North Carolina Newspapers

' SECTION ONE—Pages Ito 4. The News and Observer. e ■T' VOL.XLVI. NO. 61. IMS ILL NORTH CAROLINA HUES 11 NEWS 111 WRuOLAHON. UNDERSTANDING IS THE TEST Constitutional Amendment Provides Two Ways of Showing it NO RACE DISCRIMINATION i IF NEGROES CANNOT VOTE- UN DER AMENDMENT IT IS RE ('ACS IT THEY DA OK UN DERSTANDING. THE PRACTICAL OPERATION ILLUSTRATED If the Amendment wts Proposed in New York Nobody Wou'd Suggest that it Violat ed the Fifteenth Amend ment. lion. F. M. Simmons, Chairman of the Democratic' Stole Executive Committee, who has given much thought to the con stitutionality and practical operations of the proposed amendment, gives his ma tured views in the following: MR. SIMMONS ON THE AMEND MENT. It has been, .suggested that the constitu tional amendment discriminates against the negro, and is therefore* violative of the Fifteenth amendment. Now, the Fifteenth amendment nowhere uses the word “discriminate,” it simply provides that no State shall “deny or abridge” the right of a citizen to vote, “on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude.” Subject to this limitation, it is well settled, and admitted by every one, that the. State can prescribe any condition or (jualilicatiou, however dis criminative, to the suffrage it may see tit to impose. The Constitutional Amendment upon which tlwf people are to vote does not 111 any legal sense, either “deny or abridge” the right of the black man to vote; it simply establishes a qualification of suffrage. This qualification is that the voter shall have a DUE UNDER STANDING OF THE NATURE OF HIS ACT, and THE EFFECT THEREOF upon HIMSELF and HIS FELLOW MAN, and it prescribes TWO WAYS in which the voter may SHOW that lie POSSESSES this REQUIRED DEGREE of UNDERSTANDING. First. If he can read and write, it is conclusively presumed from that fact that he possesses the required degree of understanding. Second. If he or his ancestors began to exercise the right of suffrage prior to ISl‘>7. it is eonclusiveV presumed from that fact, that lie possesses the required degree of understanding. The reasoning in the latter case being that the voter having been thus long ac customed to exercise the function of suffrage, and to participate in the affairs of Government, or having been in parental relationship and associa tion with those who have thus participated, has come, both to understand and appreciate the full significance and import of the suffrage, and that it is as safe to presume the possession by the voter of the required degree of understanding from the knowl edge and training thus acquired, as it is to presume it from a knowledge by him of the art of reading and writing. Os course, all qualifications predicated on the intelligence of the voter must necessarily he based upon presumptions, there being no scales in which you may weigh mind and understanding. This is tin* qualification, and the man ner of proving the possession of it, by the voter, and every negro who can show cither in the ONE or the OTHER of these TWO WAYS that he POS SESSES it. is entitled to VOTE under the AMENDMENT. Certainly, there can he no successful denial of the right of the State to base I lit* right of suffrage upon the voter's ability to understand the nature and effect of the exercise of the suffrage. This right of tin* State is equally as clear as is its right to impose what is commonly known as an educational qualification by requiring the voter to lie able to read and write, for this is itself in effect nothing but an understanding qualification. The object of requiring the voter to show that he can read and write is solely to prove his capacity to understand, and certainly this may be proved just as well and just as satis factorily in other ways. The* Mississippi Constitution, which has recently been upheld by t lit* Su preme court of the United States, not only imposes an understanding qualifica tion, hut even goes to the extent of per mitting the 1 'egistrar of elections to de cide arbitrarily whether the vot*>r suffi ciently understands. If tin* negro, when he comes to vote, cannot qualify himself under tli amend ment by showing that he is able to read and write, certainly no one will contend for a moment that the Amendment, in refusing his ballot for that reason, either “denies or abridges" his right of suffrage within tin* meaning of tin* Fifteenth Amendment. If failing to eoiiie up to this test, treading and writing! he cannot quality himself under the other test prescribed by the Amend ment, to wit: The test of presumed understanding from long participation in j government, or descent fpoiu and inti- mate association with those who Jinve been long accustomed to such participa tion. certainly, no wrong is done him, nor is his right to vote denied or abridg ed because somebody else is aide to qua! ify himself under the test. The master said that the Lord of the vineyard did no