question
cannot, however, be complete and
full without reference to the negro.
race, its progress and its, present
condition. The 18th Amendment Sc
cured them freedom; the 18th
Amendment due process Of law, pro-
lection of property and the pursuit
of happiness; and the 18th Amend
ment attempted to secure the negro
against any deprivation Of the priv
ilege to vote, because he was a ne
gro. The 18th and 18th Amendments
have been generally enforced and
have secured the objects for which
they were intended. While the 18th
Amendment has not been generally
observed in the past, it ought to be
observed and the tendency Of South
ern legislation today is toward the
enactment of electoral qualifications
which shall square with that amend
ment. Of course the mere adoption
of constitutional law is only one
step in the right direction. 1t must
be fairly and justly enforced as well.
In time both will come. Hence it is
clear to all that the domination of
an ignorant, irresponsible element
can be prevented by constitutional
laws which shall exclude from voting
both negroes and whites not having
education or other qualifications
thought to- be necessary for a proper
electorate. The danger Of the con-
troll of an ignorant electorate has
therefore passed. With this change, !
the interest which many of the Sou
thern white citizens take in the well
fare of the negroes has increased. |
The colored men must base their |
hope on the results Of their own in
dustry, self-restraint, thrift and bus
mess success, as well as upon the
aid and comfort and sympathy which /
they may receive from their white \
Of the South. There, was
a time when Northerners who sym
pathized with the negro in his neces.
sary struggle for better conditions \
sought to give him the suffrage as q
protection, and to enforce its exer-
else against the prevailing sentiment
Of the South. The movement proved
t9 be failure. What remains is
he 18th Amendment to the Consti-
luton and the right to have statutes
If States specifying qualifications for
electors subjected to the test Of COM
oiance with that amendment. This
S a great protection to the negro.
t never will be repealed, and it
lever ought to be repealed. If it had
lot been passed, it might be difficult
low to adopt it; but with it in our
fundamental law, the policy Of South
'rn legislation must and will tend to
'bey it, and so long as the statutes !
# the States meet the test of this
and are not otherwise j
n conflict with the constitution and {
avs of the United States, it is not l
he disposition or within the pro- is
ince of the Federal Government to !
Interfere with the regulation by Sou
hern States of their domestic affairs. S
here is insthe South stronger feea- 4
ng than ever among the intelligent, S
7ell-to-do and influential element in Q
aver of the industrial education of /
be negrc-and the encouragement Of
he race to make themselves useful S
,embers of the community. The pro- s
ress which the negro has made in il
ne last fifty years from slavery, t
hen its statistics are reviewed, is G
larvelous, and it furnishes every il
sason to hope that in the next "
twenty-five years a still greater i'm o
rovement in his condition as pro- q
uctive member Of society, on the II
arm, and in the sbop and in other b