The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1901-04-12

We hold that the General Assembly of
Maryland has supreme and unlimited
authority except in the instances
where the Constitution of the State
and the United States places definite
restriction upon it. In this fundamen-
tai and important principle the Gen.
eral Assembly differs from the Con.
gress, because the latter can only ex-
ercise such legislative powers as have
been expressly delegated by the Fed
eral Constitution. 1t there is no pro-
hibition the power is inherent in our
Legislature. 1t can adopt any law
which it is not forbidden to adopt pro-
vided the act is fair, uniform and applies
alike to each and every voter in the
State, giving each the same opportu-
nifty to exercise his right of suffrage.
"The Election law passed by the
Republican Legislature fixed the kind,
size, shape and form of the ballot, and
it was held by the Court of Appeals to
be constitutional and within the power
OF the Legislature to adopt 1t. In
that law it was provided that the par
ty emblem should be at the head of the
column containing each party's candi-
dates. We have simply removed the
emblems, but have given the same op-
portunity to the voter to vote for whom
and whoever he desires, but prohibited
any assistance being given to him in
so doing.
"Under the law which has just been
repealed, a ticket improperly marked
was not counted, and in every case
presented to the Court of Appeals un-
der that law it was decided that where
the crossmark was placed in the wrong
place the ballot should not be counted.
The law we have passed contains the
provision that an improperly marked
ballot shall not be counted. The high
est court in the State has decided that
question and the democrats are per-
fectly content to leave the judicial de-
cision to our court as to the legality
Of the present act"
"But, Mr.. Gorman," the reporter
said, lit is stated in the discussion of the
question that the operation of the law
and it was so intended-will disfran-
chise 10000 or $4,000 men in your
State who have heretofore exercised
the right Of suffrage"
AS TO DIsFRANCHlsEMENT.
"That statement" answered Mr..
German, "is mere guesswork on the
part of it's authors. There is no data
which accurately shows the number Of
illiterate male adults in Maryland
above the age of 2l years. In the reg
istration books large numbers are re-
corded as illitcratc, but, as l have al
ready shown, this largely arose from
the fact that, under the Republican
law, the voter who declared that he
was illiterate was given assistance in
marking his ballot, so in many cases
the voter declined to say whether he
could read or write, in order that the
ballot clerks might be called in when
his ticket was marked and the oppor-
tunity afforded to show to the party
managers that his bargain had been
The aim Of the present
law is to prevent such traffic.
eff there are many illiterates in Ma
ryland who will be affected by the
passage of the present law the blame
lies with themselves. We have had
the most perfect system of public
schools for the past 80 years of any
State souch Of Pennsylvania. Since
1870 the colored population Las had
ample opportunity to learn to read
and wlite by means Of the schools fur
nished by the white taxpayers of Ma
ryland. And if after these years of
honest effort on the part of the white
people in supporting these schools at
their own expense there are, as is
claimed, 10000 of them who cannot
read or write the fault can only be at
tributed to their lack of desire to OBJ
tain knowledge. If they prefer to re-
main il ignorance there is no way to
compel them to learn, unless the in
centlve to vote may hereafter encour-
age them to attend the schools.
at so happened that l was Speaker
of the House of Delegates in 1870 at
the time these ignorant colored men
were given the opportunity to partici-
pate in the suffrage Of Maryland by
the adoption of the Fifteenth Amend
ment to the Constitution of the United
States. The Legislature was almost
exclusively composed of Democrats,
anil while we were unalterably opposed
to their enfranchisement, we rocog
nized that if they were to remain cit
liens they must be educated, so at that
session we made the first appropria-
tions for colored schools. The treat
ment accorded them has been fair and
more than generous. If they have not
equipped themselves for citizenship in
the time which has elapsed it is their
own misfortune.
INVASION OF NEGROES.
The Maryland people would have
no trouble whatever in regard to their
suffrage provided 1t was confined to