The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-10-19
REPUBLICAN STATEMENTS A,
BOUT THE AMENDMENT IN
1890 SHOWN TO HAVE
BEEN FALSE.

the Constitutional Amendment restrict.
ing suffrage was before the people for
ratification, the Republicans and Popu-
lists went over the State declaring that
if it was ratified it would disfranchise
the uneducated white voters in North
Carolina. There were several thousand
good people fooled by the false state
ment. At that election Aycock received
1855 votes, while only 1927 votes
were cast for the northumberland is
to say 4 433 men who voted the Demo
cratic State ticket did not vote for the
amendment. Most of them were afraid
it might disfranchise uneducated voters
and they would take no chances. Both
the Republican and Populist State plat
form of 1900 denounced the amendment
as unconstitutional and declared it would
disfranshise white voters. On every
educated people that if the amendment
was adopted they would never vote
again, and they declared and called upon
God to witness their declarations that
the only reason they opposed the amend
ment was because it would disfranchise
the uneducated white man.
AS one man who had no education
went up to drop in his ballot in 1900 a
Radical said IF you vote for that
lsCfr 1aI,f
yourself"
II don't believe it," replied the white
man. 'but if you are right l am willing
not to vote if can kill the vote of $4,000
negroes. AS it is now $4,000 white men
who vote have their votes killed by that
many negro votes. If we kill five to
one through the amendment by not
voting, that will be better than we have
been doing while voting"
That man has registered under the
grandfather clause" and has shown his
certificate to the Republican who warned
him in 1900 that he was DISTINGUISHING
himself. What did the Radical say?
He was dumb. Incidents like that hap
pened at nearly every voting precinct
in North Carolina in August, 1900. The
result proves that the Radicals Were
fooling the people for not a single white
man in the State will lose his vote
through the amendment.
To recall the statements made in 1900
to defeat the amendment. we quite the
following extracts from a speech made
in the Senate in January, 1900, by Sena-
tor Pritchard:
Notwithstanding, the many pledges
made by the Democrats in order to in
duce the citizens of that State to vote
for them and thereby enable them to
obtain control of the Legislature, we are
confronted with a proposition to amend
our Constitution, which, if adopted, will,
in my Judgment, disfranchise the poor
and illiterate classes of both races.
There is much in the proposed amend
ment which is calculated to create APP
prehension and alarm on the part of the
illiterate and poor white people of North
Carolina as we'll as the colored race 1t
vised scheme by which it is sought to
forever prevent the common people of
North Carolina from participating in
the management and control of the af-
fairs. While it is pretended by those
who advocate the proposed amendment
that it's object is to secure white supre-
macy, at the same time there turks
beneath the surface a purpose to dis
franchise thousands of our citizens, both
white and colored, and thereby enable a
certain class in our State to hold the
offices and enjoy the emoluments of the
same