Smyrna times., 1880-03-10
The Assessments and the Law,

The Assessments and the Law.
The DAILY Macs of Wilmington, thus
calmly and forcibIy alluded to the matter
Of assessment. now agtating the people Of
Delaware, in the light of the decisions
given last week by the Supreme Court of
the United States at Washington.
1t will be well for those concornd not
to Ignore the fact Of the profound interest
aroused throughout the State about the
assessment OF voters, now going on before
the Levy Courts.
Every man who may he denied, bv the
assessors or by the Levy Court, the fair on
psrtunity to qualify to vote by being assessed
or who, being ROW assessed, is denied the
fair opportunity to qualify to vote ny the
collectors sYading the receiving OF his
tax, is thereby deprived OF his chlsf honor
and right as a citizen of Delaware and Of
the United States; and the election be
comes not a choice of rulers and law
makers by the people, but is degraded into
a designation of rulers by assessors, Lew
Courts and collectors. Such an iniouitv,
were there no legal remedy, would Justify
revolution.
But no one need presume that either the
State or Fedcrals suffer so great a wrong to
be committed with impunity
The United States Statutes provide that
every officer charged by the laws Of the
State with the duty of furnishing to citi.
zenS an opportunity to perform any act
required to De done as "a prerequisite or
qualification for voting, sha! give to all
citizens OF the United States the same and
equal opportunity to perform such prere-
quIsite and to become qualified to vote,
under the penalty sf to.feilHg five hun
dred dollars 10 the party aEsrioved, to be
recovered hy an action in the United
States tourts.
This becomes very interesting reading to
the assessors for the city Of Wilmington,
who found on their appeal day, over twelve
hundred citizens Of one ponticaI party
waiting to greet them at the CITY Hall, and
who deliberately and without Justification
shut their hooks IN the face of over SIX
hundred citizens clamoiins To b., assessed.
And 1t becomes none the less interesting
reading to know that all OF their ewn peliti-
cal persuasion were put on tae assessment
list, even including the four hundred de.
llnqusRts unlawiuily assessed
But it becomes especially interesting te
bOtI dsSSSN@isg COilNClOieg anu lIe Levy
Court, in the light of the decision OF the
Supreme Court Of the United States, rem.
dered only last Monday in tho Virginia
jury cases.
That august tribunal reminds assessors,
collectors, and levy courts, that by the
Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitu.
ton of the United States, no State "shall
deny to any person within its Jurisdiction
"a ont1ol of L. -
In the case Of the United States against
Judge Coles, Of Virginia, indicted for ex
cluding colored citizens from the iurv on
account of their color and previous condi-
| tion Of Servitude, the Supreme Court held
that "whoever by virtue of public posi-.
tion, under States Government, takOs
away the protection of the laws violates
tho Constitutional inhibition, and as he acts
in the name Of and for the State, and is
clothed with the Statess power, his act is
the act of the State. Otherwise the Con.
sttution inhibition has no meaning and
| the State has clothed one of its agents
with power to amend or evade it,"
The Court decided, that to exclude col
orad men from the jury when the law OF
Virginia permitted colorsd jurors, was a
denial to any colored man tried before suck
jury of the equal protection of the laws,
and that Judge Coles, who under the Vr-
ginia law, selected the jury, was liable to
indictment under the United States Statute.
punishiag such exclusion.
The far reaching effect of this decision,
and the scope it gives to the provision oi
the 18th amendment, above quoted, cannot
be bslttlsd or gainsayed.
Its application is direct and complete as
to the duties of assessors, collectors and
! Levy Courts, under the laws of Delaware
and under the Federal Statute above quoted
punished every State qualifying officer who
denies to any citizen an equal opportunity
to qualify by assessment or payment of a
| tax.
And it may be rather uncomfortable Ia
reflect that one is in law bound to pay five
| hundred dollars to every citizen whom he
has attempted to cheat out Of his vote.
We hope, however, for its well-beiRg, as
well as for the credit of eur State, that thi,
matter may not be left to tho full penaltie.
of the law.
We hope that the responsible gentlemen
! OF the Democratic party will recognize the
duty they owe at this juncturs, both tc
themselves and to the people of the State
whose welfare is in their hands.
Senator Bayard, when welcomed home
by his Aeishbors without distinction oi
party, in his speech at the Opera House
announced that he entertained the ambi
tion of receiving "thS unsuspsctng conf
dencs of the people of Delaware" That
was lofty demand, if sincere. The high
spirited and generous people of the State
would never be slow to respond to such a
demand, if genuinely made. The Senator
now has tho Opportunity-thS conspicuous
opportunity-to do an act which will in a
large measure, entitle him to the 'un.
suspOcting confidence Of the people of Della
ware" Let him tell the Levy Court oi
this, his own county, to stop thsip quib
bling, and in good faith, and without illegal
and shameful obstruction, TO place on the
assessment lists the citizens who appear
before them, and to fix days, and at once
for this work to be done. His voice can
arrest this ignoble and wretched business
with whisper.
The National Dredging Company hav,
flashed the FIRST cut through the Cherry