Connecticut western news., 1872-02-09
Women May Not Vote.

Women May Not Vote.
 The U. s. Senate Committee on the
 Judiciary, in their report against the
 memorial of Elizabeth Cady Stanton,
 Isabella Hooker, Susan B. Anthony, and
 others, say it was argued before the com
 mittee of memorialists, who, by depar-
 ture from the usual practice of the com
 mittee, were admitted to public discus
 sion of the principles involved in the
 memorial, that the right of every citizen,
 male and female, to vote was secured by
 that clause of the first section of the fourteenth amendment. to the Constitu- tion which provides that no State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States, and the second section was designed to fix pen atty upon the State for a violation of the former provision. But such construc-
 tion is at war with all the theories of constitutional government. An uncon- stitutional act is void. In other words,
 an unconstitutional act is no act. The Legislature of State may attempt to pass 8 law impairing the obligation of contracts. But, as the Legislature can not pass such an act, the attempt is void,
 and the obligation of the contract is not impaired. It would therefore be absurd to punish State for the vain, intellectual attempt to impair the obligation of a contract-a thing it could not do and therefore had not done. So if by the first section of the fourteenth amend ment no State can make or enforce any law to deny the right of suffrage to any f IL III
 one years of age, not guilty of crime, then an attempt to do so would be merely void, wholly imperative, and it would be absurd to punish that State for what it could not do and therefore had not done The remedy under the Constitu- tion against any attempted but uncon- stitutional legislation of State is by application to the judicial courts of the
 Union, which have jurisdiction in all
 cases arising under the Constitution and
 laws of the United States, and super
 visor control by writ of error over State
 courts in regard to causes in which either
 party asserts right or privilege under
 the Constitution or laws of the Unlon
 which is denied or overruled by the
 State court. But there is another req
 son equally conclusive against the con
 struction contended for. By the four
 teenth amendment, Congress is empow'
 cred to enforce all the provisions of that
 amendment by appropriate legislation
 therefore, if State should attempt tc
 exclude from the right of suffrage any
 person entitled under the fourteenth
 amendment to participate therein, i
 would be the undoubted duty of Con
 gress to defeat such attempt by appro
 priate legislation so that to regard the j second section of this amendment a! 7 imposing upon the State 8 penalty fol denying this right, includes the absurdi
 ty of imposing such penalty for an at
 tempt of the State to do what it is thu
 duty of Congress to prevent again, th' right of female suffrage is inferentiall, denied Ly the second section of the four teenth amendment, which provides tha in case State in the exercise of righ conceded to exist shall exclude portion
 of the male inhabitants specified, tn basis of representation therein shall b. reduced in the proportion which th { numbers of such excluded" male citi 5 zens shall bear to the whole number o male citizens 21 years of age in sucl
 State. The basis is not to be reduced il
 the proportion which the number of tn excluded male citizens shall bear to tn
 whole population of the State, male o 2 female, but only in the proportion wh:c , they bear to the numberao of male citizen , 21 years of age in such State. It is evi dent from this provision that female
 are not regarded as belonging to tn voting population of State. The fiji ] teenth amendment is equally decisive i, It provides, "The right of citizens ( the United States. to vote shall not b U abridged or denied by the United States '. . or by any State, on account of race ] color, or previous condition of servitude. e This amendment would have been who'll l unnecessary if the fourteenth amend :, ment had secured to all citizens the rigE :. to vote. It must be regarded as recos t nizing the right of every State unde Il the Constitution as it previously stoo
 to deny or abridge the right of citize e to vote on any account in the pleasure ( h the State, and by the fifteenth amend 7, ment the rights of States in this respee l are only so far respected that no Stat can base such exclusion upon Grace 7, color, or previous condition of serv
 tude" With this. single exception ( n race, color, and previous condition (
 servitude, the power of State to mak T such exclusion is left untouched, an ; indeed is actually recognized by the if . . teenth amendment as existing. Th . . committee say they have confined then selves to the precise question involved
 the memorial, namely the present co1 o stitutional right of female citizens IT vote, as to which the committe are unal l. imous, and have not considered tl
 broader question whether the Constitl Y tion ought to be so amended as to pc D nit female suffrage, report upon whic h might develop Q difference of opinio
 among the members of the committe n D1PHrHERIA.-The Lewiston (Me
 Journal says: Dr. Hill has in his DO e session diphtheria membrane remove e from the throat of girl of fifteen, wh
 was attacked with the severest type
 this terrible disease. The false men
 brane is about three inches in lengtl
 completely preserved, and is 8 perfet II. cast of the air passage from which ,a came. The film is Q thick, white n tough, leathery substance, presentin l. the well-known characteristics observe
 in attacks of this disease. The girl an f her sister came to that city from th I eastern part of the State to work in tn # mills, and was un well on her arriva