The Atlanta constitution., 1900-07-30
REVIEW OF SITUATION IN NORTH CAROLINA
Feelings People Fever Heat Contest for White
Supremacy--Eveythng Points Overwhelming Amendment
and Democratic Victory-Troube May Come.
By Jos: 0h1.


On. outstde world there have come from
.,m. 10 time during the past few weeks
.arue ruuors of interesting happening
x.,,oral conventions and the movements
of national politicians. murders and riots
and other like events. and even talk OF
war In the orient-but here I'm North
Carolina these rumors have fallen upon
ears deaf and senses deadened TO all
minor things A people who are them-
selves engaged in n life and death strug-
Gle have little time to think OF what Is
roius on with other people In other parts
~ the world: and In comparison with the
struggle for white supremacy which Is
rsud,nr this state from its center TO It's
circumference. nothing else counts
There is talk of nothing else. thought
Of nothing else The papers are fuii OF
the campaign TO the absolute exclusion
OF other news interesting to the rest OF
che world. Even baseball Is dismissed
with a few lines each day. and there Is
reaI interest in at least four OF these
North Carolina cities over the national
game. because four good teams are strug-
Cling for the state championship When
baseball Is overlooked. something else Is
certainly doing
From one end OF the state to the other.
women and children Is the campaign
which will eliminate in the election OF
rext Thursday II has been the liveliest.
,he most heated campaign In the history
of the old North State. Readers OF The
Constitution are thoroughly familiar with
the excitement incident to the bitter fight
of two years ago. when on all sides IL was
acknowledged that even the struggle to
reclaim the state in the DAYS OF recon-
strrcti0n was not So bitter But this one
has ecIfpSef even the campaign OF esS:
and as the day Of election draws near. the
interest hrs reached the fever point
Possibility of Serious Trouble.
Go great Is the tension. so terribly In
earnest are the intelligent white people
IN their determination to eliminate for all
time the existing menace to their peace
and uroSrerity that the state will be for
tunate indeed II election day comes ana
masses without some outburst or n very
serious nature. Democrats realize the
danger. and from every stump and IN
every newspaper they are preaching not
fir-nncss alone bu- moderation
ACT within the law" says Candidate
Aycock in his speeches 90 his enthusias-
tic followers. And the advice seems nee
eSsary From the eastern part or the
state where the possibility Of negro domi-
nation hangs heaviest upon the people.
come rumors of possible trouble should
Senator Marion Butler OF any Of his i'm
ported campaign orators put In an ap-
pearnnee 20 preach their doctrines Par
tirrlI1rIy bitter are the threats made
agafnst Senator Butler. the populist
leader. who I'm a sense Is bearing the brunt
of the anti-amsnIment campaign Were
he 10 apuear at Wilmington or Tarboro or
other eastern North Carolina cities. the
conservative democratic leaders would
T. ~Frrr- rhszf-
followers doing bodily harm. There is no
Intention Of doing Illegal acts. hut the
caunafcu has reached the stage in some
sections where there is danger Of personal
vengeance 20 this man who Is making the
fight OF his life for his own political exist
encc.
as much in evidence now as II was in the
6avS before and after the wilmington
riots This movement. at first purely
local to some Of the eastern counties. has
become general. and the Significance OF
these bodies II red shirted democrats Is
not lost sight ~ by those whom they are
intended IN impress. There has been no
lawlessness and little in the way ot
threatening from any save few or the
lsoas-sr1I htI, their enemies fully realize
that the vve1rers ~ the rcd shirts are
inspired with tho determination that the
state shall declare for the cause which
alone can assure peace and Guiet In the
future IN their presence there must nc
none nf the rabid Characterization oS dem
orrats as ''thug.s'' nr "thievcs' or mur-
dCrers'' in which auti-amendment orators
are reported as induising when they get
ont IN the barkwocsis- Negroes have been
heard making wholesale threats against
the property and the lives 81 whites I'm
snn1s of ths heavily negro counties. The
red shirts ~ a dozen counties stand ready
% rush 10 tho ali ~ their brethren should
any such outbreaks occur. ana the negroes
know Il In the aggregate. these red
shirts have not been particularly active
or aggressive because they have not had
10 be-
But the danger of serious trouble has
not passed While the outcome Of the
election IN lis every detail IS practical
iy assured. the situation Is full OF dyna-
mite which the least cOncussion may eN-
plode-
Can Be but One Solution
People who have never faced the pos
slbIlIty OF negro control or domination
can have no appreciation OF such a state
OF affairs. They can stand OF at their
safe distance and. wrapped in the cloak
of lack of understanding. preach modera-
ti0n- II Is easy % preach; but whsthcr
g. cumes with Indication or through force.
there can b. no Doubt % the result OF this
contest The history Of the world has
demonstrates that the problem once
presented can have but one solution:
another chapter I'm that history will
b. written in North Carolina next Thurs
day.
ON that day ;here IS 20 BE- n state cleo
ton Involving e fulI state ticket. the
election oF a legislature which Will
choose a senator. and the election Of To-
cal and county officers: but most i'm
pOrtant 81 All. the people are then to
pass upon the proposed amendment TO
the state constitution providing for an
educational or Intelligence qualification
for voters. This amendment, Ike others
which have preceded IL, Is cOuched an
such language as 20 escape the mhibi-
ton OF the federal constitution against
discrimination bccause OF race. condi-
tiOn. or previous servitude- but its pur-
pose Is confesseily 10 eliminate from the
electorate the vast ignorant and Hit
erlre negro vote which has proved such
a menace TO the peace and good order OF
the state
During the entire campaign little at
tentiOn has been paid 10 anything by the
speakers OF the public except the amend
ment- The history of this movement
in North Carolina is very much tn" same
as in other southern states. with per-
brought about By the unhOly fusion be-
tween republicans and pOpulists have
made IL more necessary here to clarity
the atmosphere than IL has at any time
been In South Carolina, Mississippi or