Weekly journal-miner., 1909-03-10

on under a most effective organization
 controlled by Colonel Goethals and his
 fellow army engineers associated with
 him, and will certainly be completed
 early in the next administration. if not before.
 Some type of canal must he con
 strueted. The lock type mas been se-
 leeted. We are all in favor of having
 1t built as promptly as possible. We must not now, therefore, keep up a
 fire in the rear of the agents whom we
 have authorized to do our work on the Isthmus. We must hold up their hands.
 and speaking for the incoming admin istration, 1 wish to say that l propose
 to devote all the energy possible and
 under my control, to the pushing of
 this work on the plans which have
 been adopted, and to stand beHInd the
 men who are doing faithful hard work
 to bring about the early completion of
 this, the greatest constructive enter prise of modern times.
 The governments of our dependen-
 eies in Porto Rico and the Philippines
 are progressing as favOrably as could
 be desired. The prosperity of Porto
 Rico continues unabated. The busi-
 ness conditions in the Philippines are not all that we could wish them 10 be, but with the passage of the new tariff bill permitting free trade between the | United States and the Archipelago,
 with such limitations in sugar and to-
 baeeo as shall prevent injury to the domestic interests on those products, we can count on an improvement in 1 business conditions in the Philippines and the development of a mutually I l.. l.. and the islands. Meantime our govern ment in each dependene is upholding the traditions of civil liberty and in- ereasing popular control which might be expected under American auspices. The work which we are doing there rebounds to our credit as a nation. | I look forward with hope to inereas- | ing the already good feeling between the South and other sections of the country. My chief purpose is not to effect a change in the electoral vote .. of the southern states. That is a sec ondary consideration. What I look | forward to is an increase in the toler- anee of political views of all kinds and their advocacy throughout the South, and the existence of a respectable po- litieal opposition in every state; even
 
 on the part of all the people in the government, and that it's officers in | their states are their officers. The consideration of this question cannot, however, be complete and full without reference to the negro race. it's progress and it's present condition. The 18th amendment secured them freedom; the 14tn amendment due pro- cess of law, protection of property and the pursuit of happiness; and the 18th amendment attempted to secure the negro against any deprivation of the privilege to vote. because he was a negro. The 18th and 14th amendments have been generally enforced and have secured the objects for which they were intended. While the 18th amend ment has not been generally observed in the past, it ought to be observed, and the tendency of southern legisla- tiOn today is toward the enactment of electoral qualifications which shall square with that amendment Of course the mere adoption of a constitutional law is only one step in the right di- rectiOn. It 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, ire spOnsible element can be prevented by constitutional laws which shall exclude from voting both negroes and whites not having education or other qualii- cations 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 in 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 NOrtherners who sympathiZed with the negro in his necessary struggle for better con ditiOns sought to give to him the sui frage as a protection, and to enforce It's exercise against the prevailing sen timent of the South. The movement mas proved to be a failure. What re- mains is the 10th amendment to the and the right to have of states specifying qualified lions for electors subjected to the test of compliance with that amendment. This is a great protection to the ne gro. It never will be repealed, and 1t never ought to be repealed. If it lad not been passed, it might be diff icult now to adopt it; but with 1t in iur fundamental law, the policy of southern legislation must and will tend O obey it, and so long as the statutes If the states meet the test of this amendment and are not otherwise in Onhiet with the constitution and laws # the United States, it is not the dis position or within the province of the ederal government to interfere with he regulation by southern states of heir domestic affairs. There is in the 'outh stronger feeling than ever mong the intelligent, well-tO-dO and influential element in favor of the in ustrial education of the negro and he encouragement of the race to make