The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1876-04-15
North Carolina Politics.

1He OeluOcrdlS perSlStenGly claim Lne en-
tire electoral vote Of the South for the st.
Louis candidate. For this claim there APP
pears to be little reason. Neither of the
Carolinas can be reckoned for the Democ-
racy. A correspondent of the New York
Times, writing from North Carolina, has
little doubt that North Carolina will cast her
electoral vote for the Republican candidate.
The parties there are nearly equal in strength.
But the Democrats have alienated many voters
by their proposed constitutional amendments.
In North Carolina party lines are not strictly
drawn. There are not two hundred Gear
pet-bag" voters in the state, upwards of thirty
thousand white men vote the Republican
ticket, and all the prominent Republican
leaders are natives of the state, some of them
being ex-Confederate officers. The proposed
constitutional amendments are thirty-two
in number, and make the most radical
changes in the existing system of state gov
ernment. Two of these excite special oppo-
sition. One requires that man shall live
twelve months in the state, and for the ninety
days before election in one county, or be de-
prived of the right to vote. This amendment
is meant to disfranchise the majority of me-
groes in the state. Since the war the col
ored men have congregated in large numbers
in the cities and towns, in them they have
established their homes and their wives and
children, but as the seasons are dull or work
is scarce, they wander off into the country
districts to find living, always returning,
however, to vote on election day. 1t is
simply impossible for these men to live for
the ninety days next preceding the Sd of No
vember in any one county. The Democrats
knew this, hence the proposed amendment.
But now it turns out that the white men
VINO work in the tar and turpentine districts,
and many of them are Democrats, are quite
as much affected by this contemplated change
as are the negroes; they too, are obliged to
60 from county to county to find work dur
ing the summer mouths; they, in common
with the colored men, would thus lose their
votes, and naturally they are now indignant
at the party which proposes to deprive them
of their rights. Another proposed amend
ment which is strongly objected to by both
parties takes from the people the right to
elect their Justices of the Peace and other
inferior officers and places That power in the
hands of the Legislature. Under the exist
ing apportionment of the state the Demo-
Gratis are always sure of a majority in the
General Assembly, and, knowing this, they
intended by the passage of the amendment to
tab frny,o oil tho md Ponnhl;oon lie 4
tricts the choice of these minor officers.
Two laws passed by the Democratic legis-
lature also provoke much opposition. These
are the Landlord and Tenant act," and the
"Usury law" The latter provides that it
shall be unlawful to demand or receive in
North Carolina higher rate of interest than
eight per cent. The passage OF this law has
had the effect of inducing capitalists 10 take
their money out of the State and invest it in
South Carolina and Virginia. Numerous
small landowners and business men have be-
come bankrupt in consequence, and naturally
they are not very friendly to the party that
has caused their ruin. The so-called Land
lord and Tenant act provides that man rent
ing ground or working on "the share sys-
tem," which has been already fully explained
in these columns, shall not be allowed to sell
or dispose of any of the product of the land
until he has paid every cent Of his rent and
other debts, or received permission to sell
from the landlord. This virtually makes
slave of every small farmer, black and white,
in the State, for it is only by disposing of
their cotton and other late crops that they
can raise money to pay their rent, and until
they have done so, they are not allowed to
remove peck of peas or head of cabbage
from their farm.
With all these measures initiating against
the Democrats the Republicans have good
hopes of carrying the State, and have no
doubt of their ability to do so should the ma
tional convention nominate strong candi-
date for the presidency. The prevailing SEN
timent is for Mr.. Blaine, though Messrs.
Bristow and Hayes are favorably thought of.
The delegation is however, unpledged.