Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1911-01-06

farm for himself, driving peg at eacl
corner. He was told that they were IS
sued by the United States Government
and nobody would dare to disturb them
By the magical power of these littlt
stakes the land would become his after
The election was over, provided he votet
right. The supplemented African loyal.
lly carried elections for his friends, ant
when the voting was done, began tc
clamor for his forty acres and the mule
| 1t was not the high-class Northern
man who made these promises. Federal
commanders repeatedly warned the ne
gro against believing them and told the
negro very plainly that no lands would
be con6scated for his benefit; he must
work for what he got or settle on the
public domain. But the credulous negro
preferred to follow the noisy demagogue.
The negro's vote never did belong to
him even in the heyday of his power.
The system was like this: The carpet
Dagger managed the election; he had the
ballot box so placed that no voter could
approach it without passing between two
lines of men. At the end next the box
several stout fellows-generally black
were stationed to examine every negro's
ticket before he was allowed to deposit
it. If the ticket was not straight" Mr..
Negro had to change it.
The lands of the South lay idle and
the negroes had nothing to eat. Fed
eral commanders issued rations, coupled
with a warning that the negroes must
go to work and not look to the Govern
ment for support The world had turned
upside down, and it is hard to tell who
was the more uncomfortable; the negro
on the top or the white man at the bot
tom. The natural order of things had
been violently subverted, and in violence
it was to right itself again.
The most effective means employed
to restore order was the celebrated Ku
Klux Klan. This organization, whose
very name became a synonym for nys-
ticism and terror, speedily drew upon
itself the eye of the civilized world. The
impression was given out among the
negroes that these strange giants, seen
only at night headless and breathing fire,
were ghosts of the Confederate dead
risen from their graves to wreak ven
geance upon those who injured the
widow and the orphan. Warnings were
sent to the insolent, and the criminal;
and punishment followed. Among the
superstitious negroes-who believed in
the "conju" man, the "evil eye" and
"voodoo"-it spread a fear which kept
them in their cabins after the sun went
down.
The country became quieter, the pur-
poses of the Khan we're largely accom-
plished, and it disbanded. Then it was
that outlaws assumed its DISCUSSES and
perpetrated many a horror in its name.
Under the rigid anti:Ku Klux statutes
numerous arrests were made, exposing
negroes and carpet-baggers masquerade
ing as Ku Klux. But the Khan got the
discredit Of it all.
As soon as the Southern states had
thrown off their shackles they set about
fortifying their camp and holding the
ground that they had won. The white
man cast about him for means to pre-
serve by law the status he had gained by
force and stratagem. He could never
be safe while he recognized large body
of ignorant, corrupt and unreliable vot
err, such as were created by the black
and-tan constitutions. The necessity for
them may be shown by grouping of the
States of South Carolina, Georgia, Ala
bama, Florida, Mississippi and Louisiana.
The combined white population of these
States is 4,413,176; the negro population
4,4s3.6o5
Throughout the South new conventions
were called and many plans proposed
to accomplish by law what had already
been accomplished in fact-disfranchise |
the negro. The trainers of those new
constitutions proceeded upon firm
ground. First, no man should have a |
voice In the affairs of the state who
does not contribute his due share to the
support of the state Good. This propo-
sition cannot be denied. Therefore, all
OF black-must pay their |
taxes before they are qualified to vote.
The property tax is compulsory and was
made 4 lien on the property; but the
poll tax is optional, the individual may
pay 1t or not No pay no vote is fair
rule. The rule is fair, but how did it
work? Simply enough. The careless ne
gro would not pay.
Taxes must be paid auhen dxe-about
the first of the year. Elections are gen.
orally held in the fail. The wise man
who understands the negro knows that
the negro never looks ahead. He never
plans or builds for the future. In the
summer time he never thinks of the cold
lime that IL coming. In January, at
time, when there is no ex-
and nothing to arouse bio iarl
~>ae. 49, a