people of any other section of the United States, and, beyond
a peradventure, the Southern race problem, as I have defined it, would
continue to be--revealed, perhaps, in ways more perplexing, more intense
and tragic.

NEGRO SUFFRAGE IN A DEMOCRACY by Ray Stannard Baker

In this paper I endeavor to lay down the fundamental principles which
should govern the Negro franchise in a democracy, and to outline a
practical programme for the immediate treatment of the problem.

As I see it, the question of Negro suffrage in the United States
presents two distinct aspects:--

FIRST: the legal aspect.

SECOND: the practical aspect.

It will be admitted, I think, without argument, that all governments do
and of a necessity must exercise the right to limit the number of people
who are permitted to take part in the weighty responsibilities of the
suffrage. Some governments allow only a few men to vote; in an absolute
monarchy there is only one voter; other governments, as they become more
democratic, permit a larger proportion of the people to vote.

Our own government is one of the freest in the world in the matter of
suffrage; and yet we bar out, in most states, all women; we bar out
Mongolians, no matter how intelligent; we bar out Indians, and all
foreigners who have not passed through a certain probationary stage
and have not acquired a certain small amount of education. We also
declare--for an arbitrary limit must be placed somewhere--that no person
under twenty-one years of age may exercise the right to vote, although
some boys of eighteen are to-day better equipped to pass intelligently
upon public questions than many grown men. We even place adult white men
on probation until they have resided for a certain length of time, often
as much as two years, in the state or the town where they wish to cast
their ballots. Our registration and ballot laws eliminate hundreds of
thousands of voters; and finally, we bar out everywhere the defective
and criminal classes of our population. We do not realize, sometimes, I
think, how limited the franchise really is, even in America. We forget
that out of nearly ninety million people in the United States, fewer
than fifteen million cast their votes for President in 1908--or about
one in every six.

Thus the practice of a restricted suffrage is very deeply implanted in
our system of government. It is everywhere recognized that even in
a democracy lines must be drawn, and that