The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1901-08-04
SUFFRAGE PLANS IN VIRGINIA.
New York Tribune.


New York Tribune.
II current forecasts from Richmond
are verified the suffrage clauses Of the
new Virginia constitution will eclipse
in plcturasQueness and variety all pre-
vious southern efforts 20 strip The negro,
as such, Of the elective franchise. Since
Mississippi took the lead, ten years sgo.
in purging her electorate through the
apparently simple. bu; in fac; marvel
lousy elastic and effective, understand
ing" test, Southern suTraga restriction
schemes have become steadily more
cumbersome and more complicated,
Presumably it was argued that in a
multiplicity OF devices lay greater i'm
muni;y from hostile challenge; that L
one test failed or was pronounced repug-
nani TO The guarantees Of the fifteenth
Amendment others would survive TO ao-
complish that disfranchisement Of the
negro, os.ensibly as an illi;era,e or a
delinquent. but really as a negro. at
which every recent constitutional revis-
ion in the Southern states has aimed
louisiana and North Carolina ac-
cordingly broadeued the Mississippi suf-
frage plan by exempting from the PEN
allies Of llliteracy the desceniants-nec-
essarily all whiie-of parents who had
voted in elections prior to negro enfrAn-
chisemen;. Alabama's Constitutional
convention now in session, has virtually
decided to add as exemptions from dis
qualification under her new system de-
scent from an ancestor who performed
military service in any army up 70 AMI
including the war OF the Rebellion, or
possession Of a reputation for good ci:-
izanship"-thls reputation TO be aijuig-
ei by the local officials who control the
registry and coun; the vote Alabama
also proposes to enforce agaias all NOM
exempts a poll TAX ami property re-. /
quirement, which. Il applied with any /
severity to her electorate as a whole |
would cut of at a stroke perhaps one
'hiri Of The prsssn, qualified vote. l,
has been left for The Virginia consd,u- /
tioa makers, however, to devise SIN /
more complicated scheme. both os ex-
empuons and Of qualifcat7ns The |
committee charged with framing a suf- /
frage section has been struggling over |
the details Of two or three rival drafts. /
but their agreement on all essentials .
seems to insure the submission to tn
convention Of a suffrage restriction pro- .
ject more novel and intricate than any
hitherto broached
Senator John W. Daniel Is the author
Of the draft most in favor, and in +; he
Insists that a vote must hereafter pos
sess property valued at $500 at least,
must nav a DOLL tax Of 81 Al least six
months before election day, and mus:
b- able TO read the constitution " un-
derstand it when read. Such tests would
many thousands Of white
voters az well as black voters; so the
exemption thlmblerig game mus, BE- un-
resorted 10. All persons
over sixty years OF age are 10 vote
without challenge, as are all who nave
borne arms in the service Of the United
States, Of the Confederate states or Of
the STATE OF Virginia. Blu; no veterans
who draw salaries or pensions of any
sort can claim exemption, thus bar
ring from the benefits Of the waiver all
the white or eolored ex-solllsrs VINO
have taken or wish to take aiyanage
u the Federal pension laws A. a
discrimination, election boards
are to be permitted to create a further
exempt class Of voters from among
persons Of recognized good character
"a company 10 which every worthy
Virginia Democra, barred by natural
deficiencies from the franchise can
.asily attain a certificate Of promotion. ,
No eligibility tests could well be more
aimsv or slipshod in character or more
open to the grossest perversi)n md
abuse. Under them equality before The
aw win remain in Virginia as empty !
and mocklng a fiction as it has been for
ifteen years past under the Old Do u