Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1914-10-30
AMENDING THE CONSTITUTION.

of their attention 10 OlScuSSIllS dlfHHh'' a" "
than to the proposal CHANGES in our organic law
And so, too, with the Mississippi press. The news
papers have been devotin6 more Of their editorial tai
emf to writing of the European war than to those ques-
lions more vital to the official honesty, political peace
material welfare, industrial growth and general pros
perity of the State.
Thew seem to have forgotten that there are a lot OF
constitutional acknowledgements ones at that
n he voted upon at the election next Tuesday, or they
are inexcusably Indifferent to the present %well-beine OF
society and the future of the commonwealth.
The Beacon. bearing in mind that the very ques-
tions involved in the proposed amendments were very
thoroughly gone over, and threshed out, by big Drained,
laroe-hearted men in the constitutional convention OF
1890. whose wisdom and patriotism were OF such call
bre as to remove them from the fields OF academic dis
cussions, does not take over kindly to any steps leading
I'm to the doing away with the sane and safe organic
laws worked out and enacted by them in obedience to
dutv to home, Preside and country.
The efforts of those men, many Of them %construc-
tive statesmen of highest worth and ability, were direct
ed mainly to the disfranchisement according to law
practical Acknowledgement, without violating the four
teenth amendment to the Constitution of the United
States-of the negro, and to put the political control of
Mississippi absolutely into the hands of the white peo-
nile of the state; and to keep it there first, last and all
the time.
Having an eve well-ni9h single to that purpose
they provided, after full discussion, for an appolnliV
judiciary, believing that, no matter what might turn W
in the days to come, the judiciary would be safe from
dictation of the negro vote.
Thew realized then, as all intelligent persons do row
that the time would come when, under the law, as they
framed it. the large majority of negroes of voting age
could if they would, qualify themselves for exercising
the elective franchise.
They also realized that never again, under any cir
cumstances, could there be negro domination in Missis-
sippi so lone AZ The white people were united.
Pat the, alao, foresaw that there might come a
time when The white voters would divide on angry
lines. and that the one side or the other might, in the
frenzy of political anger and excitement appeal to the
negro who could and would then qualify and hold the
balance of power, and the faction controlling his vote
would control the election and name the official in
many counties in the state.
And so, to save the judiciary in any hazard, they
determined upon the appointive system as the best
solution to secure an upright, incorTuptible judiciary
and protect it from the negro vote; for they believe with
the white vote of South Mississippi-and of the othel
white counties of Mississippi-the white people woul(
always be able to elect the governor of the state, ant
through his appointments well qualified judges woul(
become an assured fact.
We fully understand that ~many-perhapS, a MAORI
ty-of the Beacon readers will "pooh-pooh" the idea o
a division among the white men by which, under an
possible circumstances, any considerable number of tn
,,b:to Dooplo of thic ctata could no ncrcuodad tn invit
the negro to a participation in the determination, a
the ballot box, of any political question about whic
the whites may divide.
But those who so think have short memories {
knew little of the history of Mississippi and less of til
power and baleful influence of factious spirit when fee
ing runs high and p~artisanry usurps the place of pa
riotism.
Such spirit is full of woe to a people who indul
or submit tamely and with patience to ii.
1t is the spirit that is aroused and played upon
the noisy, insolent, defiant demaeoeue when appeall
to race prejudice, to ignorance, to class hatred, al
when denouncing capital, to array the many pc
against the rich few, labor against capital, employ
against employer.
1t is the spirit which espouses the cause of h
against heaven; which ~conspires, clamors and VIC
seditiously for self-aegrandizement; which decries pl
lie men and measures, no matter how righteous tt
be; and seeks by loud mouthed u~tterance, vehem,
eesticulation and lying prophecies to rule or ruin
state.
The tendency everywhere is now to subj
every question possible to 'the voice of the peop|
for final determination, and so without furtl
committing itself now and here to the wisdom
unwisdom of an elective judiciary, the BEAC
may be permitted to say Mississippi has that s
TEN of selection and, soon or late, we will see /
we'll it serves the best interests of virtue in COVE
ment.
With reference to those amendments increas