The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-09-19
JOHNSTON'S REASONS
TELLS WHY HE WILL VOTE
 AGAINST RATIFICATION,
Says the Real Issue is Between the Old Constitution and the New, and He Prefers the
 Former.

The following is his statement in full.
 So many citizens have requested my views on the Constitution proposed that
 l have given that instrument careful study and now give my conclusions to them through the press.
 The Constitutional Convention, in com pliance with a resolution of tht last Dem. ocratic State Convention. has submitted the result of its work to the electors of the State for their approval or rejection. To submit and at the same time com mand Democrats how they should vote would have been breach of faith and have incurred an unnecessary. and
 wasteful expense; for all know that
 Democrats This was the view taken generally by the public press and ratified
 by the Demoor rattle State Committee, tion and voted down, by large major ity. resolution declaring that the new Constitution was excellent and should be supported by Democrats. So that every Democrat has the recognized right as he should have to vote aye or no as his judgment approves. So far, of the four surviving candidates for the Dem
 ocrdtic nomination for Governor last purpose to oppose, and another is known to have been strongly opposed to one fed- ture of the new Constitution.
 The Constitution proposed is complex,
 prolix and ambiguous. It neithe: secures
 honest elections nor white supremacy. Its suffrage plan is bad. It authorizes the creation of large number of new offices and curtails no unnecessary ex-
 penses. It endangers the public credit. and does not adequately provide for the common s;hools. If adopted, 1t will pre- vent for many years any substantial re- form that is necessary.
 The suffrage plan is double. There is temporary and permanent plan. and, strange to say, the temporary plan puts man on the voting list practically for life, and provides for hereditary suf-
 frage The ten, pCrary plan only operates
 during next year U902D It provides in substance that no one can vote next year
 in State and national elections except. first, soldiers and their descendants, sec end, persons of good character who un- ,derstand the duties and obligations of citizenship rrder republican form Of
 these can vote next year; and It must
 be remembered that this favored class
 will elect St5te officers and Le9isla-
 ture to hold office for four years And
 three Registrars, appointed by three
 State officials (aH cs ndidates for office at that electlon) No standard of char acter or understanding is provided. and no provision Is made ds to the charact4
 or quantity of evidence that citizcn
 must produce in order to be registered. It is left wholly to the discretion of this Board. acting jpdicially. Whether an cid soldier can be enrolled on his own oath or whether he will be required to produce enc or more comrades who were actually with him in the army, or with his father or grandfather, is left wholly to coniec- tura and to the divers and unrestraiued discretion of sixtY-six boards in as many counties. If he is denied registration he can appeal to the Circuit Court where ;he Solicitor is required ito oppose him and he must employ counsel to establish his light. As only about ninety days elapse between the close of registration and ;he election his appeal can hardly be tried.
 An eminent Southerner once declared that discretion has been said to be the law of the tyrant and when exercised under color of law and under the intiu- ence of party dictation. 1t will become terrible and insufferabie dcspotiem.'
 No machine moro dangerous to liberty, or more subversive of the fundamental principles of a Democratic Republican government can be aconceiEed'. thall, a board appointed by a central ,powss5 to decide who shall and who shall not vote in any county Other devices are infant abortions compared with this leviathan of irresponsible and unregulated power.
 The provision authorizing soldiers and their descendants to vote has been de- clared unconstitutional or un-American by our two Senators. by two ex-jover- nOrs, and other able lawyers: even the committee reporting 1t must have had dc ubts, for they repor ted provision au- thorizing the Legislature to remedy, If any court should declare any clause un- constitutional, and this was the only clause questioned.
 If Democrats difer, what Will a he- publican court decide?
 Should this clause be struck down. as think it will, the cid Confederates and their sons will be put in line with those who can read and write or are property | owners, before they can vote. Not one on | the pension list could register and vote | under the property clause When these men started to the front in 1861 no one | enauired if they could read and write or | how much property they owned, or yet | as to their character; 1t seems that high | CT standards may be reqNlred or them 10 | vote for their State than to fight or die | for it.
 The permanent plan goes into operation | after 1902. Under 1t no man can register | or vote unless he Is able to read and | write. and, if physically able, has been | at work the greater part of the past year, | or unless he owns in his own right, or his | wife owns, forty acres of land or $500 of | personal property. If he owns $299 of | re II estate and $299 of personal property, | he fails Under the operation of this | nermanent plan, if it is honestly carried | county in the black belt that will not | have more negro voters than white voters. | It is very certain that as the years pass the number of negroes who qualify and | reqister will exceed the number of whites, | and the voting strength of the negro will steadily outstrip that of the white So if this plan be adoptt d, we force upon the white men of the black belt the alterna five either to buy or steal the votes of inc negroes or to submit to their nu- mericai majority. We kn,w it will not be the latter The chairman of the Demcoratic State Committee in the Con stitutionaI Convention, denounced this plan and declared in substance that in- stead of eliminating fraud 1t would per petuate and constltdtlohanze It, so that this instrument neither secures honest elections nor white supremacy.
 This Constitution also provides that no man shall be compelled to pay his poll
 fn p h.IU thousands of dollars of property but the hand of inc Tax Collector is stayed be- fore his yQllntary disfranchisement It may have bee n supposed that this would grnativ rcduc, the number of poor men 9s vof,r rs | fear that others will take gdvantape of this clause and greatly re- due ethc poll tav, and that many sons or Door men may be thus cut oh from the franchise bv being deprived of education. If is hard to conceive of democratic oovernnn4nt off ring reward to men ii has chosen as peculiarly well qualified for the suffrage to ristranchlse them selves History discloses no precedent. TbiS Constitutiou makes special grants of mower to the Legislature to create more than one hundred new judges and sixty-sx additional soncltqrs Jt Is true ahoiish circuit and chancery courts in certain counties but If all the circuit and cbancerv courts were abolished the au- thoritv is ample to make a net increase in our judicial "Ilcers oi at ledSt one and nitN. .. A.. new officials will in some way directly or Indirectly. get their living out of . uI .,.a 1.bo labor and pay taxes.
 ientenant Governor is created. That s,Lob an o.ce is nm cessary is shown by sL'oH s, darl,, ,. succecsion of the present 5hF Gnyernor filling the first vacancy in the ~, HoF0i fm ru,l that has occurred in Aiabana ir nor than fifty. years.
 The limit of State taxation has been
 tIaA h EN,.l1 .lzNt-. |