The Opelousas courier. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1852-1910, 1895-11-23
The Suffrage Amendment.


AS we anticipated, the Republican
and negroes in this State are resolved
to make "a big fight against the sutfrag,
amendment, and any ballot box Law
that is calculated to eliminate the ig
norant and vicious paupers from ou
elections. Judge Taylor Beattie an,
Gen. w. j. Behan, two of the chief white
leaders Of the Republican party, have
issued an edict condemning the amend
ment and calling upon the Republicans
to vote against it. Thus we find thai
all the hue and cry of the Republicans
white and black. for free and fair and
honest elections, for the purity of the
ballot box, etc, has been the veriesl
ons', and that all they meant was that
everything with two legs, outside of
ana IgnOlant negro or white vagabUnd
or freshly imported pnuprr or escaped
convict from Europe, shall be permitted
to exercise the franchise in Louisiana
and influence our elections. And there
is another element hostile to the amend
ment, and that is the ward heclers aud
strikers, whose bread and butter is in
politics and who, SO soon AS the fran
chlse is expurgatc'l and corruption ban
lshed from olr elections, will be left
| without IA vocation. Indeed, look where.
we may. it will be found that opposition
to the suffrage amendment and ballot
reform is Inspired by sinister motives
ana emanates from the very elements it
is desired to eliminate from the control
OF our elections.
Indeed, the very strongest argument
IN favor of tie two measures is the hos
| tlllty OF the Republicans, negroes, and
| Ilngsters to them. They are both DEM
ocratic III easureS. The Hmeuiment was
formulated bya committee of Democrats
and submitted to the people by IA Demo
cratic Legislature. 1t is in every sense
Democratic measure. and every Dem
ocrat ought to stand by it. As for the
ballot reform. that Is il muvenentthat
emanated from Democrats of the most
pronounced stripe, and the object of tie
two measures Is that, each suppiemtnt-
ing the other, will give us hunest
elections, it the people are III the least
ut Tor government, means able and
etnclent representatives in both houses
or the Legislature, clean and lncOr-
ruptlble municipal government and
honest and efficient administration OF
the criminal laws.
Under the amendment and sound
ballot law, no man worthy to vote, tit
to exercise the right of Il freeman and
TO walk among men, will be deprived
OF any privilege. A man can never grow
too old to master enough learning to
meet the educational qualification re-
quIred; and any such man, il he does
not take to book larnin'," can in "a few
years accumulate the amount OF pro-
perty required. There are plenty of
men of course who Will never learn to
read, and are too shiftless to save up ii
few hundred dollars; aud we shall be
frank enough to say unequivucally that
1t Is the declared and specific purpose
OF the amendment and Il ballot reform
law to eliminate this class of ignoram-
uses and shiftless human beings from
the polls. They may be men whom for
tune has dealt hardly with but if they
have not pride enough of character, il
they do not sufficiently value the right
OF the franchise toyacure the little etlu-
cation or the little property that will
entltle them to exercise that inestima
BILE privilege and to feel that in their
brogans there stands free American
citizen with the right and duty to take
part III the affairs of his country, the
country has no use for him or for his |
kind ; and none such should be allowed |
to vote to enter an election precinct |
and offset perhaps the best and wisest |
and most patriotic man in the commu-
nifty.
The country wants these laws be- |
cause the country wants to be governed |
by intelligent white men without the |
necessity Of miscounting ballots and
without bulldOziDg. And far more than
the country the city needs these laws
and needs them in their strongest shape;
for, before we can secure an honest and
faithful administration of municipai
affairs, We must get rid of the votes and
the power of the hoodlums, the heel
ers. ignorant negroes and whites, the
ballot box suffers and the fresh impnr-
tatiOns of ignorant criminals from Eu-
rope.
A few days since vessel landed iu
this port with four hundred Italian i'm
migrants on board; it is safe to say
that not one of these can read or write
or speak the English language, or un-
derstands the first principles of our
governmental system; indeed we doubt
II many of them could tell us who is
the President of the United States Aud
yet it is safe to say that that every male
among that four hundred from eighteen
lfears OF age up will vote in our next
Elections. This il but a single case:
and ii it were but a single case the
matter would not be so bad. The in
lection OF four hundred ignorant foreign
votes into our elections would not be
sufficient to debase or measurably in
1uence our elections. But there are
dozens of such cases every year; and if
hat class OF people do not always come
n ship loads they come by tramping or
,n steamboats, or railways, and thus
of them take part, under our
present laws, in our elections, and they
ire in number sufficient to constitute a
tremendous force for evil in our poll
les.
Thus reviewing the whole question, it
S impossible for us to understand how
my class of our good people in the coun-
ry or in the city can antagonize these
measures. The Republicans and the
legroes and perhaps the ignorant Pop
l!ists may very violently oppose them,
because all their hopes of domination,
# power and spoil, are in the numeri-
al strength OF the ignorant, debased
nd criminal classes in our elections.
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