wrong to those who be gan to labor at the third, and the sixtii, aiql the ninth hour, when he gave to those who only began at the eleventh hour "likewiso a penny.” “Take that which is thine and go thy way.” Let us make a practical application of the Amendment. Take four citizens of the State, neither of whom can read ami write, let two of them be white men. one a native North Carolinian, who has lived here all his life, one « Pole or German, who has only been 2<> years in tfiis country; let the other two be negroes, one of whom has lived in the State all his life, and the other one who has recently moved to the State, let us say. from Massachusetts, where he voted before 1M57. or whose ancestors were free negroes and could vote before JSI»7. Now. under the Constitutional Amendment one of these white men can vote, and one of these negroes can vote; while the other white man (the foreigner!, and the other negro cannot vote. The white man stud the negro, who are permitted to vote, are both allowed to vote for the same reason because they or their ancestors could vote before 1807. The white man and the negro, who are excluded from voting, are excluded tor the same reason, because they could neither read and write, nor did they < r their ancestors vote in this country be fore lSt!7. I suppose no one will contend that tin* foreigner, who is excluded from the suffrage under this Amendment is denied the right to vote "by reason of race, color or previous condition of servitude." Then upon what principle of law or common sense will tie courts hold that the negro, who is excluded with him is denied his right to vote “on account of race, color or previous con dition of servitude?” Rut it is suggested that the courts will not construe this Amendment bv iG termn. but that it will loon beyond and outside of the Amendment, and consider any historical facts connected with its initiation and adoption, and inqu’.re »nto the motive and intent of the measure. Well, for the sake of the argument, let us admit it. although it must be con fessed that this would be a novel meth od of interpreting a written Constitu tion. It is contended that the court has only to look to well known facts con cerning our imputation, and the facts connected with the emancipation of the negro to see that only a very few ne groes could qualify themselves for suf frage under the so-called “grandfather clause, while all the white people ex cept it few foreigners could qualify themselves under it and therefore the court, predicating its action upon these facts dehors the amendeiuent, would hold that the object of this clause was to “deny and abridge” the suffrage of the negro, * “on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude.” Rut North Carolina is not 'the whole of the United States. Let us suppose that an amendment identical with ours should he submitted to the people of New York and ratified j by them, and a case to test its eonstitu- I tionality should he taken to the Supreme court and that court should apply the • rule of construction contended for, as above stated, what would be the result? .itENT TWO .6 . .0. .0.. I New York has an enormous population. There an* some negroes, but not many, probably twenty-five or thirty thousand j negro voters in the State. A large part of its white population are for eigners who have moved into that State since 1807. A large proportion of this foreign element are utterly ignorant and often depraved. There are prob ably more than 200,000 such voters in that State* today. Does any one suppose that ihe court looking at these well known facts con cerning the population of New York would say that such an amendment was intended or had the effect of denying or j abridging tin* negroes' right to vote, "on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude?” On the con trary. would not the court, and every , intelligent person, see that for every j ignorant negro effected by the amend- j ment in any way there would he from S to 10 uneducated foreigners effected in the same way. and would ' not the court and every intelligent per- I sum say that the amendment was aim- I ed at the ignorant foreign vote of that State and that, though the negro was effected thereby in the same way. as the foreigner, tin* suffrage of neither was denied or abridged “on account of race, j color, or previous condition of servi tude.” hut on account of presumed un fitness and mental and moral delinquin ees, as well as because of defective | training and inadequate education in the I republican principles of self-government, aiud would not the court hold that such - an amendment to New York’s consti ! tution was not only constitutional, hut just ? There are many States of tin* great West which have to a large extent been settled since the close of the civil . war. which, while having a few negroes, are largely populated by foreigners. In | all of these States, if the Supreme Court in construing an amendment similar to ours should look to the con ditions of population, they would sa.