Mount Vernon signal. (Mt. Vernon, Ky.) 18??-current, 1918-01-04
DEMOCRACY BETRAYED BY
THE SOU I'll.


Section of Article XIV. @.
the Constitution of the United
States provide that:
Repre- Ientatives stall be APP
pointiOned among the severa
States according to their respec
tive numbers. counting the
whole mber of persons il
each State, excluding Indians
not taxed. But when the right
TO vote at any election for thC
choice of electors FOR President
and Vice-Pre sident of The United
States, Representatives in Con
gress, the Executive and Judicia
officers of State or the mber,
of the Legislature thereof is de
MED of any lof the male inhabi'
tants of such State, being TWEEN
ty-One years of age and citizens
of the United States, or in any
way abridged except for partici
patton in rebellion or other crime
the basis of representation shall
be reduced in the proportion
which the mum Der of such male
citizens shall bear TO the whole
number of male citizens twenty.
one years of age in Such Stale.
This provision of the Constitu
tin. together with the Fifteenth
Amendment, declaring that the
right of citizens IF the United
States % Vote shall not be denied
or abridged on account of race,
color or previous conditions OF
servitude," has been uullificG
sin e the Hayes Administration
withdrew the Federal troops
trim the Southern States
For forty years the right oi
negro citizens to vote in South
has been persistently denied and
the penalties provided by the
Constitution has never been eli
forced. No Southern State has
ever suffered a reduction IN its
represen tatiOn through its refusal
to permit negroes 10 vote, al
though the provision of the Con
stitutiOn is mandatory upon Con
gress.
This misrepresentation which
the South has held for more
than a generation it owes to the
Northern Democrats who have
protected the Southern States
from a punishment which Demo
Gratis in general have deemed &
gross infringement upon The
sovereign right of every State tt
regulate its own affairs. But the
Southern States are now prepar
ing 20 acqniesce in such Infringe
ment aud to nuiify the principle
of local self government to which
the DemocrAtic party has tema
ciously adhered since the time OF
jefferson Their Senators anC
Representatives in Congress
have already voted for such null
LITIGATION in the resolution sub
hitting to the Legislature of the
several States the prohibition
amendments to the Constitution
Of the United States, and practi
cally all of the Southern LegisIa
lures are expected TO ratlfy it
Without the votes of the South
ern Senators and Represent a
tives this resolution could no
have been submitted; without tn
votes of the Southern Legisla
lures the amendment cannot b
adopted. Nation wide prohibi
ton, If it comes. will be imposes
by States which have turne
their backs as squarely upo
their ancient principles of gov
eminent as the Russian Bolshe
Wiki have turned their back upo
the obligations of democracy.
When that day arrives tn
South can expect no more hel
from Northern Democrats in re
sisting the enforcement Of th
Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amend
ments The cry, mo Fore
Bill! No Negro Denomination!
will fall upon deaf ears. If tn
South is determined to hav
centralized Government tina
regulates the personal habits O
the American people, it mus
accept a centeralIzed Govern
ment that regulates negro fran