The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-12-31

tancc of the colored vote in their respec- tive districts-and have come forward with remedies of more or less intelligence and legality. Especially have they dweIt wttb horror upon the so-called grand father clause" In such States as T1ouisia- na. which unquestionably did at one time discriminate in favor of the whites and against the blacks, but which, as it hap case save one. and has. even in that case, only a very few months to run. = And yet, in the midst of all this uproar over the alleged wtckedness of the Southern chirp of protest in connection with the Vermont system, which. for simplicity, directness, candor. and barbarism, com pares with the Southern system as a bludgeon compares with Toledo blade
 The Vermont plan is as ingenious as a thirteenth century battle-ax. It is stralghtforward. honest. primitive. undis- guised. It doesn't even wear fig leaf for protection. The suffrage clauses of the Vermont constitution are few in num- Der, very clear In phraseology. and un- mistakable of purpose. They are charac- terized by that economy of language and that rugged virtue of intent which we are wont to associate with the granite hills and the reluctant valleys of the neishhorhood. Moreover. they read as smoothly as an epitaph. But for all prac. tical purposes of keeping the political control where it will do most good-to the Republican party-section 66 embodies the whole Vermont proposition and the pre- ceding sections may be considered as mere literary embroidary. beautiful but super fiuous. Section 66 says:
 Section 66. No person shall be admit ted to take tho freeman's oath, or vote at an election. until he has obtained the approbation of the board ofscivil authori- ty of the town in which he resides"
 Here. 1t will be perceived, is no hum,
 bug about mental. moral. or material qualifications; no pretense of a desire to protect the franchise against ignorance, responsibility, or corruption.s The fram- | CTS of the organic law of Vermont did not take refuge in any ake-believe Of anxiety for the purity of the ballot box or the intelligence and substance Of the individual voter. There is not a word or even a suggestion as to the integrity it high privilege and investing Vermont citizenship with dignity and responsibil- ty. Section 66 is a simple and straight forward assertion of the purpose of the ma jority to continue itself in power and to fix the standard of excellence upon the sure ground of party interest. The yer mont voter doesn't need to trouble himself about education. or civic virtue or prop sonaI standing. He has only to find
 favor with "the board of civil authority"
 in order to become patriot of purest ray serene.
 a legitimate answer to the noisy denun- citations of the Virginia, or the Mississippi, or the Alabama suffrage laws to say that
 those of Vermont are even more arni- o trary and unjust What we intended to suggest is that these shriekers-especially here in Washington, where no one can vote anyhow-would cut much more dignified figure If, instead of belaboring the Southern whites on the score or imagined wickedness, they were to sub init the question to the Supreme Court and agree to abide by its decision. we realize that it would be cruel to compel all the Republican bum politicians and
 Afro-American bankers to stop talking, and this is to explain that we are in,
 vociferate about something else, couldn't they? If not, why not?