The Negro and the elective franchise. A Series Of Papers And A Sermon Part 3

2nd. What the Negro must do to get it.

What, to begin with, is the answer of the South to the former? It is familiar to us all and would seem to be the nearly unanimous voice of the Southern people. The Negro, they say, is ignorant, lazy and vicious.

Slavery, so far as its effect on the slave is concerned, was a beneficent inst.i.tution, raising him from his previous savagery to a plane of humble usefulness. There, however, his incurable inferiority destines him forever to remain. This, the South insists she has settled in wisdom and kindliness. The North, so runs her speech, misunderstanding the South and the Negro, unjustly forced on the Civil war, to compel her to change her domestic inst.i.tutions. But that attempt, foredoomed to failure, has resulted in nothing more than the abolition of slavery, and a cruel loss of life and property, partly compensated for by the consequent revelation of her boundless resources of courage, loyalty and united resolve. Slavery, while a Southern inst.i.tution, was not a bond of perfect union; but upon the platform of black inferiority and white domination, every Southern man has his foot squarely planted. Her answer, therefore, to all criticism is to point with pride to the solid South.

How often are we called upon to see with pain and wonder that opinions, theories, even the mind itself is shaped by actions. Nature, aiming at preservation of life, is quick to heal all possible wounds, to reconcile warring impulses, to gloss and beautify deformities, and even to conceal dangers and snares. She gives men language to justify their misdeeds, teaches them how to embalm their errors in the secretion of their intellects, and even preserves the lying epitaphs which they inscribe over the remains of their vanity and pride. To change an opinion, it is necessary commonly to change a course of action, and until the life of the South changes, there seems no reasonable expectation that her opinions will change. Disfranchis.e.m.e.nt is but a symptom of the diseased Southern body politic, and who can tell whether the surgeons knife will not reach the sources of life itself in seeking for a cure.

Sufficient then to herself,wholly insufficient, false, and cruel to us, is this answer. If there were but these two parties to the cause, there would be no need to consider it. There remains, however, the still hesitating, ever-divided public opinion of the Northnow the judge in the Freedmens case. It is fitting that in her court, our replication should be boldly made. There we proclaim that the South is not doing justice to colored men.

The Negroes, say Southern men, are ignorant, lazy, vicious,a perpetual menace to the rule and order of white men. Is this believable? Did G.o.d so make the world that after three thousand years of progressive white civilization;in a country where there are sixty millions of white men, entrenched in their possession of armies and navies, wealth, power and endless resources of trained intellect;that nine millions of colored people, rich in nothing but their sufferings, threaten to put the bottom on top? And if chance rules the world, and ignorance, laziness and vice are as likely to prevail as knowledge, industry and virtue, we may as well believe that ignorance and laziness and vice underlie white civilization and supremacy. No, we may confidently answer: this is not believable. Either these nine millions of colored people are not ignorant, lazy and vicious, or there are no grounds for the fear that they can for an hour put into danger the continuance of white domination, even in the blackest portion of the black South.

There is indeed proof obtainable that they are neither ignorant, lazy and vicious, nor a menace to rule and order. If they were near neighbors of the brutes would the elaborate defensive preparations be necessary which the South continues feverishly to make? Do the savages of Africa enact disfranchising clauses to keep apes and monkeys out of their political affairs? If ignorance so submerges the black man, why does not the Ma.s.sachusetts principle of protecting the ballot prevail in the South? Why is it necessary to require the voter to read, yes, and _interpret satisfactorily, any_ clause in the state const.i.tution?4 If sloth curses the Negro with unfruitfulness, why require property to the a.s.sessed value of $300? If the a.s.sessed value be two thirds of the real value, this means that nearly $500; if one third, then nearly $1000 is fixed as the minimum possession of the black voter. Does this precaution point to s.h.i.+ftlessness? If viciousness be indelibly stamped upon his nature, why not rely upon his disfranchis.e.m.e.nt for crime to eliminate the colored voters? Are the white juries not to be trusted to condemn the accused? Are the leased convicts not worth their cost of keeping? It has been more than once said that 90,000 of the 90,000 colored people in the District of Columbia are criminals. If the same proportion maintains elsewhere, what more is needed to accomplish the desired end?

4 The requirement that the voter be able to read (or write) _and_ interpret satisfactorily, in the Virginia registration requirement before Jan. 1, 1904, is an advance upon the earlier clauses, which left the alternative. I am not sure but that it reappears in the Maryland law not yet in operation. It is an interesting fact that it was _Senator Daniels of Virginia_ who once called the attention of the Senate to the injustice done the South by Senator Spooners a.s.sertion that voters were, without alternative, required to interpret pa.s.sages from the Const.i.tutions.

Yet disfranchis.e.m.e.nt for ignorance, for thriftlessness, and vice all together are acknowledged to be insufficient, and resort must be had again to manipulation, juggling, and confessed dishonesty. Rev. Edgar Gardiner Murphy, Executive Secretary of the Southern Education Board, a distinguished witness, testifying against interest, says: "The instrument of discrimination has been found in the discretionary powers lodged in the board of registrars, by which worthy Negro men, fairly meeting every test of suffrage have been excluded from registration."(?) Where the fact is so freely admitted, proof seems wasted, yet abundant corroboration may easily be had5.

