The record-union., 1892-10-05
AN EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICA-
TION.

AT the election in November vote will
be taken to ascertain the will of the peo-
pie of this State upon the subject of re-
. quiring an educational qualification for
voters-that is, should one claiming the
high privilege of voting be able to write
his name, and TO read any section of the
Constitution in the English language?
We reply unhesitatingiy, yes. 1t is
as wise and necessary requirement as
those fixing the age of majority, defining
the period of prior residence, demanding
soundness of mind, and freedom from
the taint of conviction for felony, and re-
quiring registration.
Why must one reside in the country
for given time prior to being accorded
the privilege Of the elective franchise?
Obviously, to prove by his life that he is
attached to the institutions of free gov
ernment and comprehends the duties and
privileges of citizenship. How can he
attain to these conditions unless he is
able to read the laws and to write at least
his name in the legal language Of the
nation.
But if extended time in America, and
association with Americans, tend to fit
man for citizenship, how much more so
will ability to read the history, laws and
edicts of the republic? Can we expect
compact and sturdy patriotism from those
who cannot so much as decipher the in
scriptions upon our coins, the lines upon
ceedings of the bodies that make our
laws? The ability to read and write in
English does not imply intellectual ca
pacity of any very high degree, it is true,
but it does stand for the fact that the citi-
zen can be addressed by the Government
with a certainty that the former can be
held responsible for the knowledge of the
communication.
Any opposition to the proposed quail
fcations must rest upon one of two
grounds, Cahenslyism or mercy to the
, new-made citizen and the recent immi-
grant. As to the first, there is neither
right nor reason in any classes of foreign
nationality retaining their distinctiveness
: as classes in this country. Class is alb
horrent to genuine AneCicanism; there
is no true attachment to republican insti-
: tutions among any body of men that
s. hyphenates its title. The people are weary
< of this parting of nomenclature of citi-
. Nn how ha6
much of Irish-American, German-Amer-
lean, Franco-American designation. Our
people are American citizens, or they are
not; they are or they are not attached to
free institutions; the naturalized have but
sentimental regard for foreign lands
of their birth, or else they have not
severed themselves from allegiance to
princes, foreign potentates and powers.
1t is not question of mercy to thu
adult foreigner who finds age to incapaci-
tate him from learning to read in new
tongue. 1t is rather question of what
is demanded for the perpetuity of our in
stitutions. If it is hardship upon the
adult foreigner to take up the study ofthe
English tongue, 1t is a greater hardship
for the nation to be subject to the voting
of the class that cannot read the ballots
they would cast, nor the laws they would
shape by their ballots; class privileged
to remain to all intents and purposes
alien, while nominally citizens and
voters.
Upon the heels of non-ability to read in
the lawful tongue of the republic runs
the demand for use of public funds for
maintenance of schools from which in
struction in English is excluded. Behind
opposition to the free and unsectarian
schools is the whole body of people who
oppose an educational qualification for
voters. The vote for the submitted propo-
sition ought to be overwhelmingly af-
firmative
SUICIDE CLUBS.