The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1900-05-06
Advice to Virginia from the Distinguished Attorney
General of That Southern State.
THE ELIMINATION OF THE NEGF
That Especial the Voters OF the Old
Dominion This Time-Wat North Carolina Purposes Dong
Payment o Taxes a Prerequisite to Voting.


| to a denial of the equal protection OF the
| law secured by the Fourteenth Amend
1nent of the constitution, and that 1t was
rot shown that their actual admln1stra-
! ton was evil but only that evil was pos
sitie under them.
| IN SOUTH CAROLINA.
! The Sounth Carolina Constitution 1oi-
| lows in the wake Of Mississippi, providing
! that up to January l. 1898, all male per-
] sons of voting age, applying for registra-
ton, who can read any section in this
constitution submitted to them by the
registration officer, or understand and eX-
plain it when read to them by the regis
tration officer, shall be entitled to register
and become electors" Any person apply
| ing for registration after January /, 1898,
must both read and write any section of
the constitution submitted to him by the
registration officer, or show that ne owns
and mas paid taxes during the previous
year. on $500 of property.
The Louisiana Constitution of 1883 is
radically different from that of Mississippi
and South Carolina. 1t has an alternative
educational and property qualifications as
TO suffrage The clause which is relied
upon to preserve the rights OF illiterate
white voters is this: Section 5. No male
person who was on January ], 1857, or at
any date prior thereto, entitled to vote I'M
der the constitution and statutes of any
State of the United States wherein he then
resided, and no son or grandson of any
, such person. not less than twenty-one
years of age at the time of the adoption
of this constitution, and no male person
of foreign birth, who was naturalzed prior
to the list day of January, $685. shall be
denied the right to register and vote in
This State by reason of his failure to pos
sess the educational or property qualifica
tons prescribed by this constitution
This article is said to have been drawn
by an eminent southern lawyer. Judge
Thomas ]. Semmes. It has never been
passed upon by any court, State or Fed
eral. There has been one election, that
on the 18th of last month, held under it.
OLD NORTH STATE.
The pending amendment to the North
upon in August 1900, is based, as has
been said. upon the Louisiana provision
as to suffrage. The proposed amend
ment provides that every person offering
to register shall be able to read and write
any section of the Constitution in the
English language. and before he shall be
entitled to vote, have paid, on or before
the first day Of March of the year in which
he proposes to vote, his pol-tax for the
previous year. and further provides, "ttlat
no male person who was, on January /,
1867, or at any time prior thereto, entitled
10 vote under the laws of any State in the
United States, wherein he then resided.
and no lineal descendant of any such per-
son shall be denied the right to register
and vote at amy election in this State by
reason OF his failure TO possess the educa-
tiolIal qualifications prescribed in section
4, of this article
AS to the practical workings Of the
provisions, the Acknowledgement of Mis-
issippi, in a recent letter, says:
You Will permit me to say that
think the Old Dominion cannot do wiser
thing than to remodel her organic law
on the plan adopted by mississippi ten
wears ago. It was NV good
fortune to be a member of the convention
that framed this Constitution, and /
have watched its practical operations
with the greatest interest and concern for.
ten years. There is not the remotest
doubt Of its efficacy, as well as of its
fairness, TO all calsses. It, places the
government in the hands of persons who
are free from crime, who contribute the
largest portion to the support of the
government, and who have sufficient
intelligence to understand something of
the objects and purposes of government"
THE LOUISIANA PLAN.
The Acknowledgement of Louisiana says
there is no doubt about the Louisiana
article being effective in eliminat ting the
exception from the operations of the
general law, of persons who were entitled
to vote on LJaTluary !, 1867, ana their sons
and srandsons, he says that he thinks
the importance of this section has been
very much exaggerated.
TO be a voter in Louisiana one who does
not come under this exception must be
able to read and write, or own $500 of
property, of which. if such property be
personal only, all taxes due shall have
been paid.
AS might have been expected, section
of the Louisiana Constitution has
attracted much attention and been the
subject of discussion by lawyers and
politicians. Senator Pritchard, of North
Carolina, who opposes the proposed
amendment to the Constitution OF his
State, has introduced in the Senate
resolution which declares that ''an enact
ment, by Constitution or otherwise, by
any State which confers the right to vote
upon any of its citizens because of their
descent from certain persons, or classes
of persons and excludes other citizens
because they are not descended from.
such persons, or classes of person, having
all other qualifications prescribed by law,
in the opinion OF the Senate is in violation
of the fourteenth and fifteenth amend
ments of the Constitution OF the United
States, and Of a fundamental principle
OF our republican form OIL government"
No action has yet been taken by the
Senate upon this resolution.
NO DISCRIMINATION.
We have seen that in the case OF Will
liams VS.. mississippi the Supreme Court
refused to hold the mississippi clause to
be 1Illconeti tsItional because on its face
there is no discrimination between the
races, and the court would not presume
that the officers would wrongfully
administer the law. TIE louisiana pro.
vision, on the other hand, is self
executing. AS TO the constitutionality
of the Louisiana article, there was con-
siderable diversity of legal opinion, even
in Louisiana. q. the time of Its adoption.
and it is. therefore. not surprising to
learn that its constitutionality has been
questioned by high lega! authority outside
of the State.
If the Louisiana clause and the proposed
North Carolina clause be stitution ri,
what ;na,, 1gnan this ysaInf ra,lSa Hhsa sIany