The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1895-03-13
Fowler on the Fraud.

Godfrey B. FoT!er, Of Union Coun-
ty, has been a s;slvart Reformev, but
he has !asteely shown sigos OF rebeliion
Iodeed, he has kicked completely out
of harness CO tae proposition 70 adopt
a Constitution without referring it back
TO the people. ard IL q letter 20 the
GreenviUe Ne.cs is seating il his criii-
c;sm Of recent occurrences. He con-
cluaes his rstaerjuicy commuDlca;loa
as follows:
Well, when that oct calling for
a convention was passed By the
Legislature. was that net al that
the committee Ga platform, ap-
pointed by the convention of March
9th, bad asked FOR. Tie people
voted on il and the vote showed clear
~ tia, the sentiment Of the reformers
was against it. If there is any doubt
as to the correctness Of the assertion [
,hink it will De aispeiled when we think
of the small majority that carried II as
compared with the ma jority OF the votes
cast for Evans for Governor.
am not anxioas to spread my opin-
ions as to the fairness Of the elections
and the count but | am anxious to pro-
auce all the proof that | can to sho~
that the convention plank 10 the March
platform. vas only to give tee people a
chance to vote on the matter without
encouragement 10 vote yes or 10, aud
20 show that the seatimeus OF TIE people
(Reformers, if you please) was against
It. If T;llman had tried to defeat the
convention as hard rs be tried 10 carry
it, tue majority would have been four
times larger against it than it was for
it. Agair. 20 the count: When We
consider that tnere were none but
YES" tickets issued oy the executive
committee aud the mo" ticket voters
were put to the trouble Of get
ting their own tickets aud then com
ing 50 near vo;iug.down the scheme, we
must reasonably conclude that the senti-
neu, of the majority was against the
convention. Again, When we consider
the count, coupled with the yes tick
ct scheme, throws light 90 the matter
so that the average nina ear come to
lis own c~onclusiou. | don't say that
there was q wrong count. but haze
reason to believe that the yes" tick
cts were q choice ticket with tie COM
mi;tee and believe they were al!
couosed-I dou't believe one Of them
got away. As to the count Of the no
tickets, they may have bid some
Of them, but ,hink net, though when
they counted | don't think they count
ed The tail Of the coon Govt kuow
where I:by's opnossum was).
/ fully agree with Senator lr53 When
be says the poo. white men 10 this
State are safe under such arrangements
and demands as were agreed upon by
the Tiiiuaa aud Ba-nwell party.
I desire to call attention. 20 pledge
~ on the suffrage question. They,
YHlma1 ard Barnwe!l. pledge to a
qualification Of suffrage as will guar
aniee white supremacy, AID that 10
wbi.e mau shall De 9isfranchished ex-
ccps for crime.
T,{aere IS bu: one construction for
thar pleGge. Tie mosi humble voter
knows that it meaos simply this, that
eve.y nan, both white aod cclored, can
vote one ballot; then IL addition,
every voter woaid be allowed an ad-
d.;loD&i vote, according 70 The property
Gc owns. To illustrate The poor
maa viii be allowed one vote, and one
vote extra for every five hundred
dollars worth Of property be owns If
be las only five hundred dollars he
would have two votes The rnan that
Is worth one thousand Ave hundred
dollars would vote four ballots. Now
what chance would the poor man have
under such 2 law?
Another way TO defeat the poor man
and yet let him vote could be done by
letting the poor man vote, but not let
him bold Office or sit on a jury unless
he owned a certain amount of property.
That could be worked and yet every
man could vote, but | call that a