Judge Supports Constitutional Amendment to 'Take Negroes Out of Politics' and Opposes Vote for Women, 1914

“Recorders Court Scored by Judge” from the Thursday, July 16, 1914, issue of the High Point Review. Skip the first paragraph and read the judge’s support for a solution to the Negro problem, the constitutional amendment that will take them “out of politics” so they can concentrate on making a living and being courteous to white people. Of course, you will also see that Judge Bond is also opposed to giving women the right to vote.

Judge Bond Doesn’t Like One-Man Power Reposed in Inferior Courts…Names Dangerous Points…Mentions Innovations that Threaten the Well-Being of the U.S., Mentioning Woman Suffrage

Raleigh—Judge W.M. Bond of Edenton, charging the Wake County grand jury for a term of Wake Court for the trail of criminal cases took occasion to express his disapproval of recorder’s courts as having the effect of giving too much power to one man in passing on cases coming before these courts. He insisted that the prohibition laws must along with all the other laws be enforced. He said he had nothing to do with a man drinking moderately but that the prohibition law had been put on the statute books by the people and that the courts should see to its enforcement.

Judge Bond referred to the negroes as a “race without a flag or a country” brought here against their will. He said great care should be exercised in dealing with the negroes, a view of the peculiar circumstances under which they are in this state and the country at large. The negroes, he said, owe it to themselves to stop giving a thought to politics and go to work to make a living for themselves and those dependent on them and to maintain a courteous attitude toward the white people. He regarded the abolition of slavery as the best for both races and that the taking of negroes out of politics be the constitutional amendment was yet another very great blessing for both races.

Judge Bond discussed “dangerous innovations that threaten the well-being of the United States Government, mentioning among other things woman suffrage, Roosevelt’s initiative, referendum and recall, and the recorder’s court tendencies.