The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1898-11-06

/
the nitiful necessity of choosing whether
we will live under the dominion Of
negroes led by few unprincipled white
| mon. and see the ruin of all that we
! hold dear. or prove ourselves worthy of
the respect of mankind by restoring
! good government at all hazards and ut
every cost. Yet this is the issue and
| the only issue in the pending election.
! There is with the people of Eastern
| North Carolina no question of gold or
$ yer. or tariff or the like, and still less
! any question of mere local and factlonal
notifies. The man who would, even for
| n moment. inject such an issue into the
contest is both Il fool and an enemy of
society.
We are in the presence of a crisis be-
| fore which all such questions sink into
| insignificance. The salvation of society
depends on the outcome of this election
| not the restoration of good government
only. or the protection of property, or
! the reduction of taxation. or of the pubic
expenditures. but all these, together with
! the preservation of peace, and good or
der. and prosperity for all of both races.
/ 10 suppose that under such circum-
stances North Carolinians will fail to
! meet the issue squarey and manfuly
is to attribute to them an imbecility and
Il pusillanimity which they have never.
! i'm the two hundred years of their his
! tory. exhibited, and which would make
! them forever contemplate in the eyes
| of the civilized world.
Are we less intelligent. or less cour-
ageous. or more degraded than the peo-
pie of the other States who have set
tied this question for themselves? What
is the matter with us!
| will tell you. We are afflicted with
an excess of the virtue of forbearance
which. beyond certain point, ceases to
be IL virtue at all, and becomes want
of self-respect. If the people of this
| State, after their great victory in 1870,
had resolved and had acted upon the
resolution that every man who sought
| office Mt the hands of the negroes must
also seek business at their hands, and
find his social relations among them, the
| present state of things could never have
occurred. That is what was done else
| where. and in those localities that spe-
cies of animal is very scarce. I've are in
| this respect as in some others, behind the
| age. but while it is not too late to profit
| by our experience it is too late to use
| that. as a remedy for existing evils. A
4 more heroic remedy should be applied
| now. / DO NOT HESITATE TO
THUS PUBLICLY DECLARE THAT
If A RACE CONFLICT OCCURS IN
NORTH CAROLINA THE VERY
FIRST MEN THAT OUGHT TO BE
HELD TO ACCOUNT ARE THE
/ WHITE LEADERS OF THE Me-
GROES WHO WILL BE CHIEFLY
RESPONSIBLE FOR 1T, AND THE
WORK OUGHT TO BEGIN AT THE
TOP OF THE LIST. | SCORN TO
LEAVE ANY DOUBT AS TO WHOM
/ MEAN By THIS PHASE.
/ MEAN THE GOVERNOR OF THIS
/ STATE, WHO is THE ENGINEER
4 oil ALL THE DEyILTRY AND
Il MEANNESS. / trust that no such duty
will be thrust upon us, but if it is.
trust that it will be rightly and fear
lessly performed. 1t is an abuse OF
/ language for such men to talk about the
freedom of elections and the purity OF
the ballot There never has been any
freedom in the negro's exercise of the
right of suffrage. They have invariably
| voted blindly and solidly as a race
against every interest of the white peo-
pie among whom they live and on whom
they depend for employment.
/ 1t is Il part of their religion to do so,
and wherever there is an exception to
this rule the offender is an object OF
hatred and persecution to them. The
terrorism practiced by them in this re
spect has no parallel in any free country
and yet their leaders talk to them about
peing 'sbull-dozed" by the white people!
The freedom of the ballot, indeed
Look at the election law passed by the
last Iegislaturei There's freedom for
you-so much freedom that any ex-con
Wet, or minor, or nonresident negro who
chooses to swear that he is a qualified
voter can have his name placed on tho
registration books in spite of anything
that anybody can do or say, and if or
the second Saturday before the election
his right to vote is challenged, the chal
lenger is compelled to swear to the par
ticulars, notice must be served at the
chalenger's expense, he must summon
!. his witnesses, at his own expense, the
whole burden of proof is thrown on hin
instead of on the other party, and wheI
) the case is tried (if in this county, there
will be four judges against him out OF
the six who would try the case. How
many challenges can thus be tried in
. one day? There is only one day for all
trials
!; There is absolutely no limit to the
: frauds that can be committed under this
law, and. there is practically no remedy
} whatever. The law under which cleo.
tons have been held for many years
and which guarded against these frauds
was changed in 1895 and 1897 into the
shape in which it now stands and yet
the men who made these changes, and
threw open the doors wide to such out
RACES on the honesty of elections have
howled about frauds and free ballots
and fair counts A holder and more i'm
pudent illustration of the cry of stop
theft" than their conduct in this re
spect displays, has never been seen any
where.
But we are told that there is not
only no negro domination in eastern
Nortn Carolina. but not the slightest
ground for apprehension of such 8
thing, and that it is Democratic liz
out of the whole cloth, which is crcu
lated solely to excite passion and pre-
JUDGE and to carry the election.
; NO danger of negro domination? What
! is meant by negro domination? 1t is as
serted that there is no danger of it be
| fhapa n ca xvhifa ~