The Democratic advocate., 1909-10-08
negro SUFFRAGE
urpuIY ADMITTED TO HAVE BEEN
IGREAT POLITICAL BLUNDER
,ntberO States should Be2sLeft to
Neal With This Problem

II ID 30 ~ absolute grant of unlimited
Dst t to the newly emanclpated
allS7o If the South was a great politi-
;a'sI1 S1nnder committed whilst the pas
al u'o of the war were at fever heat,
aOn' ,rbich. were the question now
ilu taI dispaSsiOnate consideration.
gsI IA certainly not be repeated.
'Vui% oIso conceded by the best sentl-
It It. - ot the North that the Southern
9sls lss q" with which Maryland in this
,.stiSr ,s,ticnlar should be classed, ought
aI ~ left left free to deal with this ques-
" Without outside interference,
a'l tost qualified to wisely settle it.
rSo w. principal difficulty in the way
.I'cb in q settlement is to frame such
u .5.titntional enactment as will Sc
l.''ti na tbp object aimed at, namely, re-
y. I' from intolerable illiterate negro
4raop without violating the pro-
'lt,u ..ions of the Fifteenth Amendment.
l.r%a~ TSa result has been satisfactorily
lomnIshed .n in some of the Southern
.s1D,f ,stac and the trainers of the Amend
ssrt sa1 now proposed to the voters of
TIsrvIapd believe it to be free of con-
se,I ,ntional objection, and therefore, as
mill undoubtedly, if adopted, ac-
,mnish the intended object, it ought
y receive the vigorous and hearty
rDDort of our people.
When it is borne in mind that on
ss first day of January, 1869, the
ricbt to vote was possessed by all
,5rIt male negroes in North Carolina,
Sntb Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Ala
hama. Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas
,nd Arkansas, and in some few of the
Trthern States and that under the
,nnosed Amendment all these male
'int negroes now living, and their
IrIt male descendants, would be en-
HIpd to registration as voters in
psrvland after a legal residence OF
wo years in the State, it will be at
mce apparent how unfounded is the
mntention that the Amendment denies
ie franchise to negroes as such.
With the illiterate, vicious and non
bzpaying negro element eliminated
manv of the dangers and difficulties
If our situation will be removed.
There is no force in the argument
nut forth by the Republicans that the
effect of it's adoption would be to
make Maryland hopelessly one-party
State.
If our Republican friends will be so
goOd as to cast their eyes to the
Northern States where Republican as
andancy, which they so much desire,
is complete and overwhelming, they
cannot in candor refrain from admit
tng that the dreaded evil of one-party
States is not the terrible calamity
which they desire to make us believe
It will be in Maryland.
If the New England States, Pennsyl-
7ania, Illinois and the Northwestern
States can repose for years and years,
Without serious opposition, in the arms
lt the Republicans, why should Demo-
ratic control of Dear Old Maryland"
be a result which we should depre-
ute and dread.
Some of our opponents denounce
The Amendment as unconstitutional.
L they were really sincere in this
lain they would spare themselves the
mighty preparations they are making
% defeat it at the polls, and leave to
he Courts to declare it void when
ldOpted by the people.
They know what the Supreme Court
lid with the Alabama case and the
Mississippi case, and they realize
hat our Amendment has been so care
uly framed as to be safe from sue
eSSful attack on constitutional
POUNDS
They know that the Fifteenth
Imendment does not confer the right
Il suffrage. and that provisions SINH
ar to our Amendment, but not so lib
ral, have successfully resisted all
OStile attacks, and their talk about
he unconstitutionality of the meas
re is not expected to be taken Ser1-
uSly.
And so too, their pretended solicitude
Or tab white people of the South
ught not to deceive anybody.
Indeed, all these grounds of oppos1-
ION to the Amendment are a mere
IOak to conceal, if possible, the real
OSltlon of our adversaries as bel1eV-
rs in and advocates of unlimited ne
70 suffrage, without regard to intel
sence or property, and this for partl-
an purposes solely.