increased feeling on the part of all the people in the South that this
Government is their Government, and that its officers in their states
are their officers.

The consideration of this question can not, however, be complete and
full without reference to the negro race, its progress and its present
condition. The thirteenth amendment secured them freedom; the
fourteenth amendment due process of law, protection of property, and
the pursuit of happiness; and the fifteenth amendment attempted to
secure the negro against any deprivation of the privilege to vote
because he was a negro. The thirteenth and fourteenth amendments have
been generally enforced and have secured the objects for which they are
intended. While the fifteenth amendment has not been generally observed
in the past, it ought to be observed, and the tendency of Southern
legislation today is toward the enactment of electoral qualifications
which shall square with that amendment. Of course, the mere adoption of
a constitutional law is only one step in the right direction. It must
be fairly and justly enforced as well. In time both will come. Hence it
is clear to all that the domination of an ignorant, irresponsible
element can be prevented by constitutional laws which shall exclude
from voting both negroes and whites not having education or other
qualifications thought to be necessary for a proper electorate. The
danger of the control of an ignorant electorate has therefore passed.
With this change, the interest which many of the Southern white
citizens take in the welfare of the negroes has increased. The colored
men must base their hope on the results of their own industry,
self-restraint, thrift, and business success, as well as upon the aid
and comfort and sympathy which they may receive from their white
neighbors of the South.