Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1900-05-31

- 4A0o WI hNd 11tAAA1i 0Oi1 III TIC iA~1t
Rtck against it. No specification has
been made Of any fraud Or wrong. |,
has nut louisiana on the old system of
white basis. brought it back TO the
era when it was noted far and near for
the chivalry of its people and the brav-
cry OF its sons. Its adoption was a
grand and magnificent revolution. It
has put the State on the high road to
prosperity, and | believe there is
higher tone in public life than in 90
years. There is a feeling Of reief that
the negro question has been eliminated
and that we have returned to the old
time honor
What has been the result of the
adoption Of your new constitution on
the electionso" l asked Mr.. Gleason.
Here is his answer:
Elections are now absolutely fair.
The most bitter enemy has been unable
10 substantiate a charge of the least
unfairness The oppoition. after cleo
ton. were forced to ay, We havn't a
word to say There is not a suspicion
of unfairness about our elections |
believe that the registration in this
city is the cleanest Of any city en- the
continent
All trouble on farms and plantations
has vanished
The Constitutional Amendment has
brought about a better feeling in the
State. In absolute and unuuestiOned
control. the white men feel the respon-
slbility Of protecting the negro in all
MS rights. The white people Of North
Carolina, regardless Of party will miss
an opportunity to put their politics on
higher plane if they do not adopt the
amendment. They owe it to themselves
and children TO do what we have done
Here the negro is eliminated as an i'm
portant political factor, fair elections
leave no excuse for complaints, the
white man and negro are on friendly
terms. no native born illiterate white
man loses his vOte-and all these bless
ings have been brought about by the
amendment. -GOvernOr Foster.
The elimination of the illiterate
black vote in Louisiana has placed our
politics upon a higher plane and ush-
cred in a new era in our civic life. -
DR.. c. Aphonso Smith, Professor CT
English in the University of Louisiana.
The amendment has brought about
a condition as if in 1866 the white cleo
torate then existing had been main
tanned and the door opened to negro
voters who possessed $500 worth Of
property or had reasonably good edu-
catlOnal qualifications to become vOt-
ers. -Honu. Leon Jastremski, Com
missioner Of Agriculture
Senator Pritchard undertakes to say
that the amendment in Louisiana has
dlsfranchised the illiterate white vote,
and to prove that he gives the white
vote registered in 1896 and then shows
the number OF votes cast in the recent
state election. and agrues from. this
that the balance are disfranchised.
The books in theof1ice cf the Secre-
tary Of State in Baton Rouge show that
in 1896 2S, ,371 illiterate white mon reg
lstered and made their mark to the ap-
pllcatiON which the law of the State
then required In the April election Of
1900. the books show that 81 .019 regis
tered under the grandfather clause.
his shows that the illiterate white
men were practically registered and
any shortage in the registration was
on the part Of those who could read
and write and who were Of course,
not disfranchised They simply eXer-
cised their choice not to register and
vote in 1900 because they felt that there
was no contest thai called for it. The
fact is that the vote in no State is ever
up to the registration. II falls a far
short in Massachusetts as in Louisiana.
In our own State the actual vote gen
orally falsl short of the registered vote
n,..l n.tn i
is from 20 600 10 50 600 less than the
num3cr Of men entitled 10 vote This
is 50 i'm nearly all the States in the
Union. To Illustrate. in Mas achuserts
in 1890 the registered vote was go 900
and the actual vote cast in that year
was 30 0o0 In Connecticut in 1890
the registered vote was 22t 900 and
the vote cast was 125. .o0o Does any
one contend that those persons who
were registered in these two States and
did not yo,e that yea~ We're disfTan-
Chised2
But Hon II g Cage. President oi
INC Louisiana senate answers this
charge OF Senator Pritcha-d IS follows
The only white illiterate> distran-
chised in Louisiana are those foreign
ers who We're permitted under the con
stitution 81 1879 y vote under J mere
d la-ation Of intention % become citi-
zens OF this number those who to-0r
few hn' thousands continued 10 vote
from 1879 10 1895 under their declara-
ton 0f intention This iIlustrraa- the
foreign born vote. especially mat por
,ion waich was Italian had gotten IN
der the control of soeailed poIitica
bosses ana a preIud -. agaI1s, i hat
arisen IN the better clement Of the pso
pie second only N intensity 70 iha
against the negro vote. and when Ut
Constitutional Convention OF 1895 III
de--ook TO eliminate the negro vote
there was. especially L the cly OF Nep
Orleans a determined demand that IT.
illlte-a,e boss controlled foreign vot'
should b eliminated. and the erect o
the suffrage provision waS 10 eliminat'
every illiteHte to-eigne- who had 10
been naturallzei previous TO acuary
l>ts