5 The following clipping from the Baltimore American, I cannot refrain from reading:

"In the recent election the democratic judges of election in many of the counties proved that they were unable even to count ballots properly marked, and when it came to putting a reasonable interpretation on the intention of a voter they were either wholly ignorant or wholly dishonest. It is perfectly safe to say that not one-third of the democratic judges who served at the Maryland election of last week could themselves give an intelligent interpretation of any section in the Const.i.tution. Many of them do not even know what the Const.i.tution is, and the man who suggested that they would take it to be a new kind of drink did not overshoot the mark. Fine professors of const.i.tutional history these men would make!"

The fact as well as the extent of disfranchis.e.m.e.nt is revealed by the statistical summaries:

*STATISTICAL SUMMARIES*

_TABLE_ 1 ---------------------------------------- ADULT MALE OR COLORED VOTING POPULATION, 1900, ESTIMATED AT 1 IN 4.3.

---------------------------------------- Virginia 660,722 46,122.

4.3 = ---------------------------------------- Nor. Car. 624,469 127,114.

4.3 = ---------------------------------------- South Car. 782,321 152,860.

4.3 = ---------------------------------------- Alabama 827,307 181,471.

4.3 = ---------------------------------------- Mississippi 907,630 197,936.

4.3 = ---------------------------------------- Louisiana 650,804 147,348.

4.3 = ---------------------------------------- Total 4,453,251.

_TABLE_ 2 ------------------------------------------------------ CENSUS OF NEGROES BEFORE Pa.s.sAGE OF REVISED CONSt.i.tUTIONS.

------------------------------------------------------ Virginia 1900 115,865 (T.Al.) ------------------------------------------------------ Nor. Car. " 133,081 "

------------------------------------------------------ South Car. 1892 13,384 "

------------------------------------------------------ Alabama 1900 55,512 Pres.

------------------------------------------------------ Mississippi 1888 30,096 ------------------------------------------------------ Louisiana 1888 30,701 ------------------------------------------------------

_TABLE_ 3 ------------------------------------------------------ CENSUS OF NEGROES AFTER Pa.s.sAGE OF REVISED CONSt.i.tUTIONS.

------------------------------------------------------ Virginia 1904 47,880 (W. Al.) ------------------------------------------------------ Nor. Car. " 82,442 "

------------------------------------------------------ So. Car. 1900 3,579 Pres. (T.) ------------------------------------------------------ So. Car. 1904 2,554 Pres. (W.

Al.) ------------------------------------------------------ Alabama 1904 22,472 (W. Al.) ------------------------------------------------------ Miss. 1900 5,753 Pres. (T.

Al.) ------------------------------------------------------ Miss. 1904 3,189 Pres. (W.

Al.) ------------------------------------------------------ Louisiana 1900 14,234 Pres. (T.

Al.) ------------------------------------------------------ Louisiana 1904 5,205 Pres. (W.

Al.) ------------------------------------------------------

_TABLE_ 4 ---------------------------------------------------- REGISTRATION OF COLORED VOTERS. (Newspaper estimate.) ---------------------------------------------------- State Literate _Registered_ ---------------------------------------------------- Virginia equal 69,358 ---------------------------------------------------- North Carolina 59,625 _"Less than 6,000"_ ---------------------------------------------------- South Carolina 69,242 ---------------------------------------------------- Alabama 73,474 _"Hardly 2,500"_ ---------------------------------------------------- Mississippi 92,605 ---------------------------------------------------- Louisiana 57,086 _"1,147"_ ----------------------------------------------------

_TABLE_ 5 -------------------------------------------------------------------- REPUBLICAN VOTE IN THE SIX STATES; VOTE AFTER DISFRANCHIs.e.m.e.nT SCORED. (World Almanac of 1904.) -------------------------------------------------------------------- YEAR VA. NORTH SOUTH ALA. MISS. LA.

CAR. CAR.

-------------------------------------------------------------------- 1872 93,468 94,783 72,290 90,272 82,175 59,975 -------------------------------------------------------------------- 1876 76,093 108,419 92,081 68,230 52,605 75,315 -------------------------------------------------------------------- 1880 83,639 115,874 58,071 56,178 34,854 38,016 -------------------------------------------------------------------- 1884 139,356 125,068 21,733 59,144 43,509 46,347 -------------------------------------------------------------------- 1888 150,438 134,784 13,736 57,197 30,096 30,701 -------------------------------------------------------------------- 1892 113,217 100,846 13,384 9,197 1,406 26,563 -------------------------------------------------------------------- 1900 115,865 133,081 3,579 55,512 5,753 14,234 -------------------------------------------------------------------- 1904 47,880 82,442 2,554 22,472 3,189 5,205 --------------------------------------------------------------------

1872, 1876, Va., N.C., S.C., Ala. (Tribune Almanac of 1896.) 1872, Louisiana (World Almanac.) 1892, Louisiana (Republican and Populists.) 1892, N.C.; 1900, 1904 (Due to Populists.)

