The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1905-11-09
HONEST ELECTIONS,

When I criticised the law which gave
the Governor arbitrary power to ap-
point Commissioners of Election, a cry
was raised by the machine newspapers
that was making an onslaught on my
own party and using the argument of
Republicans.
have sometimes wondered if those
who make the charge have stopped to
think what the conditions would be if
a Republican Governor was elected
with this law on the statute books.
II this should occur he could appoint
two commissioners of his own political
faith, and he could choose two negro
Republicans as easily as two white
men, and these would constitute a
majority.
The unfounded and malicious charge
has been made that I was willing to
bring the negro back into politics. l
wish now to refer and quote an extract
from a speech delivered by me in Con-
gress on the 14th of March, 1904:
"Mr. Chairman: The reason for the
decrease of the South in political power
is not difficult to discover.
ut was not the war that kept Sec
tional antagonism alive so long, for the
war was fought by brave men on both
sides, and a decade under ordinary
conditions would have witnessed the
end of partisan feeling, but it was uni
versal negro suffrage which provoked
a misguided Northern feeling and ate
its way, like a corroding canker, to the
very heart of the Southern people.
''It has been plague on both the
houses, North and South. 1t explains
why the Republican party has so COM
pletely ignored those of its own politi-
cal faith in the South, and why
the Democratic party, with the ac-
quiescence of the Southern people, has
not offered a candidate from any
Southern State for the highest elec-
tive offices in the gift Of the people,
though always having a majority of
the electoral vote.
"The Fifteenth Amendment of the
Constitution was conceived in an hour
of passion and designed as an act Of
! vengeance.
cit was cruel penalty inflicted by
an inhamed foe upon a fallen and
beaten adversary. It, chained the
J South to corpse.
"It created and held prominent false
and meretrcious issues before the
country.
} '1t was a gift which the negro did
not know how to intelligently use, and
I its only effect has been to breed false
! notions of social equality and to pro
} woke swift retributiOn and bloody
J violence.
4 I made the substance of this speech
! in my district before it was made in
J Congress, and have made it many
times since.
To keep the negro out of politics
! would be willing to extend the Dortcf
J law, or even to have constitutions
: amendment.
The law which gives this arbitrary
! power to the Governor cannot bt
defended, and the fact that no better
! argument can be employed than thu
one mentioned is an evidence of thu
! fact. l base my opposition upon thu
broad ground that it is unfair ant
undemocratic. 1t almost caused rio
in Knox County, and has bred fac
! tional disturbances elsewhere, and, il
D my opinion, disorder and violence will
! inevitably follow at no distant day un
Z less it is repealed.
i / do not mean to say that in man,
D counties of the State good men are no
: appointed Election Commissioners, Of
: that, as a general rule, elections il
: Tennessee are fraudulent, but I do say
D that some elections are fraudulent, anC
7 under this system there is an oppor
: tunity for fraud in all.
d II the argument of the self-consti
, tuted guardians of the Democrat
= party is correct, then there is no rem
Z edy for evils, but they must be en-
3 dured without amelioration and for al
. time.
2 The Democratic party of Tennessee
: is the Democrats of Tennessee, nc
D the kind that "bend the pregnan
. hinges of the knee that thrift may fol
, low fawning, but the kind who stan
= erect before man and God, and Low
. honesty for the sake of honesty.
. They do not want to destroy th
= Democratic party but to save it. The
= do not ask for pusillanimous part
. wearing the mask of Democracy BIT
. for clean and purified party that wi
y raise the State to higher plane and
= nobler destiny.
g 1t would not make any difference
q my views if it were otherwise, still
may serve the purpose of quietin
= those who pretend to be alarmt
q if / should mention the opinion
others.
~ Such ably edited papers as the Men
- phis Commercial Appeal, the Nashvil
8 Banner, the Nashville American, Il
p Chattanooga Times, the Knoxville Sef
= tineI, have all, at various times, vi