The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1901-08-06
THE GRANDFATHER CLAUSE IN THE
COURTS.

VUU6&Ss
The New York Outlook Explains the Case,
By Which a Decision Will be Rendered as
to the COnstitutiOnaIity Of our Suffrage
Amendment.
NEW YORK, Aug. 3.-The New
York Outlook of today gives the
following facts regarding the case
recently begun in Louisiana to test
the oonstitutionality of the famous
grandfather clause" It says:
""The constitutionality of the Lou
isiana Suffrage Law is to be tested.
On July 10, David J. Ryanes, a col
ored resident of New Orleans who
cannot comply with the educational
or property qualifications of the
Louisiana Constitution of 1898,
made application to be registered as
a voter, and was refused registra-
ton. On July 10, Mr.. Armand Ro-
maine, lawyer of New Orleans, act
ing as Ryanes' attorney, fled suit in
the Civil District Court of the par
ish of Now Orleans, praying that a
writ of mandamus be issued Obliging
the registrar. to enroll this man.
The proceedings preliminary to
this case have been under way for
some time, and the registrar knew
when this mans application was
made and refused that the applica.
ton was made for the purpose of
furnishing a basis for a suit. The
case has been undertaken and will
be prosecuted by the Afro-American
Council, whose headquarters are in
Washington. David J. Ryanes, the
man who has been selected as plain
tiff, is q man sixty years of age who
for the last thirty years has actually
exercised his privileges as a voter.
He was a slave and the son of a
slave. He has residedin New Orleans
since 1860, in which year he was
brought to that city from Tennessee.
He a neither read nor write, nor
does he pay taxes On $500 worth of
property.
The contention is made that while
on this account he is not allowed to
register, a white man in the same
condition would be allowed to do so
under the so-oalled "grandfather"
clause of the Constitution. The
plaintiff has an excellent repu,
tation in New Orleans, has a family.
is a hard-working man, and is an
elder in good standing in one of the
leading colored Methodist churches
of the city. Mr.. Armand ROmaine,
the lawyer who has entered the case,
is not a negro. He is a native Of
New Orleans, a graduate of Tulane
University and Law School, and has
been in practice in New Orleans for
several years. He informed our COR
respondent that he hoped to have
the case brought to trial during the
next ten days or two weeks after its
entry.
AS North Carolina has adopted
practically the same plan as Louis
lana for DISTINGUISHING negroes with
out disfranchising whites possessing
no greater qualifications, the result of
the present suit will determine the
validityof it's Acknowledgement clause
as we'll as that of Louisiana. The
National Constitution, it will be re-
called, forbids the disfranchisement
of citizens because of race, color, or
previous condition of servitude. The
legal defense of the grandfather
clause in the Louisiana and North
Carolina Constitutions is that it does
not disfranchise negroes because OF
their color, but enfranchises whites
if their family enjoyed the suffrage
before it was given to negroes. Nom
inally Mr.. Ryanes was not disfran'
chised because Of his color, but if
the Court finds that in fact he was
disfranchised on that account, it
must hold that the Fifteenth Amend
ment to the National Constitution
has been violated.