Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-09-04
THEY'VE FOUND A LOOpHOLE,
Heavy Expenditures of Rebel GRAY
Matter at Last Rewarded by
an Idea.
Congress Gravely Declared to Have
10 Control Over the ex-Secesh
States.
Mississippians May Now Boldly Pro-
coed to Deprive the Negro of the
Ballot.

DdllOl.
JACKSON Miss, Aug. 25.-The judici-
ary committee of the constitutional con-
vention has submitted It's report. 1t is
signed by Wiley P. Harris. chairman
The report says IL part:
The committee to which was referred
the resolution requesting that the judici-
airy committee be requested to make a
special report at as early day as possible
upon the effect Of the act of congress re-
admitting Mississippi into the Union,
limiting the right CT the state of Missis-
sippi to impose certain restrictions upon
the right of franchise, and otherwise pro-
hibiting the state from changing the con-
stitution of the state of Mississippi adopt
ed in 1869 so far as the said act shall af-
feet the work of this convention beg
leave to respectfully submit the following
report:
Without venturing to decide what con-
greSs might possibly undertake to do by
assumed authority, your committee pro-
ceeded at once to consider the legal question
submitted. In the federal constitution
there are several provisions which relate
to the elective franchise. The first is sec
ton of article l: The house of repre-
sentatives shall be composed of - mem
bers chosen by the people Of the several
states; and the electors in each state shall
have the qualifications requisite for cleo
tors of the most numerous branch of the
state legislature 1t will be noted that
this section does not prescribe, or indeed
contemplate, uniform qualification in all
the states. The entire subject of the
franchise, as to who shall have it. and the
qualifications of the electors are left to the
absolute and unrestricted discretion of the
state As might be expected when the
constitution was framed and adopted each
state had a rule of its own There was no
uniformity then, there was not in 1870
the date of the readmission act, nor does
it exist now. The fourth section of article
II is as follows: THE times, places, and
manner of holding elections for senators
and representatives shall be prescribed in
each state by the legislature thereof, but
the congress may at any time by law
change or alter such rules or regulations,
as to the place of choosing senator's. The
power conferred by this section is confined
to change by congress of the time and
place and manner of holding an election
for representatives, as determined and fix
ei by the states. Compression MA APP
point a time and manner for COMPRESSION
al and senatorial elections
But who shall vote at the congressional
elections-whether both sexes, or one, and
whet her the electors shall own prop
erty, whether educated or not-is left pre-
| cisely where it was placed by the second
| section of the same article ~. The four
teenth amendment In terms recognized the
right Of the state tC determine who shall
vote-those classes which reduce the rep
resentation, if any male citizen Of the
United States and of the state are pxclnd-
ed from the franchise as a class 1t is
plain, in the opinion of the committee,
from this section of the constitution, that
congress cannot confer suffrage, cannot
make voter, and that we must look to
the several states and their laws and con
situations to ascertain who are loyalty
competent to vote for federal elective off
GERS. The fifteenth amendment has but
one operation, and was engrafted in the
constitution for the single purpose of lay
ing an inhibition on the state as discrim-
mating against the colored men, because
of race or previous condition of servitude.
The state has jast as large discretion in
regulating the franchise as it has before
its adoption, with the single limitation
that the regulations which it prescribes
shall apply alike to both races. If a prop
erty qualification shall be thought wise
or expedient or the payment of taxes, or
a longer residence in state or county
should be deemed expedient either one may
be adopted provided they are applied
alike to both races
AN important question directly con-
nected with this investigation, is, What
was the status of Mississippi at the close of
the civil war? More especially, what was
the conception of congress, and OF what
promises proceed in the measures and
scheme of the reconstruction? 1t must be
conceded on all sides that the state had
either severed her connection with the
Union, and had placed herself outside of it
or that her acts, In concert with other
states, in like Circumstances, had so far in
terrupted and displaced federal authority
that she had lost her federal relations as a
state in the union congress accepted the
latter view. The reconstruction acts, and
indeed the series of measures cognate
thereto figuring in the readmission of 1879.
are predicated on the idea that the state
had lest republican form of government
in the sense of the guaranty clause of the
constitution of that subject, and that it
was the duty of congress in the exercise of
political powers to assure to her such
government; that new states admitted to
the dignity of statehood in the Union have
the same degree and measure of sovereign
ty as did any one or all of the original
thirteen states, and that this independence
and sovereignty was necessarily guaranteed
by the federal act Whatever may
have been the effect of the action of the
southern states. denominated either seces-
sion OF rebellion and of the reconstruct
ton aCs viewed as judicial or political
questions, and without enumerating the
diverse opinions on these important
questions we are of the unaterable opin-
ion that readmission of this state into the
Union fully and forever settled the status
of the state thus readmitted and that the
congress thereby lost all control or juris-
dlction oI er the matter, and the states thus
readmitted into the Union became at once
ipsO facto under the constitutional rein
vested with all the sovereign powers pos
sessed by any and all the other states.
No action was taken on the report, an6
after discussion of routine business. the
convention adjourned