The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1900-06-22

4AxG 606SSs
Every democrat should go 10 work
now a do all they can during the
next two months for White supremacy.
Every true white man should take
advantage of YER opportunity to
explain the amendment and correct the
many lies o IL todd by fusion poll
tictans and revenue doodlers-oOxford
Ledger.
Black-and-Tans were willing enough
to disfEanchise every white and black
man in Asheville township for the ben
eft OF Pearson; but they are not will
ling to disfranchise ignorant black
men for the benefit of both whites and
blacks. That is just where the Black
and-Tans differ Sm the national re-
p~ublicans Of this state.-Asheville Cit
izen.
Charity and Children Of last week
says Wake Forest failed to D. d.
anybody this year We hope the other
colleges Of the state Will follow her
example" Very good. The right note
here sounded. There is too much of
this sort of thing. Much Of 1t, We
fear, does not spring from a desire SO
much to honor learning in divinity as
for mercenary consideration.-Lum-
berton Robesonian.
So long b child of tender years are
allowed to work in the cotton mills of
the south, just so long will they be
compelled to work for the support Of
worthless fathers. There may be sew
eral solutions of this matter, but We
believe the best would he to take the
children from the factories and compel
the parents TO support them. To put
a child in a factory at ten a of age
is to rob him of all the pleasures of
childhood and half the joys of life.
and make him an old man before his
time.-Durham Herald.
1t is well known that the republic
cans are making one of the most vigor-
Gus campaigns in the history of the
party in this state-it's a life and
death struggle with the party, for the
franchise of 120. O0O, or three-fourths
of their voters, is in jeopardy There
by hangs a tail" But the success of
the amendment means the betterment
of conditions in the politics of the
state. Are you in favor Of a better
and permanent adjustment of the pol
litical affairs of the state, or do you
want a frequent REPETITION of the scenes
of SO and '9S? Don't forget these
things!-Graham Cleaner.
The opponents Of the amendment
are trying very hard to make capital
out of the section requiring the poll
tax for the year before an election TO
be paid by the first of March of cleo
ton year, as a requirement for voting
Where is the wrong about this? The
poll tax is levied for the benefit of
public schools, and it is right that
every man be required to contribute
his part towards these schools. AL
most all white men pay their poll tax.
But it is a we'll known fact, as every
sheriff will certify, that abount half
the negroes never list their polls and
the most of those who dodge the list
taker also dodge the sheriff. Yet they
are the first men at the ballot box on
election day. The amendment says
they must pay their poll tax as well
as the whites, if they can stand the ed
ucational requirement n desire to
continue voting.-Newton Enterprise.
White men will divide on parties
north, south, east and west; but the
| negroes never do. If the negroes could
be freed from this party dictation, and
would prove themselves capable of
considering questions of state polity
on their merits, and would vote re-
CARELESS of race prejudice on the mer-
it's of questions, and were willing for
other negroes to have freedom OF
choice, to vote with white men If they
wish, and not be condemned by their
own race for so doing, then 1 should
like to see them vote. The privilege
n Importance of wise voting Is OF
far greater worth than many people
think. 1t is patriotism, love Of liberty
and justice, more han ability to read
and write, that qualities any man to
vote.-Elder Gold in Winston Times.
The republican state headquarters
are nominally at Greensboro this year
but they are a ovabl institution and
are really wherever the United States
district court for the western district
Of the state happens to be in session
at Asheville, Statesville, Greensboro or
Charlotte. This week they are at
Charlotte. The revenue horde is in
evidence, n caucuses and confer
ences are of daily and nightly occur
renee. In h days of the fathers it
a scandalous thing for the sitting of
a court of justice to have as an un-
varying accompaniment a political
caucus which is a part of the court,
but we are accustomed to strange
sights under republican administra-
tions and nothing in this line should
surprise us now. 1T is worthy of com
ment, however, that such spectacles
as have been witnessed in Charlotte
this week were never seen when the
conduct of the federal court Of this
district was in democratic hands,
Charlotte Observer.
In Difference to those who feared
that the grandfather" clause might
be declared unconstitutional and the
SuuCdliOIidl ClduSe permitted W StdIIu,
sections four and five are combined,
n a new section added. declaring
the whole suffrage scheme 'indivisi-
ble." This will insure to the support
Of the amendment all those who had
honeSt fears that the amendment, as
originally drafted might result in a
strict educational qualification. In
the original draft, it was provided
that poll tax should not be alien on
assessed property. That is omitted
now, and the objection that through
that provision the school fund would
lose thousands of dollars is removed.
The legislature, as heretofore, can
deal with the method of enforcing the
collection Of poll tax. AS amended,
the constitutional amendment is al
right. There can be no fault found
with it by any man who desires to
eliminate the mass of ignorant negro
voters and at the same time protect
every white man in the exercise of the
right Of suffrage.-Raleigh News-Ob-
server.