\ that the object of such an amendment was to reach that element of the popu- j lation which had too recently settled there to have divested themselves of ; tin* monarchical theories and practices which they brought with them from tlu* . old world, or to imbibe the democratic principles of self-government upon which our Republic is founded and it | it absurd to suit-pose the court would say such an amendment was unconsti- ■ tutional, because forsooth the few lie- . groes who happen to he living there along with the great mass of unedu- J oated, foreigners, might not la* able qualify themselves under the clause RALEIGII, NORTH CAROLINA, SUNDAY MORNING, MAY 21, 1899. A. MISS DAISY L. IIOLT. Os Burlington. Sponsor for Xorh Carolina Division of Veterans. (Charleston News and Courier. ) Miss Daisy L. Holt, sponsor for North Carolina Division. U. C. V., was born in the town of Burlington, X. ('., and is the daughter of the late .lames IT. Ilolt. She iias had the highest ad vantages in her education, having lately graduated from one of the fashionable schools in New York city, and now appears as a debutante in society. Mr. dames li. Holt was en listed April 22. 1861. as a private in Company K, Tenth North Carolina State troops, artillery, and serv *d with bis command at tlie forts below Wilmington. He was detailed as ad jutant to Maj. James Reilly, of that regiment, and later was ordered to report \Jo the commandant of the military school at Fayetteville, as captain, a few days before the attffek, and was not present at the capture of Fort Fisher. Mr. Holt then took up the manufacture of cotton, and built tip a very heavy business in cotton limiting the franchise to those who were entitled 'to vote before a time an tedating his emancipation. if such a law would he constitutional in New York, or in any of the States of the great West having a large un educated foreign population, why would it not be constitutional in North Caro lina? If there is anything that is ab solutely certain it is that the Supreme Court of the United States cannot hold that a law which would lie constitutional in one State would he unconstitutional in another. The Federal Constitution applies to every inch of territory in the Union, and if there he one State in which such a con stitutional provision would lie constitu tional it would lie constitutional in all. If it Were competent for tlu* court to look to political conditions in construing a constitutional provision it would have to consider the conditions in every part of the country and not the conditions in one nook or corner of tbe country, or in one State or a division of States, else it might find itself by tlu* application of this rule of interpretation deciding that a law constitutional in one part of the country was unconstitutional in another part. This analysis shows no such rule of construction can lie safely adopted by the court of last resort of forty-live States. It is true we have not in North Caro lina today a very large foreign popula tion, but who knows when the tide of foreign emigration may turn to our shores and quickly till up waste places as it lias done in the great West in the last three decades. The day may come, and in the near future, when x there may Im* more uned cated foreigners in North Carolina thani ignorant negroes. When that day may come, if it ever conies, we cannot know, neither can tlu* Supreme Court. If, however, the court should look outside of tlu* amendment and takes into con sideration tlu* motives which led to its ratification and the history of this ques tion of suffrage, we have seen that it would find ample ground to support its constitutionality, but it is confidently af firmed that tlu* court in construing this measure will look only at the written instrument and will not ascribe to it any motive or purpose which its lan guage fails to disclose. It is a rule as old as jurisprudence that the Intent of a law and of tlu* law-makers must he gathered from the language of tlu* law and that the courts have nothing to do with any motive of the law-makers, which does not appear from tlu* con text of the law itself. The courts are frequently and properly moved in reach ing their conclusions by considerations of urgent public policy and there are many instances in our judicial history where the court* have seemed to “strain a lMiint” to accomplish a great public purpose and it is believed if it were necessary the court Would “strain a point” in this behalf to accomplish the purpose of suffrage purification and ele vation which this amendment has in view for it is manifest that both the best thought and enlightened conscience of tlu* nation longs to see the South relieved of the insufferable evils of unrestricted negro suffrage and that thirty years experience has overwhelm