USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina since 1860, Volume III > Part 25
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The principles guiding the committee as outlined by George Rountree, the chairman, were: (1) Persons guilty of crime are not of sufficient character to vote; (2) Persons with- out home or some fixed habitation are not sufficiently inter- ested to vote intelligently; (3) Those who are not thrifty
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enough to pay taxes and bear part of the burden of the state should not take part in its government; and (4) Persons in order to vote must have sufficient intelligence for their voting not to be a menace to the community. So far as the grand- father clause was concerned, it was intended to be merely a bridge from the existing unlimited adult-male suffrage to a suffrage qualified by ability to read and write.
While the amendment was the great achievement of the session and the legislature moved very cautiously to avoid anything which might divide the white voters, much else was accomplished. A law providing for separate accommoda- tions for the races on trains and steamboats was passed in spite of considerable opposition from the railroads. The ex- isting election law was repealed as soon as the session began and later a new one, greatly resembling the one in operation before 1895, was passed. In order to protect the eastern counties from negro rule, the old system of electing county commissioners by magistrates who were themselves elected by the legislature was restored, applying, however, only to Washington, Granville, Caswell, Bertie, Vance, Warren, Craven, Edgecombe, Perquimans, Franklin, Montgomery, Pasquotank, and New Hanover. A law was passed providing for the domestication of foreign corporations before they could engage in business in the state. A department of insur- ance was established. The public school law was revised and an appropriation of $100,000 for the use of the schools was made. A proposition to divide the school fund between the races on the basis of what each paid was debated for some time. A meeting of negroes held in Raleigh in January pre- sented a memorial praying the legislature not to pass any legislation unfavorable to the race and issued an address to the colored people of the state advising quiet and the cultiva- tion of good feeling. There was some sentiment behind the proposed law but it was generally thought that action of this sort would be unwise and the bill was defeated, but there was no unanimity about the principle of the proposal and its defeat did not mean the establishment of a policy. The question was simply postponed for future settlement. The county boards
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of education were abolished and county boards of directors established in their place.
Almost as soon as the session began investigation of vari- ous departments was undertaken and the penitentiary was particularly the object of suspicion. The affairs of the insti- tution turned out to be in bad conditions and it was soon de- cided by the democrats to change the management, the point being made, in support of their contention that politics was not involved and that no financial responsibility could be as- sumed unless there went with it control. Accordingly a law was passed incorporating the state's prison, as distinguished from the penitentiary, and in addition to the existing direct- ors, twelve more chosen by the legislature were authorized. An executive board of three was created and the office of superintendent abolished. Another law authorized the issue . of bonds to pay the debts amounting to more than one hun- dred thousand dollars.
Just before the meeting of the legislature, J. M. Mewborne, the superintendent, had resigned and William H. Day, a demo- crat had been appointed. As to S. Otho Wilson, partisanship was rampant but the board demanded possession of the insti- tution, Day refused to yield and the case went to the Supreme Court.
One of the first acts of the legislature was a resolution asking the governor to communicate his reasons for the sus- pension of the two Wilsons from the railroad commission. After the statement of the case was laid before them an inves- tigation was decided upon. It was long and tedious, resulting in the vindication of Major J. W. Wilson who was a demo- crat. As to S. Othio Wilson, partisanship was rampant but the partisans were divided. Some wanted to rebuke the governor by vindicating him; others clamored for his removal by ratifi- cation of the governor's action. He had in the meantime re- signed. Finally both were re-instated. The legislature then abolished the railroad commission and created the corporation commission with new and enlarged powers, electing Franklin McNeill, S. L. Rogers, and E. C. Beddingfield commissioners.
The criminal circuit courts established by laws of 1895 and 1897 were abolished and later the eastern and western district criminal courts were established. The board of inter-
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nal improvement was reorganized and the control of the Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad given to it.
A troublesome case before the legislature was that of W. L. Norwood, a judge of the Superior Court who had resigned under charges of habitual intemperance and after his suc- cessor had been appointed had claimed the office. After in- vestigation and considerable discussion as to whether he was still a judge and whether or not he was impeachable, the House passed a resolution of impeachment. He at.once re- signed and the case was dropped, although the House had presented the case to the Senate.
The legislature of 1897 had created the office of chief inspector of shell fish and the governor had appointed Theo- philus White to the position. There was much dissatisfaction and the legislature of 1899 abolished the office substituting a board of seven commissioners. A later act forbade the state treasurer to pay any compensation for services in con- nection with the industry unless it was authorized by the new act. In this law and in many others the democrats were seeking chiefly to oust from office of any sort those who had been appointed by the fusion legislature or the governor.
There was much fear among democratic members of the legislature that some judicial interference with the amend- ment would prevent its proper submission. Accordingly when the legislature adjourned it was not as usually, sine die, but to June 12, 1900. No secret was made of the fact that this was done to prevent any tampering by the Supreme Court with the amendment.
