The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1900-01-11

tsSAUW0s IA VIC IiBue ~ vUb0 C8bhlS1
With 1t the right to hold Office, asl
on II today in Georgia the right "a
aoid Office is recognized BY the Repub.
'rap partyf | hold, Mr.. President
that ii we are TO run . risk in this mat
fer OF losing this amendment because
there are some states viii b will moi
adopt the proposition 20 hold Office, il
- better TO run the risk in the direc-
ton of right.
Senator Stewart. who had charge
OF the Suffrage Amendment" in the
Senate, spoke as follows:
The friends of equal rights in Ten.
nessee gave the negro the ballot. The
| Democrats commenced at once TO say
o them; "y0u are good enough to
vote, but not good enough 10 hold Of
lice" The Republican party then i'm
mediately in the legislat1re-if reco.
ect rightly the legislature had the
1ower to amend the Constitution
gave them the right to hold Office.
wanted to insert the right to hold
flee in this proposition, but il can
not give the poor and downtrodden
the right to hod Office, I will give them
be power to say who shall hold Office
and dispense Office"
The proposition on your table re-
ceived in the other House l43 votes to
43 votes, and it will receive in this bo-
dy the entire Republican vote as / un-
derstand, when they believed that no
thing else can be obtained. l have Ia
bored here to obtain something else.
hn yAh TO hv 3 h0 SrwtSf To hi
Office inserted in the amendment. be-
cause l was willing to do the whole
right; but that was Impossible, and l
now want to secure to all men the
right to protect themselves with the
ballot.
Mr.. Sawyer.-"I should like to
ask the Senator now the question
which rose to ask him before, and
that is, what effect he thinks the pas
sage of this amendment will have in
the very casewhich he has cited in
the State of Georgia. We go back
to the people of Georgia and tell
them that We endorse the precise po-
sition which the white members of
the legislature have taken; that is to
say, that there is a question whether
the negro can hold Office or not"
On page 1,630, Senator Davis said:
[ will not cOncede the right of the
negro to hold office so far as my voice
is involved because the majority of
Congress choose to confer upon hun
the right to vote.
On page 1888 make the follow
ing striking and pointed extract from
+ he of CAV m Fnw1nN.
l think the Constitution as it stands
at present would guarantee to each
citizen of the United States the right
to hold Office if he were elected. l do
not doubt 90 that point myself. A
is made here to incOrpo-
rate this principle in the Constitution,
and an amendment has been made to
it which takes out the principle from
his amendment, thus placing con-
upon the Constitution which
denies the right of the cI6Izen to hold
office, now, if this amendment is made
TO the Constitution as it stands, it will
deny to those citizens specified in the
amendment the right to hold Office
That is the CLEAR AND INEVITABLE
of it. That of course de-
feats the rights which the citizen holds
under the Constitution as it stands at
he present time.
I simply wish to say before the vote
is taken that my understanding OF toe
as 1t now stands, is that it
decides by an amendment to the Con-
stitutiOn that the Constitution does
not guarantee to all citizens of the
United States the RIGHT TO HOLD Of
FICE.
TIL. effect of it is to EXCLUDE FROM
OFFICE large number of the citizens
of the Southern States merely to graf
ify prejudice that exists in certain
of the Northern states, who wish to
heap hesvy burders upon the should
ers Of other men that they will not
touch with their own fingers.
On page 1,641 the vote on the
to strike out land hold
office" is recorded, there being 80
votes in favor of the proposition and
only Ii against it.
On page 563 of the Globe. third
session, 10th Congress, part 3, the
vote on the same proposition is re-
corded in the House. Favoring the
amendment to strike ont land hold
Office" there were IA votes, and
against it A.
This establishes beyond shadow
OF doubt that if the Congress, even
in those trying and exciting days,
when passion and prejudice too Of
ten controlled men 8 conduct on pub
lie and political questions, had in
tended to confer the absolute right
to HOLD OFFICE on the negro they
would have placed such a provision
in the organic law of the land.
Inasmuch as the Congress then
and deliberately refused to
confer the privilege of holding Office
with the right to vote, it is Gle ar that
the states can, without violating the
Constitution of the United States,
prohibit negroes from holding Offices
within their gift. The debates have
proven that it would be Constitution.
al to deny the negro the privilege of
holding Office, therefore let US offer
this as substitute for the proposed
and solve the race ques-
ton.
X RAYS