The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1900-03-15

TO REMovK THE NEGRO oRY IRON
POLITICS.
Webster's Weekly, in . recent
editorial, said: ave are tired of the
negro issue; We want it settled upon
. permanent basis" The CAUCASIAN
cheerfully and heartily endorses that
sentiment. The opportunity to raise
the cry OF negro-to raise race pre-
judice and call the attention of the
people from great economic issues,
has been . great stumbling block in
the path of the States progress. 1t
has made it possible for politicians
Of the type Of Mr.. Simmons, who are
without political convictions, or
who, if they have any, are against
the interests of the masses, to forge
to the front On the cry of negro. 1t
was politicians of this kind who
repudiated the advice of Bryan and
Chairman Jones in 1896 to unite the
silver forces and make q large white
mans majority for silver and mono
poly. They knew that if the chance
to cry negro was removed and the
great enomic issues that effect the
welfare and prosperity of the people
were brought to the front, that they
would be relegated to the rear. The
choice with them was between silver
and negro and they selected negro
because it suited their selfish ends
best.
We agree with Webster's Weekly;
we want to see this question settled
and permanently settled. If the
proposed amendment would do that
we would support it. Will it do III
Look at the Louisiana State cam
paign which opened two weeks ago,
where a similar amendment has al
ready been adopted. What is the
only campaign cry raised by the
Machine Democratic leadersi 1t is
Niger! Niger! Niger! The sup
porters of the amendment in Louis
lana promised the people that if
they would adopt this amendment
that they would then stop ballot box
stuflng and enact an honest election
law. Did they do it. No. Their
last legislature made the law worse
and opened new avenues for steal
ing. The election law Is so outrage
Gus that com bination of Democrats,
Populists, and Republicans has been
formed to try to overthrow the ma
chine and enact an honest election
law. All these elements have Joined
in nominating for Governor Donel-
son Gallery, Jr., the son of Senator
Gallery. On the stump, each day,
he is denouncing the election law and
appealing to the people to vote for a
Legislature to repeal it. Do the
Democratic machine politicians at
tempt to answer his argumentsi No.
Their only answer is to cry Niger!
niger! niger!
So it appears from the experience
Of Louisiana that even if the present
amendment were constitutional that
it would not remove the cry of ne
gro. But, in spite of the experience
of Louisiana and in spite of the
many Objectionable features in the
amendment, IL we were not fully
satisfied that section 5 is not only
unconstitutional but that the Court
would knock it out leaving the re-
mainder to stand thus DISTINGUISHING
fifty or sixty thousand white voters
Of North Carolina, We would be
disposed to strain point and sup
port it. If the last legislature had
wanted to acknowledgements the ne
gro as factor in politics they would
have submitted an amendment to
prohibit him from holding office,
which would have been constitution
al. This they were urged to do by
prominent lawyers in their own
party, but they refused.
We are satisfied that it was the
purpose Of the machine leaders of
the last legislature to draft an amend
ment which would result in disfran-
ch,sing these illiterate white voters,
and in the next issue of the CAUCAs-
IAN We will give some of the reasons
that impel US to believe this.