ingly convinced tlu* nation that the Fifteenth Amendment is the greatest jMilitical blunder of tlu* century. That the court will not inquire into the mo tives of this legislation would seem to Im* conclusively settled by Its decision sustaining the Chinese naturalization act. It was desirable to withhold the (suffrage from the Chinaman because lie had become a troublesome and dan -1 gemus political factor on the Pacific I coast, just as the negro has liecome a source of isilitical irritation and trou ble in tlu* South. With the avowed and notorious purpose of denying him the franchise, Congress passed an act by the I*. IP WBB> ■ lijr\ VC MISS ADELAIDE SNOW. Os Raleigh. Maid of Honor for North Carolina Divi sion of Veterans. (Charleston News and Courier.) Miss Adelaide Boylan Snow, of Ral eigh. the maid of honor for North Caro lina. is one of the Old North State’s ingest charming and accomplished debu tantes*. Miss Snow is the d lughter of the late George 11. Snow, a prominent lawyer of Raleigh, and a captain in the Confederate army, and combines in her charming personality the gra.ee and at tract iveness of her mother, wno was Miss Elizabeth McCulloch Boylan. and the spirit and magnetic force ot charac ter of her lamented fother. She re ceived her primary education at the his toric school of St. Mary's, in Raleigh, and completed her studies in New T ork. Miss Snow is a handsome blonde of tine presence and gracious manners, and possesses a large circle of friends and admirers. 'provisions of which the Chinaman was I excluded from citizenship and the Su fpreme Court held this legislation which I was intended and in fact did. disfran chise him by indirection, constitutional, and today the Chinaman, tlu* descendant jof a nation which has produced some of the greatest men and foremost thinkers of tlu* world, and which represents the oldest civilization in history cannot vote in this country as the result of legislation which, though it does not in itself disfranchise him, is recognized everywhere as a ' shrewd device by which his disfran i ehisement was accomplished. If the ! court had followed the rule of inter pretation. which it is contended by some applies to our amendment in this ease, it would have looked behind the j act of Congress and said “though it ap pears to he valid upon its face, it is ; void and unconstitutional because its purpose and object is to deprive the Chinaman of his right to vote by a leg islative device.” Any rule of interpretation which in volves a supervision by tlu* court of the motives or policy of tlu* Legislature would lie rank usurpation of the func tions of a co-ordinate branch of the gov ernment. THE RACE PROBLEM IN THE SOUTH. As Viewed by an Intelligent North Carolina Observer. To tlu* Editor (Springfield Republican): Oil reading your editorial comments on Dr. Campbell's pamphlet In your issue of the loth, I. am moved to offer an observa tion or two. Jefferson a century ago said that the negroes and whites could never •ive together, were the negroes of the ; South freed. Mr. Lincoln, if I remem ber aright, said tlu* same thing, in Sep tember, 1 Still, in connection with his first I mancipation proclamation. Before the war I also -.thought it impossible, and it hat opinion was generally held by thoughtful men at tin* South. I know of none who thought otherwise. This idea was not founded on race antipathies or race prejudices. but on tlu* estimate placed on the negro as an uncivilized man. It was apprehended that worth less and savage negroes would inaugu rate lawlessness, and disorder and in quietude would prevail—not because of race differences, but because of the nat ural characteristics of tin* negroes. To some extent these apprehensions have been realized. But it has been a great blessing that they have not l**en realized except in a moderate degree. The* South lias occasion to rejoice that the negro lias behaved himself in free dom much better than Southern men thought it possible. And here 1 may also say that Southern men award the negroes high credit for their faithful conduct during the war. From my standpoint, and I am quite sure my views are shared by a large number of persons in North Carolina, in stead of the negroes being condemned for their lawlessness, they are to be commend'd because they are less law less than it was thought they would be. Comment is made on the relative num ber of criminals —negroes compared with tin* whites —at the South. Well, what of it? We have, comparatively speaking, no criminal class of whites at the South. Our whites are church-going, law-abiding people. Even Tourgee, in jlvis “Fool's Errand.” says That. Occa sionally horrible tilings have been done j by some of them under some provocation that swept away their reason and made I them madmen —things too horrible to j mention-—and though a foul blot on man j hood and on civilization, still possible Ito occur in any latitude