The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1900-06-21
PEOPLES PARTY PlATFoRs


Aprn 18th. lsse.
The Peoples Party Convention
assembled In Raleigh, April 18th.
reafilrms the principles set forth In
the Peoples Party National plat
form adopted at ST. Louis in 1896,
and instructs the delegates t. the
National Convention at Sioux Falls
May 9th to vote for the nomina ton
Of William J. Bryan for President.
We commend the present Esate
Administration for its high Der
sonal and Official integrity, and
challenge q comparison of ito rec
ord with any and all Of its prsds-
cessors.
We condemn the Democratic Lexis-
lature of 1899 for its extrsvag1st ex-
penditnres OF public money amounting
to $780, 1855 in 1899, as opposed TO
.1,2s3, ST. IL, expended by the proceed
ing Legislature, An excess Of e3lO,-
1914 IS, not including the sum Of $780,
90 for public education nor the ss3 $50
for purchase of State farms.
We further condemn said LeGisla-
tnre for the careless blundering and
careless legislation, including more
gross blunders and unconstitnfioux
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 back. sf the
Democratic Legislature and fo.cing
them into enacting and submitting 4
DISTINGUISHING constitutional amend
ment in violation of the solemn
pledges Of the party, made not only
officially in their campaign handbook
but by members of the General Assem-
bly, and other Democratic candidates
for office in their canvass before the
people. We denOunce them not only
for doing this in violation Of their
pledges, but also for submitting . 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 at least had q reasonable
doubt, not only as to the unconstitu-
tionality of the monstrous provision of
Section 8, known rs 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
tc stand, thus DISTINGUISHING by an ed
uoational qualification afty 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 Democratic 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
ly is), still it is especially objecticn-
able in the following particulars:
(a) In that it d,gnifies with the right
Of suffrage the most vicious, trouble
some and obnoxious class of the negro
population, and completely disfran
chises the most faithful kindly and or
derby element Of that race.
Coz In that, while clamOring for white
supremacy and declaring that no white
man shall be disfranchised under this
amendment, they have so written their
amendment that every white boy be-
coming of age after 1908 stands on the
same footing with the negro, and can
not vote unless he is able to read and
write.
(c) In that by the latter provision,
they have made it possible for the ed
ncated negro after 1908 to cast his bal
lot while the unfortunate son of the
white men who have been the strength
OF true democracy stands without a
vote at the ballot box. They slaughter
the suffrage of the son whose father
they dare not openly attack.
(d) In that this suffrage amend.
ment does not remove the negro from
politics or settle the negro question in
North Carolina.
(e) In that every voter who has not
paid his poll tax as much a. five
months before the State election and
eight months before the national cleo
ton, shall be disfranchised as much as
it he were convicted of felony or were
an ignorant negro. The purpose of
this provision ia not only to disfran-
chise every good honest citizen who
cannot pay his taxes by
the first Of March preceding the cleo
ton, but further to try to bribe the vo-
ter to surrender his suffrage at the ex-
pense of the public school fund of the
State, which is derived from poll taxes.
There Turks behind this proposition q |
still greater danger to the public
schools of the State, for with the adop-
tion Of the amendment the opponents
Of free schools In North Carolina will
1T once raise the cry that every dollar |
raised for public instruction means the
increase of the number of negro vo-
ters, and thus the poor white mans
son will be chained in bondage of ig-
and disfranchissd to prevent
the education of the negro voter.
There is no white supremacy In this,
The constitutional question pre-
sented by the proposed amendment is
one that must be determined by the
judgment and conscience of eac b indi-
vidual voter. Therefore, we do not
make it party question. We state the
evils and dangers and leave the voters
OF all parties to pass their verdict in
the light OF these facts. The question
ie above party, and no one should be
more active and anxious in our iudg-
ment TO defeat it than the rank and
die Of the Democratic party.
The Peoples Party is and has always
been more distinctly than any other
party in North Carolina q white mans
party, and ls more anxious than anv
other party to solve the race probe m,
and to force oil parties to a disou $50
OF the great economic issues go vitality
affecting the welfare OF all wealth pro
ducefs of the State and patton and de-
cency in politics.
Therefore, we propose in lieu Of this
dangerous amendment, the best soiu-
ton of the race question that is posi-
BILE as long as the 18th amendment to
the Constitution of the United States
srands-a solution which deprives no
white man in North Carolina now or
hereafter of his right of suffrage, to.
wit:
Amend Section 6, Art. s, of the Con
stitutiOD of North Carolina by insert
ing among the diaunaIi 6cafions Tor