The “grandfather” clause of the Arkansas Constitution reads as follows:
“SECTION 4a. No person shall be registered as an elector of this State,
or be allowed to vote in any election held herein, unless he be able
to read and write any section of the Constitution of the State of
Oklahoma; but no person who was on January 1, 1866, or at any time
prior thereto, entitled to vote under any form of government, or who at
that time resided in some foreign nation, and no lineal descendant of
such person, shall be denied the right to register and vote because of
his inability to so read and write sections of such Constitution.
“Precinct election inspectors having in charge the registration of
electors shall enforce the provisions of this section at the time of
registration, provided registration be required. Should registration be
dispensed with the provisions of this section shall be enforced by the
precinct election officers when electors apply for ballots to vote.”
This amendment has been voted upon and the votes canvassed, but an
official count has not been announced, and probably will not be until
just before the general election in November.
* * * * *
The Hon. J. C. Napier will replace the Hon. W. T. Vernon, of Kansas, as
Register of the United States Treasury. The Chattanooga _Times_ gives
the following reasons for the change:
“It appears now that Vernon has outlived his usefulness, since he
could not help the administration to stem the insurgent wave that
recently swept over the Sunflower State, and that his reappointment was
contingent on his success in that campaign. It is learned from that day
he was marked for retirement.
“Tennessee Republican politicians readily recognized the opportunity to
make a master stroke and impression on the Negro vote in Tennessee, by
recognizing one of their race with an important office.
“Napier for eight years was a member of the Republican State Committee,
but the white members fell out with him at the recent state convention
when it was believed that he had agreed to use his influence with the
Negroes in favor of Patterson. Since he was deposed the committee has
been without Negro membership, and this sop is held out to pacify the
rebellious Negroes all over the state.”
* * * * *
Senator Cummins, of Iowa, will introduce a bill into Congress
for direct primaries in selecting candidates for President and
Vice-President. He says:
“To me the injustice is plain of permitting the 4,000 Republicans of
Mississippi to cast 20 votes in the convention, while Iowa, with
300,000 Republicans, can cast only 26. It it right that Georgia, with
only 30,000 Republican voters, should have exactly the same number of
delegates as Iowa, with ten times that number of Republican votes?
Every one recognizes that the Republican party--such as it is in the
far Southern States--is composed almost wholly of Federal officeholders
and those who want Federal office. It has been demonstrated time and
time again that the delegates to Republican national conventions from
these states are absolutely venal and that they uniformly vote with the
administration forces, which purchase them by means of postoffices and
collectorships.”
* * * * *
The United Colored Democracy of the State of New York has been
organized for the coming campaign. They demand a colored regiment in
the New York National Guard, and also colored policemen and firemen.
* * * * *
J. C. Manning and the Progressive Republicans in Alabama are fighting
Mr. Washington’s political influence in that state.
* * * * *
The newly elected Governor of South Caroline, Blease, made his fight
on a platform opposing Negro education and prohibition.
* * * * *
The Negroes of South Carolina gained complete control of the State
Republican Convention.
* * * * *
The Hon. P. B. S. Pinchback, once Reconstruction Governor of Louisiana,
has been appointed to the Internal Revenue Service in Cincinnati, O.
* * * * *
The Colored Independent Political League has decided to support the
Democratic ticket in Ohio, New York and New Jersey; the Republican
tickets in Delaware and West Virginia, and to favor Senator Bulkeley,
of Connecticut, and oppose Senator Lodge, of Massachusetts. Local
Independent organizations are at work in New York, Ohio, New Jersey,
Utah and Missouri.
* * * * *
The National Executive Committee of the Socialist party have appointed
Lena Morrell Lewis and George A. Goebel a committee of two to
investigate the condition of the Negro in America.
* * * * *
Suit has been brought in the United States Circuit Court to compel the
city of Annapolis, Md., to register colored voters. Annapolis by city
ordinance has attempted to nullify the Fifteenth Amendment.
* * * * *
The Democratic platform in Missouri says:
“The Democratic party when it came into power in 1871, took over the
Lincoln Institute and made it a normal school for the higher education
of the Negro teachers, and it has always made liberal appropriations
for that purpose and for the education of the Negro school children
of the State. It never has and will not discriminate against the
Negro, either by criminal laws or on the question of their rights of
franchise, and it deplores the action of the present chief executive
of this State in seeking to make political capital by creating race
antagonism.”
R. S. Rutledge so resents this plank that he has withdrawn from the
race for nomination as United States Senator.
* * * * *
The colored people of Cleveland, O., have received twenty-three
appointments to minor offices to reward their support of Mayor Baehr,
who defeated Tom Johnson. Beside these officials the colored people
have a member of the Legislature and a member of the City Council.
* * * * *
The Negroes of Atlanta prepared an elaborate program on the occasion of
Theodore Roosevelt’s speech to them.
* * * * *
The Republicans have nominated Thomas Briar, a colored man, to run for
Congress in the Fourth District of South Carolina.
* * * * *
In the twelve counties of the Eighth Congressional District of
Georgia there were only 392 colored men registered as voters. Even
these, however, very nearly held the balance of power in the last
Congressional election.
* * * * *
A press dispatch from Panama says:
“It became known to-day that Mendoza sent a messenger asking
Colonel Goethals to call at the Presidential palace. The army man,
by messenger, asked if he was wished personally or in his official
capacity. Several other notes were passed back and forth, Goethals
finally going.
“When he reached the palace, Mendoza refused to see him. It is said
that the snub was caused by Colonel Goethals drawing the color line in
the first place, Mendoza being a Negro.”
* * * * *