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YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

A Mis sis sippi ITiE^TT"
Df RaDE RElaiiDiis
in tliE Ssiiili,

By CUNBilR RDWLANI], nc.^--

Raad hafarB tha illumni ilssoclatlnii nf tha Unlvarelty
of Mississippi^ Juna 3rd, 1BD2,

JACKSON, MISS:
HARMON PUB. CO. PRINTERS,
1903.

A MISSISSIPPI VIEW OF RACE RELATIONS
IN THE SOUTH,
By DUNBAR RO"WLAND.
Director of Department of Archives and History.

Read before the Alumni Association of the University of Mississippi,
June 3rd 1902.

The purpose of all investigation should be to elicit truth. It
is therefore the object of this discussion to give a truthful, ac
curate and unprejudiced statement of facts about the political,
social and industrial relations of the white man and the negro
in the South. It is to be desired that not even an allusion shall
be made that may raise a feelirg of sectional prejudice in the
breasts of any.
There are few men not of the South who can appreciate the
sad trials of the past, or realize the dangerous problems of the
future. Some may see the true nobility, calm dignity and
Spartan fortitude which the South has shown in meeting her
responsibilities, few know what they really mean. The
wrongs and mistakes of the past would have driven a less proud
and noble race into anarchy.
When the perilous problems of tbe South are better under
stood, when the clouds which political passion create are swept
away by a sincere sympathy and a desire to lend a helping
hand, when a friendly interest takes the place of unfriendly
criticism, when what is right is the aim of all then and not
until then can pressing problems be intelligently solved.
The great body of the people of this Republic want to do
right. They want to deal justly. The Southern people know
the negr o and understand him, let them work out and solve the
serious problems surrounding them in a way which shall be of
advantage to both races.
The social, political and industrial conditions which now
exist in the South can only be properly appreciated by taking
a brief backward view of what has gone before.
3

From early colonial times to i860 the South was a garden for
the cultivation of all that was grand in oratory, true in science
sublime and beautiful in poetry and sentiment, and enlightened
and profound in law and statemanship. That period produced
a roll too long to read of noble spirits, bright wits and great
scholars, whose names and deeds are preserved in the archives
of the nation's glory. From the Potomac tothe Rio Grande
the Southern gentleman held sway. The South was looked
upon by its lordly owners as the most favored spot on earth. It
was called the Fair I^and by those who owned it and loved it.
Ruin and desolation came upon this fair land and its people.
The boom of batteries in the harbor of Charleston on a
beautiful April day in 1861 was the beginning of a bloody fra
ternal strife which laid desolate the happy homes of the peo
ple everywhere, brought about the sacrifice of a half million
lives and cost the country ten billions of money. The war
between the Confederate States and the United States brought
about the greatest political and social revolution known to
history. That revolution brought political, industrial and
financial ruin upon the South. When peace came a race of
servile slaves were made masters of her political destiny.
The Anglo Saxon has never bowed his head to the yoke of
an inferior race and he never will. We see now that it was
cruel to condemn a brave though fallen people to the suffering
and humiliation which became their portion. The enfranchise
ment of the negro was a mistake. It was a stupendous blunder,
and is now recognized as such by thoughtful students of events
everywhere. After the negro had been clothed with the right of suffrage
the Southern people made an honest effort to give him a fair
trial. If he proved to be a worthy citizen the fears of the peo
ple would be groundless.
The Confederate States had given up their struggle for an
independent nationality upon a basis of freedom for the negro
race. While the best and most thoughtful men of the South
believed that the experiment of negro suffrage would ruin the
country and prove fatal to the negroes they knew that the trial
must be made. They felt that they were bound to the soil of
the South for life, and they wanted to sleep in its bosom after
4

