Arizona daily citizen., 1901-11-14
THE ALABAMA CONSTITUTION.


A dispatch from Birmingham. Ala
bama. states that the new Constitution
has been ratified by the votes of large
majority of the people OF the State
The chief interest in the new Consti
tuition surrounded the suffrage article.
In the matter of voting and voting
qualifications Alabama has surpassed
all of the Southern States. II has
grandfather clause. designed to pro-
tect illiterate whites, which is without
parallel in Constitution making in the
South This clause was strongly OPP
posed by Senator Morgan, Ex-Governor
Oates and other able Democrats
Hereafter, the descendants of SOL
diers who fought in the Colonial, In
dian. Mexican and Civil Wars will be
allowed to vote in Alabama even if
they do not possess the educational
suffrage law. 1t is safe to say that
there are not many negroes who will
be qualified to vote under the grand
father clause" as it will be almost i'm
possible for them to prove descent
from heroic ancestors. All voters not
protected by the grandfather clause"
will be allowed to vote only proving
their ability to read and write any ar
ticle of the United States Constitution
In addition, they must pay poll tax
OF $3.50 or pay taxes on land assessed
at 5000
Senator Morgan's opposition to the
grandfather clause" was based upon
the fact that it creates a hereditary
voting class, and that such class can
not be justly legally in a demo-
cracy. His objections to this provision
of the new Constitution were set forth
in an open letter in which he discussed
the subject with his usual frankness
and ability. The Senator pointed out
in this letter that while Americans
severely and justly condemn the Brit
ish system of hereditary legislators.
as illustrated by the House of Lords.
the plan adopted in several Southern
States of creating class of voters
who are given the suffrage simply be-
cause their ancestors enjoyed the privi-
lege is equally repugnant to Democrat
ic Nrip tv1lA
ing to the Senator, II it is proper to
make descendants of soldiers heredi-
tary voters, the principle can be ex-
tended indefinitely, with results which
in the future may prove not only en-
barassing but subversive. Other Demo-
cratic leaders opposed the principle of
hereditary voting on the same grounds,
and most Of them agreed with Mr..
Morgan that the constituionality OF
convention, like the Virginia conven-
ton, was hampered in framing the suf-
frage provisions of the new Constitu-
tlon by the pledge given by the politi-
clans that no white man will be dis
qualified for illiteracy. Birmingham
dispatch states that some Alabama
Democrats who were responsible for
the adoption of the grandfather
clause" do not expect it to be sus-
tained by the United States Supreme
Court. In that event, all voters in
Alabama will be subject to the educa-
tional test, as well as to the poll tax
and land tax qualification.
There is little doubt that in time the
election laws enacted by Southern
States which have adopted new Con-
stitutions will be reviewed by the
highest court in the land The main
point OF attack will be the provisions
which create q hereditary voting
class. louisiana, North Carolina an;
now Alabama have had recourse to
grandfather clauses" to protect voters
who would not be qualified under the
educational test AN educational quail
fication applied to all voters alike
would be unassailable, but, nnfortun-
ately. 1t does not appear to have been
regarded as practicable in the South,
where the idea of disqualifying any
white man for illiteracy Is bitterly re-
sented by the people There were some
able lawyers In the Alabama conven-
tion, but their ingenuity was severely
taxed to devise measure which viii
accomplish an end that Is frankly
avowed and at the same time keep
within the bounds set by the Federal
Constitution.