The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1894-01-16

| necessary. as by amending the existing
| laws touching the method OK voune' ,he
| same results can be obtained. For in
| stance. the South Carolina law has been
| found very efficient In the experience OF
| a number OF years past. u IL practically
an educational qualification, providing. as
| Il does. for separate ballo' boxes for each
] Office TO be voted for and separate paiio's.
| Each bailot-box has on IL the name VI
| the Office 10 be filled. and 70 vote eiicien'-
| ly IL Is necessary for the voter 10 Vo}s
| intelligently: in short. to be apie 70 ieau
| the ballots he casts, ana the nahos o.
| the boxes In which they are depossteu'
| Certain other provisions OF the law pre-
4 vent tho voter from being prompted or
| coached bv those who might be better IN
| formed. and the result Is substantially an
] educational qualification. Would not the
| passage OF such law as this be meeuhs
4 the issue in more manly ana honest
| way than by fraudulent procedures as
| have recently been brought TO the atten-
| fion of the public? / agree with your edi-
\ torial statement that the white people OF
| this State propose 10 rule IL. and 1t seems
| 10 me that Il would be better to face TINS
| issue by legal enactment rather than ny
| what would otherwise be necessary fraud
| in elections or force.
| II offer this suggestion because ] claim
/ TO be AN HONEST POLITICIAN.
+, We give this entire because 1t fully ex-
presses a view entertained by many just
| and honorable men. but entertained by
them. we believe. without due considera-
| ton Of what is involved.
We have had the South Carolina ballot
law before our mind for a long time. and
the more we have thought on IT the more
we have been of opinion that IL is totally
indefensiblc from any point Of view. We
know very well that as II is administered
IL is made a machine by which Ignorant
negroes are deprived Of their votes While
ignorant white men are allowed TO vote
That is, those who have charge OF the
ballot-boxes find means of indicating to
the ignorant white man the box in which
| his ballot should be deposited, but they
leave the ignorant negro TO find out the
proper box as he best can. which results
in his deposlting the ballot in the wrong
| box as often as In the right one, when 1t
is not counted at all. AS the law Is actu-
ally administered in South Carolina, it
/ amounts to a case of the law and its
officers setting an example Of fraud,
| which. 1t seems TO us, must demoralize "A
people as enectually as any species of
fraud can.
Would the law be a wise one II II were
administered impartially as applied to
whites and blacks?
Passing by for the moment the question
whether an educational qualification for
voting should be permitted, our first re-
| mark IS that an act OF this sort, adopted
by Virginia under present circumstances.
could not be adopted because public opin-
ion has arrived at the conclusion that an
educational qualification was a wise meas
| ure 1t would be adopted as a means Of
sitting the negro vote under the pre-
tence of imposing a desired educational
| qualification. IL would therefore be a
| false pretence-an effort TO accomplish
one result under the plea that we were
aiming at another We consider this al
most as bad in its tendencies as any other
| sham that State could attach itself TO.
But. with so much of our white popula-
tion illiterate, can any one consent to a
| qualification Of this sort? We know some
white men who cannot write their names,
who are the peers in all the elements of
manhood of any college graduates. During
the war many Confederate soldiers, who
could neither read nor write, were the
steadiest dependencies of our command
ing officers and the fortunes Of the Con
federacy. Shall we see these men stis.
matted and put under a ban be
their own comrades and associates? The
Times viii never consent to it while it
can raise its voice in protest.
There is but one test of the rights OF q
citizen, and that is that the party is borr
or naturalized in the United States, j:
twenty-one years old. and free of crime
If he has these qualifications he is en-
titled to all the rights before the law tina
any other citizen has, and it is the be
ginning of return to the odious priv
leges which the feudal institutions be
slowed upon some men to the oppression
Of the masses when any departure what
ever from that principle is countenance'
or allowed.