death. They tried to make that noble sentiment, which a
great man has given the world, their guide: "He who does the
best his circumstances allow does well, acts nobly; angels
could not do more."
The South had suffered through four years of war. The
blood of the best and bravest had deluged the land. The
whitened bones of her sons lay upon the hilltops of Virginia
and were strewn over the fertile valleys of Mississippi. The
people thought that they had suffered enough. The bitter and
humiliating chalice of negro rule was yet to be pressed to their
Hps. At the end ot the war there was no ill will against the negro
in the hearts of the Southern people. The following extract
from the charge of Judge Clayton of Alabama to the grand
jury of Pike County, made September 9th, 1866, shows the
prevailing statement:
"Gentlemen, do we owe the negro any grudge? 'What has he himself
done to provoke our hostility? Shall we be angry with hicn because
freedom has been forced upon him? Shall it excite our animosity be
cause he has been suddenly and without an effort on his part torn loose
from the protection of a kind master? He is proud to^call you master
yet. In the name of humanity let him do so. He may have been the
companion of your boyhood. He may be older than you and perhaps
carried you in his arms when an infant . You may be bound to him by
a thousand ties which only the Southern man knows, and which he alone
can feel in all its force. It may be that when only a few years ago
you girded on your cartridge box and shouldered your trusty rifle to go
to meet the invaders of your country, you committed to his care your
home and your loved ones, and when you were far away upon the weary
march, upon the dreadful battle field, in the trenches and on the picket
line, many and many a time you thought of that faithful old negro and
your heart warmed toward him.''
There was at the end of the war and is now a strong and
steadfast affection between the old slaves of the South and
their former masters. If that feeling of confidence had been
allowed to continue without the evil influence of the carpet
bagger all would have been well. The Southern white man is
the only man on earth who understands the negro character,
and he is the only man who Is now fitted to solve the intricate
race relations of the future. 5

The reconstruction period found the negro free. His free
dom was not the result of his own efforts, although in most
instancas it was his desire to be free. By reason of the entire
absence of self-reliance, his want of experience and his failure
to understand or appreciate his changed condition, the negro
aiter his emancipation was helpless. At this critical time the
carpet-bagger invaded the South intent up^n nothing but gain.
At best the pathway toward better things was blocked by many
dif&culties. The coming of the carpet bagger and the evil influ
ence he gained over the negro, by causing him to lose faith in
his best friends, was the crowning sorrow and humiliation of
the South. The picture of conditions existing In the South during the
period of reconstruction may strike those who know nothing of
it as too dark. Some thinking and impartial men of the North
are inclined to believe that Southern men overdraw the dark
ness of the night of reconstruction. At this time — twenty-five
years after — in the light of the facts of history the student of
that period, whose opinions are not embittered by the trials of
the times, stands in astonishment and marvels at the patience
and long suffering of a brave and chival-ous people. Therefore
the unprejudiced reader will be in sympathy with a brief, impar
tial account of reconstruction conditions.
Reconstruction was the creation of men who knew nothing
of conditions surrounding the negro. Instead of adapting him
to his new life the measures of reconstruction made the negro a
discontented enemy ot good government. The story of the
trials of reconstruction is told not with a spirit of bringing
reproach on the men who made them possible by unwise legis
lation, or by way of apology for the people of the South, but
from a purely historical standpoint giving the facts minus prej
udiced opinion. The debates in Congress pending the passage
of reconstruction measures clearly show that the most conserva
tive and self-contained men of the party then in power were
opposed to universal manhood suffrage for the negro. That
President Lincoln was opposed to manhood suffrage for the
negro is now a well established fact of history. The evidence
upon which that statement rests, in addition to Mr. I^incoln's
6

own statements, is a letter written by Mr. McCuUoch, who was
Secretary of the Treasury in the cabinet of President lyincoln
and later filled the same office for President Johnson and Presi
dent Arthur. Secretary McCuUoch says:
"It was, I know, the opinion of Mr. Lincoln and other friends of the
colored race -it certainly was mine — that some qualification, such as the
ownership of taxable property, the ability to read and write or both,
should haye been required for the exercise of the right to yote, as an
inducement for the acquisition of what is needful on the part of self-gov
erning people."
Previous to the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment
there was not a Northern state where the negro had the right to
vote. Mr. Garfield wanted an intelligent negro suffrage. He
said during the reconstruction debates on that question :
I regret that we have not found the situation of affairs in this country
such , and the public virtue such, that we might come out on the plain,
unanswerable proposition that eyery adult intelligent citizen of Ihe United
States, unconvicted of crime, should enjoy the right of suffrage."
Senator Fessenden, of Maine, a very able man, one of the
leaders of the Republican party and a member of the reconstruc
tion committee, said in the Senate on the question of negro suf
frage: I think the honorable Senator from Massachusetts, himself, (Mr. Sum
ner) who is the great champion of universal suffrage, would hardly con
tend that now at this time the whole mass of the population of the recent
slave states is fit to be admitted to the exercise of the right of suffrage. I
presume that no man who looks dispassionately and calmly would con
tend that the great mass of those who were recently slaves (undoubtedly
there may be exceptions) and who have been kept in ignorance all their
lives, oppressed more or less, forbidden to acquire information, are fit
at this day to exercise the right of suffrage or could be trusted to do it.
Such statements show that the great leaders of the Re
publican party long after the war had the correct idea of
negro suffrage. If such was the opinion of these great and good
men, why was it not made the policy of the Republican party?
Why was negro suffrage finally determined upon? The only
conclusion to which the student of the situation can come is that
negro suffrage was adopted as a partisan political measure in
tended for the perpetuation of political power.
The political situation in Washington in 1867 was exactly
7