In April the court handed down its decision in the peni- tentiary case, delivered by Judge Montgomery, with Judge Clark dissenting, in which it was held that while the legis- lature has power to abolish an office created by legislative authority, it cannot by a mere transfer of duties oust the incumbent of an office. This was of course in accord with precedents in the state dating from the decision in Hoke v. Henderson in 1833, affirmed shortly before in Wood v. Bel- lamy in 1897.
Other office-holding cases followed rapidly. An interesting one was Wilson v. Jordan, arising out of a contest for the
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office of clerk of the western district criminal court, in which the Supreme Court, Judge Furches delivering the opinion with Judge Clark dissenting, held that all acts of the same session of the legislature upon the same subject matter are to be considered as one act and must, under the doctrine of in pari materia, be construed together and further that they should be considered to be in pari materia whether passed at one session or not. From this reasoning together with the precedent of Hoke v. Henderson, they declared the clerk of the criminal court of Buncombe entitled to the office.
Another important decision arose from the refusal of D. H. Abbott, one of the railroad commissioners to surrender his office to E. C. Beddingfield, who had been elected a mem- ber of the newly-created corporation commission. This was decided in the autumn of 1899, Judge Furches writing the opinion of the court and Judge Clark again dissenting. The doctrine laid down in the penitentiary case was again asserted, the two statutes of the legislature declared to be in pari ma- teria, and Abbott declared entitled to the office.
The new board of internal improvement removed the president and directors of the Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad and appointed a new board which elected James A. Bryan, president. D. W. Patrick, the old president, refused to surrender the road and the governor and old board of inter- nal improvements declined to recognize the new board. The court, applying the precedent of the Wood and Day cases, Judges Clark and Montgomery dissenting, sustained the de- fendants in both cases.
The effect of these decisions, along with a number of simi- lar ones, was to undo a considerable part of that work of the legislature which had been directed towards getting republi- cans out of office and democrats in their place. Feeling against the court was bitter, particularly among the mem- bers of the legislature, and talk of the possibility of impeach- ment of the judges began as early as December, 1899. In the court itself it had come even earlier. In his dissenting opinion in Wilson ยป. Jordan, Judge Clark said :
North Carolina is one of the States that has never given its Execu- tive even a modified veto upon legislative action, and there is nothing
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in its Constitution indicating any intention to give the judiciary any supervision or control over the law making power. On the contrary, while the Courts can not pass, in any the most remote degree upon the title to his seat of any member of the Legislature, that body can sit in judgment upon any member of the Executive or Judiciary branches of the State Government by impeachment, and remove him from office.
Judge Furches evidently construed this as a threat and in the opinion of the court administered this quiet but stern rebuke.
From the intimations made by a member of this Court we are induced to say : that we have discussed the legal questions arising in this case as they appeared to us; we do invite criticism, we have no right to object to fair criticism, and we do not do so. If such criticism shall be indulged in, as is not just or legitimate, we believe that an intelligent and learned profession will discriminate between that which is legitimate and that which is not.
It has been suggested by a member of this Court, that the Legis- lature has the power to impeach a judge-that it has recently done so, and that there is no appeal from its judgment. Such a suggestion as this, has never occurred in the history of this Court until now. This suggestion added nothing to the strength of the argument advanced for the defendant. Why it should have been made, we do not know. But remembering our position as members of this Court, we will not express our sentiments as to such suggestions, and will only say that, in our opinion, any member of any Court, who would allow himself to be influenced by such suggestions is unfit to be a judge.
In the case of the school boards there were few contests, Superintendent Mebane advising the boards of education not to contest but to yield in the interest of the schools. It was a highly patriotic action and one characteristic of his official conduct.
All during 1900 the amendment was discussed from every angle. It met with opposition from the republican and popu- list leaders who argued that it was a breach of faith in that it was a violation of an agreement expressed in the law of June 25, 1868, already referred to, which they claimed bound the state in honor as well as in law. They also declared it in conflict with the fifteenth amendment because it was directed exclusively against the negroes and would operate only against them. Finally, they argued that it was unwise and wrong because it would disfranchise all illiterate white men. The glaring inconsistency between the last two arguments Vol. III-20
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is to be explained by the fact that they were intended for Northern and Southern consumption respectively.
In spite of the attitude of their parties, a number of promi- nent republicans and populists were favorable. Thomas Set- tle, from the time of the adoption of the amendment, endorsed it heartily. Harry Skinner, at the time of the meeting of the legislature, declared that the disfranchisement of the negro was the most necessary and important work before it. Wil- liam A. Guthrie enthusiastically championed it. There was quite a tendency apparent on the part of the western republi- cans to urge that the party should unite with the democrats in support of it. Had they done so, it would have meant the rebirth of the party in North Carolina.
