This, it seems to me, is unwise and
unreasonable, and should cease. In saying this I do not mean that
the Negro should truckle, or not vote from principle, for the
instant he ceases to vote from principle he loses the confidence
and respect of the Southern white man even.
I do not believe that any state should make a law that permits an
ignorant and poverty-stricken white man to vote, and prevents a
black man in the same condition from voting. Such a law is not
only unjust, but it will react, as all unjust laws do, in time;
for the effect of such a law is to encourage the Negro to secure
education and property, and at the same time it encourages the
white man to remain in ignorance and poverty. I believe that in
time, through the operation of intelligence and friendly race
relations, all cheating at the ballot-box in the South will
cease. It will become apparent that the white man who begins by
cheating a Negro out of his ballot soon learns to cheat a white
man out of his, and that the man who does this ends his career of
dishonesty by the theft of property or by some equally serious
crime. In my opinion, the time will come when the South will
encourage all of its citizens to vote. It will see that it pays
better, from every standpoint, to have healthy, vigorous life
than to have that political stagnation which always results when
one-half of the population has no share and no interest in the
Government.
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