davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-08-24

condition of servitude, or may be the
characteristic Of a particular race. The
fact that the discrimination is on ac-
count Of ignorance, whatever the cause
Of it's existence, and not on account
of color, race or previous condition or
servitude, prevents it being In conflict
with the Federal Constitution.
The uneducated man who could not
vote in 1867, or at any time prior there
to, and who is not descended from an
ancestry Of voters, has not the qualifi-
cation by education or inheritance that
entities him to vote, or enables him to
vote wisely and well, or to be a desira-
BILE factor in politics.
A government is safe in the hands
Of its citizens if they possess three
law. -. j. JUSTICE.
qualifications:
list. A goodness that causes them to
desire the greatest blessings to the
greatest numbers.
ID. An intelligence that enables them
to understand what is for the best i'm
terest of the whole people and the best
means of obtaining it.
Sd. A conservatism and thoughtful
ness that prevents rashness which may
lead to revolution.
These qualifications may be obtained
by education. They surely can be and
are obtained by long experience, and
cast by descent from father to son.
There is no doubt of my last PROPOSE
ton.
The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-08-24
THE B ST FRIEND or THE NEGRO.

Extract from a letter of Gen A. ID.
Cowles,. leading Republican of Iredeu
county, speaking of the adoption of
the amendment, says:
'"rhe Republican party has all to gain
and nothing to lose. From 1876 To
1894 every election year it hurled its
Serried ranks against the inyincible
lhalanx of the Democratic party. It's
struggles were heroic, but useless BY
combining with the Populists in 1894
the Democrats We're overthrown, but
now the last condition Of the Republi-
can party is worse than the first. This
is the beginning of an honest effort to
solve by legal and peaceful methods
the most momentous question now be-
fore the people OF the State, and under
the guidance of kind Providence that
has so singularly preserved the South
through all its vicisSitudes i'm the past
| hope every endeayor in that direction
may have the blessing of God and lead
to completion Of a perplexing prob
lem. The success of the amendment
Will surely be a harbinger of goodwill
between the races and usher in a better
day for all of our people.
This is a measure justified on the
highest grounds with the Chinese exclu-
sion act. These Acknowledged gentle
children of the fiowery kingdom were
not desidable citizens as they came
here with the animus revertendi. ANAL
gamation was ineXpedient and elevation
impossible. They degraded manhood
and decreased the scale of American
labor. The great West prayed for re-
lief; the prayer was answered and
nation with a literature as old rs the
pyramids and a sublime code of morals
was shut out. Was it right? The
World says it was, for public policy de.
manded it. The ignorant negro de-
grades the franchise and decreases the
same high ground of public policy.s 1t
is against public policy to commit muir
der; therefore the criminal forfeits his
life. 1t is against it to steal; the thief
is deprived of his liberty. And IL is
against public policy for the ignorant
negro to vote, therefore suspend him"
The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-08-24
NO PROPOSITION TO ABRIDGE A
WHITE MANS RIGHTS WOULD
HAVE BEEN TOLERATED.
LAW WILL PREVENT ELECTION SCANDALS
The Pendulum Has Swung Back and The
Tendency Of the Count is TO go to The
Utmost Limit in Restricting
The Suffrage Of The
Ignorant.
Ignorant.

The Legislature of 1899, in all It did,
was inspired by a sincere desire to adj
vance the interests of North Carolina,
and bring the blessings of peace and
prosperity to all her people.
1t is remarkable that the individual
opinions Of the Democratic members
Of the Legislature on the many impor-
tant matters presented for considera-
ton and solution could have been har-
monized, and agreements reached, in
the sixty days that the General ASSEM-
bly, was in session. The work # the
body would have been great and the
results of very great benefit if tore
had been nothing done but the repeaI
Of the unwise and unwholesome laws
enacted in 1895 and 1897 and the leg
islation necessary to carry on business
and meet the important demands of
the States progress and growth III
other ways than political.
This was all done. and nothing was
left undone that was possible of ac-
The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-08-24

