The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1900-02-11
KEMP TON OF A CLASS
DOES NOT MEAN DISCRIMlNA-
TION AGAINST COLOR.
Mr.. BUsBEE'S UNANSWERA8LE ARGUMENT
In Favor of the Constitutional Amendment He
First Doubted Its Validity { Adopted But
Says After Careful Study That it
is CT arIy Constitutional.

To the Editor: Some months ago Mr..
Rountree, of Wilmington, in talking to
me about the proposed Constitutional
Amendment, said that it involved a con
sideration of questions by no means APP
parent upon a casual reading; and that
n prudent lawyer would find that he could
not safely express a decided opinion
without careful study. IN this | concur,
and | have heSitated to express my views
as Il lawyer because for want of time
my investigation has not been as thor
ough MS / desired. But rs | have enter
tanned, and from time TO time expressed,
both to friends and opponents of the
amendments grave doubts az to its valid
ity under the Constitution of the United
States. it may not he out of place for
me TO state the conclusion finally reached.
All electors i'll North Carolina have
been and are obliged, when presenting
themselves for registration, TO take an
oath to support the Constitution OF the
United States as the paramount law. 1t
is TO be presumed that this oath has been
taken in the utmost sincerity and good
faith. and Will be kept inviolate. There
can be no distinction drawn in law or
good morals between the binding force
of the Fifteenth Amendment and that OF
any other provision of that instrument
No honest man can vote for the proposed
amendment if he is convinced III his own
mind that If adopted it will be III conflict
with the Fifteenth Amendment of the
Constitution Of the United States. If he j,
in doubt upon this point, he can with 4
clear conscience vote, as he shall deem ii
best for the commonwealth, and leave the
final decision to the proper tribunal. Ii,
however. there is sincere conviction ell
tertained that the amendment is violative
of the Federal Constitution, such convic-
ton viii be strengthened rather than
weakened by the Incorporate language
sometimes used by its advocates. The
reason of conservative and intelligent
men cannot be influenced, when enter
tanning Il conscientious doubt by being
termed negrophilists."
The question, stripped of non-essentials,
seems to be:
will the right of a citizen of the State
to vote be abridged OH account of race,
color or previous condition of Servl-
tude, by provision in State constitu-
ton which requires that every elector,
upon presenting himself for registration,
shall be able to read and write any sec
ton of the Constitution in the English
language, when taken in connection with
Il provision in a subsequent section that
there shall be exempt from the operation
of the educational qualification all male
persons who had right to vote i'll 1861
under the laws of any State III the Uni
ted States, and all lineal descendants of
any such person?
All considerations of race and color
may be disregarded in the enquiry, be-
cause the operation of the amendment
will bear more stringently upon those
who have been in a previous condition
of selyitude." former slaves and their des-
cendants. If it is not void as to former
slaves, it is void as to nobody.
The amendment will by no means be
NECESSARILY in accordance with the
Constitution of the United States, mere
~ because it permits Il few scattering free
negroes, of the vintage of 800, and their
descendants to vote if ut the same time
it excludes from the ballot bog tas it does
all former slaves and their descendants.
SO much of the language of the proposed
amendment as is necessary to present the
exact question, is as follows:
Section t. Every person presenting
himself for registration shall be able to
read and write any section Of the Const-
tuition in the English language"
Section ). No male person who was ON
January /. 1867, or. at any time prior
thereto entitled TO vote under the laws
of any State in the United States wherein
he then resided, and no lineal descendant
of any such person, shall be denied the
right TO register and vote at any election
in this State by reason of his failure to
possess the educational qualification pre-
scribed in section four of this article"
1t is hardly necessary to discuss the
alleged danger of judicial or other de-
cison that the section which abrdges the
right to vote by an educational QlIalifica
fion shall be adjudged valid. and section
; which does not abridge but enlargeS.
by eXenipting from the operation of the
abridging section a certain class, shall be
adjudged invalid. The Federal Constitu-
ton does not in any manner affect an
enlargement of the suffrage, but only its
restriction or abridgement. No one will
deny the right Of the State to prescribe
an educational qualification for electors,
and no wellinformed lawyer will deny
the concurrent right to exempt from the
operation of the qualification certain
class or classes, as was done i'll MaSsa
chusetts. AT the same time, If the two
sections, the abIidging and the eXemptinS
sections. when taken together, have the
effect of abridgng the right to vote Of the
negro. or the eX-Slaye ONLY then it
would seem absurd to contend that the
right was not abridged on account of race
or previous condition of servitude.
1t seems to the writer therefore that
the above statement of the question is n
perfectly fair one No one born a slave
and no descendant of slave is exempt
from the operation of the educational
qualification prescribed in section four;
all citizens who were voters of any State
in the United States on January LIST. 1867
and their lineal descendants ARE eX-
empted. Is this an abridgmcnt of the