suited to bring about the evils of partisan legislation. There
was only one party represented at the Capitol. There was no
voice there to plead the cause of the people upon whom the ruin
of negro rule would fall. They were at home silent and waiting,
hoping that the evil might be averted. The extreme radicals of
the Republican party, led by Sumner and Stevens prevailed
and the reconstruction bill became a law on the 2ud of March,
1867. The negro was made an unwilling instrument for the
the oppression and humiliation of his best friends. He was
made the controlling political influence in the South. He placed
himself under the leadership of men who poisoned his mind with
a spirit of misrule, and who taught him to mistrust and hate his
former masters.
The bitter humiliation of negro domination was borne with
fortitude and patience. Under such conditions property was
insecure. There was open and notorious plunder without the
hope of redress. Ignorance, crime and hatred enthralled the
white people. No such evil had ever before been put upon a
suffering section. It seemed as if the wheels of civilization had
been turned back a thousand years. Ignorant and vicious
negroes filled the most important positions of honor and trust.
They became county ofiicers, members of the legislature, state
officers, members of Congress and United States senators.
The long continued rule of ignorance and vice could only
have one result — the ruin of the country'and the confiscation of
all property by the power of taxation. The people of the South
faced that condition after seven years of negro rule. What did
they do to remedy it?. They did exactly what the Anglo Saxon
would have done under Hke conditions, no matter whether they
existed in Mississippi, in Massachusetts, in England or in Ger
many. They met together in council and after mature and
thoughtful deliberation, they pledged their honor, fortune and
lives to rid themselves and their posterity from the blight of
black supremacy; by peaceful means, if possible, by force If nec
essary. The struggle between white and black began. It was a
time of deep emotion and intense feeling all over the South.
Every white man swore a solemn oath before high Heaven that

he would free himself and his posterity from the disgrace of
negro rule or die In the attempt. That idea was the battle cry.
The people felt that they were struggling against Infamy and
dishonor. They felt that the peace of their homes, the safety of
their wives and the happiness of their children depended on the
result. Lawyers left their law books, doctors their patients,
preachers their sermons, merchants their stores and farmers
their fields and formed themselves into a mighty force fcr the
overthrow of misrule. During the time of such intense feeling
and excitement many mistakes were made, many irreparable
wrongs were committed and many innocent lives were lost.
Truth and candor can now deal with that time. It was a time
of revolution when the wishes of wise leaders were often set
aside to give way to the passions of the hour. There were fre
quent armed conflicts between the races, and the negroes always
suffered most from them. They were armed and Incited to vio -
lence by their white leaders who deserted them in time of peril.
The issues of that remarkable campaign were clear and well
defined, and were:
First. The negro has proven himself unworthy of suffrage,
and it should be taken from him.
Second. Negro rule Is ruinous to a State.
Third, The honest, Intelligent people of a state should con
trol it.
Fourth. Negro suffrage had been given a fair trial with ter
rible results.
Fifth, Freedom could not in a moment transform an Ignorant
man into an Intelligent citizen.
Sixth. The negro was being made a tool In the hands of
thieves and plunderers.
Seventh. There was not a state under negro rule that showed
even a trace of honest intelligent, government.
Eighth. That existing conditions must be overthrown at
whatever cost.
The negroes were told plainly that they would not be allowed
to vote and It would be best for them not to attempt It. There
was no concealment. The men who guided the movement In
9