In the spring of 1899 the Caucasian was favorable to the amendment, but by autumn it declared its opposition on the ground that there was grave danger of the disfranchisement of white men as well as negroes through the probability, if not certainty, that the Supreme Court of the United States would uphold the educational qualification and declare the grandfather clause unconstitutional. This soon became the stock argument of the entire opposition. Nor was it con- fined to the opposition, for many democrats felt this to be a fatal weakness of the amendment because likely to defeat it before the people, or, if ratified, to thwart the purpose of its ratification. This was largely discussed in March, April, and May, 1900, and the feeling on the subject was seen to be so strong that it was decided to change the amendment at the June session so as to make the entire section stand or fall together.
Early in January, Senator Pritchard introduced into the Senate a resolution declaring the grandfather clause a viola- tion of the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments and of the fundamental principles of a republican form of government. Both he and Senator Butler spoke on the resolution, which precipitated a debate in which a number of senators took part. The resolution was of course intended to create in the North hostile sentiment against the amendment.
The campaign against the amendment, apart from the discussion and this resolution, was begun when the populist
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executive committee met on January 9, 1900. They issued an address on the subject and endorsed heartily a letter of Senator Butler's in which he denounced the democrats as anarchists and Red Shirts, and advised fusion with the re- publicans. The state organization was completely dominated by him to the disgust of many populists who were beginning to feel that few of the aims of the party had been attained, that fusion had been a capital error from which Butler had derived most of the benefit, and that the party. was more "boss-ridden" than even the old democratic party had been. Many of these, moreover, were favorable to the amendment.
The campaign was well under way early. Discussion by democrats of their candidate for governor had begun early in 1899 and Cyrus B. Watson, who had been defeated in 1896, M. H. Justice, who had been prominent in the legislature, T. F. Davidson, who had served eight years as. attorney-general, and John S. Cunningham, a prominent farmer, had all been mentioned as possibilities. But in the minds and on the lips of the mass of democrats was the name of Charles B. Aycock. Watson did not desire the nomination and Justice and Cunningham soon withdrew. Davidson's name was with- drawn when the convention met. Long before any of these things happened Aycock's nomination was a certainty.
The convention met in Raleigh on April 11th. Every coun- ty was represented and every delegation was full. There had never before been a convention like it in the state. "No body more truly representative of all that was best in the life of the state ever assembled in North Carolina. Every profes- sion, every industry was there represented by its strongest, its most eminent leaders, all inspired by a sincere conviction that they had been called together to perform a high civic duty upon which depended the future happiness, peace and prosperity of a great State." Aycock was unanimously nomi- nated and made a speech of acceptance which not only sounded the keynote of the campaign, but lifted the contest from the low ground of race antagonism and prejudice to a plane of high statesmanship, seeking the welfare of the whole people.
Great interest had been felt in the question of the nomi- nation for superintendent of public instruction. Mebane's
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administration had been, considering everything, a striking success and was full of promise. The office had been divested of partisanship and there was every assurance that this would continue. It was already on a higher plane than it had been since the days of Wiley. Mebane favored the constitutional amendment and thus cut himself off from the fusionists. He had many enthusiastic democratic supporters and the Char- lotte Observer strongly advocated him, calling constant atten- tion to the fact that he was the first superintendent since Wiley to regard the office as other than a sinecure. The demo- crats had a second great opportunity to divorce the schools from politics and failed to take it. Mebane deserved the nomi- nation, but partisan feeling was too strong and he was de- feated by General Thomas F. Toon.
The rest of the ticket as nominated was for lieutenant-gov- ernor, W. D. Turner; secretary of state, J. Bryan Grimes ; treasurer, B. R. Lacy ; auditor, B. F. Dixon; attorney-general, R. D. Gilmer. The platform made white supremacy the domi- nating issue, but demanded a complete change of administra- tion and sweeping reform.
The populist convention met a week later and nominated a ticket headed by Cyrus Thompson and A. C. Shuford. The county conventions of the party had been notably weak and twenty-six of the counties were unrepresented. An interest- ing struggle between Skinner and Butler took place in the convention. Skinner wanted the convention to instruct the delegates to the national convention for Bryan and, as a proof of the sincerity of the party, he proposed the nomination of Dan Hugh McLean and Lee S. Overman for electors-at-large. He declared himself opposed to negro suffrage and apparently made no secret of his bitterness against Butler. The latter was, however, once more in complete control and the conven- tion did not endorse Bryan or nominate McLean and Over- man. It condemned the legislature of 1899 for its expendi- tures, for the laws it had passed, and for the adoption of the amendment. It, however, took no definite stand on the amend- ment, leaving it to the individual voter to decide upon it and declaring it "not a party question," but proposed as a bet- . ter solution a federal amendment prohibiting negroes from
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holding office. It also advocated a special system of county government for the black counties.
