THE Southland Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. THURSDAY, 30th APRIL, 1903. THE POLITICAL RIGHTS OF THE NEGRO.

Southland Times, Issue 19034, 30 April 1903, Page 2

THE Southland Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. THURSDAY, 30th APRIL, 1903. THE POLITICAL RIGHTS OF THE NEGRO.

The telegram from Xew York that appeared in yesterday's issue # announcing the Supreme Court decision that it cannot compel the State of Alabama to place the names of ;"><>< Ml negroes on the %'otei'K' registration list has cpute an extraordinary interest on account both of its legal and its political significance. Regarded politically it has all the appearance of being, as the telegram said,

" the beginning of a general scheme for negro disfranchiscment." It is the latest phase of the determined and successful effort of the white population of tho Southern States of the -union to deprive the blacks of political power. Recently we saw by the clamour of protest and indignation excited ,by the appointment of negroes to positions in the Government service that tho undercurrent of feeling is deep and strong. In the South I'resident Koosevelt was strongly censured, and in the North he was not supported with any heartiness or unanimity. The antipathy j to the negro has never been stronger ithun it is to-day, and the movement that began immediately after tho close of the Civil War has gathered moment urn. Prior to the war the MilYrage was the exclusive possession of thi> whiles — the blacks were slaves without rights, civil or political. After the defeat of the South the negro suffrage predominated by weight of numbers. But in the third era. as Bryce says. " universal !-iilTrage und complete legal equality were soon perceived to mean in practice the full supremacy of the whites." The I Southern whites arc firmly convinced that negro suffrage is inimical to civilisation, and ,in the sixties and [.seventies they considered any means used to suppress the negro vote as lawful. The coloured men were kept from the polls by terrorism, and trickery and dishonesty were resorted to by honourable men to nullify tho coloured vote. " The dominance of the whites." says Bryce. " now seems to be secure against either Northern legislation or negro revolt." But it is noteworthy that in Bryce's opinion " this horror of negro supremacy is the only point in which the South cherishes its old feelings-" The accuracy of Bryce's observation is borne out by the "outbreak of anti-negro sentiment in the present day. culminating as it has done in the refusal of the State of Alabama to admit f>(MH> negroes to the franchise. In the legal aspect the decision is somewhat of a puzzle. It is easy to understand, of course, ho.w the matter came before the Supreme Court. In the Tinted States there are certain constitutional limits upon legislation. Any enactment that is at [variance with the principles of the I Constitution of the United States is void, und the body that enjoys the power of determining what is constitutional and what is not is the Supreme Court It is quite plain that the question before the Supreme Court in this instance was whether the refusal 01' the State of Alabama to register 5000 negroeS as voters was not an unconstitutional act. How the Supreme Court arrived at the decision that, the franchise could be withheld ut the discretion of the State it is impossible, in ignorance of the circumstances, to say. The decision wouid appear to be subversive of the great principle embodied in the celebrated " Fifteenth Constitutional Amendment " by which, in 1870. it was declared to be the law of the Constitution " that the right of citizens of the I'nitetl States shall not bu denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of nvce, colour, or previous condition of servitude" In his work on the American Commonwealth Mr Bryce says that the Southern whites never hoped and never attempted "to dislodge the colourqd man from has rights, for they were secured by the Federal Constitution (the allusion is, of course, to the Fifteenth Amendment) which prevails against all State action." It would now appear that the State of Alabama has found a way of overcoming the constitutional difViculty. and that States can. In spito of an amendment made in the Constitution for the express purpose of depriving them of the power refuse the franchise to blacks and

" dislodge the coloured man from his rights." There can be little doubt but that the success achieved in Alabama will cause other Southern States to follow .suit, and " a

general movement for the ilisfranchisoment of tho negro " will take pluce. It will be a most extraordinary development, and to juotii'y it will exercise all tho ingenuity of American public men. It is btuvly^ an incontrovertible proposition tl.ut freedom for all implies representation for all. and representation implies the franchise. The n»^voe.s wun> emancipated : then by the Civil Rights Bill of 1866 they were protected in all their civil rights as citizens— rights u> make and enforce contracts, to sue, be parMos, and K ive evidence, to inherit, purchase, lease, sell, hold and convey real and personal property— and admitted to the same full and equal bencul of all la^vs and proceedings for the security of person and property us is enjoyed .by white citizens. Then !>y the Fifteenth Amendment the United Slates protected, or intended 'o i»o---tect. the negro suffrage for iver. How. then, can the people ko tfck now, unless they are pn-purod t.> undo the work done in the hhv.ul n.d sweat of the Civil War? •America's latest peril." as the m-ajm question has been called, is a jtierantic 1 problem, and it "ill be brought to a,, acute stage by this Alabama decision. Without a full knowledge ol the circumstances and the t.reeiso 1111---port of the decision it is not ptMiSllilo to suppl.V the grounds of <lie .•»'- --pmne Court's finding, '-'it it _«- means what it appears to ni?iin, v:/., that it is possible io evade a provision of tho Constitution, the irues-

tions arise, what action will Congress take and what will zha 1 resident say? The position is full ot grave potentialities r _and its development will be watched with pr«at interest, and, perhaps, with not a little anxiety.