when an entire community becomes frenzied and utterly bereft of reason. But despite those ex hibitions, the Southern whites generally follow the law. And doubtless it is be cause the negroes are regarded as an inferior race the whites have a pride in moving on a higher plane. The presence of the negro lias always fended to the elevation of the whites and has made the poorer class of whites much superior in tone and character to what they would have been had there been no ne groes beneath them. But compare the negroes in North Carolina as criminals with tin* jioorer classes of your own whites. I challenge you to institute the commission. I ven turi* you have a greater precentnge of criminals in Massachusetts than yon can find among I lie negroes in North Ca ro lina ! There is. I think, a disposition to mag nify the immorality of the negroes. It may be as bad in Washington as repre sented, but while the percentage of illegi timate births among the negroes there is l*o. in Haris among all classes it is 2t>. And although fit may have l**en bad at the South in the past. I think there has been a great improvement in the last IT> years—-a very decided and notable improvement. Indeed, when we consider How tlie ne groes have amassed property; how they have conducted themselves so that our fears of their lawlessness have not been realized: how they have improved in edu cation. and what great advances they have made all along the line, we have much reason to la* thankful and to be greatly encouraged for the future of the race. Let me commend your own suggestion.—that tile negro can be bene fitted more through the friendly interest of the Southern whites thani by tlu* friendly 'interest of outsiders acting in dependently. That the negroes are ar rayed politically against the dominant element of Southern whites Is a fact that now cuts but little figure. The whites will not tolerate that they shall ever Ire in the ascendency. That being understood and accented, and the poli ties of the negro being known by his skin, that element enters lmt little into the problem of his race. . If it is sought to secure his contentment, his prosper ity ,his education and elevation as a man and a citizen, the object is to Ik* attained through the co-operation of his white neighobrs. The negroes under stand this very well, and they are wise, and they cultivate their white neighbors with considerable address. They seek to make friends with the mammon of unrighteousness. Nearly every one has his particular friends among the whites. In closing I vent litre to say that des pite the poverty of the negroes as a •e+ass.—those in North Carolina will com pare favorably with tin* lower class in most countries in many essential re spects. They never want for work. They make an easy living. They have few needs. They have congenial associa tions. They are generally contented, and are not. rendered unhappy by nursing their grievances, whether fancied or real. S. A. ASHE. Raleigh, N. C., May 14. ISIKI. ANTI TRUST NOTES. (Southern Tobacco Journal.) Tin* anti-trust folks are coming from talk down to business. A good deal has been done of late. They are lining up for the tight. What Arkansas and Missouri have done has been fold already in this paper. They have anti-trust laws ami are en forcing them. The Texas legislature has passed ; n anti-trust law similar to that of Arkan sas but more drastic. The Michigan Senate has passed a hill prohio,ting the organization in that State of any trust or combination designed to prevent competition! or control prices. The bill will pass the house and Governor Uingree will certainly sign it. The anti-trust movement has reached New Orleans. The Wholesale Grocers' Association, composed of all tin* leading wholesale grocers of New Orleans, is de termined to lead the fight, and has called upon commercial exchanges and mer chants to unite with them In driving trusts out of Louisiana. The Civic Federation, an organization of Chicago, in its plan for a national conference on trusts and combinations, proposes to invite tlu* Governor. Attor ney-Genera! and labor commissioner of each State. Each Governor will be ask ed to appoint tlu* representatives of his State. All the large commercial asso ciations will he invited to send delegates. Capt. H. B. Skaddcn, a travelling man. who will lie a candidate for tin* Ohio legislature, says trusts have displaced 72,000 traveling men in five months. The latter will exercise their influence, which is strong, he says, to have the trusts condemned in the platforms of all par ties. MOT AT CARDENAS; LAST AT SANTIAGO.” (Extract, from E. \V. soil’s Memorial address at Greensboro.'