Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1900-10-10


sin, Iowa, Michigan, Indiana, Colorado
and Ohio, with 80 congressman. cast
3,360,286 votes, with a population of
15,775,215. Now, father, doesn't 1t
seem that there must be some people
in the south who are being governed
without the consent of the gov
ernedy"
"Well, 1t seems to me that there may
be something in what you say" re-
marked Farmer Brown
The North Carolina Amendment.
"But that is not ALL continued his
son. THE action of the Democrats in
North Carolina in forcing the adoption
of the constitutional amendment in
that state only short time ago,
which practically DISTINGUISHES the
cOlOred vote of that state, is another
instance of the policy ofthe Democrats,
despite their platform utterances.
"In the report of the proceedings of
the Democratic state convention in
North Carolina, held April IL, 1900,
find the following statement in a
speech made by State Chairman Sim
mons:
"'Not all the soldiers Mckinley can
spare from fighting negroes in the
Philippines can defeat the purpose of
the white people to rule in North Caro-
lima. The object of that amendment
can be stated in ten words-to disfran-
chise ignorant negroes and not dis
franchise an uneducated white man
and by the Eternal God, every white
man shall vote
snow. this amendment which was
described by Chairman Simmons in
the choice language that I have quoted,
was as follows:
Every person presenting him.
self for registration shall be able
to read and write any section
of the constitution in the Eng
fish language. Before he shall be
entitled to vote he shall have paid on
or before the LIST day of May. of the
year i'm which he proposes to vote, his
poll tax for the previous year, but no
male person, who was, on Jan. 1, 1867,
or at any time prior thereto, entitled
to vote under the laws of any state of
the United States wherein he then re-
sided, and no lineal descendant of any
such person shall be denied the right
to register and vote at any election
in this state by reason of his failure
to possess the educational qualifica-
tons herein described
"That amendment was adopted at
the election held in North Carolina
Aug 2. Concerning the effect of this
amendment, Senator Marion Butler,
the Populist senator from North Caro-
lima, says: Unconstitutional regula-
tons have taken the place of the guar
anteed right of suffrage and represen-
tatiOn: and those i'm little brief au-
thOrity are the masters who select the
rulers and servants of the people. At
first it was cheating the negroes. but
now it is depriving of the right to an
honest ballot and fair count those who
are born free.
Pitchfork Tillman Tells How 1t Was Done.
''As another instance of the viola
ton of the consent Of the governed
continued John, II want TO quote to
you some remarks made by Senator
Tillman of South Carolina in a speech |
in congress during the last session.
You will remember that Senator Till |
man read the report of the platform
at the Kansas City cOnven- |
ton, and wept crocodile tears over
the consent of the governed in the |
islands of the sea that are now in in |
On Friday, March 23,
1900. i'm the United States senate, SEN |
atOr Tillman gave utterance, I'm re-
ferring to the suppression Of the col
ored vote in South Carolina. to the fol- |
lowing statement. After referring to |
the fact that the negroes had ma
jOrity of the votes in South Carolina, |
he said: How did we recover our |
liberty? BY fraud and violence. We !
tried to overcome the 10000 majority |
by honest methods, which was math-
impossibility. How did we |
bring it about? Every white man |
sunk his personal feelings and ambi- |
tons. The white people of the state. |
our glorious motto. ready |
with their lives and fortunes came |
together as one. BY fraud and vio-
lence, If you please. we threw it off.
In 1873 we had to resort to more fraud |
and violence, and so again in 1880.
Then the registration law and eight
box system was evolved from the SUI
perior intelligence of the white man.
to check and control this surging. |
muddy stream of ignorance and to tell
1t to back. and since then we have car
ried our elections without resort to
any illegal methods, simply because
the whites were united
Admits They Shot Negroes and are Not
Ashamed of 1t.
This was what Mr.. Tillman said |
when making his set speech. On Feb.
~, 1900, In the course of running !!
debate, he said, In referring To the |
manner in which the Democrats over
came the Republican majority in
South Carolina: When that happened. |
we took the government. away. We J
stuffed ballot boxes. We shot them. |
We are not ashamed of IT, The sena-
tor from Wisconsin would have done
the same thing. With that system