The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1900-05-31
(The Wilmington Morning Starr

| Italians are in New Orleans and sons
Of the other cities of the State
The better class of foreigners need
not be disfranchised long, if at all,
for as most of them read and write
their own languages it will not re-
quire much time for them to learn to
read and write the English language,
as they no doubt will do, where they
set much of an estimate on the privi-
lege of the ballot Where they do
not appreciate it they will have no
ground for complaint as, in their
estimation, at least, they are not de-
i prived Of much.
They have a "grandfather" section
| in the constitution Of that State as
amended and now in operation.
! Speaking of this and the small num-
ber of negroes registered Mr.. Gage
! said:
'In Lafayette, St Martins, Vermiion,
the Arcadian and other parishes there
/ are many ilIiterates Many of them are
/ CreolrS. There were no better soldiers
than the Gre ole regiments They are
| men who though illiterate, have all the
civic virtues, take Il keen interest in pub
liz. affairs, and stood by good govern
+ ment all the way through We could not
! disfranchise such true men and brave
/ soldiers
/ 'The men enrolled under section five,
(the grandfather clause) know that be-
! hind them is the manhood of the State
! 1t is a white man S and an American roll.
/ The late Hon. ThOs. j. Semmes, presi-
| dent of the American Bar Association,
registered under this clause 1t is a roll
of honor. Most of the illiterate white
men in the State registered under this
! clause and are now permanently on the
registration rolls.
! stered in the State at the recent election
! The paucity of the negro vote took away
| entirely their Importance as voters
They were not counted or sought after
! AS a natural result those who did reg
lister will have no incentive to do it again,
! and at the new registration after the
bEesfnt bbF EfGE1lsstratQn eHRres, Mhich . will
| fewer negro votes who desiretO register y
The .'grandfather" section in our
proposed amendment is a reproduce
ton of the provision in the Louisiana
law This is the section that such
constitutional lawyers as Marion But
Ter and Jeter Pritchard assert is not
! constitutional, because it ''discrimi-
nates'' against the sable sovereign
(Which il doesn'D; but the best con-
stitutional lawyers in Louisiana con-
| tend that it is constitutional as
adopted in their State, and quote
the authorities to sustain them in
their opinions. AS a proof that the
leading Republicans in that State be-
licve they are right no effort has been
made to contest that law in the courts.
II the Republican leaders who got
power and pelf through the negro
vote thought they could successfully
contest the constitutionalitv of the
law, or any part of it, in the courts
wouldn't they have done so? O1
course they would. AS they have
not contested neither will the Repub-
lican leaders in this State, when the
people raiify the amendment. They
will, Notwithstanding their vaporing
do as the Republican leaders in Lou
isiana did-stop their chatter and
submissiyely bow to the inevitable
and irrevocable.
The so-callcd "grandfather clause
of the Louisiana amendment is broa(
enough to cover every native borr
white man and every other residen
of the State from other States OIL
other countries, who is respectable
enough and good enough to be en-
trusted with the ballot.