The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-03-06
A0UlSIANA'S NEW VOTERS.
HEGRO DIsFBxxc8IsEHENT PLAN
THiT rs LIKELY OF ADOPTION.

sSN ~ ""
sens or Frseheiaers-Ths asheme Faverea
by Negroes who Fiji Hts Requirements
NEW ORLEANS, Maroh'1. The Committee oflthe
Louisiana Constitutional Convention which has
IN charge the preparation OF a suffrage plan for
the state has finally reached an agreement.
The matter Is q most important one, affecting
not only Louisiana or even the entire South, but
the country as weil-for IL probably marks tho
~vuar tothe Acknowledgement Of the negro In all
those Southern States where they constitute any
considerable proportion OF tho voters. Two
States have. IL Is true, already DISTINGUISHED tho
greater part OF their colorcd voters--Mississippi
and anuth Chrolina-but they have done so by
means Of tricks and subterfugcs which do not
meet with the approval Of the Southern people,
and tho other Southern States are unwilling to
follow their example. They havo been waiting
TO sec II n plan could BIO devised at oil c%onstitu-
tional and free from fraud or trickery which
would enable them to get rid OF the bulk Of tho
negro votes vote which has had such q de-
moralizing effect on elections. since it encour.
ages, or excuses. the frauds perpetrated on the
ground that they were necessary to prevent the
negro from getting control of the government
again and were essential to the protection Of
white civilization from Africanization
:. Mississippi accomplished the result : by Its
famous understanding clause. which enables
tho registrar to lot in all the white voters and
b keep out practically all tho negroes. The
law requires the voter to DO able to explain q
CLAUSE of the Constitution when read to him.
The defence of such o plan is obvious. No man
II q suitable voter. the Mississippians say, who
does not understand the Constitution under
which he lives, and is not able to explain it.
But while this is true, in q general why, 1t is
equally easy to see what extraordinary power 10
placed in the hands of the registrar in selecting
the questions to be asked the would-be voter.
II tho applicant is white and the registrar wants
him to vote, he asks: "Who is the Chief Execu.
tive OF the Slater q question which every one
can answer.
II the voter Is colored and is to DO disfran.
chised, he Is asked about the writ Of certiorari
or tho appellate jurisdiction of the Circuit
Courts. and is shut out because he cannot OK
plain these matters. The plan, therefore, is at
bottom q trick. which places it in the power of
the election or registration officers to shut out
the negro voters and such whites rs are not
desired as suffragans.
The Mississippi plan has not been popular in
the South and is not likely to meet with favor
there. When the South Carolina Constitu-
tional Convention met q short time ago it re-
fused to follow in the footsteps Of Mississippi,
and struck out for itself; but its plan was
equally tainted with fraud. 1t was determined
to keep the registration open until January,
Aooor oAA Wy NoAAobo ooN - y ~ v Ola tho "b1IO
voters on the ROY and keep out all the negroes.
When by this trick the roll had been finally
completed, it was to be made the permanent
voting list Of the State, al the persons on it
to have tho franchise as bong as they lived.
whe Their they could read and write or not.
But from January. 1895. only persons who can
read and write are to be allowed to register.
Thus, South Carolina starts out with a regis
tration list nearly exclusively white and with
over 1oo.0 900 negro voters disfranchised. The
system. it will be seen. is more or less based on
tricks and subterfuges. requiring the conniv-
ance of the registration officers to keep out all
negro voters.
This plan has still less, Recommendation than
the Mississippi one, 1t Is SO bold and audacious,
and comes so close to a violation of the fifteenth
amendment. The other Southern States, which
are waiting to see whether u constitutional and
honest way of treating the difficult problem can
be devised. have therefore been watching the
Louisiana Constitutional Convention, now in
session. in the.hope that it might suggest the
proper remedy.
The problem has been agitatinG Louisiana for
four years, and the general desire among the
white voters has been to get rid of tho negroes.
The elections in the State have been steadily
growing worse, tho frauds greater, and the bit
terness more intense until every election almost
brings forth q civil war. The negro il held re-
sponsible for this condition of affairs on the
ground that the frauds are necessary to keep
tho blacks from the political control of the
lar sentiment is very strong that honest cleo
tions are impossible as long as there is a major
lty OF negro voters; and all the whites are in
favor of the. change, and notia few Of the negroes
themselves are anxious. in the interest of their
{itical position it now occupies. A Constitu.
Eonal Commission was appointed four years ago
TO devise u plan Of suffrage which would get rid
If the nAVr0aa II nFeppra6 anch n nlan which
was voted, on by the people in 1896 and over
w~helmingly beaten in consequences of fractional
Constitutional Convention was then called. and
has been sitting a month. worrying over this
purpose of preparing an entirely new Constitu.
uon for the State. but it has found the suffrage
It was thousht to be that it will scarcely be
able to do much more than disfranchise the ne
60 unsorrected Tor lack Of time. It was de-
cided by the convention to discuss and act on
the suffrage frat, and it was thousht that it
matter, as It had been under constant discussion
throughout the State for nearly four years. but
o esasSa as has SS jus just f been sssiie o only to spG ms sS1s1 re-
The problem has been found far more difficult
than any one imagined. and 1t is now admitted
problem was to get rid Of the negro without
disfranchising any considerable.number of the
aftssntha amendment. i was a reyivai OF
the old fifteen puzzle. The negroes have i'm
proved q great, deal In education and property
In Louisiana of late years. and no plan. how
ever Ingenious, can DO devised that will shut
all of them out from the franchise without shut
ting out n considerable proportion of whites.
The convention is very unwilling to deprive or
che suffrage white men who have enjoyed it all
their lives, as 1t was felt that II any large num-
Der of them were denied an interest in elections
1t would create a dissatisfied class, having no
political rights. who would be inimical to the
State Government and would conspire against
1t. Moreover. any plan devised would neccs-
Barily shut out some Confederate veterans, and
the suggestion that Louisiana might deprive
of the suffrage men who had fought and bled
FOR her raised o sentimental protest that could
mot be overlooked.
The Suffrage Committee has found itself
overwhelmed with propositions of the most com
plicated and contradictory character. ard has
been actually. confused by the hundred odd
plans offered 1t. One man thought<that he had
solved the problem by requiring all electors to
be legitimate and to produce the marriage GER
tthcates OF their parents. He argued that as
there were no legal marriages among negroes in
the DAYS Of Slavery and YerY few since Ihen the