the various states of the South had the courage to declare that
black supremacy must come to an end"
The leaders of that revolution were John B. Gordon of Geor
gia, L. Q. C. Lamar and James Z.George, of Mississippi, A. H.
Garland, of Arkansas, Isham G. Harris, of Tennessee, John T.
Morgan, of Alabama, James B. Eustis, of Louisiana, Wade
Hampton, of South Carolina, Richard Coke of Texas, and Zeb
ulon B. Vance, of North Carolina. They belong to the eternal
honor roll of the South, and their names shall be remembered
after the monuments of marble and tablets of brass which mark
the last testing place of many of them shall have crumbled Into
dust. In Mississippi the struggle was bitter and bloody. Adelbert
Ames, the Republican Governor of the State, in his desperation
over impending disaster, applied to the Federal Government at
Washington for United States troops to be used In terrorizing
the people on election day. He is reported to have declared
that the death of a tew hundred negroes would make sure the
success of the Republican party. Bloody riots occurred at Clin
ton, Yazoo City and Vicksburg, in which many negroes and
some white men were killed. President Grant refused to send
Federal troops into Mississippi, and his refusal was based on
the report of Mr. C. K. Chase, an agent of the Attorney General
of the United Slates, who had been sent to report on the appli
cation of Governor Ames for troops. His report being that
there was no legal excuse for the presence of armed men. It
was a struggle in which the forces of honesty and intelligence
were arrayed against those of dishonesty and ignorance.
There could only be one result in the battle for the mastery
between the white man and the negro; the negro must give
way. The fight was fought and won. The South was redeemed.
The Southern people exercised the right of revolution to free
themselves. They used force, the only means in their power to
overthrow misrule, corruption and dishonesty. The negroes
were thoroughly beaten by the revolution of 1875. They never
again attempted to vote in large numbers.
A period of mild intimidation continued for fourteen years.
That method of preserving white supremacy was never entirely

satisfactory, and Southern leaders and statesmen were anxious
to remove the menace of future trouble by constitutional means.
It was believed that the continued suppression of the negro vote
would promote a feeling among the whites to use the same
methods on each other and promote a low tone of political
morality. The movement to disfranchise the negro vote by legal
means began in Mississippi under the leadership of Gen. James
Z. George. The movement rapidly became popular, and Missis
sippi provided for a Constitutional Convention In 1890. Gen.
George, the leader of the demand for white supremacy by legal
means, was a United States Senator from Mississippi, and one
of the great constitutional lawyers of the country. He was a
rugged, honest, able and thoughtful man of the humble walks
of life, who had carved out a brilliant career from a beginning
of poverty and want. Senator George was born in Monroe
county, Georgia, October 20th, 1826. His father died when his
son was an infant, and his mother moved to the new State of
Mississippi that her boy might have a better chance in life.
The mother first found a home in Noxubee county, and lived
there until her son was ten years old. They then moved to
Carroll county. In 1836, and it became the life-long home of the
man who was destined to lead the people of his adopted State
out of the darkness and doubt of a suppressed negro vote into
the light and freedom of a suffrage founded on justice and right
and in keeping with constitutional law and liberty. The child
hood and young manhood of James Z George, like that of so
many great men, was passed in genteel poverty, without the
advantages which wealth can bestow and without the culture
which education gives. He was not trained in the learning of
the schools. He was poor. Victor Hugo, the great French
man, who made the world better by having lived in It, says that
"Poverty Is the greatest of opportunities." The men who
dominated the world in the past — the great world leaders and
nation makers — were not "clothed in fine linen, faring sump
tuously every day"; they toiled to the light through the dark
ness of poverty. Senator George was one of those men

