The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1882-09-15


q citizen because she is the wife oil
q citizen. There is difference
Of judicial opinion on this question
however. She can become 4 citizen
by marriage, if, in herself, she i;
capable of naturalization iIdepend
! ent of her husband. Otherwise she
cannot be a voter thTr ugh heI
! husband. Now 10 viii not be con,
tended that every daughter is en-.
titled 60 citizenship because hel
! parents are citizens. The deliberate
| intention Of the Legislature was tC
allow females the right 10 vote
without reference 80 their age or to
! the time Of residence III The United
States. The logic which would ad.
NIT Of such discrimination, wills adj
NIT OF any discrimination There.
fore this court should 90 to the root,
and say thai the Legislature Of this
Territory, hOr OF any other, has the
right TO make distinctions as to the
qualifications CT voters: it should
lay it down that the qualifications
is TO voters must be uniform. On
this subject he read from Cooley
that the requirement must be
uniform and impartial, otherwise
they must be declared void.
5. j. JOnassOu, Esq, next spoke in
behalf of Mrs. WestcUtt, commencing
by quoting an authority as 10 The
right Of the m8ndanlus 20 lie. Ia
California. Pennsylvania, Missouri,
aud in the District oil Columbia,
under the fourteenth amendment.
the right nf females 10 vote had been
ties ed. He referred first to @ case
fran Missouri. where woman
claimed the right 20 vote un1er the
Fourteenth amendment. where
the statute Of the state
provided that males only shouId
vote; the decision Of the
court was that the Constitution
made 40 voters at all, nor did it
make any provisions, the fact being
that Congress had never attempted
10 interfere with The qualifications of
voters, and that until it does the
laws Of the state are supreme as
to qualifications. The opinion also
goes to snow that not only are the
qualifications as TO voters different
in different states, but the qualifca-
lions are different in single states.
The elective franchise is not an in
herent right; person does not get
1t because he Is q citizens, but be-
cause he fulfls certain prescribed
qualifications. The law here re-
Quires that every voter shall be 81
taxpayer, and a person paying poll
tax is considered entitled TO vote.
The law says that the poll tax shall
be paid by men under 80. Would
your honorS hold that when a man
was overG0 years o. age you could
take away his franchise after he
was 60 because he was exempt from
poll tax? Nh. JuuassOn also showed
that the Revised Statutes of the
United States ia which is given the
right Of the territory TO prescribed
the qualifications 81 voters, was
passed four years after the female
suffrage act mad been passed. The
act has been in effect for twelve
years, and has been approved; that
Is, it had received the implied ap-
prov ! OF Congress, becanse Con
gress mad never declared it null and
void. The speaker read from an
opinion delivered by Harlan, one of
the Supreme Court justices, IN the
case Of a woman who came to this
country while her son was under
age, married a citizen, and the sor
on becoming of age had voted. |
Justice Harlan held that as soon as
the woman set foot on American
soil. and married a citizen, she be-
came herself naturahZed.
Col. Merritt, for the applicants
for mandamus. next spoke, regret !
ting that so little time was al
lowed to the discussion of
q matter OF such great im-
pOrtance The first question is: has
the territory the power to pass such
an act? Second, is that power
properly exercised by the territory !? !
All the territories have the power
to IegiSlate OH ali rightful subjects
Of legislation rs lar as granted |
in The Organic Act. I take
it that the most decided OPT
pOnent Of WOman'S suffrage will not
say that the matter Of women suf-
frdge is not a rIghtful subject of leg
IslatiOn. The opinion of this court
will naturally depend greatly ONT
the construction placed upon Sec
lions 1859 and 1860 of the Revised |
Statutes. The position taken by |
counsel on the other side is that the
cannot allow any other
class of citizens to vote except those
mentiOned-free white male citi-
zens. 1t viii not be denied that
women are rs much citizens as
males. Now there are exceptions to
this section in the Revised Statutes,
and lam of the opinion that these
exceptions actually strengthen the
position that women may be allowed |
to vote. IfIthey mad intended to eX-
clude women, they would have noted |
1t in the exception; but it says that
does not say only male |
citHens-but citizens may vote. |
The exception points the rule i
hence, if it said that no males could |
vote except those over six feet high |
and under four feet high, it would |
at once be known that all others
could vote. 50 when it says that all !
citizens Of the United States shall |
vote, except. such as are prescribed,
then it is understood all others can
vote. Hence, it is but a fair coDsJTGc-