The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1889-02-13
The Nations Guarantee.

such a government, and yet the intent
of the Constitution is that each state
shall have government that shall be
actually republican. Does South Caro-
lima possess such government
The negroes of South Carolina form
a majority of the population. They
are confessedly adherents of the re-
publican party. They have more than
100000 men of an age to be voters.
They all would be glad to vote. At
the last election the republican party
was allowed to have 1870 votes
counted. Many of these were cast by
whites. Where were the 10000 negro
republicans whose votes are not re-
corded? They were not allowed to
vote. Their votes were not excluded
by violence, but by law Perhaps here
is bit of hope. If the state law dis
franchises the citizens it may be that
the nation has a call under the Const-
tuition to see that the wrong be righted.
Let us explain how South Carolina
annuls the republican form of govern
ment. This is accomplished by a series
of shrewd laws designed to accomplish
this end, and which have actually re-
fused voting papers to two-thirds of
the republican voters in the state
The first of these is the registration
law. In 1889 a general registration of
the voters was ordered and registra-
ton paper given to each voter which
he must present when he offers his
vote. But while the registration was
going on the opposition was so great to
this law and to the eight-box law, which
is intended to exclude the votes of ne
groes who can not read-an opposition
coming from whites-that the governor
called the legislature together to amend
or repeal the law. Under these cir
cumstances, it being the general opin-
ion that the law would be repealed
thousands neglected to register. The
legislature met and the democrats went
into secret caucus, and remained so uu-
til the time for registry had passed,
when they announced their conclusion
not to change the law. 1t could be
made to work so as to shut out repub-
licans and admit democrats. Will it
he believed that no general registry
has been allowed since that time, and
the voters who then neglected to get
registration papers have never been
allowed to vote all these seven years
since-unless they were democrats?
Shut out thus by an accident, many
thousands of republicans are disfran-
chised for the rest of their lives. Is
this such form of government as the
Constitution provides for?
New voters coming of age may be
registered by the supervisor, There is
but one such officer in each county,
always a democrat. His office is open
the first Monday in each month until
the July (why not October?) before
the election. Here must come any re-
publican who has lost his certificate
or who has changed his residence, for
removal from one shanty to another
vitiates the certificate. The poor voter
comes forty miles to the supervisor.
He is made sole Judge of the proof re-
quired of age, residence or loss of
papers. With negro be is very rigid
and puts the voter TO all the trouble
and expense he can. If the sun sets
before the applicants have been at
tended to they must wait whole
month, though a long line of them
stand at his door. Meanwhile no demo-
cratic applicants are seen. They are
provided for, blank certificates in
abundance being sent to be filled out
at their homes. On the first Monday
in last July hundreds of applicants who
had travelled many miles for their
papers were in every county refused
even chance to prove their claim.
And when the election day comes the
voter must present himself alone at the
polls before demOcractic election
board, no republicans being allowed
to be present as officers or challengers
Here the voter must present his certifi-
cate, if he is a republican; if he be a
democrat he can be sure it will not be
required.
Now comes the eight-box polling law.
Eight boxes are put in the room, into
which the voter must 90 alone. Each
one is superscribed with the name of
the office. The voter must go singly,
and each of his eight tickets must be put
in the right box, or the vote is forfeited.
If he can not read-and twenty thou
sand white voters and sixty thousand
colOred voters can not read-the officers
are forbidden to give the voter any in
formation as to his tickets he must
vote them blindly. If the voters have
learned the order of the boxes the
order is changed If the voter, deter
mined to get one vote at least right,
puts the same ballot in all the boxes,
he is punished for repeating. Mean
while the democratic illiterate voter
may be sure that he will get correct
information.
1t will be seen that government by
the majority is perfectly hopeless in
South Carolina. Worse than Hamburg
massacres, the law provides for sup
pressing free ballot. 1t does this,
first, by refusing registration to voters
second, by an eight-boX law intended
to confuse and mislead illiterate voters
and third, by refusing to allow any but
democrats to act as election officers or
challengers. BY this triple disfran-
chisement, ruthlessly carried out, full
majority of the voters are tied hand
and foot and the free and honest gov
eminent by the people, provided for by
the Constitution, is denied to the peo-
pie of the state. The state of South
Carolina is absolutely stolen from one
party and given to the other. The dis
fro ob;oad ra,Nuhl;conc nf South Caro-