" Who breaks his birth's invidious bar.
And grasps the skirts of happy chance.
And breasts the blows of circumstance.
And grapples with his evil star."
The Constitutional Convention of 1890 met in Jackson,
Mississippi, for the purpose of giving the State a new organic
law. The convention was coraposed of the best men in Missis
sippi. Among the leaders and master minds of the body were
James Z George, S. S. Calhoon, Edward Mayes, H. F. Simrall,
J. L Alcorn and W. P. Harris. Judge Calhoon was an eminent
jurist of the State, and he became President of the Convention.
Edward Mayes was a law professor. Chancellor of the State
University, and the most learned lawyer In the State. Judge
Simrall was an ex-Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. He
was a clean Republican, and represented a Democratic constit-
ency. Governor Alcorn was the most prominent Republican In
the State. He had been Governor, a United States Senator,
and was a forceful man of high character. Judge Harris was
the leading lawyer of the Mississippi bar. He was able, thought
ful and brave, and did very active work in the Convention.
The avowed and confessed object of the convention was to
eliminate the ignorant vote whether white or black. Every
thoughtful man in the cenvention knew the terrible results of
placing political power In Ignorant, Incompetent hands.
Universal suffrage could not succeed where there was an
electorate of sixty per cent, who were illiterate. The experi
ment had been tried with terrible results in other nations. In
1793 France founded a Republic based on universal manhood
suffrage. It went down In a sea of blood and became a military
despotism in 1800. The experiment was tried again In 1848.
In 1852 they returned to a despotism of military power. There
could be no other result when more than one- half the voters
could not read their ballots. Spain has passed through the
same experience. The Republic of Castellar, builtlon an Igno
rant white rabble, passed away In a few months to give place to
the old ruinous rule of the Bourbons. South America Is full of
little republics resting on an Ignorant suffrage. They are in a
perpetual state of revolution, and such conditions will continue
until they have an intelligent ballot.

The franchise section of the Mississippi Constitution of
1890 provides an educational qualification and requires payment
of all taxes for two years before the election, and It eliminates
all Ignoront, votes regardless of color, who cannot measure up to
the test. The educational t«st Is not exacting and only Involves
the power to read. It places the right to vote as a reward in
the reach of the negro, which may be gained by effort. The
negroes are slowly qualifying themselves to become voters, and
there Is no disposition anywhere to prevent them from doing so.
If the negro is made to earn his full citizenship by his own
efforts it will teach him to take pride in it.
Under the Mississippi system the disfranchisement of a few
whites was unavoidable, but it was thought that they should pay
the penalty of ignorance rather than endanger the safety of the
State, The whites who were disfranchised accepted the situa
tion without a murmur.
Five other Southern states have followed the lead of Miss
issippi In framing a new organic law for the purpose of disfran
chising the ignorant voter These states are South Carolina,
North Carolina, Alabama, Louisiana and Virginia, These states
adopted the Mississippi plan of an educational qualification, and
In addition Incorporated In their constitutions the famous"grand-
father clause," which prevents the disfranchisement ot any
whites whatever. That clause of these constitutions provides
that all male descendants of those who were voters before i868,
shall continue to exercise the right to vote regardless of the
required educational qualifications.
Here are the franchise sections of the Mississippi Constltn-
tlon of 1890:
Sec 241. — Every male inhabitant of this State, except idiots, insane
persons, and Indians not taxed, who is a citizen of the United States,
twenty-one years old and upwards, who -has resided in this State two years
and one year in the election district, or in the incorporated city or town
in which he oflers to vote, and who is duly registered as provided in this
article, and who has never been convicted of bribery, burglarly, theft,
arson, obtaining money or goods under false pretense, perjury, forgery,
embezzlement, or bigamy, and who has paid, on or before the first day of
February of the year in which he shall offer to vote, all taxes which may
have been legally required of him, and, which he has had an opportunity
13

of paying according to law, for the two preceding years, and who shall
produce to ofiicers holding the election satisfactory evidence that he has
paid said taxes, is declared to be a qualified elector; but any minister of
the gospel in charge of an organized church shall be entitled to yote after
six month's residence in the election district, if otherwise qualified.
Section 242 relates to registration of voters.
Sbc. 243 — A uniform poll tax of two dollars, to be used in aid of the
common schools, and for no other purpose, is hereby imposed on every
male inhabitant of this State between the ages of twenty-one and sixty
years, except persons who are deaf and dumb or blind, or who are maim
ed by loss of hand or foot; said tax to be a lien only upon taxable prop
erty. The board of supervisors of any county may, for the purpose of aid
ing the common schools in that county, increase the poll tax in said
county, but in no case shall the entire poll tax exceed in any one year
three dollars on each poll. No criminal proceedings shall be allowed to
enforce the collection of the poll tax.
Sbc 244 — On and after the first day of January, A. D., 1892, eyery
elector shall, in addition to the foregoing qualifications, be able to read
any section of the constitution of this State; or he shall be able to under
stand the same when read to him, or give a reasonable interpretation
thereof. A new registration shall be made before the next ensuing elec
tion after January the first, A. D. 1892.
It will be observed that the foregoing does not disfranchise the negro
any more than it does the white man. It simply means that the citizen —
black or white — who will not pay all taxes, including the "uniform poll
tax of two dollars, to be used in aid of the common school, "on or before
the first day of February in which he offers to vote, and who is not intelli
gent enough to read any section of the State constitution, or to under
stand the same when read to him, or give a reasonable interpretation
thereof, shall not be allowed to vote. In other words, he voluntarily dis
franchises himself for the period named. In the case of the poll tax, it
will be noticed that no "criminal proceedings shall be allowed to enforce
its collections." The only penalty is that the delinquent cannot vote. And
th e registration statistics of the several counties show that there are
thousands of whites as well as blacks who thus disqualify themselves.
And the fact that the poll tax is a school fund, and that it cannot be
otheiwise applied, makes this delinquency all the more to be regretted.
The new suffrage departure of Mississippi was the subject
of much discussion in political and legal circles in Washington
during the winter of 189091, It was made the subject of vio
lent partisan attacks In the Senate. Senators Hoar, Spooner,
Hawley and Edmunds denounced It as in conflict with the
amendments of the Federal Constitution clothing the negro
with the right of suffrage. Senators Hoar and Edmunds were
14

