The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1901-01-22

30
platform follows the Constitution
and we cannot afford to violate
either. If there are districts which
are weak they must be STRENGTHENED
by those that are strong. The Good
Book tells us that the strong should
bear the infirmities of the weak and
the lessons of that great authority
are of utility in Our political life.
There has grown up an idea among
strenuous men that only the strong
T to be considered and benefited {;
that the poor and weak are the bur-
den bearers who deserve no aid and
are weak because of their fOllies. A
great State can never act on this
theory, but will always recognize
that the strong d care for them
selves while the true aim of the State
is to provide equal and just laws Civ
ing to the weak opportunity to grow
strong and restraining the powerful
from expressing the less fortunate.
1t will be a glorious day for us if our
people in the hour of their prosperity
and wonderful growth and develop
ment can realize that men can never
grow higher and better by rising on
the weakness and ignorance of their
fellows but only by aiding their fell
lowmen and lifting them to the same
high plane which they themselves
occupy.
l pledge you, gentlemen of the
Legislature, such powers as the Con-
stitution vests in the Governor and
all the energy of my soul and heart
to the education OF the people, and 1
rely with entire confidence upon you
and the promises which each of you
has made. With these promises
kept there will break upon US IA day
such as has never before dawned
upon our State.
NEGRO SUPREMACY no LONGER POS
sIBLE, ELECTION FRAUDS MUST NOT
BE TOLERATED.
Having thus provided for the right
to vote the further duty devOlveS
upon you, gentlemen of the Legisla-
ture, to pass d law by which that
right may be made effective, Il law
by which every voter qualified under
our Constitution shall have the
power to cast one vote and have that
vote oN,,rfnI 80 a,s% Tha S.fn%u ~
the State and the liberty of the citi-
zenS depend upon your action on this
question. The aloption of the amend
ment not only furnishes the occasion
but renders Indispensable the adOp-
ton of an election law which shall
be so fair that no just man can Op-
pose it, and requires an administers
ton of that law in such spirit that
no man will doubt that the popular
will has been rightly expressed and
recorded. From the foundation of
our State to the day when the negro
was given the elective franchise the
fairness of our elections was never
questioned. When the ballot was
given to the negro the first election
thereafter was known to be Il farce
and d fraud. This election was held
under military dictatorship, lasted
three days and the vote Was counted
IN Charleston, South Carolina. We
have denounced and ever Will de
nounCe that election as fraudulent.
When we came to power In 1876 we
changed the e ectiOn law of the State
and from THAI time down to 1894 all
elections were held under laws passed
by Us Our adver>arieS charged
that these elections we're carried by
force and fraud. When they came
to power in 1895 they adopted ii law
which we denounced US providing
means for the registration n voting
of minors, dead, imported and con
victed negroes. They Carried the
State under that law in 1896. We
beat them in 1898 despite their law
and then we passed ii new election
law which they denounced as de
signed to thwurt the will OF the PEG
pie. We held the election of 1900
under that law. By the result or
that election we have eliminated the
ignorant negro from those entitled
to vote. If what has been charged
by the opposing parties be true and
elections have been fraudulent and
election laws unfair ever since the
negro came to be a power in the
State, it certainly ought to follow
that with the disqualification Of the