The Opelousas courier., 1895-08-31
Lame Arguments Against the SUFFRAGE
Amendment,

Inc Clarion Of last week mak.s o.,
".eopI waoii at answering our article of the
week before on the snhiect nf 'te ~
position" on the suffrage amen5ment nts
Ierhaps the editors Of this nanar nhe
arc absent this week on n trim of h"s;
ness ana pleasure in the West c,n soo
more IN the arguments of onr conf,sro
.nan the rest of us can, but wa nrns
nounce everything it has printed On
mhs 1rLs SUBJECT as being decidedly lame
an mere Is absolutely nothing in its an.
"o' s;" when deserves serious considera-
s'on Oh Tie part of thinking men. il
seems to us, for beyond Larninp
~ ~ 1ne iacI that few white men would
70 u,slIahchlsed 1t the amendment were
.. onac.eu INTO law, and that the proposed
.noasufe measure gives to the Legislature the
power 10 alter it without submitting #
again to the popular vote, it is void Of
all argument. -
But what is there of any consenu.nca
III theseY Our readers already know nnr
way OF reasoning ON these propositions
uut perhaps it will do no harm to sov
lhIs much: We admit that some f.w
whtte men would loose their vote in
lheif present condition, but we saw that
eery te'0, It any, DESERVING or des;r0Lie
citlzens would be affected by the new
law, becanse it a man cannot read and
write, (and this does not mean that he
must know how to do these things "A
Well as Webster or Johnson bnt
simply can read and write intelligentIy1 !
ne Will probably come in under the
property qualification, which is ONLY
$SO0 worth of any kind of property.
anu II, perchance, any good citizen can
not fulfill either of these requirements,
he mas tour years in which to place him
sell 10 position to entitle him to the
franchise, for any intelligent man can
learn to read aud write in that time. or
can acquire $500 worth of property. and
by so doing he is not deprived of single
opportunity to vote, for all can vote
MaS time, and the next State election
after next April will be four years off.
Thus would an incentive he given to
industry and EDUCATION, aud not per-
petuate the present system which puts
premium on ignorance and thrift
lessness.
As to the power given the Legisla-
ture to modify the proposed amend
ment, it ia the silliest twaddle to say
that it would or could 50 alter it SO as
to make the educational qualification
the sote test. In the first place there
Is no use to do this, since the proposed
amendmehG In It's present form would
sufficiently qualify the suffrage so as
to rid US of all, or nearly all, of the
undesirable class Of voters, which is its
purpose not to rid the State Of any
more white voters than is absolutely
necessary to effect the remedy. Besides,
\ modification of the proposed amend
ment in any particular must receive
tao thirds of the votes of both Houses
and approved by the Governor, some
thing which, is extremely improbable,
especially when we consider that the
same votes which will carry the amend
ment will elect the members of the
Legislature and the Governor. who will
most certainly he favorable by large
majority to qualification of the suf-
frage.
The means we advocate give assur-
ance of an adequate and legal remedy
against the peris which confront the
State, whereas the plans of the so call
ed white snpremacists and the oppo-
Dents of the amendment only promise
the same disgraceful and illegal meth
DDS of past years, with perhaps worse
Men of st. Landry, choose ye be-
tween the two!