generally regarded as autocrats on questions of constitutional
law, and they brought all the resources at their command in
their attacks on the new organic law of the State of Mississippi.
Senator George was in his seat in the Senate as the defend
er and champion of the new charter of white supremacy. He
was equipped for the forensic battle. He was ready with the
truth. He was armed with courage to meet all comers. He
began his celebrated speech in defense of the Mississippi Consti
tution on the 31st day of December 1890. He had been a mem
ber of the Senate nine years and was known to be an authority
on questions of constitutional law. While his ability was recog
nized, the reserve force of the man was unknown to his associ
ates In the Senate, There was great responsibility resting
upon him. He was the chosen champion of the Southern cru
sade against Ignorance at the ballot box. He had been t he
chief agent In the construction of the organic law which lifted
the fatal shirt of Ncssus from the shoulders of the Southern peo
ple. If he failed, the people he loved would suffer. If he gained
the victory, future generations yet unborn would rise up and call
him blessed. His defense was conclusive. It was overwhelm
ingly convincing. The great Senator showed a more intimate
knowledge of the constitutions of Massachusetts, Vermont and
Connecticut than did the Senators who represented those states.
It was one of the great constitutional law speeches of the S.-nate,
and will take rank in the future with Webster's superb speech
in defense of the Constitution. All of the contentions of Senator
George were afterwards crystalized into law by the Supreme
Court of the United States in the case of WfUiams v. Mississ
ippi. The decision of that case forever settled the question of
negro suffrage. It was decided April 25, 1898.
Henry WilHams, a negro, was indicited for murder in Wash
ington County, Mississippi, by a grand jury, made up entirely
of white men. A motion was made to quash the Indictment on
the ground that the laws by which the grand jury was selected,
that presented the indictment were unconstitutional or re
pugnant to the Couatitution of the United States and of the [4th
amendment. It was a direct attack on the ^franchise clause
creating electors and raised a Federal question which enabled
15

Williams to carry the case to the Supreme Court of the United
States. WilHams was tried by a jury composed entirely of
white men and convicted. A motion for a new trial was denied
and Williams was sentenced to be hanged. An appeal to the
supreme court of the State was taken and the judgment of the
court below was affirmed. The case was then taken to the
supreme court of the United States and Justice McKenna de
livered the opinion. The question presented to the court was,
"Are the Provisions of the Constitution of the State of Missis
sippi and the Laws Enacted to Enforce Them Repugnant to the
Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United
States?" The court held that there was no conflict and no
discrimination between the races. It was decided that equal
protection of the laws was not denied to colored persons by a
State constitution and laws which make no discrimination
against the colored race In terms but which grant a discretion
to certain officers which can be used to the abridgment of the
rights of colored persons to vote and serve on juries, when It Is
not shown that their actual administration Is evil, but only that
evil Is possible under them.
In dealing with the race problem it must be born in mind
that it is the curing power of time aided by Intelligent human
effort which can cure the ills of the past and promote the good
results of the future, The growth of social and political con
ditions is always slow. It requires generations to make
changes for good or evil. It must be remembared that the
negro has behind him six thousand years of ignorance and
barbarism. Universal suffrage can safely exist only where
there is universal education.
Out of the mass of conflicting opinions there have come two
great ideas about which there is no difference of opinion In the
South. The first is the necessity for the absolute social sep
aration and isolation of the negro. He will never be accepted
as an equal no matter how great his future advancement. He
may gain the culture of the schools and acquire something of
the polish of polite society, but he can never beat down the
barriers between white and black.
The demands of civilization must be obeyed.
i6

