Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-12-26

greatness on many trips about the
country has long been a pleasure
and almost invariably the stories of
what happened in Perth Amboy are
listened to with keen interest. Sew
eral years ago, in Texas, when it was
casually mentioned that the speaker
came from the place where the first
negro vote was cast under the
fifteenth amendment there was re-
spouse of an unusual kind. In that
part of this great Republic the con-
stitutional amendment granting the
right of suffrage to men without re-
gard to color or previous condition
Of servitude had not yet begun to
operate, although nearly half a CEN
fury a part of the fundamental law
of the land. And yet here in Perth
| Amboy that first vote had been cast
and years afterward the fact that 1t
was actually the first had been duly
determined and then, so important
was 1t considered, the man who a
so voted had been made the guest
of honor at a public town meeting
and had been given a gold medal
bearing the profile of the Great
Emancipator and a suitable inscrip-
ton explaining the reason for its be-
ing designed and cast.
The amendment was proclaimed
a part of the supreme law of the
nation on March 80, 1870, and the
morning papers of the mex day duly
carried the news to the people. A
special election for the rejection or
ratification of a new charter for the
city of Perth Amboy had been set
for March 81, the day upon which
the news really became public prop
erty. Early that morning, the day
of the special election, Thomas
Peterson, better known, perhaps, as
Tom Mundy, was on his way to the
southern part Of the city to work.
AS he was passing through the park
at City Hall, he was hailed from that
building, where the election was be-
ing held, and asked If he did not
want to vote. His reply was that
he would like to, but men of his
color were not yet allowed to. He
was called over to the hall and
shown the New York Herald con-
tanning the news from Washington
and, t%hereupon, ~ deposited his bal
lot.
Fourteen years elapsed and on
May 80, 1884, the fact that Tom had
cast the first vote under the amend
ment was duly celebrated and a
memorial known as Tom Mundy's
medal was presented to the distin-
guislfed citizen in the presence OF
the capacity of the City Hall, at that
time Perth Amboy's most commo-
dious public meeting place. The in
vestigation which was followed by
the presentation of the medal was
so thorough that the findings of the
committee have eve been success
/ fully assailed and to this day the
travelling Amboyan need have nc
fear of successful contradiction when
he tells his story of Tom Peterson
and the first vote, whether the tell
ing takes place n nth or south
Every state was investigated. Every
Especial election was the subject OF
searching inquiry and in only one
place in all the United States was
there even the suggestion of a coun-
ter claimant to the honor held by
the Perth Amboy negro. Interesting
too, 1t was to find that even had the
local man not voted, the first vote
would still have been cast by a Jer-
sey black man, for the nearest rival
voted in the afternoon of March 81
at Princetonl He was Moses Schenck
and he. too, was given a medal, but
as was explained by those who gave
it, it was only because he was the
first Princetonian to vote under the
amendment. All of this being duly
determined, the public meeting was
the p money continue to be the
only circulating medium in general
use. The reason for this is that the
/ people will hold on to the better
kind of money. boarding it under
the zeal that no more of 1t may
come their way. With every one
doing this, the good money soor
drops out of use and the same old
unstable money is all that is in cir
culation. The value of a stable cur
rency is felt only when that cur
rency is in use.
If the German people hoard the
more valuable rentenmark and insist
upon offering only the old marks
when they are making purchases
the stabilizing effect of the new
medium will be lost. The trend OF
the experiment musts be watched
for some time to determine whether
this is to be its fate,