The age-herald., 1901-10-15

petent to vote intelligently and these will have no difficulty in registering.
 Appeal Secured.
 1 If the registrars should from any cause refuse to register an applicant this does not end his right to register but he may appeal without security for costs to the l Circuit Court, where his right to register l will be passed on by a judge elected by the people, and by jury of the county. It is therefore, puerile for the opposition to charge that the registrars will disfran- l chise white men.
 Registrars Will Observe the partys Pledge.
 White men insist upon the.r rights and will not submit to disfranchisement by any registrars, but, If necessary, will prove their right to register before a jury of their neighbers. The registrars will know this and will not refuse to register them, except for good cause. Besides this it must be presumed that the registrars who will be appointed by high officials in the party that has always stood for white mans supremacy, will be in sympathy with the best methods yet devised to se- cure it.
 Permanent Plan.
 Beginning with 1903 the permanent plan becomes operative. It provides that, to be qualified to register, the elector must be able to read and write any clause of the constitution or must own $500 worth of taxable property, either in his own or his wife's name. This plan is intended to elevate, and will have the effect of | elevating, the standard of the elector- ate. With the increased facilities furn- ished by the public schools under the new constitution, it will be an easy mat ter for tho citizen to qualify himself un- der this plan. It refers to those applying for registration after January l, 1903, and 1t will in no wise affect those who shall have registered under the temporary plan. Once registered under the tempor- ary plan, the elector is registered for life. But the ability to read and write will not, of itself entsle the elector to vote. He must have paid his poll tax, if | under forty-flve years of age. It Is we'll | known fact that the white voters pay | their poll tax, under existing laws, and | they will continue to pay it. It does not | require any one to pay tax who is now
  | exempt from it.
 Negroes Do Not Willingly Pay Poll Tax.
 It Is also well known that the bulk of the negros do not pay the poll tax re- | quired by existing laws, and the new con- | stitution makes 1t felony for any one to pay another's poll tax, in order to infiu- h t+ is, | ed that no process of any kind can issue | for the collection of this tax. In other | words its payment Is voluntary, and 1t must be paid between October and Feb ruary of each tax year. The purchasable | element of our citizenship will be con- | fronted with the proposition that instead | of being paid to vote, they must qualify | themselves in advance by having paid for themselves their poll tax.
 Negro Llterates.
 | To the argument of the opposition that the negroes in the Black Belt, who can | read and write will outnumber the whites we reply that the only evidence they have | of the number of '1iterates" among the negroes in that section, Is the federal census report, based upon statements made by the negroes to the census-taker. The latter asked the negro if he could | read and write, and the negro said yes. l No test was made to ascertain. And be- | ing able to write ones name is a very different proposition from being able to write "any article or clause of the con- stitution." Besides this, those best in- formed believe that these provisions Of the new constitution will have the effect of diminishing the negro vote in the Black Belt. as well as elsewhere.
 White Supremacy Secured.
 Those men, from prejudice and interest ed motives, are so vigorously decaiming the operation of the permanent plan and it's effect in the negro counties overlook the important fact that under the tenn porary plan, white supremacy is absolute ly secured and if the evils which these prophets of ill-omen predict will occur. should present themselves. there is still left by the terms of the new constitution the right of amending 1t, and the amend ment would be voted on by .he then quail flied electors This is white mans gov- ernment and it will continue to be SO. White men will see to 1t that they will l continue in the ascendancy. They have | always been equal to the demands of 1 government and Its maintenance and they will not be less vigilant in the future l than in the past.
 Negroes Have Organized. | The negroes have organized against the new constitution, the ''literates' among them have read the handwriting on the
 wall. They fear Its operation. They | have appointed their committees to raise money to defeat 1t. Protestations of the | opposition campaign managemnt of no sympathy with the negroes will not avail. They are fighting on the side where the
 negroes. who are already threatening the Democratic party with the Federal
 Supreme Court, are found to be. We l have heard of Federal interference before | and we are not to be daunted now. Brave men any good lawyers framed the new
 organic law and we have no doubt 1t will
 withstand all assaults.
 Suffrage Committee Supporting Con- stitution.
 The committee of the Constitutional | Convention who were charged with the
 duty of framing the suffrage article in
 the new constitution, was composed of
 twenty-five members from all sections
 of the State and included some of our
 best lawyers, two of them having been | Supreme Court judges, This committed