The age-herald., 1901-05-26

free hanpv and contented people, they 1nust return to a conetitnf1onal form of government, where law and order prevail, and where every citizen stands ready to stake his life and his honor to maintain it.
 What Remedy Shall Be Adopted.
 IJpon the threshold of our deliberations, I will not undertake to indicate to you how you should solve this new and dlf1- cult question of constitutional reform. At the outset of this movement ventured to suggest that delegates should be cautious in undertaking to define Just what pro- visions would be or should be embodied in the Constitution; that the new Consti- tuition, when made and placed before the people for ratification. would be and ought to be the result of the united action of the Convention; that if one came here with his mind made up and his Constitution in his pocket he would hardly be left in fit condition to confer with his fellow dele gates on this important subject I still hold this view I fail to appreciate the idea of those who seem to think it the duty of the delegates to this Convention to write, out and publish their views be- fore the Convention meets. Under this plan, we would be liable to have as many Constitutions as delegates. What the peo- pie want, in my judgment, is an earnest consideration of and consultation upon these important questions, so that the fin- ished work will represent the united wis dom and experience of the convention.
 Mississippi Is the pioneer State in this movement In addition to the payment of a poll-tax, there 1t Is provided that only those can vote who have been duly regis tered, and only those can register who can read or understand when read to them, any clause in the Constitution. The de- cislon as to who are sufficiently intelli- gent to meet the requirements of the un- derstanding clause is exclusively in the hands of the registrars.
 But to this plan, the objection may be urged with force that it perpetuates the very form of abuse from which we are seeking to escape. Elections by managers or registrars Is not what we want. Our aim should be for a correction of all evils which threaten the purity of the ballot and the morals of the people.
 The provision adopted in South Carolina requires the payment of the poll-tax, as- sessed against him for the previous year six months before any election and that the voter shall be duly registered. To be qualified for registration up to January l, 1898, voters must have been able to read clause in the Constitution or understand or explain 1t when read by the registra- ton officer; and all who register subse- quent to that time must be able both to
  tuition, or else show ownership of property assessed at three hundred dollars or more and the payment of all taxes assessed against him and collectable during the previous year.
 h Louisiana and North Carolina, the methods of relief adopted are substan- tfally the same, and require, in addition to the poll-tax clause, that the voter shall register In accordance with the provisions of the Constitution, and only those are authorized to register who are able to read and write any section of tho Constitution in the English language, with the further proviso, that no male person who was, on January 1, 1857, or at any time prior there to, entitled to vote under the laws of any State in the United States wherein hc then resided, and no lineal decendant of any such person, shall be denied the right to register and vote at any election, by req son of his failure to possess the education qualifications prescribed, provided he reg isters within the time limited by the terms of the Constitution, which in Louisiana Is about six months, and in North Carolina about eight years.
 It is contended In defense of this pro- vision, that while, in effect, it will exclude the great mass of ignorant negro voters 1t does not in terms, exclude them, and applies generally to all classes of voters. without reference to their race, color or previous condition of servitude; that all negroes who were voters prior to January 1,1S67,-of whom. 1t was claimed. there were quite a number,-could vote,and the descendants whether slaves or not,-of these free negroes were entitled to vote. and that these were quite numerous. And, on the other hand, that white people born