Every fresh barrier erected in the South simply publishes to the world the weakness and inefficiency of those already raised. Each time dishonest methods are newly justified, and violent declarations, applauded, fresh evidence is given that these Southern men cannot on its merits win their case. The policy of white domination is stripped to unblus.h.i.+ng nakedness, and confident of the fear of those who remained for two hundred years enslaved, the South narrows the issue to one of physical courage, inviting the Negro to wrest from her the power, which stands between him and justice, freedom, happiness. _It is not then in the ignorance, laziness, and vice of the Negro, that the white South trusts, for the continuance of her policy, but in his defencelessness._

_To these Southern men, we can make but one reply. Unmistakably our courage is the issue._ But before considering how best to treat their sinister challenge, let us answer to the Republican party the question: What does justice to the Negro demand? Our reply is simple,the fulfillment of the promise, which was treasured up in the hearts of four million men as they pa.s.sed through the doors of slavery into the light of freedom;the promise, which they have left to their children as their one priceless inheritance: "The guarantee by Congress of equal suffrage to all loyal men at the South was demanded by every consideration of public safety, of grat.i.tude and of justice, and must be maintained"this was the promise of the Republican party in 1868. The freedman appeals to the creator of his political rights, as Tennyson to the Creator of his being:

Thou wilt not leave us in the dust; Thou madest man, he _knows_ not why; He thinks he was not made to die; And Thou hast made him,Thou art just.

Is it then fair to leave to us the vindication of the Reconstruction policy against men of the South, the North and even influential members of the partys own councils? Must we meet the charge that the Republican party was moved by revenge and folly, and prove that there was no other way to secure the foundation of freedom, which hundreds of thousands had died to win? Were those terrible years of death a mere night over the gaming table, with two haggard players, breaking even at dawn? Is it left to us to rescue from their own sons the fame of the heroes of the war against slavery and restore the honorable inscriptions recorded on their tombs? When men talk of the greatest error of Reconstruction, has the murder of Lincoln no claim to the place? Does not John Wilkes Booth better merit derisive canonizing than "Saint" John Brown? If it was irony for the "Reconstruction" legislatures to impose heavy taxes upon a people who had just emerged from a ruinous war and by bonded indebtedness extend the obligation to future generations, was it not also irony to punish and re-enslave by vagrancy laws the men who without an acre or a dollar were now _called_ free?

And if it _was_ hate, and revenge, and folly, which brought about the 'War Amendments, can they be honorably withdrawn now? Is there no doctrine in law, which forbids ones renouncing an act after he has profited by it? But could the elections have been won and the policies maintained without the aid of the colored voter? Is there need of a statute of limitations to stop a political party from withdrawing the promises upon which it has encouraged millions of trusting people to build for forty years? Can it be honestly claimed that three-fourths of the States of the Union gave the ballot to the slave just out of the slave pen, with the implied condition that if he failed to prove himself able from the outset to resist temptation to childish indulgence and childish dishonesty, seduced as he was by the Northern men whom grat.i.tude bade him trust and follow, he should lose it forever? Is this the Eden where we met our "fall?" A sober Anglo-Saxon definition of justice is given by Sidgwick: "Justice is realized (1) in the observance of law, and contracts, and definite understandings, and in the enforcement of such penalties for the violation of these as have been legally determined and announced; and (2) in the fulfilment of natural and normal expectations." That the nations laws will be upheld is the first requirement of justice.6

6 Here is an instance of a Presidents devotion to existing laws: *With the Confederate government fully installed two weeks before*,Lincoln said in his inaugural address, that "he had no purpose directly or indirectly to interfere with the inst.i.tution of slavery." Is a manual needed in the United States to tell for what purposes and under what circ.u.mstances the law will be enforced?

But yet again are we brought back to the ignorance, s.h.i.+ftlessness and criminality of the Negro. Their fathers, so say these wiser Northern sons, could not know of these evils, which to them have been revealed.

No, they could not: had their lives been spared till now there had been no such evils to reveal. Under freedoms blaze ignorance was sucked up as the stagnant waters from a pool. With nearly the entire number of slaves illiterate, with no schools yet built, and only those large hearted teachers to face the enormous educational work whose ministrations to the needy were their only pay, more was done in the years just after the liberation of the slaves, to remove, their ignorance, than twenty-five thousand teachers in hundreds of schools have done in the last decade since.7 Progress in earning and saving corresponded. And there was little increase of crime. A few years more of the sunlight and who doubts that these charges could never have been brought against us! And by whom are we charged with being criminal?

Surely not by the South?

7 Per cent. of illiteracy.

Colored population in 1860 4,441,830.

Of this about 9 per cent. (488,070) was freeperhaps of this was literate, i.e., about 5 per cent. of the whole.

Equal 95 per cent. or higher.

Colored population above 10 years in 1870 equal whole population, 4,880,009, less 28.7 per cent. equals under 10 leaving 3,464,806.

Above 10, unable to write, 2,789,689.

Equal 80 per cent.

Colored population above 10 years in 1880 4,601,207. Above 10, unable to write, 3,220,878.

Equal 70 per cent.