The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1900-08-30
pssp,es pssrr piArFsa.


The Peoples Party Conventioa :
In Raleigh, April lssA.
eAfnrms the principles set forth q ,
he Peoples Party National plat .
orm adopted 1t st. Louis In liza. .
nd instructs the delegates - sAe
Z ationai Convention ut Sioux YSias
day 9Th TO vote for the nomination
II William j. Bryan for President.
We commend the present State
for It's high pea
,onai and Official integrity. and
q comparison Of iss rec
ord with any and oil of its psede-
cessors.
We condemn the Democratic Lsgis-
lature Of 1899 for its extrxvaEaat ex-
of public money amounting /
TO 81 So, 765.76 in 1899, ~ opposed to
81 ass, Still, expended by the proceed
ing Legislature, An excess OF $780,
7s4.65 not including the sum Of $780,
600 for public education nor the sS3, $50 |
for purchase of State farms.
We further condemn said Legisla- |
tnre for che careless laundering and
careless legislation, including more
gross plumbers and unc0nstits9ional
laws than ever before enacted BY any
General Assembly in North Carolina.
We further denouuce the machine
leaders of the Democratic party for
laying the whip On the backs Of the
Democratic Legislature and forcing
them into enacting and submitting q
disfrshchising constitutional amend
ment in violation Of the solemn
pledges of the party, made not only
officially in their campaign handbook
hut by members Of the General Assem-
bly, and other Democratic candidates
for Office in their canvass before the
people. We denounce them mos only
for doing this in violation Of their
pledges, but also for submits ng mea-
sure most odious in form and danger
GUS in effect. That General Assembly
being composed of some of the best
lawyers OF the party. must have
known, or 1T least had : reasonable
doubt, not only as to the uncOnstitu-
tionality Of the monstrous provision of
Section s, known as the grandfather
clause" in said amendment, but also
of the great danger of that unconstitu.
tiOnal sectional section falling, leav-
ing the remainder of the amendment
to stand, thus DISTINGUISHING by an ed
| ucatiOnal qualification atty or sixty
thousand white voters of North Caro-
lima, who in 1898 gave the Democratic
party power In the Legislature, and
whose ignorance is no fault of their
own but is chargeable to the neglect OF
| the Dem ocratic party, which now seeks
| to disfranchise them and make their
| ignorance q crime alongside that OF
the felon.
But even if the proposed amendment
were not unconstitutional Gas it clear
~ isl, still it is especially objection.
able in the following particulars:
(a) In that it dignifies with the right
of suffrage the most vicious, trouble.
some and obnoxious class c. the negro
population, and completely disfran
chises the most faithful, kindly and or
derby element of that race.
{b) In that,w clamoring for whit
supremacy and declaring that no whit
man shall be disfranchised under thi
amendment, they have SO written thei
amendment that every white boy be
coming of age after 1908 stands on tn
same footing with the negro, and Cal
not vote unless he is able to read an
write.
=. (c) In that by the latter provision
they have made it possible for the ed
$ ucated negro after 1908 to cast his bal
A lot while the unfortunate son of tn
\ white men who have been the strengt
of true democracy stands without
vote at the ballot box. They slaughte
= the suffrage of the son whose fathe
f they dare not openly attack.
n (d) In that this suffrage amend
ment does not remove the negro frol
politics or settle the negro question i
: North Carolina.
J. (e) In that every voter who has NJ
n paid his poll tax as much as f1v
. months before the State election an
eight months before the national elet
g ton, shall be disfranchised as much .
O if he were convicted of felony or wei
: an ignorant negro. The purpose {
this provision is not only to disfrar
chise every good honest citizen VIII
II unfortunately cannot pay his taxes b
n the first of March preceding the ele'
o tion, but further to try to bride the VI
:, ter to surrender his suffrage at the g,
u pense Of the public school fund of til
e State, which is derived from poll take
d There Turks behind this proposition
Q still greater danger to the publ
schools of the State, for with the adoT
ton of the amendment the opponent
# at once raise the cry that every dolls
:, increase Of the number of negro VI
u tiers, and thus the poor white man
3 son will be chained in bondage of If
O norance and disfranchised to preveI
the education of the negro vote
There is no white supremacy In this.
The constitutional question pre
: sented by the proposed amendment
: one that must be determined by til
h judgment and conscience of each ind
;. vidual voter. Therefore, we do NJ
make it party question. We state til
: evils and dangers and leave the voter
e Of all parties to pass their verdict i
o the light Of these facts. The questio
is above party, and no one should b
: more active and anxious in our judf
e ment to defeat it than the rank an
e die Of the Democratic party.
fl The Peoples Party is and has alway
been more distinctly than any othf
J. party in North Carolina q white man
!. party, and is more anxious than an
f other party to solve the race problem
f and to force oil parties to 4 diseusslo
of the great economic issues so vital
10 affecting the welfare of all wealth Or.
3, ducers Of the State and nation and d,
# cency in politics.
el Therefore, we propose in lieu of tn
dangerous amendment, the best sol,
> ton Of the race question that is poss
y bic IS long as the 18th amendment
is the Constitution of the United Stat,
j. stands solution which deprives 4
white man in North Carolina now
hereafter of his right of suffrage, t,
wit.
n Amend Section 6, Art. s, of the Col
/ stitution of North Carolina by inser
. ing among the disqualidcation (,
Office, enumerated therein, the follow
= ing, viz: ALI negroes and all. person
n Of negro descent to the third 9ener,
d ton inclusive.
Va II the Democratic Legislature whie
:, meets in June will offer this safe, col
- stituti0nal and wholesome amendmel
inilieu of the present scheme it wi
have our hearty support. If they wi
| MT -o ~nn0al tr the v.n4~1~ 3. IT. 4