The Washington times., 1901-10-23

, OF the Fourteenth Amendment. AS is said
by Guthrie Ia his great work on the Four
teenth Amendment. This provision of the
Fourteenth Amendment as to representa-
tion was superseded in great measure
by the Fifteenth Amendment which was
adopted subsequently and which estab-
lished universal suffrage so far as race
was concerned. . II has been held
that the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amend
mcnts do not of themselves confer the
right of suffrage and that the States are
stll at liberty to impose property or edu-
cational qualifications upon the exercise
Of that right" pages Is and 16.) This
same Interpretation of the Fourteenth
Amendment IS given by the Republican
platform in 1865. wherein 1t Is conceded
that the right to regulate the suffrage Is
within the States. But the Fourteenth
and Fifteenth Amendments are absolutely
| Incompatible so far as they relate to
suffrage Under the Fourteenth Amend
ment the ignorant and vicious cannot. it
is claimed, be excluded, while under the
Fifteenth Amendment they may be. I'm
der the Fourteenth Amendment no poll
tax can be required as a condition OF
voting.
Not so under the Fifteenth Amendment
Educational and property qualifications
could not be set up under the Fourteenth
Amendment while the Fifteenth permits
such qualifications. Hence the basis for
enforcing the penalty of reduced repre-
sentatiOn in Congress set forth in the
Fourteenth Amendment is entirely re-
moved by the Fifteenth. The. suffrage
part of the Fourteenth Amendment IS
eliminated Furthermore. the Fourteenth
Amendment as to suffrage, tra1scended
the limitations OF the power to amend the
Federal Constitution. II is not unusual
to incorporate in the grant Of charter
to corporation the reserved power or
the Legislature making the grant to
amend alter, or repeal il. The power to
alter or repeal is power to recall the grant
and extinguish it. The power to amend
alone is not the equivalent of the power to
alter or repeal. The power to amend
standing alone. unaccompanied by the
power to alter or repeal, simply reserves
the right to add to the efficiency OF the
scheme of government set up by the Con-
stitution Of which the power to amend Is
A part. 1t does not justify a Fundamental
change in the character of the tederal
Government itself. 1t could not legally
be used to overthrow the Government, or
to destroy its primary and original reia-
ton to the State. It is said that the Gov
ernment of the United States consists OF
an indestructible union of indestructioie
States.
The power to amend the Federal Con-
stitution is not power to cripple or destroy
indestructible States, nor is it power to
abolish the source OF sovereignty in the
people. and to substitute therefor a
object of retaining the power to amend
in the Federal Constitution was not TO
allow a convention of the people or Con-
gress to wipe out the States or to merge
them in the General Government. or to
repeal their power to regulate the suf-
frage affecting the election of their own
officers Under the Fourteenth Amend
ment before It's repeal by the f1fteenth,
the Federal Government seemed to pos
sess the power to cut down the represent
alton of the State in Congress If the sew
erai States excluded from the suffrage the
vicious, ignorant and depraved. This was
a blow at the independent judgment and
vitality of the States. The right to amend
is retained in all of the State constitutions
No one will claim that this power could
be made an implement to break down the
Federal Government, nor can the power
to amend existing in the Federal Cousti-
tuition be used to snatch from the States
their vital principles, as was attempted
in the suffrage part of the Fourteenth
The present state Of the law. however.
IS, as declared by Mr.. Guthrie, and Dy the
Supreme Court of the United States, in
Williams VS.. Mississippi Q7e U. 5.
Rep), that the power to regulate the
suffrage in the States is as clear as II
originally was, with the single limitation
prevailing that 1t cannot be denied, II once
given on account of race. color. or pre-
vious condition of servitude. If the Fiji
teenth Amendment be construed TO ope-
rate az a limitation upon the power OF
the States to control elections for their
own offices, 1t transcends the legal au-
thority of the Federal Government to
amend and makes breach in the inde-
structible character of the States.
II under the power to amend the Fed
eral Constitution the Federal Government
can visit on the States a loss of repre-
sentation in Congress, If they do not yield
their sovereign discretion over the suf-
frage then the States live on the tolera-
ton of Congress and not on their own in
destructibility.