ed, a republic i'll which all men should
have an equal right to life, liberty and
the pursuit Of happiness; and to the
achievement of this ideal they pledged
their lives, their fortunes and their
sacred honor. But the wisdom of our
fathers also recognized the fact that the
highest and most mature product of the
ages in form of government could only
stand on the sure foundation of oeo-
pie, themselves the highest product of
the agesa people who after two thou
sand years spent in the struggle for lib
erty had, in fitness for popular govern
ment, come of age; and while the faith
ers of our nation, in the Declaration Of
independence, kept always before them
the noble political ideal of the eighteenth
century as the ultimate goal of their
hopes, they yet tempered it with sturdy
Anglo-Saxon common sense, and IN it's
practical application in the Constitu-
tion of the United States declared that
before man may control and govern the
life and liberty of others he must prove
his fitness for the task. On this foun-
dation the nation was built and on this
foundation it has grown to be the great
est and freest Of all countries in his
tory, the hope and guiding star of the
common people of the world.
Once only has this general policy OF
the founders Of the Republic been de-
parted from At the close of the civil
war, as measure of political retalla-
ton, the dangerous experiment was made
of indiseriminately enfranehising the
negroes who had only just emerged from
slavery. The experiment of dividing
the power between the man and the
child could only end in one way; and II
is the Judgment of most thinking men,
North and South, who have studied the
question at first hand, that while there
are here and there brilliant exceptions,
the granting OF the franchise to the great
mass of negroes, immature as they are,
was a mistake 1t is to rectify this mis-
take and place the franchise upon Il
rational, stable basis, that the above
constitutional amendment has been pro-
posed by the Legislature of North Caro-
lima and will be submitted to the peo-
ple for their ratification in August, 1900.
The work Of the Legislature has been
wisely done. A reasonable educational
qualification for voters has been taken
as the general standard Yet on the 9th
ef naflu III HIS Dctli IttoStiiINh tiitit ~ =
not the only practical test of a voters
fitness. We must remember that our
forefathers who wrenched Magma
Charta, the great palladium of popular
rights, from an unwilling king, could not
even sign their own names to that I'M
mortal document. But who shall say
they were not fitted for their task! Fof
this reason the Anglo-Saxon heredity OF
a thousand years of popular rights in
England, followed by the heredity Of A
century Of popular government In
America, has been accepted as sui
The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-08-24

fraudulent administration of the cleo
ton laws.
within the limits and under the re-
strictions of the Federal Constitution"
we accomplished the desired end in a
perfectly frank and honest way.
THE OBJECT ACCOMPLISHED.
The sections of the proposed amend
ment effecting this result are the 4th
and 9th.
(These sections will be found in the
amendment printed on another page9
WHO CAN VOTE?
Under these sections two classes of
persons can vote, if they possess the
usual qualifications of voters
i. Those who could not vote and
whose ancestors could not vote on
January list, 1867, or prior thereto, only
in case they possess the educational
qualifications required in section z.
Those who could vote, or whose an
cestors could vote on January /, 1867.
or at any time prior thereto, and it is
not required chat they should possess
the educational quahAcations required
in section 4.
This last mentioned class of persons
may register ut any time after the
amendment goes into effect and prior
q December, 1908.
The General Assembly at its next
session after the adoption of the amend
ment, win provide for a method OF
registration, and by the provision of sec
ton there is required to be legislation
prescribing the method Of preserving
nermanentIy the list of those registering
under said section. and being once reg
istered under its provisions they can con-
tinue to vote at any election without
again registering.
NOT UNCONSTITUTIONAL
I assert with perfect confidence that
the proposed amendment the material
uarts of which are above quoted, is
NOT in conflict with the provisions OF
the Constitution of the United States.
and it can he defended in law and IS
sound in principle.
Section / OF the Fifteenth Amend
ment to the Constitution of the United
States provides: That 'the right OF
citizens of the United States to vote
shall not be denied or abridged by the
United States, or by any State, on
account of race. color or previous con
dtion of seryitude."
The discrimination in the proposed
amendment in favor of the voter and
the descendants of the men who could
vote ON January /, 1867, or at any
time prior thereto, is not against the
negro on account of race, color or pre-
yious condition of servitude; but it is
against Il lack of knowledge of how to
vote and an incapacity to govern him
self and east his vote intelligently.
This ignorance and incapaeity is not
less dangerous to the government that
it may have been caused by a previous
The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-08-24

