The Prescott daily news., 1909-03-04

the south that this government is their government and that it's officers in their states are their officers.
 The Negro Question.
 The consideration of this question | cannot, however, be complete and full without reference to the negro race, its progress and its present condition. The thirteenth amendment secured | them freedom, the fourteenth amend ment due process of law, protection of property and the pursuit of happi- ness, and the fifteenth amendment at | tempted to secure the negro against any deprivation of the privilege to vote because he was negro. The thirteenth and fourteenth amend ments have been generally enforced and have secured the objects for which l they were intended. While the fif- teenth amendment has not been gener- ally observed in the past, it ought to be observed. and the tendency of southern legislation today Is toward
 the enactment of electoral qualified | tions which shall square with that | amendment.
 No Repeal of Fifteenth Amendment. Of course the mere adoption of constitutional law is only one step ill the right direction. It must be fairly and justly enforced as well. ln time both will come. Hence it is clear to all that the domination of an ignorant, irresponsible element can be prevent ed 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 control of an ignorant electorate has therefore passed With this change the interest which many of the south ern white citizens take ill the welfare of the negroes has increased. The col ored men must base their hope on the results of their 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 north erners who sympathized with the ne gro in his necessary struggle for bet ter conditions sought to give to him the suffrage as a protection and to en- force it's exercise against the prevail ing sentiment of the south. The move ment proved to be failure. What re
 mains is the fifteenth amendment to the constitution and the right to have statutes of states specifying qualifica
 tions for electors subjected to the test of compliance with that amendment This is great protection to the negro
 It never will be repealed, and it never ought to be repealed. If it had not been passed it might be difficult now to adopt 1t. but with 1t in our funda- mental law the policy of southern leg
 islation must and will tend to obey it. and so long as the statutes of the states meet the test of this amend
 ment and are not otherwise in con- f1ict with the constitution and laws of the United States it is not the disposi- | tiOn or within the province of the fed eral government to interfere with the regulation by southern states of their domestic affairs.
 | Negro Is Now American"
 There is in the south stronger feel ing than ever among the intelligent,
 well to do and influential element in favor of the industrial education of | the negro and the encouragement of | the race to make themselves useful
 members of the community. The | progress which the negro has made in the last fifty years from slavery, when l its statistics are reviewed is marvel ous. and 1t furnishes every reason to 1 hope that in the next twenty-five years a still greater improvement in his con | dition as a productive member of so- ciety, on the farm and in the shop and
 in other occupations, may come. The negroes are now Americans. Their ancestors came here years ago against | their will, and this is their only coun- | try and their only flag They have | shown themselves anxious to live for | it and to die for it. Encountering the race feeling against them subjected l at times to cruel injustice growing out of it, they may well have our profound | sympathy 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 can. Any recognition of their distinguished men, any 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