The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1910-09-14

leader, recently called a state conyen-
ton of negroes which met at Boley,
okla, a negro town, for the purpose
OF formulating plans and of raising
money TO fisht the grandfather clause.
The convention hour arrived with del
egates from twenty-nine counties pre-
ent. The colored gentleman from
Muskogce called the convention TO Or
der. appointed some committees ana
proceeded to conduct the affairs OF
the convention in a manner highly sal
isfactory to himself But his dreams
of political prestige and the power in
cident to leadership we're soon rudely
shattered by the barbaric instinct OF
his savage brethren. The committee
on resolutions presented report en-
dorsing a certain distinguished gen
tleman who pretends to be a friend
of the Africans and censuring the
genial gentleman who occupies the
white house. And when the Cannon
is;ic chairman refused to recognize
a member of the convention who evil
denced a desire to deliver himself of
few pent-up remarks concerning the
resolutions, pandemonium broke loose
and the self-made chairman was In
formed by a Johnson the Second, TO
gether with his siX-shOoter that his
services were no longer desired and
that the convention stood adjourned.
Thus ended dsastrously a convention
of negroes attempted to be held in
negro town.
What are some of the conclusions
to be deduced from this state of facts?
Here was a body of leading and most
intelligent negroes of the state as
sembled for the purpose of combat
ting constitutional provision al
ready legally adopted and in force.
They convened in negro town where
no white man is permitted or desires
to reside They probably wanted to
demonstrate that they do not need
the supervision and protection of the
white man, but their demonstration
was n woeful failure. In the light of
this performance, how ridiculous Is
the position of those who are so ear
nestly contending that the negro
should be permitted to exercise the
right of suffrage irrespective of edu-
cational qualifications. When those
who would ordinarily be presumed TO
be more capable of voting in an intel
ligent manner fail absolutely to con
duct convention in ?eaceahle
and law-abiding manner, we cannot
understand how any man VITA aver
age reasoning faculties. can advo-
cate the right of suffrage for the
class who composed this convention
much less the illiterate negro.
The negro proves his own infe-
riority in a manner that can not be
successfully disputed \ few delud-
ed and misinformed northern phil.
anthropists once insisted on pro
ceding upon the unreasonable sup
position that the negro is simply
! a white man with n black skin,
arguing that all the negro needed
was higher education and social
privileges The glaring absurdity of
such a position has long since been
ConclusNely shown. 1t is a reported
south has spent more than hun
dred million dollars of its tax mon
ey on the negro's education. and
northern philanthropists and the
United States government have
spent an equal amount since 1861.
But what have been the results" Tho
neEro's illiteracy has been some
what reduced but his crminality
has increased. These are facts that
may be established by reliable sta
tistics. Can this be construed as
betterment of the race? on the
other hand was not the northern
gentleman who had become dis
gusted with the fruits of his mis-
sionary labors about right when
he said that the negro is IAN en-
inently religious animal utterly de-
void of morality?
The following facts may be ascer-
tanned by referring to the records in
the United States census office:
That the negro is much the more
criminal element of our population
that he is consistently increasing
in criminality, being more criminal
as free man than as a slave. and
a third more criminal in 1899 than
in 1850 in spite of our efforts to