The second settled conviction is that the negro will never
again be allowed to control the public affairs of a single South
ern state.
Good government demands that position.
If there is no higher motive than self interest; that demands.
that the Southern people do everything in their power to make
the negro an industrious, honest, self supporting citizen. If
the people of the North will help them do that in a fair
sympathetic way their aid will always be welcomed.
There are thoughtful men in the South who have lost faith in
the power of the education which has heretofore been given
to uplift the negro, and there is reason in their position,
but public sentiment still clings to the school houses and to
industrial education as the only hope of the future.
Here Is what Gov. Longlno, In his Inaugural address, says
upon this subject:
There is no danger so great to the affairs of any republic as an ignorr
ant factious citizenship, whose tendencies have always been to overturn'
social order, political system, liberty, justice and right. Mississippi's
greatest relief from this source of evil has been for many years found in
the efficiency of her free schools and her colleges. The liberality, there
fore of the legislature in the past.in providing funds for their proper main
tenance, has been both wise and patriotic, and I heartily commend the.
continuation of the same liberal spirit toward all the State's educational
interests and institutions. The free school fund is now distributed
among the counties per capita of the educable children in each. The '
relative attendance upon the free schools in the white is much greater
than in the black counties, and hence, by reason of the fewer schools re-J
quired for the accommodation of the attending pupils in the black
counties affords those counties the use of the funds set apart to the non-
attending children therein; hence, those counties are enabled from said
fund to extend the term of their schoo's taught and to pay teachers bet.
ter salaries than can the white counties where the larger proportion of
the children attended the schools. Since the manifest purpose of the
law is to favor equal educational facilties to all of the children of the
State alike, I would commend to the legislature the submission of an
amendment to section 206 of the constitution, so as to require the State
free school fund to be distributed among the counties according to the
actual attendance upon the schools, rather than per capita, as now.
There has been some urgent insistence for the submission by this
legislature of an amendment to the Constitution to provide for the dis
tribution of the free school funds between the white and negro schools
17

of t'he stale, so as to give the benefits thereof to each race in proportion
to tfee School tax which it pays. Though it may seem a little outside
of the governor's expected prerogative to speak of the matter here (in
advance of legislative action on the subject), I shall, nevertheless, at the
risk of being considered meddlesome, venture to express the hope that
no-^cb amendment will find approval at the hands of the legislature.
Wit%out stopping here to discuss the constitutional conflicts which
Would be tjrought about between the State and Federal Constitutions, or
if it be admitted that there would be no constitutional vice in such
amendment because of its class or race distinction, its effect, which
would be to take school benefits largely from the negro children, would
be contrary to that broad and deep philanthropic spirit that has always
moved tfa« great common heart of Christian man and womanhood in
Mississippi to a love of justice and fair play toward the weak aud needy,
whoever and wherever they are. It must be borne in mind that the
ae^Ti^o is our neighbor andis hereto stay; that he is the dependence
largely of the white people for labor; that it is also in a great measure
diteto that labor that in the past the South's cotton, sugar and rice in
dustries have broug'ht the section's greatest wealth, and given it a com
mercial importance in every land aud country where the nation's flag
prAeds the American shipping. Besides, he is of our citizenship, and
Ijeitig of a weaker race, becomes a ward of the white people of the State,
aaa iSxey should not violate the trust by taking from him tbe benign
iu&aefices of education, which help to make him a better tnan, a better
citizen a-nd a better Christiau.
t^fae Southern people have shown their faith in the negro by
spettdi^ one hundred million dollars for his education during
<3ie ^ast thirty years. There are now 1,750,000 negro
cWldrea enrolled In the public schools of the South. The
nine cotton states, where the great mass of the negroes Uve, that
is,. Worth Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Alabama,
Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas, had In i860 an
assessed valuation of property for taxation of $3,244,231,406.
Ia iSyOj the valuation had decreased to $1,830,863,180 or 43
per cent. The ability to raise money by taxation had decreased
one-half. The burden of negro education had been placed upon
tbe"5people of the South in their poverty. There has been
muTmuring at the burden In Mississippi, and efforts have been
made to confine appropriations of money for negro education to
tbe amount of money raised from negro taxation for the benefit
of schools, that plan, however, has never met with popular ap
proval. There are few a men In the South who contend that the
r8

