The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1900-06-05
IooNoLupEp IRON PAeE 81

NATIVE WHITES DISFRANCHisAD'
mo question has been raised as to
the fairness of the election that Is,
there was no intimidation of voters,
stufing of ballot boxes, or false count
ing of votes, all practices frequent in
the past. The negro was practically
shut out and the white men settled
the affair among themselves. The
result was as follows:
Democrats 6l,l53
White Republicans -,....... 14,058
Old Republicans 1899
Did not vote. 52,1S5
1.-The large number of voters who
do not vote form the element in
doubt that will determine the politi-
caIfuture of the State. Three-fourths
or more of those who stayed away
from the polls, did so because they
did not like any of the three tickets
in the field"
lido not consider that DIS hber-
ties nor my liberties arein danger
from the proposed amendment, but
on the contrary, our liberties will be
made more secure by the cOnstrain-
ing influence of an enlightened and
educated citizenship given to us
largely through the influence of the
amendment. 1t will then be that
our laws are made and their execu-
tors chosen by intelligent people who
are capable to think and act for
themselves and who have the vel
fare and best interests of the country.
at heart.
This, it seems to me should be de
sired by every patriotic citizen, re-
CARELESS of party utilization, race or
color. In support of this I submit
a New Orleans dispatch to the
Washington Post, taken from The
Progressive Farmer of April oath
.sBut while the other factions cut
little figure in the elections, the
really important development has
been within the Democratic party
itself. The change is being caused
by such men as Hugh Cage, Charles
Janvier, and others who have been
leaders in successful independent
movements in the past, but have at
last come to the conclusion that the
reform of the Democratic party
must come from within and not
trough the lash of outside opposition.
The negro having been done away
with asa political factor in the State,
it is now the aim of the Cage-Janvier
element to have honest control of
the party, honest open registration,
and honest elections. Point after
point has been won by this element
of the party since the opening of the
campaign, and Louisiana is measur-
ably nearer a time when she may
hold up her political head in honor
than at any time since re~ConStruc-
ton first debauched the State gov
ernment."
Is not the negro a stumbling block
in politics in North Carolina as he
has been in Louisiana? Has he not
retarded rather than improved po-
itical conditions? Has not his pres
ence in politics had a tendency to
pull down rather than to uplift?
Would not the country, including
the negro race, be in better condition
today if he had never voter? Who is
demanding that he shall continue in
politics as now? Certainly it is not
the negro. Hear what the foremost
negroes in the land say. Booker T.
Washington, today the leadingnegrO
of the South, declares that the negro
should turn his attention away from
politics and toward industries that
build up and develop the country.
Other negroes, leaders in their ranks,
are saying that the negro's field of use
fulness does not lie inpolitics-that
the whites are the recognized leaders
and are born rulers. In many coun-
ties in North Carolina today, the ne
groes are uncOncerned about the
amendment. Then why so much
concern among the whites over the
disfranchisement of the negro, when
nearly all admit that the making
him a voter was the mistake of the
century? If the law says that he is
a voter, the times demands that he
shall be an intelligent voter.
The purpose of the amendment, il
1 understand it, is to elevate and mo-
degrade, to build up and not destroy
L. nrnnnrsnA -A---nn.-- IL