The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1903-10-13

G44A ~ -
tamnt no defense Of these amendments
but shall simply state briefly what the
smendments OF North Carolina Is and
What 1t means.
The Constitution Of North Carolina a.
Il now reads provides AZ follows.
Every person presenting himself r.
registration shall be able to read and write
any section OF the Constitution n the
English language; and before he shall be
entitled to vote, he shall have paid on
~ before the first dag Of May 81 the year
IN which he proposes to vote, has pol tax
for the previous year as prescribed By
article ). section j, OF the Constitution
But no male person. who was, on January
i. 1857, or at any time pllor thereto, en-
titled to vote under the laws OF any State
in the United States, wherein he then
resided. 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 qualifications herein pre-
scribed: Provided. he shall have registered
in accordance with the terms OF this sec
ton prior to December /. 1908
This provision of the Constitution ex-
cludes from the voting population a
! great number of negroes. while preserving
a.! the privilege Of all the native born whites
to vote. Those coming Of age after 1903,
| white or black alike, are disfTanchised IN
less they can read and write.
After the adoption of the Thirteenth,
! Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to
the Constitution of the United States the
Southern States endeavored to secure good
! government out of the conditions which
had been forced upon them. Speaking OF
North Carolina | know that an honest,
persistent effort was made TO obtain safe
government without resorting to the eliml-
nation Of negro suffrage. The effect was
q failure. We sought in vain to make
the theory of universal suffrage work out
good government and private virtue. We
| found by actual trial that it could not
! be done. 1t could not be done because,
! IS Senator Cullom wisely says IN his re
port Of the Hawaiian Commission, The
American idea OF universal suffrage pre-
supposes that the body of citizens who
! arc to exercise it in a free and indie
! pendent manner have, by inheritance of
education, such knowledge and apprecia-
ton Of the responsibilities of free suF-
! frage and of a full participation IN the
sovereignty of the country as TO be able
to maintain a Republican form of govern
! ment.'
The negroes of this State have not this
| knowledge either by inheritance or edu-
cation; as a consequence they have been
easily led to form combinations with a
small minority Of white men and bring
to the State intolcrable government. Gov
! eminent can never be better than the
party responsible for it. If those in au-
thority give to any state as good govern
ment as IS demanded by a majority Of the
| party responsible for government, we
have in a republic almost a perfect gov-
ernment. If the people behind those II
authority are weak, ignorant, readily led,
| easily deceived, government mus needs
be bad. This IS so in theory and it turns
| out tc be true in practice. No set Of
men in any Southern State elected to of
fee by the suffrage Of negroes have ever
yet been able to administer government
well. It matters little what their pur-
poses may be, or how high their ideal.
may stand. they can not govern we'll for
the want Of an intelligent. ~vir+uous pub
lie opinion behind them. In 1896 the
negroes of North Carolina, in combina-
tion With a small minority of her white
people, secured the State government,
legislative. executive and judicial. After
( nav SONEl iilltlt q b11i IL ~ 1oI
four years, IN a public address in this
State used this language:
w had Il white uman for Governor in
1898. when negroes became intolerably
insolcnt: when ladies were insulted on the
public streets: when burglary in our chief
city became an every night occurrences;
when sleep lay down armed and the
villainous centerbits ground on the wake
/ fIi n,p in no b,1,h &c tho n,nnnIo-c
nights: when more guns and pistols were
sold in the State than had been In the
twenty preceding years; when lawlessness
walked the State like a pestilence, and
the Governor and our two Senators were
,fraid to speak in a city Of twenty-five
thousand Inhabitants. It Is the negro
behind the officer, and not the officer only
that constitutes negro government
I predicted then that with the dis
franchisemen of the ignorant negro, peace
would be restored to the State and free
dom Of speech become a COMMON posses
sion Of our people. Within less than two
wears after the elimination Of the negrt
/ from suffrage one of the Senators. who
was afraid to speak in Wilmington IN
1898. held a joint discussion in that city
with a political opponent. receiving not
only RESPECTFUL attention but frequent ap-
plause from men who would not have
permitted him to speak in 1888.
Less than twenty thousand negroes
now vote in this State. There are per
haps one hundred and twenty thousand
male adult negroes in the state. The
number who can vote viii increase with
the years, but the increase viii be gradu-
al and Will be founded on intelligence.
Each negro who comes to the ballot will
feel that he has won his right TO vote by
preparation for it, and viii set value on
the suffrage. He Will u~e it more wisely
than MS father did. Already those who
can vote are beginning 10 exercise the
suffrage with more freedom. The intel
i1igence and virtuous among the negroes
when all could vote were afraid Il
separate themselves from the great mass
Of the negroes, and in consequence they
ali voted one way. It made no difference
what the question presented was, II the
party to which the negro belonged
espoused one side, every negro felt com