The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1900-02-11

ltucrale soldiers children VIII De ue-
prlved of the right to vote, because they
would be put in the class then with other
illterateS. | think. from this author, who
Is admitted to be one of the best upon
constitutional law and who here in writ
ng docs not give his own language. but
the language in every instance Of the
court ltsell, have shown conclusively
that if the Legislature of North Carolina
intended that all these sections should go
together and be part OF one general plan
of suffrage when one falls to the ground
the others must fan. too.
THE LEGISLATIVE INTENT
For if ii is true, as the Senator STATES.
that the object was to discriminate
against the colored man, how. Then can
he reconcile that statement with the facr
that the Legislature did not intend IN
save the white man and his descendants?
In this section, then, that is a material
part of the legislative intent. That is
4 part so material that he knows the
legislature would not have passed the
o'her section of the bill, and dared not
nave done it, without adding this Sec
.,on. mere is not man, l believe. in
.ie state OF North Carolina who believes
that that Legislature would have snb-
their ratlhcatlon any such frame of law
governing suffrage AIS would in any way
case exclude These people from the bal
lot
The Legislature intend certain thing.
ana thty nave used language which. il
adopted by the State, will secure that in
tent. 10 say now that material part
OF that law can be elided from the meas.
ure and that the remainder can stand
goes against Cooley on the constitutions
al ilmlfatlon of power and every decis-
ION ne quotes here and every one have
been able to find. And yet upon that
the Senator from North Carolina has
based a great deal Of his argument. as
said.
Mr.. Tilman- ! understood the Sena-
tor from Mississippi to say a moment
ago that IL is apparent the poll tax would
apply TO old men in North Carolina.
Md. Money. No; | did not.
Mr.. pritchard. Nobody contends that.
think
Mr.. Tillman- IL understood YOU to make
that statement in your language in re-
gard to the poll tax in answer to some
question from the Senator from North
Carolina.
Mr.. Money. | made no allusion to
any old men at all, for they do not gen
orally apply
Mr.. Tillman. j viii just mention now.
IN order TO make that matter very clear.
that under the constitution of North
Carolina the limitation on the poll tax is
from II to 80 years Therefore no Con
federate soldiers. unless some very small
number who in year or two will be out
OF reach, will be paying any poll tax at
all.
Mr.. Money. There are discrimina-
tons that are not considered unconstitu-
tlonal. although it would apparently be
discrimination. Now, for instance.
take the constitution OF the State OF
mississippi 1t has never been objected
to the provision there enacted, but it is
evidently in some sense discrimination
that is an enlargement of the liberty and
softening of the rigor of other parts Of
the law-that is, in a case where a man
is required to live within State two
years and one year in the county within
which he proposes to vote, but clergymen
are not required to live so long. Will any
tutionm because the rigor of the law
man tell me that that statute is unconsti-
has been relaxed rs TO cIergymen. who,
necessarily from their vocation, change
their places of residence very frequently?
Why, of course not.
My friend says some of the best people
n his State can only make their mark.
| have no doubt but that there are a
great many Of them. Some Of the best
men | ever knew and some of the most
capable men in ordinary affairs of life
'ould not read and had to make their
mark. Those gentlemen are protected
rom the fact that they are voters or
descendants of voters in 1867
n prior 10 that time, and certainly they
lave until 1908 to register. If they want
o vote at all they will make that regis
ry inside of those eight years, and it
s impossible that any hardship should
all upon them.
THE WHITE MANS CAPACITY.
do not insist myself as strongly as
some people do upon an educational
qualification in my own State. Not be-
ng a part Of the constitutional conven-
ion, but somewhat active in getting thar
convention ordered by the Legislature,
was explicitly against the whole scheme
II lteracy as a test. Now,l may have
been wrong about that. but insist more
UPON DTdlH tstrdtuy tudH i 10 upon u
ichoolbook education. ] believe in that
mysterious nnd far-reaching influence of
blood, that accommodating. intensifying ca
Dacity resulting from generations of prac-
ice of the individual, until it at last be-
'omes the instinct of the race. I believe
in that capacity. born in the forest OF
Germany, upon the banks of the Elbe,
md the boys of FIiesIand. growing as
elated by Sir Henry Maine and founded
upon the development Of the individual
md respect for women.
THE NEGROES INCAPACITY.
believe that you might educate the
negroes through the common school
very single one OF them---and that they
would still be incapable of conceiving or
'xecuting n self-govcrning republic like
his. He has never yet shown the ca
)acity. do not care where he may have
,een situated. In Africa, his native land,
We never yet rose to a legislative assem-
bly, or a judicial tribunal 1t Is the old
st continent in the world, if geologists
IAN be believed. Sir RodcTick Murchi-
on says so. The negro was there undis-
turbed for thousands of years. Never
~ his own effort has he risen to anything
ike standardization.
II