The age-herald., 1898-09-24
QUEER FRANCHISE
 IN LOUISIANA

l acclaimed and perSplred all through lne l summer, went into effect on the 1st of | September. This convention did very sim | gular thing, and, in the opinion of promi- l nent lawyers, a fruitful thing It was
 called together with the avowed object to
 disfranchise nineteen-twenteths of the ne- l gro vote. It was perfectly frank in its
 statement of it's ultimate intent As each
 state is permitted to devise and set the | qualifications for its voters, nothing seemed
 easier than the attainment of the goal be-
 fore it. It was necessary only to demand
 that the citizen have property and educa-
 tion as prerequisites to the right of the
 ballot and the thing was done. Few Louis-
 jana negroes have education. Fewer still | have property outside of thirteen-hand, I wind-galled Texas pony, Brinsley blow, | model of 65, and lump of bedding.
 
 | In the first weeks of the session the edu-
 cational and property qualifications were
 formulated and everything seemed lovely | It was then discovered, however, that, | while the new requisites would effectually | dsfranchise the negro, they would also dis | franchise some 20000 white voters, which, l of course, was not to be thought of All of | the subsequent time of the convention, sev- | eral months in all, was devoted in efforts l to climb over, or go around, dig under, l this obstacle. In the end, after wasted eff l fort which properly directed would have
 dug a canal from New York to San Fran | cisco and built an assortment of pyramids, l "secton 5" was invented
 |
 l Section 5' provides that any male resi-
 dent of Louisiana, more than 21 years old, | shall have the right of suffrage if he. can | trace his descent from a person who was | a voter previous to 1867. In 1867 the negro 1 was enfranchised. It requires, furthermore l that all such persons shall inscribe their 1 names upon a permanent suffrage roll," l which inscription shall ever thereafter | stand them in stead of registration and l give them permanent right to the ballot, | unless they are convicted of crime or be- | come insane. In other words, the son of | any white man who was a suffragist pre- | viouS to that date can vote in Louisiana, l whether he knows anything and owns any | thing or not. No negro can vote unless l he is able to trace his descent from a white | father, which in 999 cases out of 1000 is an l 1mpossibllity. The permanent suiIrage roIl | so far carries the names of 33,G00 persons,
 of whom only eight are negroes.
 This law said, in effect, to white voters: | You are given until September 1 to regis l ter Though you be ignorant and poor, | you can save your citizenship by putting | uONH your name on or De10re that date. | IT you fail you will have to stand the prop l erty and educational tests" Its work was l curious. The roll soon became known as
 the ''illiterate roll" The "poor whites" l summed 1t as if 1t were pestilence They l did not care to advertise their ignorance i to the world. The registration lists were | opened, and days passed without the in- | scription of a name These whites, swayed l by pride, were deliberately disfranchising | themselves. heavy reduction of the state I aI.41h laaE l something had to be done. There was bur | one way out of the difficulty. Threats l warnings pleadings were of no avail They | marched to the registration rooms and in- 1 scribed themselves as lliterates pour en- | courager les autres." Instead of writing l out their applications for registration thev l made solemn oath that their progenitors l were voters thirty-one years ago. Among 1 these uhiortunatets, unable to read and l write ana owning nothing save a hone of | salvation, were a former mamber of the | confederate congress, former president of 1 the American Bar association and any l hunper or former mayors and former state | senators. Seeing such distinguished names l at the head of the list, the genuine Hitter | ates came forward and were properly cat | alogued.
 All white men who came of age on or be-
 @ noie eeptenoef l were given the right to | vote on registration. Those coming of age | atterWard will be forced to undergo the | tests In New Orleans 5,S9O names are car-
 ried on the "illiterate roll" Of these the
 registrar estimates that 1,47S are genuine il- | iterates. It is stated that an attempt will
 be made to clear the rolls of those whose
 names have no business there but it is difI1 | cult to See how it can be done If a man | says he IS ignorant, his word, in a majority
 or cases, must be taken. It would be, of
 course, an endless job to hunt up proofs
 that each of these 4,417 false illiterates can itn at,1
 stoi. A gigantic spelling bee has been sug- | gested at which the former member of con- | gress and the former president of the bar | association shall be forced to attend but | 1t would result doubtless in their spelling
 lady l-a-d-i-e, and they would go down to
 the foot of the class, and nothing would be l gained.
 Even ordinary intelligence will perceive | that section 5'' is class legislation of the
 most virulent kind It is in direct contra
 vention of the constitution of the United | States, every chord of which noble instru-
 ment sounds for equal rights to all and | special privileges for none. Every we'll | equipped lawyer in Louisiana has spoken | against the section. It has been advocated
 only by those who are not well equipped. | There are many of them. It was submitted | before adoption to Senators Caffery and
 McEnery, and both urihesitatingly pro- | nounced 1t unconstitutional It is predicted | that the first test case taken to the su- | preme court of the United States will shat
 ter it. The convention then will have all | of it's work to do over again. It was | adopted after months of wranglng, only be-
 cause human ingenuity was not equal to | the task of constitutionally disfranchising | ignorant negroes without disfranchising ig- | norant whites.
 Outsiders have little understanding of the l of of he I f,,,isi | These people live mostly in the lonely, in- | fertile, widely extended pine lands. I was
 lost once in the eastern edge of Vernon | Parish. It is a sandy, needle-carpeted coun-
 try, in which every wagon track makes a | new road, and I became puzzled in the null | tiplicity of highways. l came at night | fall to cabin in little clearing. In re- | sponse to my hail very old man came to
 the rail fence which inclosed his front yard | and heard my request for lodging. After
 hoping, with a dry smile, that my horse
 was a stump sucker, because he had no ;rf FAr hnaa fl,nra ,oe