The age-herald., 1901-10-15
DEMOCRATIC CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE ISSUES
 ADDRESS TO STATE ON NEW CONSTITUTION

white supremacy in the counties having negro majorities, and to prevent the in-
 fiiction upon any of our people of negro domination, there has been a disposition in other parts of the State to condone the methods necessary to suppress the negro vote. But to do that involved the doing of things which the white men, in these counties, have never desired to do, and which, if done at all, were done only be- cause of what they regarded as neces- sity for their own protection and good government. They have continually cried out for relief against the conditions which made these things necessary. The call 1 for a constitutional convention was In l great measure the answer of the State Democracy to this cry for help. The new constitution offers plan which will se- | cure white supremacy and will, under the | guidance of white men, purity our poll 1 tics and secure honest elections TWO plans are proposed one known as the temporary plan, and the other the per manent plan. Under the former, during the year 1902 all voters are to be register | ed, who come within the term of the tenn 1 porary plan, by three registrars, appoint
  ficials namely, the Governor, the Audi tor and the Commissioner of Agriculture. On January 1, 1903, the temporary plan of registration will cease and the per- manent plan will then be In force.
 , Reason for Two Plans.
 The reason for adopting two plans-one l temporary and the other permanent-is | best shown by the difficulties which the convention had to meet. The Fifteenth Amendment to the Federal constitution was the principal barrier, but there was another condition which good faith re- l qured the Democratic members to ob- serve as fully as possible.
 The act of the General Assembly having l submitted the call for the convention the Democratic party, in State convention, l indorsed the call and under an election | advocated by that party the Democratic | members of the convention were elected. Party Pledges.
 The party platform pledged that white men should not be disfranchised. To | frame provision that would observe this pledge and eliminate the mass of vicious
  was no light task, but to 1t Democratic members of the convention addressed 1 themselves. They realized that there are but three ways of eliminating the vicious vote namely, first by force second by | fraud and third by law. The first two or | these methods were not to De thought Of and the effort of the convention was to put an end to them. It adopted the third method and has presented plan | which will accomplish the object in view, | namely the elimination of the vicious ele- ment from the electorate. And we un- qualifiedly renew our partys pledge that | under the operation of the registration | feature of the new constitution no white | man who can now vote will be disfran- l chised.
 Temporary Plan.
 | That plan. in brief is first under tenn l porary plan, to register during l9U2, all soldiers, the lawful descendants of sol l diers and 'all persons who are or good character and who understand the duties and obligations of citizenship, under Republican form of government" twenty | one years old and upwards It will De | observed that each and all of these per sons are entitled to register and vote un- der our present laws. No privilege or | right Is conferred on any person, there | fore, which he does not already possess under existing laws. For under existing | laws all soldiers can register and vote; all descendants of soldiers can register and vote, and all men of good character can register and vote, provided of course, they are of age and have resided within 1 the State and county the requisite Tenth of time But under existing laws the vicious and ignorant negro aiso IS entitled to register and vote, whether he under | stands the duties and obligations of citi- zenship or not.
 Most Negroes Cannot Register.
 Under the temporary plan, the bulk of the negroes cannot register. The regis tration will be conducted by three 'repu- table and suitable persons" in each coun- ty, appointed by three Democratic State officials, and whose duty 1t will be to visit every precinct in the county at least | once and oftener if necessary. prior to | August 1st, 1902, to register qualified cleo tors and they shall also hold session at | the court house of the county to enable persons to register. This registration will continue until in December 1902. They will give at least twenty days notice of the time and place they Wal attend in a precinct to register the electors, by post | ing notices at five or more public places in the precinct and by advertisement published in the county papers.
 White Men Can Register. | When a man applies for registration, he will not be asked to specify unaer which class he Is entitled to register.
 The list will not show under what clause he is registered. When the party s pledge not to disfranchise any white man is remembered, it is easy to see that the above plan will effectuate 1t. There Is Q general presumption that white men are of good character and understand the du-
 ties and obligations of citizenship; the
 hist oryof the race attests this. It is safe
 to say that the registrars will observe
 this presumption.
 This plan will not disfranchise all ne-
 groes. It is well known that there are
 men of that race who are entirely com