! “No people under the sun would sac rifice more to defend the homn of lie* nation. Go with me to the \Viu>h-*.v s shattered deck. Go with me to San tiago’s burning height. What beautiful hoy lies here? What fine proportioned man lies here? Speak, dead hero, and ■tell us which one of the- sister States didst yield thee up a saerltiee for thy country's honor. Thou c a list not speak: thy lips are sealed in the silence of death, and yet the world doth know. “One day thy State shall build another monument. U]Kvn Us bosom, shall lw*'chiseled for the generations' to read: 'First at Cardenas. Last at San tiago.’ ” The less a wife finds out about her husband the more suspicions she is of his actions. Use tin* fewest possible words when you have aijpthing to say. PRICE FIVE CENTS. PREACHER MIGHT PULL THE HOPE That’s What a Presbyterian Preacher Would Do. HE MrGHT PARTICIPATE A SON OF AN ABOLITIONIST SAYS HIS MIND HAS CHANGED ON SOME MATTERS. RESOLUTIONS WERE NOT SECTIONAL Original Resolution Introduced at Pittsburg Presbytery Were Much Modified After an Interesting Debate. (fittsburg Dispatch.) fittsburg fresbytery is not a unit, on lynching. At its meeting at Swissvah* yesterday a resolution was introduced denouncing tin* recent lynching in Georgia. The resolution precipitated one of the hottest debates ever known in tin* presbytery, and the resolution finally adopted bore scarcely any resemblance to the original. During the discussion one member of fresbytery announced tli ait under certain conditions He would pull a rope himself. The original resolution was presented by Rev. George N. Johnston, D. D., and read: “In view of the deplorable frequency of the lynching* of negroes ini the south ern portion of our country, so as to cause all right-thinking people to tremble in view of the possible future to which such a course must inevitably lead, therefore, the fresbytery of fittsburg feels called upon at this time to utter its most solemn protest against tin* inhuman course ot dealing with supposed criminals and of expressing its deep abhorrence of the condition of society that permits and above all, approves, of sum savagery, believing as we do that mob law is only savage violence, and has no tendency to deter criminals. Besides, from the com mission of crime the certain result must lie to brutalize the perpetrators and plunge the land into a most fearful race war. We hereby express, also, our sym pathy with all those in tin* South who are working to abolish mob violence.” WOULD CHEERFULLY PULL THE HOPE.' Rev. Allan Douglas Garble said: “As one of the barbarians, 1 want to oppose the whole resolution with my whole heart. I regard it as a piece of cheap buncombe, which will do no good what ever, and will only make feeling in tin* Smith rankle toward the North. The resolution is unjustly sectional, as many parts of the North are just as guilty. Again, I would not vote against an ac tion which under similar circumstances I would do my self. If my wife wore as saulted and murder committed as in Gn Georgia ease I would cheerfully pull the rope.” Dr. Johnston said he was liorn a'nd raised in the South, hut he had been dis tressed for weeks over the terrible state of affairs in the South. “No mortal man can tell what we are coming to. We only want to express the righteous indignnGon of our people against the violation of all human and Divine law.” Rev. A. D. Garble said some laws are written in the heart, and Tie repented that he would have taken a hand with tin* mob. under tlu* circumstances, in get ting away with the wretch who commit ted the crime down in Georgia. Rev. George W. Montgomery moved as a substitute that “the presbytery looks with horror on the lynching imsi ness. and sympathizes with the good peo ple of the South in their efforts to sup press the business.” HE HAS CHANGED 11 IS MIND. Rev. l)r. R. S. Holmes, said in* was the son of a man who kept on under ground railroad station, was an aboli tionist, had been brought up to believe “a man could not he a Democrat and gi to Heaven,” hut he had changed his mind as In* grew older. He was opposed to such action as that proposed, as tlu* fresbytery did not know the facts in in - case, and in all respects it was out of place. Rev. George W. Montgomery's substi tute was adopted, after a motion to t dile the whole business had been voted down. Mr. Montgomery’s resolution, as adopted is as follows: Resolved, That this fresbytery looks with horror ujxm tlu* seeming growth ts the mob spirit as recently exemplified in different parts of the country. Resolved, That this fresbytery extends its heartfelt sympathy for all those who are striving so nobly to build up a Higher appreciation of the dignity of the ia»v. An effort to strike out the word “seem ing” failed. The actum of the fresby tery was discussed among the members after adjournment, and was generally regarded as meaningless. Sonic people are so busy criticising creeds that they have no time left for practical religion. When a man in love is shy about ex pressing hi* sentiments a declaration by male would not be amiss. If some people profit ted by their er rors it would keep them busy declaring dividends.