negro should be kept in an eternal state of ignorance, but their
following is small.
The most convincing argument of the fairness of the South
to the negro Is the Industrial opportunity which Is afforded him.
All professions and callings and all Industries are open to the
negro. There Is absolutely no discrimination In industrial
Unes on account of color. The negro is at liberty to sell his
power to work everywhere. The negro Is not confined to
menial employment. There are negroes In Mississippi who are
lawyers, doctors, teachers, and a few of them are preachers.
They are engaged in the various branches of the mercantile
business and in all of the trades. They are blacksmiths, car
penters and shoemakers. When they can do their work as
skilfully as the white man they are employed. In the profes
sions, of course, their duties are confined to their own race.
It is a well known fact that the negro Is eliminated as an in
dustrial factor in the North by trades-unionism. It may be
right and this statement is not made in a spirit of criticism, but
for the purpose of showing the advantages which the South of
fers the negro. There Is a determined purpose In the South to
curtail the power of the negro to vote, but he has the same
chance as the white man to earn his bread.
The common every day relations between the white man and
the negro are sincere and kindly. There Is no persecution of
the negro in Mississippi.
Rev. Edgar Garner Murphy beautifully and truthfully de
scribes the relations between the whites and the blacks In bis
very able paper on "The White Man and the Negro at the
South." Mr. Murphy says:
"The Northern mau sees in the men and women of the weaker race a
great deal of ignorance, indolence, shiftlessness, poverty and crime, but
also a great deal of humble, probity of every day willingness to work, of
charming good humor,of happy contentment, and of naive dependence in
every emergency of Hfe upon the white man who is supposed to hate
him. He sees tbe stronger race with infinite generosity and with in
credible patience responding to his dependence. He sees the business
man giving advice, lending money, (which he knows he will probably
never see again) advancing wages and generally assuming a sort of
paternal interest in the welfare of his negro hands. He sees the white
19

man's attorney freely defending many a negro client. He', sees the
white man's physician freely caring for a negro patient: He sees the
white man's minister befriending many a negro in illness, or need, or
sorrow." That picture should disarm all unkind, unthinking criticism
of a slandered South, What an objzct lesson of love, and trust
and faithfulness it would be if the beautiful relations existing
now between the old slaves, who are rapidly passing away, and
their former masters could be presented to every good man In
the United States. The old uncles and aunties of the South,
as the old slaves are called, have never faltered in their devo
tion to their"white folkM"and thousands of them are being tend
erly cared for in their old age by their former owners. There
is not a town or a hamlet in the South where you will not find
old and helpless negroes being provided with all of the com
forts of life by white people simply because they were faithful
servants of the long ago.
The greatest obstacle to the advancement of the negro is his
defective moral nature, and that phase of negro character is the
dark part of the race problem. There Is a rapid Increase In
crime and lawlessness among negroes under forty years of
age. The criminal class among negroes is confined largely to
the younger generation . That question is exhaustively treated
by Prof. W. F. Wilcox, of Cornell, General Statistician of the
Census Office, in his very learned article on "Negro Crimlnall-
ity." The people of the South do not fear the clouds which may
daiken the future. They believe in themselves and in their
power to meet and solve the problems which the presence of
the negro forces upon them. They want the intelligent help
and sympathy and good will of good men everywhere. They
see the threatening clouds, but behind them they behold the
brightness and glory of the-future.
The negro is in the South to stay, for better or for worse, It
must be his home. There is no other place inthis broad Re
public for him, and there is no other place where he is wanted.
The Southern people have suffered because of his presence
among them. The negro has been the victim of injustice at

the hands of some of the Southern people. The future is full of
hope. The errors and mistakes of the past will only increase
the good deeds of the future. The history of civilization teach
es that all progress has come through trials and tears, and at
best haa moved in a path marked by many blunders and
mistakes. The South has passed through a bitter experience In the so
lution of the suffrage question, and no pen can adequately de
scribe the trial, but she has borne it with dignity and fortitude
and all the people of this great country should feel that the time
has come when a kindly sympathy with each others difficulties
would bind us nearer together and aid in solving the grave prob
lems of the future.

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