The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1899-02-14

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becoming q citizen OF the UnitedStatee,
of corruption and malpractlcte in flee,
unless such person shall have been re
stored to citizenship I'm a manner
prescribed bylaw. ker
Section 8. This act shall be in force
from and after its ratification. .4CJt
whether or not sectfoh + is ren6eFed.
6ulI and void by the Fifteenth Amend
ment t6the Uuitef States Constitution
Is . mooted question. Every one adj
miEs fhatit directly Violates the spirit
Of that Gmsndment, but it il not 50.
certain that it violates the 1etter. This.
is yet to be decided by the United
states Supreme Court. II that body de
cides that that section does not confic5
With the Fifteenth Amendment, then.
the right to vote will be held out to the
coiored boy as a reward for scholar.
ship, while the white boy will have no
such incentive. Z Acc ordfngly it Is
argued. the negro race viii in time be
some the better educated Of Ihe two
races. But this remains to be seen.
For our part, we are not prepared to
say whether or not Section 5 conf CTS
with the words Of the Fifteenth Amend
ment; We do know that In spirit the
difference between them is so great
that, If the United States Supreme
Court sustains the former, the lat
Ger ia "a completely nullif1ed asit it had
no place whatever in the Constitution.
The Fifteenth Amendment to our
National Constitution reads as follows:
Section 1 The rights Of citiE 9ns of
the United States to vote shall not be
denied or abridged by the United
States, or by any State, on account of
race, color, OF previous condition of
servitude.
Section 3. Congress shall have pow.
er to enforce this article by appropriate
legislation"
The right of citizen to vote is GER
tainly not explicitly denied or abridged
Oy Section . of the proposed amend
ment because Of race or color, for free
negroes we're before. 1885. allowed TO
vote in this Safe, and a descendant OF
one Of these is secured in the right to
vote by this clause. Slaves, however,
we're never allowed to vote and there
fore it is said: Section s abrldges the
right Of citizens to vote because they or
their fathers could not vote in 1867 or
before that date. This was because Of
their 'condition OF servitude, There
fore the grandfather clause abridges
the right Of suffrage because Of q pre-
gious C 1ndition of servitude' and 10 I'm
constitutional" This sounds plausible
and is possibly the view that WILL be
taken by the Supreme Court.
II, however, the constitutionality Of
the grandfather clause is sustained by
the Supreme Court, then, We repeat,
the fifteenth Amendment is Rulli1ed.
Why Z Simply because il We may say
that voters must be able TO read and
write and then add But descendants
Of these who we're entitled to vote on
or before 1867 are excepted" then we
may say, Voters must be able to read
and write and must possess $500, or
$500, or even OIL, 900 worth of property"
and except descendants of those who
we're entitled 70 vote on or before 1867
In other words, il it ia constitutional
for us to give the right of suffrage tn
all who could vote on or before 1857
and their descendants, but, demanding
that all others read and write, 0bridTO
the right Of other citIz ms TO vote-if
We say, this il constitutional, then il ia
constitutional to increase 10 such an
extent the qualifications demanded Of
those cItiG 9nS as to virtually disfran-
chise them. The property and eduoa
tional qualifications are clearly consti
tutional. Now, if the grandtather
clause is also constitutional, it il DOS
Gble and institutional for any State
OF the Union TO 80 combine and enlarge
these qualifications as to disfranchise
almost every negro citiz IN.
Therefore. to establish the constitu
tionality of the grandfather clause and
by that 9 give each State the
power to disfrancnise its negro citizens,
is to work a complete revolution in
Southern POLITICAL aft airs,
On, page 5 this week we give a repro
duction of a photographer the battle
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