Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1903-05-28
THURSDAY, MAY 2S, 1908.
OUTRAGE UPON OUTRAGE


s:ilutional and legislative enactment de-.
monstrates that all the declarations 1t LAS
made of friendly character to the PLAIN,
uneducated poor men in the State were
insincere. In support of these assertions
we will refer to the treatment which the
Virginia Democrats have given the sut'
.frsge question, and to their evident pur'
pose to deprive the masses of the people
of the right of elective franchise, rather
than to protect and encourage them in lis
exercise.
The claim was set up when the constitu'
tiOnal convention was called and assem-
bled that the sole object sought in reform
ing the suffrage law was to get rid of the
negro as a voter and leave all the white
voters in the undisputed possession OF the
elective franchise. The understanding
clause" was heralded as means by which
such an end could be attained.
Mr.. H. G. Stuart of Russell county, now
member of the Corporations Commits
sior, issued a circular to his constituents
while in the convention in which he said:
Gas member of the Virginia Constitu'
tional Convention and of the Suffrage
Committee, feel it my duty to contradict
publicly some of the MISREPRESENTATION
which are being made by campaign
stumpers and circulars. Let me say first
that none Of the suffrage plans submitted
to the convention contemplate the dis
REIMBURSEMENT of white men. On the con
trsry they all agree in providing means
whereby the white man is and will be fully
protected. They all provide that the
right of suffrage does not depend on
property or education. The poorest and
most uneducaled white man can and will
vote under tie provisions of any OF the
bills Tie clause known as the under
standing clause has been reported as the
only constitutional means yet discovered
to nc,ule the white man and exclude the
un l,s;rable neelO. The registration pro
Yidei for 10y this clause will be conducted
b. your neigbbOrs and friends, who be
lieving in white supremacy, see no way OF
securing and maintaining it without pre-
serving white suffrage and at the same
time curtalling suffrage"
Mr.. Stuart concludes his circular letter
with the sentence: at (the convention)
W provide for election laws which will
be acceptable to right minded white men
of all parties"
Probably Mr.. Stuart felt warranted in
making this osi'iye pledge for preserving
to the White men Of the State the right to
voc u.impaired. But subsequent ex-
periance has proved that both property
and educational qualifications have been
placed On Suffrage When the new registra
ton c,me off last Fall white men found
that, if they had not been soldiers in time
of war or had not paid the preceding
year to the State certain amount of taxes
on Prop 'rty, they were required. to show
an educational qualification by explaining
some clause Of the new constitution to the
satisfaction Of a partisan board of registra
ton that chose, in many instances, to place
stri:t construction on the understand
Ing clause" instead of giving it the liberal
construction which Mr.. Stuart assured his
constituents it should receive. In many
localities a strict construction was given
When wlite Republicans undertook to
register, aud Mr.. Stuart's liberal construc.
ton employed when illiterate white Demo
Gratis ffered for registration.
Mr.. Stuart declared that: "The poor.
es. and most Intoxicated white man can
and uiH vote under the provisions of any
of the bills" This was an assurance which |
he was authorized by the Democracy to
give, that suffrage was to be made priceless
in Virginia. The constitution, however,
not only i'm poses property qualification,
bnt has provided for the payment of
poll-tax as prerequisite to voting in 1904,
an thereafter. No one is exempted from
this outrageous obstruction to popular suf.
frage, except those who served in either
the Confederate or Union army during the
Civil War. That it was intended as a trap
to catch the poor man and deprive him of
his vote no intelligent person can doubt
who carefully examines its features. No
more detestrable price could possibly be
put upon suffrage; and it will ultimately
disfranchise three-fourths of the poor
white men in the State and destroy one
half the white electorate.
OF the many reprehtnsible acts CON-
mitted by the late constitutional conven-
ton the most vicious was found in the
ordinance which appointed registrars for
the various counties and cities of the State.
1t will be remembered how and why those
registrars were selected. They were
clothed with judicial authority by the
ordinance and directed to qualify and dis G
charge the duties assigned them without !
taking an oath of Office. This was inten- |
ied as suggestion to the registras hat J