The republican convention met on May 1st and was largely controlled by federal office-holders who formed a consider- able part of its membership. A ticket headed by Spencer B. Adams and Claudius Dockery was named and a platform adopted which denied that negro domination had existed, condemned the amendment, declared the election of 1898 car- ried by fraud and violence, and gave to fusion rule, even in the black counties, a hearty endorsement. Not many negroes were in the convention and throughout the campaign every effort was made by both populists and republicans to keep them in the background.
It was common rumor that populist and republican lead- ers had arranged for continued fusion as early as April, and the democrats at once charged that there was no intention of running both tickets and that one would be withdrawn. In July they spread the report that Adams was coming down. In the meantime many republicans of the older sort, chiefly from the West, like Judge Ewart, were bitterly opposed to fusion and exceedingly hostile to Butler. But late in July Thompson withdrew and a co-operative ticket was ar- ranged with Adams for governor; H. F. Sewell, lieutenant- governor ; Cyrus Thompson, secretary of state; W. H. Worth, treasurer; H. W. Ayer, auditor; N. C. English, superintendent. of public instruction; and Z. V. Walser, attorney-general. All but Adams and Walser were populists, but the legislature, it. was arranged, was to go to the republicans who were to re- elect Butler to the Senate.
In June there was a conference in Greensboro, on the. question of how best to defeat the amendment, at which were present among others, R. Z. Linney, W. P. Bynum, Jr., A. E. Holton, and Senator Pritchard. Among other things, it was decided to employ writs of mandamus to force election regis- trars to put the names of persons denied registration on the books. But news of the plan got out and when the legislature met on June 12th, it amended the election law so as to deny to judges the power to issue writs of injunction and mandamus
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upon election questions until the facts had been ascertained by a jury at a regular session of the Superior Court.
To remedy the weak point in the amendment, the follow- ing clause was added :
Sec. 5. That this amendment to the Constitution is presented and adopted as one indivisible plan for the regulation of the suffrage, with the intent and purpose to so connect the different parts and to make them so dependent upon each other that the whole shall stand or fall together.
The legislature then, on June 14th, adjourned to meet again on July 24th.
In the meantime the campaign was well under way. The democratic plans had been carefully worked out by the chair- man, F. M. Simmons, but after the enthusiasm of the conven- tion, the party had a bad attack of over-confidence. This was partly overcome by sending out thousands of letters and a vast amount of campaign literature. The other parties fol- lowed suit and the voters were reached as never before by this sort of appeal.
From that time there was not a dull moment in the cam- paign. All the parties were active. For the republicans and populists federal office-holders took a prominent part and finally Chairman Simmons appealed to President Mckinley, calling attention to the fact that the republican convention and, to a lesser extent, the populist convention also had been dominated by them; that the offices were used as a basis for political activity; and that the republican chairman was United States district attorney. The letter had, of course, no effect upon the President, but it made good campaign litera- ture and was doubtless intended for that.
The managers of the campaign against the amendment were not wise. In addition to activity of officials, the state was filled with threats of federal interference and of the fed- eral arrest of election officials, while the activity of loud and threatening negroes intensified partisan and race feeling.
At the outset the democrats declined a joint canvass with the populists on the question of the amendment. They did this ostensibly because the populists had not opposed the amendment in their platform but were advocating a sort of
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compromise measure. The democrats declared that it was a straight issue and the republicans, of course, not the populists, were in complete opposition. The real reason, however, was probably to avoid creating a situation which would intensify party spirit among the populists upon whose strength the democrats expected to draw heavily.
The democratic campaign was skillfully planned, cleverly executed, and most successful. Public interest grew steadily and Aycock's canvass became a sort of triumphal expedition. Also it was the most effective part of the campaign. He de- voted himself entirely to the race issue and education. In his first campaign speech he asserted that the campaign was one of a single issue-the negro question. "For years," said he, "the Democratic party has been fighting this issue until at last it has made up its mind that it must be settled, and settled once for all. We are going to win this fight, and we want to win it with practical unanimity. I've sort of got used to the unanimous way of doing business, and I'm in favor of it." Defending the amendment, he said :
This amendment was drawn with great skill. It was drawn after long thought, and with full knowledge of the end to be attained. It was drawn with the deliberate purpose of depriving the negro of the right to vote, and of allowing every white man to retain that right. And I tell you now and here, did I believe that it would cause the oppression of a single man, or deprive one white man, however ignor- ant or humble, of his suffrage, I would not support it. On the con- trary its passage will mean peace to the land, it will mean an end to an era of crime and lawlessness, security to property and purity of politics. There will be no more dead negroes on the streets of Wil- mington, no more rule of the incompetent and corrupt.
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