race prejudices, but he behaves himself
in matters pertaining to affairs OF gov
eminent as one who is a wayfarer and 4
time-seryer.
He is a tyrant when he gets the
power. Let one of his race break loose
from the body of the negroes in COM
mllnity in matters OF church or Stale.
of politics or religion, and the whole race
is down on him. He is ostracised and
taunted and ridiculed and abused, and
often personal violence offered him, so
that If he is not pretty game negro
the offenSe is not repeated. You tell q
white man, whether he can read and
write or not the martial law is about to
be dclared, that the writ of habeas cor
pus is about to be suspended, that the lib
critics of the citizens are about to be
encroached, and You at once stir hls re-
sentiment and awaken his opposition.
lie negro knows nothing and cares
nothing about it, unless you make hlm
fear for the preferment of, his race.
What / have written is the theory os
the subject; practical view. Now what
practical lessons are there in history To
be learned in this matter.
/. That no white man ought to be
DISTINGUISHED whether he can read and
write or not, because his blood, his ma
tivity, his education, his environments,
his family and social surroundings all
tend to make him an intelligent elector.
2 That no political party that has the
solid negro vote on it's side can succeed.
The ignorance, the arrogance of ighoi-
ance, of the body of the negro vote Is IL
menace and insult to intelligence, and pa
triotism and the white people
of no country, can long toler-
ate it. 1t has been the one
thing that has kept the Republican party
in the Souti from advocating the princl-
pies of that PARTY in a way to appeal
alone to the intelligence of the peoI IL.
), heneyer the Republican party obtains
control of the State, the negro influence
takes possession of the Republican nar~
ty, and then the reign of terror and APP
prehension fellows for little while, and
the white people rise and take charge OF
the government. The Republican party
with the negro in the majority has been
in charge of affairs in North Carolina
on two occasions and each time the
peace, safety and quiet of the State was
threatened: the law was detied, the wo
men and children put in jeopardy, and
a reign of dishonor, terror and outlawrg
inaugurated that no good citizen wants
to see repeated.
Heretofore whenever the Republican
party was in power the negroes dominat
ed that party and the negro influence con
= trolled the State in spite of the better
element of the party. Cities and towns
Of Eastern North Carolina attest the
truth of this statement The perilOus
days Of 1S6S-69 and 1S9G-98 ought to he
lesson to the people of this State and
should warn them against allowing such
The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-08-24

a state of affairs again to exist.
The constitutional amendment will not
disfranchise a single white man, but VII
eliminate the illiterate negro vote slnd
thus relieve the State of the danger Of
negro domination. With both political
parties under the. control of the peup,e,
we would feel safer.
To the white people Of the State TIA"
amendment that is proposed for their
ratification offers an opportunity for re-
lieving the State of any possibility CT
negro domination. Will white men rnrii
their backs on the State and the Anglo
Saxon race? We shall see. No white
man can be DISTINGUISHED by the amend
ment. They have been carefully guari-
ed. Let them register before 1908 AMI
they can vote for all time whether they
can read and write or not.
III. NJ. JUSTICE.
The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-08-24
EXERCISED GOOD SENSE
THE EFFECT OF THE AMEND
MENT ON POPULAR GOVERN
MENT CONSIDERED.
NEGRO SUFFRAGE POLITICAL RETALIATION
The Amendment VIII Rectfy that Mistake and
Place the Franchise on Rational,
Stable Basis.
To the Editor:

