Henry Williams, a negro, was indicted for murder in Washington 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 repugnant to the Constitution of the United States and of the 14th amendment. It was a direct attack on the franchise clause creating electors and raised a Federal question which enabled Williams to carry the case to the Supreme Court of the United States. Williams 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 delivered the opinion. The question presented to the court was, "Are the Provisions of the Constitution of the State of Mississippi 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 conditions is always slow. It requires generations to make changes for good or evil. It must be remembered 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 separation 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.
The second settled conviction is that the negro will never again be allowed to control the public affairs of a single Southern 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. Longino, in his inaugural address, says upon this subject: