The age-herald., 1901-09-01

ID Lno EultOf or The ABe-herdtQ.
 It is the duty of the federal government to see that Republican form of govern ment Is maintained in every State of the union, and that the post bellum amend ments to the constitution are duly ob- served in each To talk of a State being sovereign in the sense that France, Eng land and Germany are sovereign, Is the veriest twaddle. The king can do no wrong, a State can, and its so-called sovereignty is of an exceedingly mild character. Between the rights delegated and those usurped, State sovereignty is a nudity-lttle more than a political fic- tion. One of the rights of sovereignty is to determine the qualifications of the franchise, and although the State never delegated this reserved right, 1t can not specifically deny the negro the privilege of voting in an election of any kind. It had as we'll write such restriction in the sand as to write 1t In constitution or organic law. Neither Is the State the judge of the character of it's own govern ment, whether 1t be republican or no nor the judge whether the recent amend ments to the federal constitution have pccH NtOidLcu UT llOt tOIl6IcSS ny and the Supreme Court ultimately are the guardians of these important matters. So far from being sovereign the State practically stands to the general govern ment as municipalities and counties stand to the State-empowered to make only such laws as are not inconfiict with those of the higher power. In making new State constitution, then, 1t is extremely important to correctly determine what constitutes republican form of govern men, or else the proposer fabric may fall to the ground. Tt craves good advise ment,'' for situated as we are. it is not what you think it is, nor what think it is, even what Congress thinks it is. The whole question finally turns upon what five members of the Supreme Court think it is; the United States being, in fact, an oligarchy governed by five men. beyond whose decision there Is no appeal. As every one knows they have the power to pitch in the waste basket any law made by either Legislature or Congress itself. A law may be in full operation after having run the gauntlet of this august body, but upon coming before 1t again the court may reverse itself, throw stare decisis to the winds, and so become null and void. If the money now being consumed by the State conventional thousand dollars day-is to be perma- nent investment 1t behooves the members of the same to give some thought as to what constitutes a republican form of government by a majority vote? Such an expression of the will of the people makes England monarchy and Russia an au- tocracy, In its last analysis a republic will be found to be a form of government in which no citizen enjoys a hereditary privilege over another. 1 know of no re- public which makes provision for a her editary or privileged class. There Is no such provision in the constitution of the United States or of any of the States composing the same, unless very recently. Even the law of entail, or the right of father to leave the fruit of his own labor to his oldest son, and so on down, has been prohibited as antagonistic to repub- lican principles. The definition of re- public Is not peculiarly in the domain of legal jugglery, for an educated man is as well qualified to define 1t Is any judge who ever wore ermine, or any knight of the green-bag who tries to make the worse appear the better cause. The very essence of republic is a government in which every citizen has an equal right with any other citizen, or right which it is in his power to acquire. It may very properly require an educational or prop erty qualification for the franchise. The latter he may acquire by labor and economy For the attainment of the former the State dots every hill with school house, and the doors of the same are open to him without money and with out price. But the State can not provide belligerent grandfathers, and when she grants certain privileges to the descend ants of such and withholds them from other citizens equally qualified to exer- else them that State ceases to have a re- publican form of government. whatever else it may be. If a State has a right to confer the right of suffrage upon every descendant of a sailor or soldier. ipso fac to, it would have an equal right to say that the Governor must be a descendant of a man who had a coat of arms. The in- stant you deny "equal rights to all'' your republic becomes a name only, as the ab- sence of hereditary privileges is the very soul and body of republic, and has ever been so regarded until a supposedly necessary .subterfuge has been found de- sirable to accomplish concealed pur- pose. This grandfather clause Is at best the child of despair, and partakes more of the nature of the gauzy fabric of the spider than of the lith and limb of the child of reason The ostrich, who sticks his head in the sand and thinks