Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1888-08-17


hat the right OF suffrage and OF hold
ne Office shall be exercised only bv
citizens OF the United States above the
age OF twenty-one years and BY these
above that age who shall have declared
on oath their intention to become such
and shall have taken an oath to sup
port the Constitution Of the United
States and the provisions OF this act"
These latter provisions in the act OF
Congress might have been omitted en-
tireiy and the privilege OF voting remained
vested in the white male inhabitant"
without reference to citizenship or other
qualification whatever, the words " white
male inhabitaDt being words OF limita-
ton as well as words granting the privi-
lese OF suffrage and of holding office
The word " citizen" also contained in the
proviso is also to be construed as a limi-
tation upon the legislative power and
was quite evidently intended to establish
a different rule from the words first
quoted. The word citizen at that time
included as now all native born inhabi-
to sex and if il had been intended by
the broad sense claimed for it then there
would have been no occasion for specify
ing, as Congress did, in the first phase
"white male inhabitant' if, in the use
of the word "citizen" in its place in the
proviso it was intended to include fe.
males as well as males, the change from
"white male inhabitant" to the word
citizen" quite evidently being used for
the purpose Of excluding aliens and no,
for the purpose Of charging the grant and
there understood with reference to
suffrage as applying to male citizens
alone.
The power granted by Congress in this
section not being intended by the latter
phrase to extend the first grant made tC
the "white male inhabitants" but tC
! limit 1t to q vsmaller- class Of people IN
| this Territory, and vet the same fact thai
the word citizen at that time applied tc
all native born persons the same as II
now does, was then well understood in q
general sense, but was equally well I'M
/ derstood as applicable only to male citi'
zens OF over twenty-one years OF age when
used as relating to the granting of the
privilege of the elective franchise. Thai
! this is true, an examination of the enab
ling act itself will furnish criterion
upon which Judgment may rest. The
same proviso which relates to the cleo.
tive franchise also relates to persons who
are entitled to hold Office in the Territory
The same act provides that every Ter
ritory shall have the right to send one
Delegate to Congress, and the only limi
tation is that he shall be citizen. II
will not probably be contended by any
person bat that the Delegate was intend.
ed to be. and indeed must be, man and
an elector within the Territory. And il
certainly was not within the intent Of
Congress that a woman should go TO the
House OF Representatives as Delegate
The thought was not in the mind of any.
BODY.
The act also provides for the election
OF Justices of the Peace and other judicial
officers, yet will it be claimed that it was
within the contemplation of Congress at
the time of the passage Of this act that
these might be filled by women? That
at that time it was within the intent o!
Congress that under that act women
might be elected to hold those offices
1t might have been better, and perhaps
would now be a step in advance, if such
had been the case, but was that the leg.
islative intent at that time?
Ii ne turn to the Constitution OF the
United States, we find that the whole
structure of the instrument is based upon
the idea present in the minds OF the
makers of it that the officers provided
for therein shall be males. In the first
place, and as of minor importance, the
form of every word in the Constitution
relating to the holding of Office under
that Constitution is masculine. 1t pro-
vides that the Senate shall he composed
oil two Senators from each State. NOper-
son shall be Senator who shall not have
reached the age OF thirty. years. The
Vice President shall be the President of
the Senate. No person shall be eligible
to the office of President except a native
born citizen, who shall hold his Office
during the term Of four years and shall
be elected as therein provided.
The judicial power shall be vested in
one Supreme Court, the judges whereof
shall hold their Office during good behav-
ior. In numerous other instances it is
cOnclusively apparent that at the time
of the framing of that instrument the
idea of woman holding Office under
that Constitution was as foreign to the
mind as that woman might be Presi-
dent under that Constitution; else the
sole limitation would not have been that
the President should he q native.born
citizen OF the United States If the
word citizen" as there used, had been
supposed to include females, it will not
now be questioned but that there would
have been an express negation in that
regard. Such has been the uniform prac-
teal construction ever since its adoption,
and for more than thirty years our Or
ganic Act has likewise been construed to
mean "male citizen" when the privilege
of voting has been under consideration
and even now it is not disputed but that
that was the sense in which Congress
then used the word.
This practical construction is not to be
ignored or evaded. AS We have before
said the construction OF an act OF the Leg
islature should be uniform and unvary-
ing in order to protect the liberties of the
people and this is not unfrequently car
ried out by the consideration OF the words
used, as of the time when they were
used, and the practical contemporaneou
construction ut and succeeding the times
when used, forming part OF the act to
the same extent as il contained within
its specific words. No other rule can be
safely followed. Words have different
Specifications at different times and in
changed circumstances, but in funda-
mental law they must be always of the
same meaning in the same connection,
and it rests with the supreme power to
establish a new rule The same rule is
applicable to other words, and their sig
nificance cannot be gainsaid or changed
because the opinions of men change with
their desires. Ever since the colonial
law provided that person accused Of
crime should be tried by a jury of
twelve honest men," the word "jury"
standing alone has meant the same
thing. That there have been here and
there exceptions helps to establish the
rule, and there can be no doubt in the
mind that the word Jury" as found in
the National Constitution and our own
laws, has and can have but the one
meaning until competent authority shall
in express terms make different mean
ing possible. We are cited as opposed
to the views here expressed to the case
Of Murphy vs. Ramsey, ia U. S. Re-
ports, Is.
There were five cases of similar char
acter carried from the Supreme Court OF
Utah to the Supreme Court of the United
States, and embraced in the opinion here
referred to.
The facts in these cases are carefully
set out by Mr.. Justice Matthews, and
the contention grew out of the act OF Con-
gress known as the "Edmunds Act"
whereby Board Of Commissioners was
appointed for the Territory OF Utah
growing out of the condition of affairs