The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-12-28
Fair RepreSentatiupl. III.

gent of the younger members
~ of congress, has introduced
bill providing that when the Twelfth
census is taken information shall b.
collected concerning the registration
and election laws of the various
states, the qualifications demanded of
voters, the number Of votes cast at
the last two general elections and the
number of males of voting age of
each race. The bill is to be favorably
reported in the house after the holi-
day recess, and an attempt will be
made to secure it's enactment before
the census enumeration in the spring.
The object of the bill, as Judge
Crumpacker explains, is to secure in
formation upon which to base a just
apportiOnment of the representatives,.
Says he: "The fourteenth amendment
to the federal constitution requires the
apportionment of representatives to
be based upon population, but in the
event that any state shall disfran-
Chise any of its male inhabitants over
twenty-One years of age, who are
citizens of the United States, except
ing for crime or participation in rebel
lion, the representation Of such state
shall be reduced in the proportion that
the disfranchised male inhabitants
bear to the whole number of male
inhabitants over twenty-one years OF
age. That provision of the constitu-
tion is imperative. 1t is the policy of
the federal government to encourage
universal manhood suffrage. and it is
a notorious fact that in a number of
states a large proportion of the voting
population is disfranchised.
''In some states not over - per
cent. of the male inhabitants over
twenty-one years of age are allowed
to participate in elections. That re-
suit is brought about in part by di-
rect provisions of law and in part ~
maladministration on the part of cleo
tion officers. The reconstruction leg
islation that was designed to place
the ballot in the hands of the coorcd
man in order that he might be able
TO make himself felt as a factor in the
affairs of his locality has been prac-
tically nullifed. White citizens of the
South no longer disguise the fact that
they Systematically evade the federal
constitution in fixing qualifications that
take the right Of suffrage away from
the negro.
I'm Mississippi, Louisiana, and South
Carolina, at the Congressional cleo
lions in 1898, the vote in each dis
trict averaged about 5000 The aver
age vote in the state of Indiana at
the same election averaged above 49,
900 in each district. The Supreme
court of the state of Mississippi. in =
recent decision, boldly declared that
the legislature of the state had swept
the field of eXpedients in its attempt
to discover the means to disfranchise
the colored man without violating the
fifteenth amendment to the federal
constitution, and It upheld the legis-
lation. In several of the states are
educational laws, fixing so high a
standard that it is almost impossible
for Colored man to be registered.
In Louisiana they have what is called
the grandfather clause 1t provides
that the educational law shall not ap-
ply to any one who was a voter on
the lst Of January, 1867. nor to any
of his lineal descendants. The effect
of this provision is to limit the opera
tion OF the educational law TO the
colored race exclusively because they
could not vote on the date fixed. and
every white man could.
Il have profound sympathy" adds
Mr.. Crumpacker, with the whites OF
the South who are honestly attempt
ing to protect their institutions against
the ravages of illiteracy and ignorance.
l believe that fair educational laws,
honestly administered, would have a
most salutary effect. If the colored
man should be given to know that in
order to become voter he must
prepare himself by a fair degree Of
knowledge, and if he were assured
that when he did so prepare himself
the right to vote would be freely ac-
corded him, there would be a constant
inducement for him to strive for that
important privilege, and when he
achieved it, it would be mark of dis
tinction. 1t would enhance his self
respect and make him a better citi-
zen. The prejudice against color in
many sections, however, is so general