The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1900-06-26
FOR THE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT.
Nj. Boggs Makes Some Additional sugges-
lions Regarding the Measure,

suggestions regarding this measure
which, to my mind, is of very great
Importance to our State. Before
doing So, however, it is well for me
to show the point of view from
which 1 regard the question as all
three parties have discussed this
measure through your columns. All
the more is this preliminary state
ment necessary because what 1 have
to say will, in the main, be addressed
to my political friends. l do not de-
sire to break your rule prohibiting
partisan discussion, but will simply
say I am now, as I have constantly
been since the organization of the
Peoples Party, a "Middle-of-the
road" Populist, and it is my purpose
in the approaching Presidential cleo
ton to vote for the nominees of the
"~straighout convention which sat
in Cincinnati on May 9th, whose plat
form l fully endorse.
The plain people of this country
should control its destinies. Sooner
or later they will regain their lost
power, and will exercise it for the
welfare of the republic. Thus only
can the liberty and the institutions
handed down to US by the fathers be
preserved. The old saying 1.-The
voice of the people is the voice of
God" however, needs to be accepted
with caution and reserve. The
amount of truth in it depends en-
tirely on the people to whom the
maxim is applied.
None of your readers, for instance,
would claim that the decision of a
cannibal tribe of Africans to kill and
eat a missionary would be the ''vOice
of God" Nor do / see. how any pru-
dent man among us, with all the facts
in daily view, can imagine that the
descendants of such savages could in
so short a time be prepared wisely to
consider and decide the mOmentOus
policies now pressing on the Ameri-
can people for solution. These poll
cies result from the onward march
of the foremost race of the world,
and can we look for help in the de-
cision of them to that branch of the
human family which has never con-
tributed anything of value to civil
ization. This course is pushing to
an insane extreme that very weak
ness in the constitution Of ancient
Athens Of which it was said in de
spair by those who tried to operate
it that it permitted the "the wiSe
men to discuss, and the fools to de-
eide"
For this supreme reason I am pre-
pared to cooperate with good men in
any party in averting evils which
threaten ~posterity.
The shameful use made of the votes
of unlettered Africans by those
wholly devoted to "self and pelf"
is matter of history too recent to re
quire rehearsal in the ears of South
ern men. Experience and observa-
ton have had ample time to show
that it is utterly useless for US to ok
pect better results.
In voting the Africans are abso-
lute1y controlled by prejudice and
association. They can no more divest
themselves of this control than water
can rise above it's source And this
indispUtable fact shows them to be
incapable of using the ballot without
doing infinite mischief to themselves
as well as to the white race.
On the other hand, as was shown
in my former communication, the
rigid limitation of the franchise in
South Carolina is not preventing
the plain people from controlling
that State. The facts so ably set
forth by your correspondent "P."
prove that in Louisiana the almost
entire white population is registered
and can vote if they will, and that at
the recent election many went to the
polls in the face of a fierce storm
which necessitated the use of skiffs
and boats on waters swollen by floods
far beyond the danger line. He thus
refuted completely the hasty allega-
ton that the limitation of the ballot
in that State was DISTINGUISHING the
whites by showing that the light
vote is explained by providential
causes.
But "P." does not mention in his
admirable paper one of the principal
reasons for lighter votes for the pres