The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1900-04-22

valid in a direction Wnlcn could lIo'
have been contemplated eXcept III COZ
nection with the taxation considered
as an entirety, we are conStral!i*u "
conclude that sections - to 81, lhclliS-
i've of the act which became law WIN
ont the signature of the President on
Auoust %. 1894, are wholly Ino?erd-
tive and void.
..Tbat is on the income tax. mat IS
NOT tbe case | wanted, although 1T Is
to the same point.
..In the case of George W. Warren
and others VS. Mayor and Alderman
of Charleston (6S Mass.), the court
says:
:.When the parts of statute are SO
mutually connected and dependent us
conditions. considerations, ~ com
nensation for each other as TO the E*ar-
rant a belief that the legislature in
tended them as a whole, and that II
all could not be carrci INTO effect
the legislature would not pass the
residue independently. It some parts
are unconstitutional and void all The
provisions which are thus dependent.
conditional or connected. must iall
with them.
THAT exactly meets the case in
point. Now. it is evrlcr; that tire
legislature Of the State Of North Caro-
lima intended TO present Il scheme Of
suffrage to the sovereign people Of
that State for their adoption. 1t was
whole scheme; it was something
in entirety. 1t had IFS several sec
tons. it is true, but as the court had
frequently said, sections are sim
ply artificial and carry no meaning.
Two different things may pc in the
same section, and on" thing may DC
scattered through dozen sections.
Here is the legislature o. -.rrth Gar O.
lima presenting to that people Il Con-
stitutonal Amendment upon whA
Upon the subject of the eie~ live fran
chise. And they make Their declaTa-
ton first as to illiteracV.
Zone must read and write the Con
stitution. One must pay poll taxes
Then. as a modification of IT'S reStric-
tons as to illiteracy a liberal con
dition appended to it, a certain class
of people, to-wit, those who voted on
or prior to the 1st of January, 1867,
and their descendants in North Caro-
lima and in other States are permit
ted to exercise the franchise.
'Now here is scheme presented a.
a whole; and with some regard for the
white people of his State. l ask the
senator if he believes that the legis-
lature would have presented the
schemes minus that section-sectiOn
s. / think it is? No. Mr. President;
they presented this scheme of suffrage
as whole, one part cOmTensating for
another. that called the fifth section
moderating the rigor of the fourth
section, believe it is.
Mr.. II. ID. Gilmer says:
"The position taken by some Repub-
lican leaders that section ) of the
proposed amendment will be declared
unconstitutional, leaving the remain
der of the law, imposing an educa-
tional qualification intact, cannot, in
my opinion, be sustained. The amend
ment deals with one subject alone
that of regulating the right of suf-
frage. 1t presents TO the voter a
scheme involving an idea of unity.
Suppose an elector in the election to
be held on this question, next Au-
gust. should deposit a ballot ''for
Constitutional Amendment except
section FIVE" such ballot could not
be considered. He does not vote upon
any particular question. but upon
the amendment as Il whole. He votes
either for or against. If the voter
could not at the ballot Dor reject one
section, and adopt the remaining sec
tions by what process of reasoning.
or i'm obedience to what sense of JUS
tice and right could any court force
upon him a law from which one of the
essential features. one of the parts OF
a general whole had been eliminated
making n different law from that
which received his endorsement at the
ballot-boX. The same indestructible
unity in the provisions of the law
which confronted the voter, must and
will confront the court In the light
of judicial investigation, this amend
ment will either stand or fall as one
structure-and that will stand is my
deliberate Judgment"
Mr.. w. w. Kitchin says:
''The amendment will stand or fall
as whole. 1t is submitted to the
people as a whole. No man can vote
for one section and reject another
Thus the courts must consider it. if
it ever reaches them. If it is I'M
constitutional the whole amendment
fails. If a horse has one bad leg he
is unsound, though he may have three
good ones. So if one section is bad
the amendment is unsound and will
fall. Its opponents can cite no in
stance in which an amendment has
been sustained at all while unconsti-
tutional in material part
| am no lawyer. but from careful
examination of the opinions of more
| than one lawyer on each side OF this
! question, l believe if a majority vote
for the amendment it will stand.
GEO. f. BOGGS.