To the Editor:
When our fathers founded the Ameri-
can Republic they consciously and pur-
posely excluded, DISTINGUISHED if you
will, certain large classes of the popu-
lation. They did not give vote to the
great body of wild Indians within their
borders. They did not ask the large
body of negro slaves, just emerging from
the sayagery of Africa, to share in the
work of founding the nation. Most sig
niicant of all, they even excluded all
men of the Anglo-Saxon race. bone of
their bone and flesh of their flesh, until
they reached the age of twenty-one years.
The fathers of our Republic feryently
believed that the highest ideal of gov
eminent was democratic government
founded upon the consent of the govern
The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-08-24
SOME PRACTICAL LESSONS
SUGGESTED TO HON. NJ. Fl. JUS
TICE BY THE CONSTITUTION
AL AMENDMENT.
THE NEGRO IN POWER is A TR YAM
The Constitutional Amendment Will Not is
franchise Single White Man But
viii Eliminate the llterate
Negro Voter.

To the Editor: Whatever of sentiment
or of love for human freedoms and man
hood suffrage may have prompted the TN
iyersal enfranchisement of the negroes OF
tue Southern States, the experiment mas
proyen to be a failure. There is vast
difference between an ignorant, llhterate
negro and an ilEterate white man as re-
spects the qualification for exercising the
rights. powers and duties of citizenship
and in the qualities of self-goyernment.
The white men of North Carolina, re-
gardless of educational qualifications.
have sprung from race accustomed 70
govern. Each one of them was brought
up in a family, and in social circle
where love of country, love of home.
pure patriotism, the rights and duties OF
the citizen are frequent topics OF CONVEX
sation. where these sentiments grow up
in the minds and hearts of the family as
they grow; where the love of order
and respect for law Intervene into the
fibre of their nature; where the worship
of the heroes of our institutions tends TO
keep alive this love of country; where
the good old fashion of naming the chii-
dren for our own great men of the past
tends to keep up the history of the coun-
try. All these traditions, the daily tutel-
age of the white mothers, the constant
contact with the things that pertain to
government, the heredity of country, the
Anglo Saxon blood and a hundred ether
environments and circumstances, go to
make of the white man capable and in
telligent voter, whether he can read and
write or not.
The more culture and proper education
he has. the better. of course Not SO
with the illiterate negro. He has no ira
ditions. He is inferior, naturally. He
has no patriotism. He cares but little
for his home and he has absolutely no
ambition for his children. He has strong
The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-08-24
THE NEWS OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES CENTURY STATE EDITION

complishment tending to remove dis
honest, corrupt and incompetent men
from official positions of trust and re-
sponsibility. 1t is very gratifying to
know the people approve all that has
been done.
No scandal has attached to any of
the labors of the session and the re-
suits can be defended.
THE IMPORTANT PROBLEM.
The most important matter demand
ing consideration, and the one IN
which | was most interested, was how
to secure to North Carolina for the
coming years freedom from negro rule
and the elimination of the negro from
politics, and thereby securing to North
Carolina the honest, pure and business
like administration of county, town and
city governments that the Democratic
party has ever given and the white peo-
ple can always be trusted to give.
This could be done only by making
some change III Our constitution upon
the suffrage question. Realizing the inn
portance this matter of the most thor
ough consideration, committee on con-
stitutional amendments was appointed
in both branches of the Legislature, and
it became the duty of these committees
to suggest the remedy. Having been
n member of the House committee |
am familiar with the opinions of the
members on the subject and am CONVEX
SAINT with the history of the work re-
sulting in the submission to the people
of the proposed amendment which Will
be voted on i'll August, 1900.
THE TWO ELEMENTS OF THE
PROBLEM.
In aproacIling the consideration of
our duties. it was the unanimous opin-
ion of the Democratic members OF the
Legislature that our party was sol
EMMY pledged to preserve inviolate
the right of every native white man to
vote. and there was not Democrat
in either branch of the General Assem-
bly, who would have tolerated for Il
moment a proposition which abridged
or interfered with this right.
There was very nearly a unanimous
opinion among the members of the
party in the majority that there were
in North Carolina about hundred
thousand negroes to whom the right to
vote had been unwisely given, and that
their voting ieopardized the interests
of the State, and that they should no
longer be allowed the unrestricted right
of suffrage.
PREVENTING ELECTION SCAN
DAI4S.
These two things were accomplished,
and no dishonest provision was writ
ten into our law. 1t was done without
encouraging dishonesty or opening a
door to fraud in elections.
For the sake of the morals of the
present and future generations, we left
out of the organic law the under
standing clause" of the Mississippi and
South Carolina constitutions, and all
other provisions which would create the
necessity or give the opportunity for
The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-08-24
FOR THE SAKE OF FUN MIS-
CHIEF is DONE"

