Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-03-18
Accomplished by Tillman's Under.
standing Clause"
FRANKLY TOLD TO THE SENATE
Negroes Almost Solidly for Foraker
for President, But Taft Will Have
Solid Delegation at Chicago.
BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence of The Star and the
| Chicago Record-Herald.

Carolina. AS Mr.. Clark, the leadlnS
! banker of this city. asserted the other
| day, there are less than hundred white
| republicans in the state. and they are all
| in office In 1906 the republican candidate
| for governor received thirty-two votes;
| In 1904 he received ,492 votes. There Is
| no republican in the legislature. and there
| has been none for four years. There has
not been a white republican in the legisla-
| ture since Tillman secured control OF that
| body by the farmers movement about
fifteen wears ago. The last republican in
! the legislature was Robert Anderson,
elected from Beaufort county. where the
| population is almost exclusively composed
! of colored people. and he Is described as
| modest. intelligent: highly respec,e .
colored man, who minded his own busl-
ness voted intelligently. but took no fur-
| Their part in the proceedings. The colored
people are shut out of politics by what is
| known as the understanding clause ana
| tuition. This provides that voter must
| be able to read and write and understand
any section of the state CONSTITUTION OF
| show that he owns and has paid all taxes
due upon property in the state assessed
| at s3Oo or more Senator Tillman was the
| chairman of the committee of the constl-
| tutional convention of 1S05~which devised
and reported that provision. and IL was
| the first legislative step toward the dis.
enfranchisement of the colored voters Oh
| the south.
Mr.. Tillman Explains.
In a speech in the United States Senate
February o6. 1900, Mr. Tillman described
| how this was done. He said: 1--WE have
men in the north, men IN this champer'
men In the other house. who never omit
an opportunity to charge the southern
people with unfarness and dishonesty ana
baliot-box stuffing and fraud and force.
Let me tell you how we nxeo ~ III ou.
state We had 125, 600 negroes OF Young
age and We had 100000 white. Now can
YOU lift yourselves over the fence with
your boot-straps and beat that by nom
est methods? Yet you stood up here ana
insisted that we must give these people
a free vote and fair count. They had
1t for eight years, as long as the bayonets
stood there and in 1876 they sent more
bayonets because we got the devil In US
by that time and did not care whether we
had any government. We preferred 10
have a United States army officer rather
/ than a government by carpet-baggers and
| thieves and scalawags and scounorels
| who had stolen everything In sight and
| had mortgaged prosperity. When that
| happened we took the government away
We stuffed ballot-boxes; we shot them'
we are not ashamed of it; the senator
| from Wisconsin (SpooneD would have
done the same CnlnS- see IL III ilo SS z
| right now; he would have done it. With
that syste m-force, tissue ballots. etc-we
got tired ourselves. So we called a
| constitutional convention and we enml-
mated, as said all of the colored people
| whom we could under the fourteenth and
fifteenth amendments. There will be a
| lot of poor devils of white men over
| there possibly who cannot read and write
| and who will be debarred the right or
| suffrage under this bill. If. however you
! .
and appoint registration officers who will
use the understanding clause and rush
them through. you may be able to regis
| ter the white men as We have done
| This speech of Humans is history, and
the method he adopted to eliminate the
colored vote" has been perfectly success
| full The only time the colored voters of
| this state ever go to the polls is when
factional fight occurs among the demo-
| Gratis in some town or city, and one fac
ton or the other. or perhaps both, rounds
I'D the intelligent members of the colored
population and votes them under the
| understanding clause" or the property
| qualification. On several occasions with
in the last two years factional fights in
the democratic party have been decided
by the intelligent colored voters.
A Demoralizing Contest.
The only opportunity the colored repub-
licans have for indulging in politics is
|
gates to the presidential convention, and
| it is always an exciting and. In many
respects, a demoralizing contest. Such a
| fight is now on and the negroes of the
state are lining up in favor Of the diff
| ferent candidates for the nomination.
Conventions will be held next month in
the several congressional districts and for
the state to elect delegates at large
| will no I,,n dala from
| ALL and in some districts there will be
| three sets of delegates nominally in favor
| of three different candidates. but really to
crafty their own vanity and to promote
| their prospects of securing official patron
age under the next administration. The
negroes here do not care very much who
| Is nominated for President. 1t makes
very little difference to the masses VINO
sits in the White House. But those who
! are ambitious to hold office under the
next administration. and are holding Of
| flee under this are plunging around with
| great energy to make record and to
elect themselves delegates to the Chicago
convention. where they may be seen and
! heard and "recognized.'
| If President Roosevelt's order prohibit
| ing of1ceholders from ''pernicious activ-
| ity'' were obeyed. there might be a par
| tial expression of what stands for public
| sentiment in this state, but the entire DO
litical machinery and the exclusive man.
agement of party affairs are in the hands
of the postmasters and collectors of in
ternal revenue, and Mr.. John G. Capers
commissioner of internal revenue at
| Washington, is director general of the
| campaign Whatever he orders will be
done by the federal officials here. and the
state convention and every district con-
| vention will send delegates instructed for
, Secretary Taft. There will be contest
ing delegation for Cannon. Fairbanks and
Foraker from different districts, with a
hope of securing some consolation at Chi
cago although they do not know exactly
how.
Negroes Strong for Foraker.
If the intelligent negroes of the state
were allowed to express their preference
they would be almost solid for Foraker
because OF his defense of the negro troops
in the Brownsville affair. The colored
newspapers and the colored preachers OF
all denominations have hailed him as the
most loyal and sincere friend of the race
|