A vast amount Of mischief is done,
too, because people neglect to keep their
blood pure. The mischief appears In
eruptions, dyspepsia. Indigestion. ner-
yousneSs, kidney diseases, and other
ailments. This mischief, fortunately.
may be undone by the faithful use of
Hoods Sarsaparilla, which cures all
diseases originating in or promoted by
impure blood.
Hoods Pills cure all liver ills. Non
irritating.
The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-08-24
OUR WHITES QUALIFIED BY Ma
TURE.


TURE
The white people of North Carolina
whose ancestors fought in the Ameri-
can Revolution for the freedom we
now enjoy and who have, since that
time, by their own good sense, consid-
cred every public question that has
arisen, and solved it wisely; who have
selected their officers with a view TO
getting the best men-have acquired
these qualifications to govern and have
handed them down to their children
after them, to the educated and unedu-
Gated alike.
The people of North Carolina are to-
day in the very front in patriotism,
and conservatism, though they are be-
hind all the other States I'm the Union
in education.
The uneducated white men, as a
class, are better qualified TO vote than
the educated negro, as a class. 1t is
condition which we must all recog-
nize, and of which every thoughtful
man may find more than one example
in his own neighborhood.
1t is then this capacity and ability
of the uneducated white man who is
not foreigner and whose ancestors
voted prior to 1867 that section ) is
intended to give the State the bene-
fit of.
The Supreme Court of the United
States must, therefore, recognize this
distinction based upon principle if the
question is ever presented to it.
1t exists, and the Republican Office
holders and office-seekers who wish to
burden the people of North Carolina
with a constant struggle 10 prevent
negro domination, by opposing the
amendment, and declare the United
States Supreme Court will NOT recog
nize the distinction, thereby class the
intelligent white man with the ignorant
negro, and by such an argument they
insult every white man they appeal
to.
The San Francisco call., 1899-10-25
Dried Fruit in NeaU York.
The New York Commercial says:

The New York Commercial says:
Warm weather partially checked the de-
mand for dried fruits, and while business Is
still practically unchanged, inquiry is not quite
as strong and prices are q trihe less stiff on
some varieties For the bulk Of dried fruits
there is a fair demand, principally from small
buyers and distributors. Seldom are larger
than three CARROTS sold, but the number Of
small orders Is relatively satisfactory and ag-
gregates a fair volume Of business in the
course Of week. Prices not quotably
different. but a whole the summer weather
has lowered the tone Of the market and makes
holders q little less sure.
''Prunes continue firm and practically IN
changed, but the feeling is not sure as II
temperature would increase demand and send
prices UP, where now they remain only steady.
The supply is about the same as previously re-
ported, according 10 the most recent advices,
and holders anticipating some high prices
in the near future. Late news from Europe in
dicates that the crop there will be fully as
short as earlier reports made il out TO be, and
an enlarged demand from the other side is
expected later. At present buyers are only
satisfying immediate wants. and holders ep-
pear rather Indifferent.
The raisin situation is unchanged. Refer
ence to the price current shows how high all
varieties this season. This probably has
its influence IN keeping down the size OF in
divi6ual sales, but consumers must have rails
ms and despite some reluctance they will
eventually pay the price. The recent arrival Of
Valencias was practically all sold before they
left. but on the whole the shipment was nearly
ebs I'D